I have been following Brandee Lapisky's work for years with admiration and appreciation. She is the Director of The Compass School in Rhode Island, a statewide charter built around a vision, "to teach environmental sustainability and social responsibility through a project-based curriculum." In conversation #74 below, I am excited to amplify the impressive academic growth that Brandee has catalyzed at Compass.

"After 11 years at The Compass School, I can honestly say this is where I have found my stride as a leader. This role has given me the autonomy to truly understand what my stakeholders need and the flexibility to solve challenges creatively. Having my own children attend Compass keeps me grounded – as my former colleague Nancy Diaz at The Met High School always asks, ‘Would this be good enough for your child?’ That question drives everything I do.

We have built something special at Compass by getting the right people on the bus in the right seats at the right time, as Jim Collins would say. The synergy happening now is creating organic, unexpected breakthroughs that honestly surprise even me.

Wellness became our foundation last year when we received funding through Rhode Island Department of Education’s wellness grant. We invested in a 3-hour mental health speaker from Polaris Counseling & Consulting for August professional development. Some staff were initially skeptical about such a significant time investment, but the facilitator gave us common language we weave into everyday conversations. As political pressures and AI challenges hit our school community, I keep asking: 'What are you doing to stay well and rooted? If you are not anchored, you cannot do your best work.'

Our professional learning transformation really took off when we secured part-time math and ELA coaches post-pandemic through Rhode Island Department of Education CLSD funding, then worked those dollars into our operating budget. We have become Science of Reading leaders through Root Literacy Design, earning state and national attention. All leaders, teachers, and teaching assistants are trained, giving us skilled hands for thoughtful grouping and instructional delivery. Now we have multiple facilitators leading small-team staff meetings and coaching.

We are seeing results – we just learned we’ve achieved our fourth star in the state accountability rating system. This distinction makes Compass the highest rated middle school in Washington County, a significant milestone as we have a statewide catchment area. We are second in the state on NGSA scores two years running, a unique encapsulation of our reading and science skills. Our agricultural education focus is powerful and we have hired strong science educators. Facilities had been a long-term challenge for the school, so we have systematically tackled major renovations of every building on campus. With the trust present amongst our Compass team, it now feels like ‘if we can do this, we can do anything!’

AI has been our latest learning journey. After attending University of Rhode Island's summer 2024 leadership conference, my thinking shifted from ‘How do I stop students from cheating?’ to ‘How do we harness this tool?’ We are using MagicSchool AI and Gemini as research assistants and calibrating AI to match Cognia's writing assessment standards and samples. Our AI use remains staff-facing only right now, but it is fascinating professional learning territory we are just beginning to explore systematically."