Learning Innovation

Redefining education, one discovery at a time

Avenues is committed to advancing education worldwide—not just within the walls of our campuses. As a New School of Thought, we seek to redefine schooling by developing, testing and implementing new practices that result in better outcomes for students.

Operating out of our global headquarters in New York, Avenues’ in-house R&D department exists to perform cutting-edge educational research, foster the development of innovative programs and provide support to our faculty—while furthering the cause of education around the world.

The scope of the R&D department’s research is broad, from project-based assessment to the role of empathy in learning, from optimizing Mandarin immersion for young learners to defining Avenues’ architectural standards for campuses around the world. Highlights include:

Avenues World Elements

A global curricular system for a World School

Developed by our R&D department over several years, the Avenues World Elements (AWE) articulates the essential and enduring learning outcomes for graduates of Avenues: The World School across all our campuses. This unique curricular system is designed to be modular, allowing for inventive interdisciplinary combinations and campus-level localization.

Avenues Online

The virtual campus of Avenues: The World School

Supporting students from toddler through 12th grade, Avenues Online uses a unique and proprietary learning platform to provide an Avenues education to students whose circumstances have placed them in diverse global locations. Wherever there is an Internet connection, there is Avenues Online. So far, students have attended Avenues Online from such far-flung locations as Lima, Peru; Marfa, Texas; and the Bahamas.

High Intensity Practice

Building essential thinking skills through persistent practice

Based on the idea that the best way to cultivate lifelong skills is to spend deliberate time practicing with expert guidance, the R&D department developed the High Intensity Practice (HIP) program for students in the Upper Division. In writing and math sessions, students are given 20 minutes to write on prompts or solve problems intensively. In these short bursts of creative and analytical freedom, students cultivate essential thinking skills—mental agility, empathy, creativity and critical thinking— through persistent practice.

Visionary Technology Integration

Putting transformative educational tools in the hands of our teachers

All Avenues campuses have dedicated technology integration teams staffed by expert educators trained in the use of technology in the classroom. Avenues New York has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for three consecutive terms since opening in 2012. The Apple Distinguished School designation is reserved for programs that meet criteria for innovation, leadership and educational excellence, as well as demonstrating a clear vision of exemplary learning environments.

Avenues Mastery Academy

Intensive project-based learning experiences for high school students in cities around the world

Part specialized boarding school, part maker space, the Avenues Mastery Academy is inspired by 15th-century Renaissance workshops: an academic apprentice-learning model in which students work side-by-side with master instructors in a state-of-the-art maker studio. After a 2017 pilot program, the second iteration of Avenues Mastery Academy was held in Shenzhen, China in Spring 2019. Avenues is currently developing future Mastery Academies, each drawing on the conditions of a particular global city to provide students with an opportunity to pursue site-specific interdisciplinary projects with guidance from expert practitioners.