Nation's First "School Version Social Impact Assessment" Developed - Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School / JONAN Holdings Co., Ltd.

JONAN Holdings Co., Ltd. (Takahashi City, Okayama Prefecture), in collaboration with Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School and the Takahashi Learning, Work, and Future Co-creation Consortium, has developed and implemented the nation's first "School Version Social Impact Assessment." This initiative has established a new evaluation method that visualizes, both quantitatively and qualitatively, "how students' activities are impacting society," which has been difficult to see until now.

*First framework in Japan to systematically evaluate the social impact of research learning and high school business activities (according to our research).

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Detailed materials can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y6W1-C6GgYbPwF0mjqOQyRRjbWGK0cMy/view?usp=sharing

■ Background: "Impact Assessment" Advancing in Corporations, Undeveloped in Education

The background of this assessment lies in the growing concepts of "Social Impact Assessment" and "Impact Investing" in the corporate sector in recent years. For companies, not only profit but also the value created for society is becoming an important evaluation criterion.

For example, ADDress Inc., which operates a multi-location living service, visualizes social impact such as "how multi-location living has generated related population in the region" as indicators and uses them for business evaluation.

Furthermore, AmeKazeTaiyo Inc., which operates the direct-from-producer platform "Pocket Marche," creates social value such as "creation of related population" and ripple effects on the regional economy by directly connecting producers and consumers. Such social impact is positioned as business value.

Reference: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000167.000046526.html

In recent years, there has also been a movement towards "Impact IPO (Impact Listing)," which evaluates the balance between social and economic aspects, creating a trend where companies that simultaneously solve social issues and achieve economic growth are valued in the capital market.

On the other hand, similar evaluation methods have not been sufficiently established in the education sector.

■ Challenge: How to Measure the Outcomes of Research and Business Activities?

In educational settings, there has been a challenge that the value of research learning and community collaboration outcomes, often described qualitatively as "growth" or "contribution to the community," is not fully conveyed.

This is a general challenge for research learning by high school students. Specifically, within the business activities of JONAN Holdings Co., Ltd., a "high school-run company" established at Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School, the following questions arose from the field:

• Is "profit" the only measure of success for a company established by a high school?

• Are there other impacts on the region and society?

• While fostering entrepreneurial talent and regional leaders takes time, how should the changes occurring before that be perceived?

• What needs to be visualized to secure ongoing support and investment?

Based on these questions and challenges, this initiative focused on developing a "School Version Social Impact Assessment" and conducted a demonstration at Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School.

■ Key Point 1: Assessment Design Visualizing "Beyond Profit"

This assessment re-examines the traditional "profit-centric evaluation" and designs new indicators that focus on the activity process. Specifically, it breaks down the flow into "interaction," "gratitude," "contribution," "sales," and "profit," making the process leading up to profit itself the subject of evaluation.

By setting intermediate indicators such as the number of people interacted with, the number of times "thank you" was received, the number of challenges and failures, and the number of projects created, it has become possible to capture social impact from multiple perspectives.

■ Key Point 2: Evaluating Changes in High School Students' Mindsets

This assessment positions changes in students' mindsets as important outcomes. In doing so, it designs the necessary changes in mindset and behavior by working backward from the ultimate outcomes of "what kind of talent do we want to nurture?" and "what kind of society do we want to realize?"

Specifically, in the future, for the nurturing of:

• Entrepreneurial talent

• Succession talent

• Creative talent

• Talent who will become leaders in the community

The preceding changes required are:

• The ability to view failures positively and continue to take on challenges.

• The desire to do something in this region.

• The mindset to want to remain involved with the region even after graduation.

• The feeling that there are reliable people (people to rely on) in the region.

These have been organized as necessary changes in mindset. This assessment quantifies these as "intermediate outcomes" and visualizes the internal and behavioral changes of the students.

■ Key Point 3: Evaluating Adult Transformation (Ripple Effect Driving Society)

Furthermore, a notable aspect of this initiative is the "transformation of adults" triggered by the high school students' activities.

Adults in the community who witness the students' challenges experience changes in their mindset and behavior, such as:

• Increased motivation and drive.

• A desire to support the younger generation more.

• A greater desire to get involved in the community themselves.

• Motivation to take new actions in the community.

This leads to a rebuilding of relationships with the community. This is not merely an educational effect; it is an extremely significant social impact where the actions of high school students change the awareness and actions of adults, accelerating change in society as a whole.

This assessment also positions such changes in adult mindset as indicators, visualizing the ripple effects generated by educational activities.

■ Development Process and Logic Model Diagram (Overall Structure of This Assessment)

The overall structure of this assessment is organized according to the following logic model diagram.

