Tag: Quest Forward Learning

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Opportunity Education’s Pathways Program

I think about how actions I take today will impact what happens in the future. It’s not something I try to do; it’s what my mind does naturally.


So even as Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Learning program continues to help young learners acquire the academic essentials and skills they’ll need to tackle life’s challenges, my mind has been thinking about what happens next for these young people and how I can help them to succeed.


Some of these kids will go to college, or trade school, or the military, or find a job with further training opportunities. But whatever path they choose, I want Opportunity Education to take actions today that will help them succeed in their futures.


It’s from this thinking that Opportunity Education’s Pathways Program emerged. It’s a global program that supports students through high school, post-secondary education, and into their first career. (I say first career because, in the world today, people are likely to have more than one career.)


Finding a good, financially viable path in life is difficult, particularly for low-income students. Opportunity Education’s Pathways Program helps young people understand their options – including the cost-benefit of different choices – and to make a plan for when school is done. Most importantly, we make a commitment to provide support to these young people for 10 years from the beginning of high school.

The Pathways Program is being rolled out at Opportunity Education’s United States and Tanzanian locations.  We recently held our first Career Day in Moshi, Tanzania with 91 high school students from Mtakuja Secondary School.  Presenters included university representatives, government officials from the Tanzania vocational training authority (VETA), the National Council for Technical Education (NACTE), as well as school officials, teachers and Opportunity Education representatives.  It was a full-day event with presentations on a wide range of paths that included things like psychology, veterinarian medicine, nursing, law, and immigration police. 


While it’s early days for the Pathways Program, we already plan to hold two events like this annually in Tanzania. These will be supported by in-school advising through career clubs and individual support.


I want to see young people have every chance for success and for Opportunity Education to help them get started on their paths. It’s my hope that the Pathways Program will help them get started on their way.

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Seamless Learning at Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Academy

I think a lot of people want to get back to something that feels more like normal, and for families with school age kids, starting classes can be big part of that. But opening a school right now needs to be done in the right way.

At Opportunity Education, the foundation I established to help empower young people, we gave a lot of thought to how reopening should work at our Quest Forward Academies.

We are, of course, following all the guidance from federal and state health officials, including having everyone consistently wear masks, sanitizing hands regularly, and socially distancing.

But just like our Quest Forward Learning program is designed to reimagine education for a modern age, we wanted to approach on campus learning in a way that made sense in today’s world. To do that, we developed Seamless Learning.

At the center of Seamless Learning is our focus on the learning, not the buildings. What does that mean in practice?

• Where allowed by local officials, all our classes are running simultaneously on both Zoom and in physical classrooms.

• Parents and students work with the school to determine if their student should be remote or in person.

• Regardless of where the student is located, he or she can fully participate in each class and review recorded video for any missed class or topic.

Right now, the Quest Forward Academy Omaha is working in the Seamless mode, with approximately 20 students participating remotely over Zoom and everyone else learning on campus. (Santa Rosa is still working fully in distance learning mode as schools are closed for in-person learning in Sonoma County, CA.)

We are living through a period of rapid and disruptive change. It is a difficult time but my experience has been that innovation happens at moments like this. I think Opportunity Education’s Seamless Learning is going to prove to be one of those moments of innovation, and some of what we are learning is going to stick.

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Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Learning

Image of Students learning

I am proud of the work we are doing at Opportunity Education, helping to prepare young adults for the dramatically different world they’re going to inherit.  It’s a world where at least 50% of the jobs in the United States might be lost to automation by 2030.  And it’s a world where men, younger workers, and minority communities are particularly exposed to losing their jobs to automation and Artificial Intelligence.

Photo of Opportunity Education and Quest Forward Learning school

For the past several years, Opportunity Education has focused on how to empower young people – particularly those with fewer resources – with tools for success in this rapidly changing world.  We’ve done this by rethinking education, which has led to a system we call Quest Forward Learning. 

There’s a lot to Quest Forward Learning, but at its core, young adults learn how to learn, and how to keep learning throughout their lives.  And in a world where people are likely to change careers several times, the most important skill will be the ability to adapt.

By the end of the 2019-20 school year, there will be nearly 60 schools worldwide powered by the Quest Forward Learning curriculum.  I plan to write more about these schools and the innovative approach they are taking to education.

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High school backed by Joe Ricketts will open this fall in Bellevue

Image of teacher working with students

I am proud and excited about the work we’re doing at Opportunity Education.

By Emily Nitcher / World-Herald staff writer
Mar 22, 2017
Omaha World-Herald Article

A high school with ties to a billionaire philanthropist will open this fall in Bellevue.

The NGL Academy will begin accepting applications Thursday for its inaugural class of about 15 ninth-graders. The school, which will operate on the campus of Bellevue University, is aimed at lower-income students.

