There are few things more rewarding, as an educator, than seeing young people spontaneously make real world connections to what they learn in the classroom.  

When 36 students joined a trip to the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York City, school staff overheard them reflecting on World History I content while the tour guide provided an overview of the establishment of the UN and during a Holocaust exhibit. One of their teachers, Mr. Jay Glassie, told me that “seeing students’ imagination, innovation, and application to what they’ve learned, and their excitement on the trip, made me motivated to make sure all our future lessons added up to that excitement.” That was the moment I knew our work to design a new school model focused on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was, without a doubt, the right decision.  

Let me back up. I’m the principal of Coolidge High School in Washington, DC. In 2022 we joined DC+XQ, a partnership between DC Public Schools (DCPS) and XQ Institute (XQ) to redesign high schools in the District. At the start of the partnership, XQ guided high schools through an Educational Opportunity Audit, where quantitative and qualitative student data prompted us to think about existing disparities that school redesign could address. The data also laid bare just how much COVID had changed things. 

An overwhelming number of our students said they were struggling with anxiety, depression, and substance abuse post-pandemic. Black, Latinx, and Indigenous youth, in particular, felt segregated and disconnected. Students needed opportunities for more meaningful interaction. As a result, we knew we wanted wellness to take priority. We also wanted the focus on wellness to be rigorous, prepare our students for life after high school, and help them make connections to the real world.  

We began to research wellness frameworks and sustainable practices, but most left us wanting something more. Finally, we found the SDGs. We instantly fell in love with these 17 global goals designed to transform the world by 2030. With so much variety in the issues they tackle – whether it’s infrastructure, clean water, poverty, or animal welfare – I felt confident there would be at least one goal every student could relate to. As one of our ESL teachers, Nichelle Calhoun says, the SDGs are “so bendable and so accessible; any student can understand ‘there is an education around my experience, and I can produce the knowledge around my experience via action research’.” 

We’ve found that the SDGs resonate with our entire community, not just our students. For our teachers, they hold enormous potential to spark rigorous, memorable, and impactful learning experiences across content areas. They also feel relevant to our families, who come from more than 23 countries, and who shared with us that they particularly identify with goals addressing communities, peace, justice, and reducing inequalities. Finally, they’re a priority for our city. We have partnered with DC’s Department of Energy and Environment to make connections to Sustainable DC, and we are excited to collaborate on sustainability projects with the elementary and middle schools in our neighborhood too. 

This past summer, after a year cultivating our vision around the SDGs, we were selected to be part of DC+XQ’s second cohort. We are spending this year testing out new learning experiences and building partnerships with local and national organizations as we prepare to launch our new school model in 2024.  

What does it really mean to redesign our school around the Sustainable Development Goals? There are a number of examples of other schools embedding the SDGs in their experiences, from incorporating them into real-world learning opportunities to using Challenge-Based Learning to solve problems related to the goals. For us, three pillars guide our new school model, and how the SDGs show up in it: Wellness, Action Research, and Global Experiences.  

Wellness, the origin of our focus on sustainability, encompasses all forms of well-being: physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. All students will develop and revise their own personal wellness plans each year in collaboration with staff. Seniors will select a focus SDG based on that wellness journey—finding a global goal related to something they’ve learned about themselves or their communities. For instance, a student who discovers they are interested in marine life after participating in service learning with Anacostia Watershed may choose SDG 14: Life Under Water. This will provide more voice and choice throughout student experiences at Coolidge, and set them up for success finding an area to study or work in after high school.  

Action Research looks like education that is more hands on, more project-based and place-based, and more interdisciplinary. The heart of this pillar is a new capstone project, where seniors will conduct national and global research on their focus SDG to lean into their interests and goals. That same student interested in SDG 14 might learn about how plastic debris injures and kills fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, then work to develop a solution to reduce plastic waste.  

