A well-designed curriculum leads somewhere.

In other words, a school's curriculum should build towards something, so that students and teachers know where the educational program is headed and how it will ultimately be evaluated. For these reasons, the IDEAL SCHOOLS high school curriculum culminates with a student-determined Senior Project. The senior project is a substantial final project that will require considerable effort, research, writing, and creativity. The final assessment will include evaluation of the final product and presentation by a panel of reviewers.

Students will begin working on the final project as early as 10th grade, and the project proposal will be approved in its final form before the beginning of the senior year. Thus, work on the project will begin early in high school so students understand where their academic work is heading, and they can begin to plan and work towards a long-term goal in their final years in high school.

Possible final projects could include the following:

• Writing a persuasive research paper on the need for policy action in response to a specific policy topic, and working to make the change happen by working with interested groups or meeting with elected officials
• Conducting original scientific research in an area laboratory as part of a larger research team
• Designing a new business, including writing the business plan, creating a website, and explaining funding sources and revenue projections
• Creating a new process or device to improve existing technology
• Completing a comparative analysis of two or more nations' educational or legal systems, with a view towards making recommendations for improving the system

The school will be open-minded in approving final project proposals, and will help each student make connections to individuals and other resources outside of the school to make the project a success.