Center for Love & Justice (HTH GSE)

High Tech High Graduate School of Education is the nation's first graduate school to emerge out of and be embedded within K-12 schools. As a hub for innovation, improvement, and equity, HTH GSE and HTH K-12 are intentionally interconnected to elevate student brilliance, inspire work that matters, and measurably improve life outcomes for all learners.

The Center for Love & Justice (CLJ) at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education approaches change as intentional, relational, and deeply rooted in practice. In partnering with schools and districts to implement Deeper Learning signature practices, CLJ recognizes that meaningful transformation does not happen by chance. It is cultivated through care, coherence, and a sustained commitment to equity-driven work.

In order to ensure that their work was systematic, the Center designed a Theory of Mobilization with embedded rubrics that outline exactly what they hope to accomplish in their partnership work. The internal rubric both helps them plan their partnerships, evaluate their effectiveness, and use consistent language across their team. Through the year, they use protocols (such as a dilemma consultancy and "stories from the field") to update each other and reflect on their progress.

However, the work doesn't just live inside their team meetings; each year, they do a mid-year and end-of-year summary meeting with partners to engage in dialogue about where the work has been, where it is at, and where it is heading in the future.

CLJ's processes help ensure that systems change doesn't happen by accident, but that it is the result of intentional, iterative cycles of action and reflection.