From the theater to Tuesday
You've seen what school could be.
Here's how districts get there.
Multiple Choice shows Winchester, Virginia making real career experience part of every student's education — not a track, a graduation experience. If your community just watched it, you have something rare: a shared picture and a window of will. This page is for spending that window well.
Haven't seen it yet?
Two minutes of what this is about
Multiple Choice is a What School Could Be film. Screening licensing and speaker requests run throughmultiplechoicefilm.com.
What Winchester actually did
The point isn't the building
Every John Handley High School student completes career and core academic classes together at the Emil & Grace Shihadeh Innovation Center — three academies (Professional Skills, Health Sciences, Advanced Technologies) in a renovated former elementary school, run in joint venture with Laurel Ridge Community College. The point is the universal design decision: every student, so there is no track and no sorting.The full Winchester story is here.
From whether to how
The window
A good screening ends with the conversation shifted from whetherschools should do this to how yours could. That shift decays in about two weeks if nothing structured follows. Here is the structured version:
Debrief while it's warm
A 90-minute leadership-team protocol: what struck us / what's true here / what's our version of the question. TheScreening Debrief Guide is in final preparation —ask and we'll send it the moment it's ready.
Take the mirror test
The District Readiness Assessment — as a leadership team, before anyone promises anything publicly. Six domains, three honest readings, five minutes.
See the landscape
Winchester is one door among several.Models & Stories shows the plug-in, regional, and early-college doors too — andThe Path sequences the work whichever door you choose.
Join the cohort
Districts that screened the film and are moving through Explore and Plan together: shared calls, shared artifacts, honest peer comparison. Ask about the implementation cohort — tell us you're post-screening.
Bring in a chef
Everything here is a cookbook. When you want the path walkedwith you — consultation, policy review, community-workshop facilitation — that's Work with Stephen.
Hosting a screening?
Two partners, one handoff
Screening licensing, film logistics, and speaker requests run throughWhat School Could Be. The implementation infrastructure — this site, the tools, the cohort — is Systems for Innovative Schools. We work as partners: they light the spark; we help you build the fire.
Three host moves that make the difference: a leadership pre-screening two-plus weeks before the community event, so administrators lead the discussion rather than reacting cold; a panel that puts employers and workforce partners on stage; and a next-step path on every seat — this page's address is a fine start. The one-pageHost's Companion is in final preparation;ask and we'll send it.