This model structurally organizes how research learning and business activities impact society through a series of flows: "Inputs (Resources)," "Activities," "Outputs," "Intermediate Outcomes," and "Final Outcomes." Specifically, based on resources such as regional companies, schools, and funds, research and business activities are conducted, resulting in outputs like the number of projects and the number of people interacted with. In this process, intermediate changes such as "occurrence of interaction," "occurrence of gratitude," "occurrence of challenges," and "creation of things/concepts" arise.

These intermediate outcomes lead to changes in students' and adults' mindsets, ultimately leading to outcomes such as the production of entrepreneurial talent and regional leaders, and the creation of value for the local community.

A characteristic of this model is that it evaluates not only "profit" but also the preceding processes and secondary effects, and includes the transformation of adults.

■ Demonstration Results: Visualizing Six Months of Activity with Numbers

This assessment was demonstrated at Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School, with a test run conducted on the activities of 17 teams during their final research presentation. Subsequently, it was applied to the business activities of JONAN Holdings Co., Ltd. over approximately six months, visualizing the actual social impact.

During the period from July 2025 to February 2026, the following social impacts were confirmed:

▶ Activity Evaluation (Ripple Effect on Region and Society)

【Activity Expansion】

• Interaction with a total of 1,220 people

• Collaboration with 20 organizations

• Creation of 24 projects

• 7 major failures (trial & error) *Approximately 50 minor failures

• Over 50 instances of "thank you" expressed

【Economic Outcomes】

• Fundraising amount: Approximately 470,000 yen (as of current)

• Sales: 210,000 yen (estimated)

• Gross profit: 40,000 yen (estimated)

【Social and Public Relations Impact】

• Estimated reach through media exposure, etc.: 20 to 30 million people

These results confirmed that both educational and business activities are being achieved.

▶ High School Students' Mindset Change

● Motivation to Challenge: 95.7%

(Percentage of students who want to try new things, are willing to tackle things even if unsure of success, and want to step into unknown fields.)

● Positive View of Failure: 89.3%

(Percentage of students who responded that they can positively accept failure as an opportunity for growth.)

● Desire for Continued Regional Involvement: 80.6%
　(Percentage of students who wish to remain involved with the region after graduation.)

● Sense of Connection with Adults: 79.6%
　(Percentage of students who feel a sense of connection and support from adults in the region, and feel there are reliable individuals.)

*Aggregate results of a survey conducted in February 2026 among 3rd-year students at Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School (93 respondents).

▶ Adult Transformation

Furthermore, 100% of the adults involved felt an increase in motivation, highlighting the significant impact of high school students' activities on the local community.

■ Significance: Visualizing Education as "Social Value"

This initiative visualizes the challenges of the high school and its students as social value, thereby creating a basis for support and investment, and forming a foundation for sustainable educational activities and relationships with the community.

Additionally, by presenting intermediate indicators leading up to the final outcomes, it serves to bridge the temporal gap between education and society.

■ Advisory

This initiative was developed with the advice of the following advisors:

Mr. Takeshi Abe, Senior Chief Researcher, Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd.
(Advice and cooperation on social impact assessment design and logic model development)

■ Future Development

Moving forward, we will proceed with the nationwide rollout of this assessment, collaboration with local governments, verification of the potential for impact investing in the education sector, and improvement of assessment accuracy through data accumulation.

■ Company and Related Party Overview

▶︎JONAN Holdings Co., Ltd.

A high school-collaboration type company established in cooperation with Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School. It aims to implement students' research activities as business and build a funding circulation model with the region.

• Details URL: https://www.jonan.okayama-c.ed.jp/wordpress/?page_id=26393

▶︎Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School

A vocational high school with three departments: Electrical Engineering, Design, and Environmental Science. It promotes research learning through "Manufacturing x Business x Community Collaboration."

• School Official Website: https://www.jonan.okayama-c.ed.jp/

▶︎Takahashi Learning, Work, and Future Co-creation Consortium

The Takahashi Learning, Work, and Future Co-creation Consortium was established to support and co-create the company establishment project (JONAN Holdings Co., Ltd.) of Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Jyonan High School and its operations within the region.

• Established: July 2025

• URL: https://takahashi-edu-work-consortium.studio.site/

Selected for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Classroom of the Future" Demonstration Project for Reiwa 7 (2025)

• URL: https://www.learning-innovation.go.jp/news/r7-selected-applicants/

■ Inquiries Regarding This Matter

JONAN Holdings Co., Ltd.
Registered Address: 1904 Sakae-machi, Takahashi City, Okayama Prefecture
Email: jonan.holdings@gmail.com