The high school is being developed by Omaha-based Opportunity Education, which was started in 2005 by Joe Ricketts, who founded Omaha’s TD Ameritrade. Gov. Pete Ricketts, Joe Ricketts’ son, is on the nonprofit’s board of advisers, according to the foundation’s website.

Joe Ricketts began the education foundation after a trip to Africa’s Serengeti plain.

Ricketts’ safari driver said he was building a school and Ricketts decided to help, according to a video on the foundation’s website. Helping that one school eventually led to helping schools and students in 11 countries in Africa and Asia.

The Bellevue high school and one in Santa Rosa, California, also opening in the fall, will be the foundation’s first projects in the United States, said Raymond Ravaglia, the school’s chief learning officer.

The NGL Academy will use Next Generation Learning curriculum developed by Opportunity Education. In a press release, Ricketts said the school is designed to teach students how to learn.

“We need to prepare young people to succeed in the jobs of the future, and since we don’t know what those jobs will be, we need to teach them not just specific skills but more generally how to acquire skills,” Ricketts said.

The NGL Academy will be pursuing accreditation with the Nebraska Department of Education.

The curriculum uses technology and personalized learning projects called “quests.” Teachers serve more as mentors, challenging and engaging students instead of lecturing to them.

Ravaglia founded the Stanford Online High School and was the director of pre-collegiate studies at Stanford University.

With Next Generation Learning the focus won’t be on teaching to tests but helping students become self-educators, which is a skill that lasts forever, Ravaglia said.

“The goal isn’t to get into college,” he said. “The goal is to be successful when you’re there and when you leave.”

Ravaglia said the school will be looking for students who feel confined in a regular classroom and would like lessons to be more interactive.

“In an era where any fact is just a quick query away, and where even skills become obsolete over time, the content-centric view of education rooted in a factory model of schooling no longer serves,” the school’s website says about the learning philosophy.

Tuition for the 2017-2018 school year is $14,500, although students who are admitted will receive near full-tuition scholarships as part of the Ricketts Family Scholars program.

“The only way to break the cycle of poverty is to provide students with an education that will empower them to achieve their dreams,” Ricketts said.

The school is starting with about 15 students but would like to grow with future classes. A bus will be available to transport the students to and from the college campus in Bellevue. The school year starts on Aug. 22.

Students and parents interested in applying for a spot in the school or in finding more information can visit www.ngl.academy or call 402-403-1267.

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Students’ quest for knowledge begins anew as NGL Academy, an unconventional school, opens in Bellevue

It continues to be an exciting time for us at Opportunity Education.

By Emily Nitcher / World-Herald staff writer
Aug 22, 2017
Omaha World-Herald Article

There are no classrooms made up of tidy little rows of desks facing one direction at the NGL Academy.

It’s not that kind of school.

Students should expect activity, said Mark Smith, director of the academy. Teachers move around the room asking students questions and helping them dig deeper into topics. Students should not be sitting in the classroom watching one person talk. Instead, they actively work alone or together with an instructor.

Classes begin today at the unconventional school on the campus of Bellevue University. Eleven ninth-graders from Omaha and Bellevue have signed up to be in the inaugural class. Ray Ravaglia, NGL Academy’s chief learning officer, said all of the students are on scholarships.

The Bellevue high school is the first NGL Academy to open. It will be followed by a second school in Santa Rosa, California, next month.

The schools are backed by Omaha-based Opportunity Education, which was started in 2005 by TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts. Gov. Pete Ricketts, Joe Ricketts’ son, is on the nonprofit’s board of advisers, according to the foundation’s website.

The academy uses Next Generation Learning curriculum developed by Opportunity Education, which is designed to teach students how to learn. Students use technology and go on personalized learning projects called “quests.”

Teachers serve more as mentors, challenging and engaging students instead of lecturing.

There’s a chance that this year’s class could expand by a few more students, Ravaglia said. The plan is to add more grades and more students in the coming years.

First, school leaders had to find the first batch of students. That proved to be an adventure.

Ravaglia said school officials had to go out and make connections with people to make sure they understood the core mission of the school.

“So, as you can imagine, some people liked what we had and just bought into it right away,” he said. “Others were more hesitant.”

Among the concerns for parents was whether the school was accredited.

All public schools in the state of Nebraska need to be accredited and all nonpublic and parochial schools need only to be approved by the state, but also can become accredited if they choose, said David Jespersen, a spokesman for the State Department of Education. NGL Academy has been approved, he said.

Despite some early confusion, it is not an online school.

There’s a technology component, officials said, but it doesn’t take over teaching.

In fact, school officials want to create partnerships with the broader community to give students new experiences in and out of the classroom.

The school already has a joint program with the Omaha Conservatory of Music. Students will take a bus to the conservatory one day a week for about three hours to learn about music theory and composition.

After months of planning, Smith and Ravaglia said they’re excited to get students in the classroom.

The academy is still looking for future students. Those interested can visit ngl.academy.