Moonshot Academy’s Competency Model 5.0 is a mission-centered spiral growth framework, which is composed of a center and three interrelated layers: Mission core, Habits of Mind layer, Transferable Skills Set layer, and Disciplinary Lenses layer. It serves as a roadmap to achieve our mission to cultivate fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens to support the sustainability of human civilization.
At the heart of the model lies Moonshot Academy’s mission, which serves as the ultimate goal and guiding compass for all teaching and learning.
Every layer of the competency model is designed to progressively support learners in internalizing and practicing this mission in authentic, age-appropriate, and evolving ways.
The innermost layer comprises six Habits of Mind (HoM), which are dispositions people use when addressing situations to which the answers are not immediately apparent.
| MSA Values | Habits of Mind |
| Seek for truth | Curiosity |
| Imagination | |
| Act with Perseverance | Growth Mindset |
| Strive for Excellence | |
| Merciful to All Beings | Self-Caring |
| Empowering Empathy |
Each Habit of Mind directly reflects and deepens one of Moonshot Academy’s three core values — “Seek for Truth”, “Act with Perseverance”, and “Merciful to All Beings.” This alignment ensures that learners not only build cognitive and behavioral capacity, but also live out the school’s mission through everyday choices and character.
At MSA, these Habits of Mind are integrated into daily teaching and formally assessed during annual defenses at key learning milestones: G5, G8, G10, G11, and G12. Through this process, learners not only reflect on their own growth but demonstrate how these habits have shaped their thinking and actions over time.
Transferable Skills Sets are a set of skills which can be applied to situations extending beyond a single discipline. At Moonshot, we define them as Transferable Skills Sets because each one is composed of related sub-skills that collectively support meaningful performance and growth.
The twelve Transferable Skills Sets are organized into three core domains—Self-Direction, Cognition, and Social Responsibility—which correspond directly to Moonshot’s mission: cultivating fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens to support the sustainability of human civilization.
Core Domain | Transferable Skills Sets |
Self- Direction | Sustain Wellness Wayfinding Experiences Self-Directed Learning |
Cognition | Read Critically Using Sources Inquiry Analysis & Synthesis Design Solutions Expression |
Social Responsiblity | Building Connections Leading & Collaborating in Teams Civic Responsibility |
Self-Direction equips learners with the mindset and strategies to understand themselves, manage their well-being, and take ownership of their learning. It supports the development of fulfilled individuals who can act with clarity, purpose, and resilience in a rapidly changing world.
Cognition has served as a foundation for learners' future success, which illustrates one's cognitive ability of "how we use what we know"
Cognition develops learners’ higher-order thinking skills across disciplines, enabling them to apply what they know in unfamiliar or complex situations. It serves as a foundation for learners' future success, which illustrates one's cognitive ability of "how we use what we know". The Cognition framework at MSA is adapted from the Summit Learning model and grounded in over a decade of research-based best practices.
Social Responsibility fosters learners’ ability to connect with others, contribute to communities, and act with empathy and integrity. It prepares them to become active, compassionate citizens capable of collaborative problem-solving and civic engagement.
By graduation, learners are expected to demonstrate each transferable skill set at the proficient level defined for their division, as evidenced by the quality and completeness of their portfolio artifacts developed through interdisciplinary projects, performance-based tasks, and other relevant learning experiences.
The outermost layer of the Moonshot Competency Model contains Disciplinary Lenses which provide different views to explain how the world works. These lenses are defined by disciplinary categories, which vary by division.
Rather than memorizing facts, learners are expected to master essential disciplinary principles and methods of inquiry, enabling them to interpret complex phenomena from multiple academic perspectives.
At MSA, Disciplinary Lenses are demonstrated through learners’ mastery of big ideas and practices within subject areas. This is assessed through a combination of paper-based tests, discipline-specific performance tasks. Our academic expectations are aligned with Chinese National Standards and international frameworks such as CCSS and NGSS.