Global Experiences aligns well with the Action Research pillar, giving students the opportunity to take what they’re learning and apply it anywhere. While we initially assumed Global Experiences would be synonymous with international travel, we’ve realized that it can also include meaningful local, national, and virtual opportunities. If our SDG 14 aficionado connected with The Ocean Cleanup, as an example, they could visit Hawaii to learn more about their efforts to decrease the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 

Looking back at how we arrived here, I’m proud of how we have kept equity front of mind in our journey. We worked hard to engage students representing a variety of perspectives and experiences – not just those who were already highly motivated. Diverse groups of students joined us at planning days and DC+XQ events, met with community partners, participated in focus groups, and started their own Student Redesign Team. Their voices have been instrumental: transparent, open-minded, and dedicated to the process. Conversations with Multilingual Learners and Special Education students, in particular, inspired the project-based and place-based approach to teaching the SDGs. As our Redesign Director, Kira Rowe, reflected, “the difference in just the past year of how [students] can articulate and speak to the new school model lets me know we’ve kept them at the front of this process.” Sometimes they even remind me of things we should do differently to better align with the goals!  

I’ve heard the questions any leader would when looking to redesign their school: Will this initiative really last? Will this create more work for me? Will some of my students be left behind? But when it comes to the SDGs, I’ve only heard excitement, because they truly address our community’s needs. “I’ve realized they clarify a lot of content and tie everything together. It makes it easy to make teaching more dynamic and rigorous,” Glassie said in response to teacher concerns that the SDGs might create an entirely new curriculum. “Instead of wondering ‘how will I apply the SDGs to this,’ it’s almost like, ‘how do I not apply the SDGs to this?’”  

Student Keilie Griffith said it best when she told me, “With the SDGs we learn about what we need to do to make Washington, DC better. It starts in schools, then spreads to the city, then it goes everywhere.” With the SDGs fully at the heart of our new school model, I know not only will Coolidge create change within DC, but Keilie and every student alongside her will graduate prepared to be leaders of global change.  

Semanthe Bright has been the principal at Coolidge High School since 2017. She has been in the education field for over 25 years.

The post Why Focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals in School Is Good for Students, Staff, Families, and the Broader Community appeared first on Getting Smart.

For the two of us—educators born almost 60 years apart—it’s a marvel to see what generative artificial intelligence (AI) can do. One of us, Professor Edmund W. Gordon, was born in 1921 and has served many roles throughout an 80-plus-year career: from psychologist and minister to civil rights leader and public servant. The other, Eric Tucker, born in 1980, is a parent of school-age children, a special educator, a former superintendent, and a technologist. Despite our different perspectives, this new reality of AI leaves us pondering: If AI can produce something that takes the typical student years, even decades, to master, what does it mean to be educated? 

As the launch of ChatGPT marks its first anniversary, we’re not the only ones asking these questions. Tumult at OpenAI, the non-profit AI research and deployment shop and publisher of ChatGPT whose mission is “to ensure that artificial general intelligence—AI systems that are generally smarter than humans—benefits all of humanity” creates something of an Overton window to consider what broadly distributed benefits for AI might look like in the field of education. 

A Biden administration executive order and report highlights how educators and schools might navigate the rapid expansion of AI, arguably one of the most significant transformations since the War on Poverty, of which Dr. Gordon was a key architect during the Johnson administration.

Dr. Gordon’s scholarship has considered what it means to be human and how technologies amplify learning and development over a career that included contributions to numerous presidential administrations, including Kennedy’s desegregation efforts, Johnson’s creation of Head Start, and Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods. To paraphrase Gordon: Being a learner for life is not about filling a pail but lighting a fire.

In the wake of the public debut of ChatGPT, Claude, and Bard, it’s clear that AI’s influence is here to stay. So while it’s worth understanding the risks—including the potential for AI to disrupt human jobs, metastasize bias, reproduce mistakes, undermine privacy, and cause unintended consequences—it’s also important to understand AI’s possibilities for enhancing human potential and informing educational processes. 

As educators, we’re interested in how these technologies could help students learn in a manner that honors learner variability. How can educators and caregivers orient our work regarding these tools to ensure all children thrive in an uncertain future? While the technology is different, educators have considered these types of questions before. We’ve gone from encyclopedia sets to Google workspaces, from one-room schoolhouses to Zoom seminars. As the storm of AI-fueled transformation makes landfall, we believe educators should understand the emergence of AI as an opportunity to take stock of what matters most for learners in the period ahead. 

What It Means to Educated for the Future

In the face of emerging technological advances, Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia (2013) considered human competencies that matter in an uncertain world. They elevate the ability to create knowledge, find real-world applications for abstract ideas, understand and operate within complex systems, sustain focus amid multiplying distractions, and engage in collective work.

