Powderhouse Studios founder and director Alec Resnick (left) with Founder and staff member Bakhtiar Mikhak (center) and Director of Operations and Co-Founder Shaunalynn Duffy (right) discussing the new “Super School” coming to Somerville.

By Joe Ruvido

The XQ Superschool Project announced last week that it has awarded a $10 million grant to a new school in Somerville called Powderhouse Studios.

The school’s mission is to provide traditional classroom education alongside long-term, community-centric research projects outside the classroom. Its goal is to fill a void in the achievement gap for students who are left behind by traditional education. The school will be located on Broadway across from Packard Ave.

XQ is a non-profit focused on bettering the education system and expanding opportunities for disadvantaged students. XQ awarded funds to 10 different schools across the country that will offer new and innovative approaches to education.

According to the company website, the name XQ is a combination of intelligence quotient (IQ), and the lesser-known emotional quotient (EQ) or one’s “ability to relate to others, understand emotional cues and collaborate.”

The grants are one answer to a call for new and innovative ideas in education from the Emerson Collective; a think-tank and nonprofit which focuses its mission on “education, immigration reform, the environment and other social justice initiatives to promote equality.”

The Emerson Collective was founded by its president, Laurene Powell Jobs, who also serves as the Chairperson on the Board of Directors for XQ. She is the widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

For its part, the Emerson Collective issued the education challenge as a response to President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” Initiative. Announced in 2014, MBK aims “to connect young people to mentoring, support networks, and the skills they need to find a good job or go to college and work their way into the middle class.” Since its inception the program has awarded over $600m in in-kind grants to social-justice focused organizations like XQ.

The State of Massachusetts laid the foundation and encouraged the innovative educational approach taken by Powderhouse Studios in 2010 when the Patrick Administration signed a law increasing the ability of local school districts to improve outcomes in education. Titled An Act Relative to the Achievement Gap, the law gives school administrators authority to create “in-district and autonomous schools that can implement creative and inventive strategies” to improve student performance.

More than 50 Massachusetts Innovation Schools have been established under the act including The Winter Hill Community Innovation School in Somerville. According to the state website, “Many of these schools are organized around specific themes like STEM, dual language instruction, International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, alternative education opportunities, and wraparound services.” Powderhouse Studios will incorporate some of the so-called “wraparound services” outlined by the National Education Association paper on them, including one-on-one counseling and internship training.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone could not be reached for comment but posted enthusiastically about the new school on his Facebook page. “For anyone who says public school systems can’t innovate, Somerville Powderhouse Studios will be irrefutable evidence to the contrary.” Contractor MarKa will begin construction on the school in the coming months.