Our mission, vision & values

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to increase access to high-quality learning experiences—and to improve the digital tools that help students build, archive and ship their best work to high schools, colleges, and future employers.

OUR VISION

We envision a world where students of all backgrounds have equal access to vibrant learning opportunities and the digital tools to celebrate their accomplishments, drive social change, and progress with agency along education and career pathways.

OUR VALUES

We are creative, data-driven, inclusive, student-centered, and impact-oriented.

Acknowledging Injustice Past & Present

Our education system has been plagued by the same structures of oppression (racism, classism, ableism, etc.) that uphold many American institutions. Even today, our nation’s education gap continues to widen, reflecting and reproducing inequities, from redlining to the school-to-prison pipeline to more general wealth disparities across our nation. Against this background, fewer opportunities and greater barriers to success are presented to low-income students and students of color — especially Black, Indigenous, and Latine students who are underrepresented, overlooked, and ignored in traditional classroom settings. These inequities are visible in many aspects of the system, from standardized testing to rigid grading standards to harsh disciplinary policies.

MeshEd strives at all times to align ourselves with the many institutions, educators, students, and families who are working everyday to challenge the inequities baked into our education system. Mesh Ed echoes activist-educator Angela Davis’ words, “...[it] is not enough to be non- racist, we must be anti- racist.” Our diverse collective is honored to contribute our voices to the new era of equity, inclusion, and equality that we see on the education horizon. Because we strive to always place anti-racism at the center of our work, we have developed a framework of educational resources based on principles of equity-based education innovation.

We understand that there are no overarching, rapid solutions to racism in the education system. Nonetheless, we hope, through our endorsement of these standards, to ensure that anti-racism is as prominent in our efforts and dialogue as possible.

Mesh Ed Vision, Commitments, & Reflections 

Within the Mesh Education community*, we encourage all of our members (collective members, students, guest speakers, instructors, etc.), to place anti-racism at the center of their work. With our research, curriculum, mentorship, programming, and community, we are committed to creating an equitable and inclusive world that supports the growth of its communities and community members. Below, we share our visions, commitments, and reflections that define and refine our approach to developing culturally responsive educational environments.

Mesh Ed Glossary

We’ve included this glossary, so that everyone can begin on the same terms! This is the cultural and educational framework that Mesh Education is working from as we create programs, communities, and changemakers. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are synergistic. One without the others is a broken system of support. 

-isms: a phrase to refer to social injustices, such as (but not limited to) racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, etc.

Community: a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, or goals.

Community Agreement: a shared agreement between learners, created among each learning cohort that empowers participants to build their ideal learning environment. It is how we frame our work together over the course of the lab.

Culturally Responsive: an approach that integrates an awareness of cultural similarities, differences, and perspectives that are present within one’s community to create a culture that accepts and reflects its members. 

Diversity: actively nurturing a wide range of identities (people,  ideas, experiences, and modes of learning). In acknowledging our country’s history of irresponsible and eurocentric approaches to education, we nurture our diversity by fostering equitable learning communities. 

Enrichment: rigorous, collaborative out-of-school courses that may not strictly fit into a school’s core curriculum but that develop students’ character, creativity, applied learning skills, curiosity, ability to solve problems in teams, and intrinsic motivation to achieve wider goals

Equity: recognizing that we’re born into unequal circumstances and meeting each person where they are to ensure that they’re empowered with the tools to express themselves and their identities.

Human-Centered: an approach that prioritizes human perspective in all stages of the problem-solving process

Inclusion: fostering an environment where we celebrate our unique identities and strengths, by making sure that every member’s voice and identity is reflected in our work. We subscribe to the platinum rule of “treat others how they want to be treated”. 

Joy: prioritizing our well-being so that we can lead with creativity and passion 

Passion Project: a project that aligns with an individual’s interests and goals that includes collaboration, feedback, refinement, and sharing. All of our labs culminate in a digitally archivable passion project that students can attach to college applications. 

Project Based Learning:  “An instructional approach that enables students to master academic skills and content knowledge, develop skills necessary for future success, and build the personal agency needed to tackle life’s and the world’s challenges.” (HQPBL). In forming and fostering this learning model in our labs, we draw from the following six criteria for High Quality Project Based Learning (HQPBL):  Intellectual Challenge and Accomplishment, Authenticity, Public Product, Collaboration, Project Management, and Reflection. (HQPBL.org) 

Design Thinking: a creative problem-solving process that will guide students’ passion project development through the following three stages: Seek, Learn, Lead. As a non-linear creation process, students will practice sharing their work, receiving feedback, and integrating changes. We subscribe to the mantra, “practice makes progress, not perfection” (https://csi.campbellusd.org/innovation) 

Vulnerability: the bravery to be honest and open about one’s authentic self by fully acknowledging the spectrum of emotions.

CASEL: is The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. This collaborative is committed to advancing equity and excellence in education through social and emotional learning by serving as a trusted source for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning

Culturally Responsive Teaching: is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of incorporating students’ cultural references throughout all aspects of learning.

High Quality Project-Based Enrichment: is enrichment programming that is informed by the Framework of High Quality Project Based learning that is an effort to be student-centered and engaging experiences for students to gain knowledge and skills within their learning process

Neurodiversity: is a viewpoint that acknowledges the variations in the human brain. We all have brain differences that impact our sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other social and mental functions

Test Optional Movement: argues that standardized test scores don’t add meaningful value to a student’s application because testing only demonstrates a small part of a student’s academic abilities and potential. Further, it has been found that standardized testing supports bias based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status. This movement supports that student applications should be reviewed and regarded with a more holistic view that can evaluate all that a student may contribute to a learning environment--academically, socially, culturally, and creatively.