Similarly, the XQ Institute has identified research-backed goals, or learner outcomes, that students must develop to be successful in the future. These include agility in their ways of thinking and making sense of the world, building collaborative capacities such as self-awareness and social awareness, and cultivating curiosity to become lifelong learners.

Studies show too many U.S. high school graduates need remedial courses in college and don’t master the skills employers increasingly prioritize. XQ is working to change that by redesigning the high school experience. XQ’s Learner Outcomes help educators identify how to engage students deeply in their learning to master the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the challenges—and opportunities—they’ll need for college, career, and any other future success. Within these outcomes are numerous competencies aimed at developing skills such as critical thinking, social awareness, and self-management.

For example, when Eric Tucker co-founded the Edmund W. Gordon Brooklyn Laboratory High School in 2017, the curriculum emphasized the practice and presentation of applied research. For each year of high school, students completed interdisciplinary year-long seminar courses sponsored by the College Board, investigating pressing issues of social concern in various disciplinary contexts, writing research-based essays, and designing and giving presentations as teams and individuals. Students completed research projects on topics they chose—from environmental justice to gun control, affirmative action, and economic mobility—gathering and combining information from various sources, viewing an issue from multiple perspectives, and crafting arguments based on evidence. 

Such competencies are human competencies—abilities that, at present, technology cannot fully replicate. In the face of AI, we, as educators, are the ones who must help all learners cultivate these competencies. We must shift education to focus on human potential, to develop students’ breadth and depth of knowledge, as well as their ability to navigate diverse ideas, people, and cultures. This is not a job a robot or algorithm can perform.

Focusing Education on Human Potential

Instead of practicing tasks that AI will increasingly perform (such as producing a first draft of an essay outline, generating initial lines of code, or preparing a range of preliminary visualizations of a statistical analysis), educators should shift our focus to enhancing uniquely human capabilities—amplifying human potential through technological advancements and beyond. Schools should embrace generative AI and similar tools to increase time spent honing competencies such as framing meaningful questions, contextualizing arguments, and evaluating multiple perspectives.

Dr. Gordon’s scholarly work explores two competencies that are particularly important for educators to focus on: 

Human agency. Agency is the ability to recognize and act in the best interest of yourself and others. Another way to think about it is the ability to hold onto a sense of efficacy and enact your values. Ana Mari Cauce and Gordon (2013) define human agency as the propensity to take action and to be goal-driven. 

Human agency is significant because it enables people to act for the collective good. As Viktor Frankl, the Holocaust survivor and psychologist, captures so beautifully in “Man’s Search for Meaning” (1954), fulfillment ensues “… as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.” In an era of AI, we can amplify agency by using tools that enhance the ability to act meaningfully in the surrounding world. 

This is particularly true when confronted by complex existential threats like climate change. Educators focusing on student agency can work with students on how to use AI to address environmental challenges. Students might explore how AI can support campaigns to lower energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, monitor deforestation, or track carbon removal. The International Society for Technology in Education’s guide, for example, proposes students research and identify a local environmental or sustainability challenge, define the problem in detail, explore how an AI-powered solution might fit into the more extensive solution, and create and test a working prototype. In this example, an agentic learner can practice setting authentic goals and using AI to help solve a real-world problem.

Intellective competence and character. Dr. Gordon coined “intellective competence” (2013) to describe the ability to use knowledge, technique, and values to engage and solve novel problems. He uses the term “intellective character” to reflect that what we want learners to know and be able to do must be instrumental to achieving what we want learners to be and become. Intellectual character implies becoming a good citizen and creatively using imagination to address challenges and improve circumstances.

The ability to make sense of and address such problems sets humans apart from our ever-evolving technological counterparts. For example, Chris Terrill from Crosstown High highlights schools worldwide where students work together to address environmental challenges, big and small. Educators can strengthen intellective competence by engaging students using AI tools for sustainability challenges. Platforms such as Wildlife.ai, Restor, and Zooniverse suggest how AI might help provide insights into environmental challenges such as climate change, protecting ocean ecosystems and wildlife, water and plant conservation, or air quality. Intellective character orients a learner’s urgency, values, and commitments toward environmental justice.