Quantity
Shape and Space
Relationships and Change
Advanced Relationships and Change
Data and Uncertainty
Advanced Data and Uncertainty
Problem Solving
Mathematical Modeling
Reasoning and Proof
Advanced Reasoning and Proof
Information Mindset and Computing System
Data & Digital Living and Learning
Computational Thinking and Programming Ability
Digital Citizenship
Matter Science Perspective
Physical Science Perspective
Life Science Perspective
Spatial and Environmental Perspectives
Advanced Matter Science Perspective
Advanced Physical Science Perspective
Advanced Life Science Perspective
Essence Thinking
Advanced Environmental Science Perspective
Middle School General Science Perspective
At Moonshot, our mission is a shared school culture that shapes how we teach, learn, and grow together. From the inside out, each layer of the Competency Model represents a meaningful learning outcome that supports supports holistic, self-driven growth.
The closer it gets to the core, the more self-driven the growth becomes, more connected to life itself, and the more lasting the impact.
The Competency Model 5.0 is not a static framework, but a dynamic spiral of learning and personal development.
Learners begin with disciplinary learning in the classroom, engage in the real-world projects where they apply and connect knowledge, and grow through feedback and reflection. Over time, they develop disciplinary prespectives, transferable skills, form habits of mind, and ultimately align their learning with a deeper sense of purpose.
Each stage builds on the last moving learners toward greater awareness, agency, and mission-driven growth.
Each learner has a graduation portfolio, which contains summaries and reflections on their learning and development at each stage.
The defense system supports learners in continuously accumulating works in their portfolio at different stages, allowing them to vividly present and reflect on their learning progress, and systematically showcase how much they have achieved in terms of their personal development goals at different grade levels. At the same time, the defense helps significantly enhance learners' ability to earn trust through self-presentation. It also provides an opportunity to ensure that all teachers have a shared understanding of the expectations and requirements for performance-based assessments and to calibrate their evaluation standards for learners.
Grade 10 learners will face choices regarding their future tracks, which could be academic, art, or an incubator track, based on their interests. The Grade 10 Track Defense is designed to help learners clarify their development direction. Once a path is chosen, learners need to consider what their future studies in that path will look like. For example, if they want to follow an academic track, they need to present a paper or essay that represents their highest level of writing in a subject they are interested in. If they choose the incubator track, they need to think about what their project could be, what problem it solves, and why they (either individually or as a group) are interested in initiating it. If they choose the art track, they need to prepare a simple portfolio of their work.
In the Grade 11 Target Defense, learners are encouraged to reflect on their past experiences and think about their future after graduation. This reflection process not only cultivates responsible decision-making but also provides educators with valuable insight into how they can best support learners in their future endeavors. During this defense, learners need to think about and share their past experiences, such as:
The Moonshot Defense is the graduation defense for Moonshot learners. Only those who pass the defense will receive a graduation certificate from Moonshot Academy. In this defense, learners need to reflect on an academic piece of work and a personal project. In their personal statement, learners are required to reflect on their growth and contributions at Moonshot, such as: How have I developed self-awareness? How has my identity been formed? How do I understand and apply my values? What is my understanding of society? They also need to share their future plans, including: How will you explore potential careers and delve into the major you choose during university? What actions will you take to address social issues that you are passionate about there?
We believe that a relationship built on mutual trust is key to helping learners find a sense of belonging, purpose, and self-guidance during the crucial developmental phase of adolescence. Every learner who joins Moonshot is matched with a personal coach.
Each month, learners will have regular 1:1 conversations with their coach, or they may participate in team coaching with all the coaches they lead. The content of the conversations may vary depending on the learner’s grade level and the specific challenges they are currently facing. A good coaching conversation can be summed up as a cycle of listening, feedback, and questioning. New coaches who are unsure about how to conduct a conversation can refer to the following conversation structure and corresponding questions. Of course, everyone has their own style of coaching conversations, and we do not impose any restrictions.
Among the many support scenarios, the “Development Guidance Course” conducted by grade groups is one of the most important. All coaches in the grade group will design and implement a 90-minute course and activity each week based on the four-year development guidance goals of the high school. These courses will address the real development needs learners face in their academic and personal lives, supporting them in achieving personal growth in areas like self-awareness, self-management, social skills, study habits, and interests exploration.
