The IDEO Case Study

Designing a Schooling System from the Ground Up

In Peru, debates about how to redesign the K-12 learning experience led to the adoption of an international quality education at an affordable price. While Peru’s economy has been on the rise, its education system hasn’t. Jorge Yzusqui Chessman, co-founder and Director of Innova Schools collaborated with Rodriguez-Pastor, Chairman of Intercorp who wanted to build a chain of low-cost private schools that would lift up the middle-class in a developing country.

Pastor hired Ideo to help him build a vast network of schools powered by a cutting-edge new learning model. IDEO, a San Francisco-based design firm, was tasked with developing the curriculum, teaching strategies, facilities, operational plans, and underlying financial model for Peru's network of private schools. Modern architecture and technology had to work within the confines of people and physical space. It was difficult to find qualified teachers. Since land availability varied by location, a feasible financial plan was required to keep the school

manageable and able to serve families ranging from lower to middle class.

“Any school system is going to have constraints to work within, and it’s a matter of

finding where your levers are and where you can make a difference.” (Speicher, 2015)1 Ideo had trouble because every issue was really a symptom of another issue. Ideo's initial plan to offer free schools quickly fell through since free schools were despised in Peru. Instead, tuition was redundant, schools were upgraded, and teachers received greater education. For example, after speaking with the community of students and their parents, they realized that the school building

needed to be aesthetically pleasing for the ‘parents to be proud to drop off their children at these schools’.2 Basic amenities like swimming pools, which were favored by some parents, didn’t fit the bill of costs that IDEO aimed at i.e education for each student should be below $130 per month. The issue of growth was the next thing they focused on, and they searched for blended learning methods that could be swiftly scaled up globally. To develop a new generation of

Peruvian leaders was a challenging mission. Even just becoming aware of the complexity and interconnected linkages that make up a wicked problem like this, is a wicked challenge on its own.

IDEO had a core team of five design experts in systems, research, business,

communication and space that traveled to Lima for one month of field studies. Their iterative approach was initiated with the end user and concluded with creative solutions reconciled to the context.

They built relationships with the Innova school leadership team and interviewed

students and families to find out what their lives were like and what they wanted to get out of the school. IDEO used design thinking by understanding both sides of the issue (affordability and needs) and took a human-centered approach to generate ideas. The design of the school was made transitional and flexible taking into account the limitations of land and its increasing cost due to scarcity. ‘Innova schools are designed like Lego.’3 Modular structures were built using ship containers that could be stacked and placed in various configurations and be accommodated in the available piece of land.

Design thinking was considered at two levels of the Innova project. First, IDEO took a creative approach to fabricate a transformative experience to allow teachers to master it, apply it and to help students and future colleagues inherit it, and secondly to work as a team to incorporate the process in the staff at Innova. The aim was to help Innova shift from ideation to implementation and design thinking was an effective way to proceed towards action. According

to the ‘Loop’ developed by IBM that helps observe, reflect and make decisions, IDEO took an iterative approach to incorporate the ‘loop’ based learning system for teachers which helped them test themselves, fail and test again.4 Teachers are continuously designing the curriculum, interactions and experiences for students. Through this approach Innova’s staff began to act in an autonomous way and gained innovative confidence which resulted in a shift from 61% to 88% in

literacy and from 25% to 61% in Math.

At Innova Schools, teachers devote approximately 120 hours each week to teaching. This statement begs the question of how teachers are able to maintain these hours and continue working productively every day. In the book Leading Change, John P. Kotter provides a brief justification for organizations failing to create "short term wins" as one of his eight failure models. According to Brian Boyer’s model, the proposed approach taken was at point D on the funnel. Point D denotes the force that drives the lower middle class teachers to work towards the

performance of students and uplift the quality of Innova schools. Teachers and students are the driving force to achieve the excellence of schools worldwide. IS hires teachers for reasonable salaries, ranging from USD 500 to USD 670 per month, which is a little more than what they would make working for the public sector. But this does not suffice the hours and dedication that teachers are giving at these schools. A reward based strategy should be used to inculcate a sense of loyalty from the teachers to Innova Schools. Performance based rewards are very vital to inculcate loyalty and motivation in teachers that IDEO’s model does not focus much on. One of the most significant benefits of performance-based pay is increased teacher motivation. This claim contends that performance-based pay will boost teacher motivation by correctly rewarding productivity gains.

When motivation and skill are taken into account while determining pay, this viewpoint contends, teacher quality will. Teachers who are not financially motivated can be encouraged with non-financial incentives. These motivations could include, among other things, fulfillment from better academic results, recognition, learning new skills, and personal growth.

School-based incentives help students reach their goals by setting clear objectives for the entire organization.

A. Are countries ready for the 4.0 Industrial Revolution?

B. How can we drive innovation in education systems?

C. How does IS’s schooling model fit into other countries around the world?

D. What parallel perspectives can be formulated for teachers to maintain loyalty towards the school given the salary and hours they spend each week?

E. What is the gender majority in Innova Schools?

IDEO set up a system that ensured collaboration between the faculty and students, students from different middle class backgrounds and other stakeholders (principal, trustees, staff, sponsors, parents etc) that shared a common ethos and worked towards common goals. IS developed a standardized model which involved communication and ordered monitoring systems. However, a systemized model for stakeholders, teachers and students would lead to a

sense of redundancy and lack of motivation after a certain period of time.

“Design is continually being reimagined and creatively combined with other

disciplines.” (Buchanan, 5 )9 The implementation of a strategic based approach that constantly helps in the innovation of ideas like reward based systems for teachers and different equity centered approaches that increase diversity and ambiguity between students would lead to the development of the schooling system as a whole. Overall, design thinking is relevant in recognizing teachers as designers and providing them with support to be intentional in what they

design.