Educators and students in classrooms around the country are exploring future-leaning approaches that resonate with Gordon’s notions of agency and intellective competence. Notably, XQ schools such as Latitude High School in Oakland, Iowa BIG in Cedar Rapids, and the Purdue Polytechnic High Schools in Indiana demonstrate how meaningful projects in which students have a voice in their learning and collaborate with community partners can nurture these competencies. 

As technological breakthroughs, analytic methods, and artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly redefine what it means to be educated, they correspondingly transform how we can measure and inform learning and development. At the Gordon Commission Study Group, we believe that now is the time to accelerate measurement and assessment system innovation to maximize learning and thriving for every learner. We are working to study the best of assessment, data, and AI practice, technology, and policy; consider future design needs and opportunities for educational systems; and generate recommendations to better meet the needs of students, families, educators, and society.

The emergence of generative AI signals a sea change for what it means to be educated. Our challenge to fellow educators is to join us in rethinking what it means to learn and thrive, given AI-powered tools. Our combined 100-plus years of experience as parents, educators, and applied researchers lends us confidence. We can embrace agency, encourage intellective character, and foster the abilities that shape us as individuals and help us create a healthy, just, and sustainable world.

The post What Educators and Families Should Prioritize in the Age of AI appeared first on Getting Smart.

At its core, the College Corps program is a first-of-its-kind paid state service and career development initiative established in partnership with community colleges and universities across the Golden State. One goal of this program is to assist students in graduating on time and with reduced debt, but what really sets it apart is its dual focus: while students earn and learn, they also make a tangible difference in areas such as climate action, K-12 education, and food security.

“These paid service programs are about restoring the social contract between government and its citizens,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “This public investment builds upon California Volunteers’ army of service members, which is larger than the Peace Corps, and exemplifies the spirit and idealism I see in young people across California.”

“During one session with a student, she told me for the first time without prompting that she ‘believed in herself.’ It was my proudest moment. College Corps reminded me of the power of simple human kindness to combat challenges many communities face,” shared  Yessenia Sanchez, College Corps Fellow from University of California, Los Angeles.

Eligibility and Opportunities

The College Corps program is designed for full-time undergraduate students who are enrolled at a partner campus. Once inducted, these students can engage in a variety of service opportunities:

• Tutoring and mentoring K-12 students, running after-school programs, and offering assistance during summer programs.
• Engaging in climate action projects, which include composting programs, tree planting, and erosion control. (A few months ago, we sat down with Josh Fryday, California’s Chief Service Officer to discuss the California Climate Action Corps.)
• Contributing to community welfare by participating in initiatives like community gardening and working in food banks to address food insecurity.

Benefits That Resonate

Beyond the service opportunities, the benefits of participating in the College Corps program are manifold. Students receive a living allowance throughout their service term and can also earn an Education Award upon the program’s completion. This financial aid is a significant boost, helping students to reduce their educational debt.

Moreover, participants gain real-world job experience, ensuring that they are better prepared for their careers post-graduation. This is supplemented by professional development training and networking opportunities. Not to forget, students also earn academic credit, further enhancing the value of their educational journey.

The program also instills a sense of pride and accomplishment. As participants work towards a shared goal, they form new relationships with young leaders across the state. They are part of a community striving for betterment, inspired by gratitude and a commitment to positive change.

“My College Corps experience has inspired me to continuously find ways, both big and small, to remain involved in my community and in schools, especially since I will be teaching in my own classroom within the next year,” said Emilio Ruiz, College Corps Fellow from California State University, Long Beach. 

Climate Action Corps

This initiative builds on the recent success of the California Climate Action Corps, an initiative that recently made national news, and features a great interest form. From the announcement, “Five states across the country, including California, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, and Washington, have already launched successful Climate Corps programs, demonstrating the power of skills-based training as a tool to expand pathways into good-paying jobs. Today, five new states – Arizona, Utah, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Maryland – are moving forward with state-based climate corps that are funded through public-private partnerships, including AmeriCorps, which will work with the American Climate Corps as implementing collaborators to ensure young people across the country are serving their communities while participating in paid opportunities and working on projects to tackle climate change.”

Because of their early success with this program, California will be leading a community of practice for the states that most recently have adopted the Climate Corps: 

This initiative is one of many highlighted in our Green Pathways publication.

What does this mean? 

