New Lumo-ISS Finnish-American School Model Introduced

A synergistic collaboration of two educational organizations now brings Finnish Education to K-12 Students Worldwide

International Schools Services (ISS) and Lumo Education Ltd. (Lumo) signed a formal collaboration agreement to co-develop new schools on behalf of clients, using a blended Finnish-American model within an international framework to serve the K-12 community. The organizations report that early interest in this new model from several areas around the world served as a major catalyst for this design.

The Finnish way of education has long been studied for its excellence in student enrichment and outcomes. Traditionally, this model is focused on early education. Through the synergistic collaboration of two world-class educational organizations, the Lumo-ISS School Model was created. This transformational school model is designed to develop students through the entire Kindergarten through Grade 12 experience.

Both parties believe there is a synergy in this collaboration, which combines Lumo’s innovative Finnish-based program with ISS’s reputation for developing and managing international schools to create a unique blending of Finnish pedagogy with American/International curriculum.

“We are quite enthusiastic working with ISS. Both of our organizations place creating world-class educational solutions at the heart of our mission. Our goal is to enable students to holistically learn and thrive,” says Aki Halko, Chief Executive Officer, Lumo.

The language of instruction for the Finnish-American schools will be English. Finnish pedagogical approaches will be combined with Finnish and/or US written curriculum and articulated from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Students graduating from these Finnish-American international schools will receive an American diploma, an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, or both.

“I have had the opportunity to work in and visit many high-caliber schools all over the world. When I toured some of Lumo’s educational environments, I was thoroughly impressed by their deep-rooted commitment to student welfare and to teacher preparation and professional development,” says Dick Moore, Vice-President of School Start-up and Management, ISS.

The agreement between Lumo and ISS was signed on June 28, 2018 in Princeton, NJ USA, during the ISS Ed Leaders Conference, where 50 educational leaders from around the world met for collaboration, professional development and discussion.

Beyond the agreement, Lumo will continue to concurrently work on Finnish-specific programs and ISS will continue to start-up and manage innovative, student-centered, international schools using various accepted curriculums, similar to the 110+ schools it has developed thus far. For this particular collaboration, the Lumo-ISS team will be working with investors and other philanthropists who wish to create Finnish-American schools in investors’ home countries or around the world. Interested parties can contact  info-isslumo@iss.edu.