Self-Identity Nine Grid is a course designed specifically for 10th-grade students to enhance self-awareness. Through two interactive lessons, students will explore and express their identity by creating mind maps and identity portraits. In the first class, students will create a mind map with words that describe themselves. In the second class, they will draw or collage a nine-grid portrait representing their identity based on these words. The course aims to help students gain a deeper understanding of their core traits and how these traits manifest and interact in their lives.
A Real Interview is an interest exploration course for 10th-grade students that helps them clarify their career direction and understand career values. The course consists of three sessions that delve deeper into the topic. In the first session, students engage in activities such as the "Interest Island" discussion, Johari Window creation, and value auction to explore the three core elements of a career: interest, skills, and values, sparking their enthusiasm for self-exploration. In the second session, HR professionals from various industries explain the characteristics of their industries and provide specific job positions for students to choose from. Based on their chosen position, students create resumes. In the third session, a mock interview is conducted, followed by feedback and evaluation from the guests. The course revolves around the experience of a real interview, integrating the self-exploration process to open the door to students’ career exploration.
Body Image Misconceptions is a key theme in the 10th-grade developmental guidance course on sex education, developed based on empowerment-based sex education theory. The course focuses on physical development, particularly the development of sexual organs, through desensitization games like "My Buttocks ABB" and other innovative activities to engage students. In small groups, students brainstorm, identify body image misconceptions, and analyze their causes using materials like colored paper and worksheets. A Gallery Walk and Answers Sharing session are included to promote communication. The goal is to help students master accurate physiological knowledge, eliminate misconceptions, and enhance their scientific understanding of their bodies.
This course focuses on the development of self-awareness and self-management skills for 10th-grade students. In the first class, students are given keywords and work in groups to role-play real-life issues they are currently facing, such as academic anxiety, decision-making difficulties, social media, peer pressure, time management, and coping with failure. The groups then vote for the most authentic representation of the issue. In the second session, each group answers guiding questions from the teachers, discusses solutions to these issues, creates group posters, and invites students from other grades to vote and leave feedback. In the third session, groups role-play the same scenarios but incorporate solutions into their performances and vote again to select the group with the best problem-solving approach.
Our own state directly affects the quality of support we can provide to learners, so coaches also need to take care of their own mental and physical health. At Moonshot, we offer a variety of support systems for coaches, including support groups, collaborative learning groups, and coaching mentors. Becoming a coach who can effectively support students is a challenging yet rewarding journey.
When facing challenges, we encourage coaches to seek external help. They can turn to their fellow coaches in the same grade group, grade group leaders, experienced coaches within Moonshot, or coaching mentors. These partners have their own experiences and insights from their journey as coaches.
The significance of college admissions has never been just about getting into university; it’s about helping students discover a larger world and find the direction they truly love. We hope that when they look back on their time at Moonshot, they will consider it a journey worth remembering, and we are fortunate to be a part of it.
We hope that each individual can truly choose what is best for themselves, constantly reflecting and questioning their own path to find the “place that suits them best,” rather than the place that parents, schools, or society think they “should go.” The college counseling process is more like a journey of self-discovery, where the goal is to find the “best fit” for the learner.
The College Counseling Center leverages the comprehensive resources within Moonshot to support learners in areas such as academic ability, language proficiency, professional interests, and personal traits. We help learners craft an application story that highlights their unique characteristics and is grounded in reality, aiming for universities they are truly passionate about.
Coaches are the closest people to learners, and the College Counseling Center works closely with them to ensure that each learner is understood and supported. We break down the college counseling process and integrate it into the daily coach conversations. Through setting common goals, we help learners clarify their direction, overcome obstacles, and steadily move forward.
The College Counseling Center also aims to provide support in courses, projects, and learner management within the Moonshot community, working together to create more opportunities for learners.
As of June 2024, four graduating classes have completed their studies in Moonshot Academy, moving on to larger and more distant worlds, including but not limited to: Emory University, Rice University, Washington University in St. Louis, New York University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, Minerva University, and Berklee College of Music in the United States; Imperial College London, University College London, and the University of Edinburgh in the UK; the University of Toronto in Canada; Lyon Business School in France; the University of Sydney in Australia; Waseda University in Japan; as well as renowned liberal arts colleges in the United States such as Carleton College, Middlebury College, St. John's College, Reed College, Richmond University, and Macalester College.