This program is not merely about graduating on time or reducing debt; it’s about cultivating informed, compassionate, and proactive citizens ready to lead the future.

In a world where education often becomes a solitary pursuit, California’s College Corps program is a testament to the power of collective growth and service. It’s an inspiring model for other states to emulate, highlighting the potential of community-centric education.

The post Connecting College to Communities: California’s New Service Agenda appeared first on Getting Smart.

Grandview superintendent Dr. Kenny Rodrequez (Missouri Superintendent of the Year) explains how the four career academies — health and engineering (both PLTW pathways), business and the arts — are adding client projects and dual enrollment courses. Grandview hosted the first PLTW engineering program in the area and their leadership encouraged regional growth to now over 95,000 students. Grandview Assistant Superintendent Patty LeMoy said Grandview elementary schools are adding more real world learning.

On recent visits to metro Kansas City high schools, we spotted evidence of more real world learning including more client-connected projects in core and elective courses, more internships and entrepreneurial experiences during and after school, and more dual credit courses and industry-recognized credentials.   

Summit Technology Academy (STA) is a next-gen career center in Lee’s Summit that opened in 2017 with the University of Central Missouri. It offers half-day experiences in five pathways: engineering, computer science, health, human services and natural resources (which is offered at a new location this year). Each pathway offers a career capstone project assessed for agency, authenticity, and articulation (i.e., how well students tell their story). Lucy, a senior, is completing an engineering capstone project to reduce contaminations from electronic waste. Lilli is taking on a challenging digital media project for a client and learning to use constructive feedback. JC appreciates time in the flight simulator (which he helped build over the summer). Blake will graduate in the spring with extensive work experience, 60 hours of college credit and will be on track to finish a finance degree in two years at KU. Instead of sports trophies, the results of PLTW biomedical research projects are proudly displayed at STA. 

North of Kansas City, Kearney High teachers are adding client projects to core and elective courses. Botony teacher Kaitlyn LaFrenz lined up garden projects with civic organizations and a church. Culinary teacher Kassidy Robertson helped students organize a catering event. Students in Angie Carmack’s Graphic Arts class served community clients with campaign collateral. Dustin McKinney turned choir into a client project with community deliverables while teaching quality, service, and entrepreneurship.  

Kearney Principal Dr. Andrew Gustafson showed off the professional broadcast studio where students produce news and sports programming. Several dozen Kearney students are engaged in an education internship where they teach an elementary class for an hour each afternoon. 

Shawnee Mission high schools (in southwest Kansas City and home of Kansas Superintendent of the Year Michelle Hubbard) are adding client projects in core and non-CTE courses. Tenth grade English at Shawnee Mission East High includes a project for a school district client; students problem-solve real issues in school operations and deliver a written report with solutions.   

Like Summit Tech, the Shawnee Mission Center for Academic Achievement opened in 2017. The next-gen career center hosts a world-class culinary program (above) and restaurant, the Broadmoor Bistro, which serves more than 150 guests per day (and is booked out through Valentine’s Day). It is supplied (in part) by a horticulture program that includes a greenhouse and garden (below). 

Above the restaurant are labs where seniors are doing capstone biomedical research with a molecular biologist, Dr Kenneth Lee (below). Research topics include microbes that degrade plastic, mycelial networks, micro-building blocks, and treatments for diabetes.  

Shawnee Mission elementary schools have added career exploration experiences. There is a middle school career fair and a high school internship fair. Secondary students use YouScience to identify strengths and interests and match them to possible futures.   

Bringing Real World Learning to Scale in Kansas City

The first cohort of 15 school systems received planning grants four years ago. It now includes 35 systems and 80 high schools in three Missouri counties and three Kansas counties. 

The goal is that all students will graduate with at least one valuable experience (called Market Value Assets) including internships, client projects, college credit (9 hours) and industry-recognized credentials. 

Many of the participating school systems have improved the number of students graduating with valuable experiences from a baseline of one-fifth to almost half. A few systems had more than 70% of graduates earn MVA, with many earning two or three. 

The Kansas state board has recommended that students should graduate with at least two valuable experiences (with a slightly broader definition). 

Principals from 49 of the regional high schools are participating in a fellowship program learning from each other how to add more real world learning. (The school visit observations in this blog resulted from accompanying principals as they visited other real world learning schools.)

