Mark Gutkowski

Background

About Mark Gutkowski

What we do next in education matters for all of us. I am an educator, program designer, and founder working to transform how students experience learning. As Director of Mastery at Avenues: The World School, I created the Mastery Learning System (MLS). This pioneering model, grounded in psychology and education research, gives students space to pursue purpose-driven projects and develop autonomy, identity, and deep expertise. Students in our program have launched law reviews, built drones from scratch, presented ecological research at professional conferences, and much more. The work is challenging, often messy, but always transformative. The Mastery Learning System places Avenues among a small number of schools worldwide leading the way in this approach. Our role is not only to innovate but to learn, share, and help push the field forward. By pushing these boundaries, we hope to expand what schools everywhere believe is possible. I am also the founder of Orbilius, an education R&D venture designing scalable, autonomy-supportive models that can reach learners everywhere. Our mission is simple: to challenge outdated systems and replace them with environments where human potential can thrive. If you share an interest in innovation, autonomy, and the future of education, please reach out. Let’s build the future of education together. What we do next matters.