Citizenship quotient

In today’s turbulent climate, citizenship education is more important than ever before. Our research shows that citizenship education would be more widely adopted if we could measure the impact of learning experiences. Yet our ability to measure the development of citizenship competencies has not sufficiently advanced over past decades.

We recognize the need for disruptive innovation in the field of assessment and have launched a special project in response.

Our vision is to develop a new framework and shared language for measuring citizenship. We refer to our framework as the “Citizenship Quotient”. Similar to the original IQ for intelligence, and EQ for emotional intelligence, CQ is a way of measuring the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and behaviors that enable people to work towards the long-term collective interest.

We believe a new breakthrough approach in assessment is not only critical but possible. To this end, we are developing a new approach to assessing learning where schools can measure the impact of student growth in citizenship skills and competencies through micro-assessments. These micro-assessments draw from data that is organically available during learning experiences, providing insights into the effectiveness of a learning activity and student growth over time. Through this framework, schools will be able to assess the efficacy and impact of citizenship education in terms of capability development through micro-assessments embedded in curricula. This radical new approach eliminates the need for expensive special testing instruments.

Our team has been working on a plan to turn our vision into a reality thanks to the generous support of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Omidyar Network. While this project will require approximately five years of effort, we endeavor to begin piloting elements with schools in the next two years.

To learn more about our approach to assessment, read our Orange Paper “The Future of Measurement and Assessment” here.

Our Assessment Team

Mehrdad Baghai
Co-Founder, Chairman, and Global CEO

As Global CEO of High Resolves, Mehrdad has focused on rapid growth of the program in Australia and expansion into the U.S., Canada, China, Brazil and Africa. Mehrdad is Chairman of Alchemy Growth, a boutique strategy advisory firm. Previously, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company and co-leader of the Firm’s worldwide Growth Practice, and an Executive Director at the CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Mehrdad has degrees from Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School and Princeton University. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

I am passionate about High Resolves because…
I have seen and felt the impact of social division and hatred first hand. We need to think of prejudice, racism and hatred as public health issues and engage in immunization programs in order to eradicate these diseases.

May Samali
COO, New Ventures

Based in San Francisco, May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world. As COO, New Ventures at High Resolves, May is leading a new initiative to build a technology platform and ecosystem for citizenship education across the US. May has a decade of extensive experience advising technology start-ups and nonprofits across the US and Australia. She is currently a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven venture capital firm. She was formerly an investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a Director at Tumml, and a corporate lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills in Sydney. May holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors of Laws and Economic & Social Sciences with First Class Honors and the University Medal from the University of Sydney. She is a John Monash Scholar and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue Fellow. She was a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and a New World Social Enterprise Fellow at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership.

I am passionate about High Resolves because…
High Resolves is a game changer. The program engages students when they are most receptive to transformation. It has the powerful potential to change hearts and minds – both individually and collectively. Responding to the complexity of today’s challenges requires fundamental interventions like High Resolves.

As Global CEO of High Resolves, Mehrdad has focused on rapid growth of the program in Australia and expansion into the U.S., Canada, China, Brazil and Africa. Mehrdad is Chairman of Alchemy Growth, a boutique strategy advisory firm. Previously, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company and co-leader of the Firm’s worldwide Growth Practice, and an Executive Director at the CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Mehrdad has degrees from Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School and Princeton University. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

I am passionate about High Resolves because…
I have seen and felt the impact of social division and hatred first hand. We need to think of prejudice, racism and hatred as public health issues and engage in immunization programs in order to eradicate these diseases.

Based in San Francisco, May Samali is passionate about investing in people and ideas that can change the world. As COO, New Ventures at High Resolves, May is leading a new initiative to build a technology platform and ecosystem for citizenship education across the US. May has a decade of extensive experience advising technology start-ups and nonprofits across the US and Australia. She is currently a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven venture capital firm. She was formerly an investor at the Urban Innovation Fund, a Director at Tumml, and a corporate lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills in Sydney. May holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelors of Laws and Economic & Social Sciences with First Class Honors and the University Medal from the University of Sydney. She is a John Monash Scholar and an Australian American Young Leadership Dialogue Fellow. She was a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and a New World Social Enterprise Fellow at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership.

I am passionate about High Resolves because…
High Resolves is a game changer. The program engages students when they are most receptive to transformation. It has the powerful potential to change hearts and minds – both individually and collectively. Responding to the complexity of today’s challenges requires fundamental interventions like High Resolves.

Contact Us

We’d love to speak to you about our big ambitions for shaping the field of assessment in citizenship education.

Contact us today.