Adding more real world learning experiences is boosting student engagement and job-ready skills, it’s developing learner agency and social capital, it’s connecting youth to possible futures and inviting them to experience success in what’s next. As more graduates leave school with valuable experiences, it’s likely to boost entrepreneurship and economic mobility and make Kansas City even more equitable and vibrant.

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“The College Lab is the single most valuable project I’ve ever completed.” 

As a high school AP Chemistry teacher, it’s a powerful statement to hear from a student. It might also seem like an odd project name for a science class. But I discovered years ago that all good chemistry lessons include student exploration and problem-solving–and that isn’t so different from the skills required to create a plan for life after high school.  

My classroom has about 90 sophomores, juniors, and seniors who take the class for a variety of reasons. It’s one of many classes they will take at Walter L. Sickles High School, putting them one step closer to the end of the year and graduation. It also means that when a student steps into my classroom, AP Chemistry is just one of many things on their mind. 

The reality is that many high school students are feeling unprepared for what comes next. They’re eager for more guidance. It’s why I’m never surprised to hear students look at class curriculums and ask themselves “How will this even help me?”  

I wanted to better answer that question so several years ago, I applied the scientific principles and practices of chemistry that I’m familiar with to an equally important topic: Planning for the future.  

Bringing College and Career Discovery into the Classroom 

The College Lab is a two-week project I lead that invites college and career conversations into the classroom. 

The need is urgent. A Morning Consult survey of 1,200 high school students for College Board looked at students’ attitudes about the future, and while it was encouraging to see that 46% felt motivated about exploring a career, 48% also said they felt anxious. My goal is to spark my students’ interest in these discussions so they feel confident making smart choices about a future career, college planning, and finances. 

The project is structured around five scientific principles:

• Conduct Research. Students research 15 diverse schools or majors they might be interested in. Using College Search on BigFuture, students can access profiles for more than 4,000 institutions – spanning certificate, 2-year, and four-year programs. 
• Make a Claim. As they research, students form a hypothesis as to which college they believe will be a good fit for them.
• Experiment. Students are given independent time to gather information about each institution according to the criteria that they chose to explore. The free planning site offers career exploration and financial planning resources so during this process, students might discover how a major connects to a potential career path or how they might afford postsecondary education.
• Draw a Conclusion. Based on all of the information gathered, students draw a conclusion as to what school they believe will be the best fit based on the data collected.
• Commentary. Students are given time to discuss the implications of their data and conclusion, including any sources of error, bias, or unexpected results.

As students explore, there is time for peer discussions. This can elevate lines of inquiry that they may not have thought of and spark further dialogue as students begin to discover similarities in their research. Many of my students claim that being able to discuss the project allows them to home in on the most important aspects including majors, campus life and financial aid.  

Haley, a former student of mine shared, “I [now] feel like I can make a decision about college that actually makes sense.”  

3 Tips for Your Classroom 

Students accomplish a lot in the two weeks but dedicating that amount of time isn’t always possible. If teachers are looking for meaningful ways to have a conversation on the future with their students, they can: 

• Start Small: Have students start with the college or career quiz on College Board’s BigFuture. The questionnaire can help students connect to key information on the site.  
• Give It a Try: Offer a small-scale assignment for students to explore some prospective colleges and universities. Ask for a smaller list or see what they can learn in a shorter amount of time. 
• Be a Resource: While we don’t have all of the answers, we can provide our students with support. That may be sharing our own college experience, connections to guidance counselors, and knowledge of free resources that can aid students. 

Not every student in my class walks away from the project knowing exactly what they’re going to do or where they’re going to go next. My hope is that 100 percent of my students will finish with a better understanding of their options and what it might take to get there. Regardless of the path they choose, I hope that the decision that they make is one that is informed and puts them in the best position to find success. 

Jared Schwartz is an AP Chemistry teacher at Walter L. Sickles High School in Tampa, Florida which serves a diverse population of students. Jared teaches 10^th through 12^th graders. This is his 11^th year teaching, and he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. His goal is to not only provide students with an enjoyable and rigorous learning experience, but also instill values to develop citizens of the world. When he’s not teaching, Jared enjoys running, golfing, reading, and spending quality time with his wife and newborn son, Teddy.

The post How The Principles of Experimentation Can Support Postsecondary Decision-Making appeared first on Getting Smart.

In many high schools in the nation, the traditional course sequence and graduation requirements remain static: four years of English, three years of math, three years of science, etc. Both mathematical and language literacies still hold major importance for every graduate. And, as the world becomes more complex and unpredictable, new consideration should be given to the required core content. 

We talk a lot about the most innovative learner-centered schools that combine personalized, competency-based and project-based learning co-designed around real-world experiences. Here, content emerges from student interest in high-purpose topics while also linking to standards or competencies. These learning environments are challenging the Carnegie status quo and sit on the horizon of education. While important signals for the future of learning, they remain the minority.

Updating content areas would accelerate learning around three core types of skills expected by schools: core skills (typically the skills of writing, reading, mathematics, history, arts found in state standards), technological skills (industry skills earned through CTE programs, work-based learning, apprenticeships, career pathways, etc.), and transferable skills (durable skills, XQ). Weaving in the content below will create engaging and future forward ways to nurture the core, technological and durable skills while preparing young people to govern, contribute and thrive as adults.

Next-Gen Economics

Every learner should engage in learning about entrepreneurship. Releasing a generation of empowered problem-solvers equipped with the tools to contribute to ventures that have both financial and/or social impact, helps future generations find their sense of purpose and ownership. Uncharted Learning, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and KnoPro from NAF all provide resources to embed entrepreneurial experiences and content.

Additionally, with both our country and many individuals experiencing significant debt, financial literacy remains low for graduates. Yet, it can have the most profound outcome on financial stability. Budgeting, credit, borrowing, and investing increase the long-term probability of financial stability for graduates. Both entrepreneurship and personal finance are well-represented in those who choose the CTE Finance or CTE Business and Administration career clusters, but this is not universally available. Many free or low-cost resources exist (see list here).

Artificial Intelligence

While school leaders and educators still are in the early stages of understanding the impact of AI, there is no doubt that it will rapidly become immersed in the education sector (likely in hyper-personalized learning of core skills and support for learning design and assessment). However, every graduate should understand the core principles of AI functionality and how to use it to augment intelligence and performance. These skills will be requisite in almost every future professional career. TeachAI.org recently released a guide for AI implementation while some districts, like Gwinnett County Public Schools, offer an AI CTE program pathway.

Civics and Citizenship

While often found in civics classrooms, the content remains less about good citizenship and more about the structures and function of government. While the structures and function are important, every student should understand their role in a democracy through political processes, how to move an idea to action, and community organizing for change. For example, the United States, with less than 50% of eligible 18-29 year old voters participating in elections, is in dire need of core education in civics. Organizations such as iCivics and Citizens and Scholars offer innovative and engaging approaches to civic education.

Media Literacy

Few other influential forces impact the current (and future) generations like digital media. The power of disinformation, misinformation, bias, etc. propagated through heavily financed algorithms will only increase. High school graduates need the tools and filters to process and evaluate everything they see online to better understand ways to get to the truth. Advances in AI around image, audio and video generation will make discernment of fact even more difficult. Resources such as Civic Online Reasoning at the core of every high school curriculum will have a significant positive change for future generations.

Healthy Living

Data shows the declining mental and physical health of adolescents. A generation struggling with mental and physical health increases the emotional and financial costs of a nation. While physical education programs have changed significantly over the years (like less dodgeball and rope climbing and more yoga and personal fitness), students still disengage from physical education. Accelerating, personalizing and customizing healthy living as part of core learning will increase the odds of healthy adults. Healthy food programs such as Food Corps and innovative physical education programs that focus on personal fitness can be integrated into the school day.

Place and Sustainability

Too many learners graduate high school with little to no knowledge about their local context and the long-term social, economic and ecological factors that drive the success or demise of a community. Every learner should graduate not only with a deep understanding of their own place, but should also know how to understand and impact future communities. Finding local purpose to inspire students through the creation of high-impact projects (Teton Science Schools’ Place-based Education, High Tech High) and building content around sustainability standards (Cloud Institute) can increase the long-term vitality of local and regional communities.

Neuroscience

One of the last frontiers in understanding the human body (along with the microbiome) is the brain. Every day, students are bombarded with outside stimuli that impact their brains from substances (alcohol, vaping, drug use, etc.) to technology (media, phones) – all while going through one of the more significant changes in the human brain – adolescence. Teaching relevant neuroscience could improve choice-making, mental health and learning in general (Global Online Academy, University of Wisconsin Neuroscience Training Program). By graduation all students should be able to describe the conditions and processes for how they learn and how they manage stress.

Data Science

Data science has surfaced over the last decade as critically important in many higher ed institutions and professions. Too many young people graduate high school never having had to create a spreadsheet, let alone organize, analyze and synthesize large amounts of data. Given the continued acceleration (again hyper-charged via AI) of data creation, every graduate needs to understand how to find, interpret, organize and analyze data in every form (YouCubed). 

Current Events 

While traditional history has expansive coverage in schools, most learners experience fact immersion rather than relevance and understanding. Every high school learner should experience history through a modern-day lens to both understand the throughline (see Throughline podcast) and the repeated themes of history — war, peace, power, oppression, freedom, religion, etc. — to find hope and skills to imagine a more peaceful future. Facing History provides a Current Events toolkit for those ready to jump in.

Systems and Futures

Understanding both systems thinking (the complex interactivity of multiple elements) and futures thinking (aptitudes for transformative vision-seeking over short-term solutions) is critical in a complex and uncertain world. By explicitly creating content and experiences around these concepts, young people are better equipped to anticipate and address current and future challenges.

To be clear, literacy remains paramount and a core pillar of society. While as a nation we still greatly struggle with literacy rates, we cannot wait to adapt our current content base toward possibility, opportunity and contribution. If a high school does not have the support or resources to complete redesign, rethinking the core curriculum may be an alternative first step when state or local policy allows. Replacing or merging the typical core content with the ten content areas above better supports the current generation of students to tackle an unpredictable and uncertain world.

The post The Content Every High School Student Should Learn (But Doesn’t) appeared first on Getting Smart.

In the next five years, almost every area of our lives will be fundamentally changed by advances in artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies.

As a North Carolina legislator and a former North Carolina school district superintendent, we believe we need to think differently about preparing students for this reality. We care deeply about education, economic development, and the future of our state. If schools can’t keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology, our children will be left behind.

This is why we are excited about SparkNC, a nonprofit organization rethinking education to give North Carolina students a competitive edge in an uncertain future.

SparkNC is different because students have the freedom and flexibility to pursue what interests them. Unlike traditional classrooms, SparkNC isn’t built around a rigid calendar and classes where students all move at the same pace. Instead, students choose their own paths, selecting learning experiences in fields like cybersecurity, computer systems engineering, and data analytics.

Learning is not confined to textbooks and classrooms. SparkNC collaborates with industry partners, helping students learn about tech careers firsthand. Through interactions with experts, students grow their networks and gain insights about tech jobs. Real-world experiences help students develop skills in teamwork, communication, leadership, critical thinking, and problem solving. All of this opens doors to career opportunities.

Every student in SparkNC develops a portfolio of learning where they collect tangible evidence of their accomplishments. It’s not just about what they’ve learned. It’s about what they’ve experienced and how they’ve prepared for their futures. This portfolio becomes a powerful asset as they take their next steps, to higher education or the workforce.

Sixteen school districts are currently partnering with SparkNC and opened high-tech “SparkLabs” this fall. These facilities serve as hubs of innovation where students can learn individually and in groups. All SparkLabs are connected through state-of-the-art systems that enable students in different spaces to meet, collaborate, and learn together with teachers and industry professionals.

SparkLab Leaders in each district facilitate learning. They are a new kind of educator, blending the roles of teacher, mentor, coach, entrepreneur, innovator, and connector. They guide and inspire students, helping them navigate their educational journeys and develop the skills and insights needed to succeed in a tech-driven world.

This year’s state budget continues funding for SparkNC’s innovative approach. This is an investment in the future of North Carolina. It’s an investment in our students, who will emerge from SparkNC with a competitive edge in the job market. And it’s an investment in our state’s economic development, as a tech-savvy workforce attracts businesses and drives growth.

We are each proud to stand behind SparkNC and its mission to rethink education in North Carolina. By offering students flexibility, choice, and a curriculum tailored to the demands of the tech industry, SparkNC is paving the way for a brighter and more prosperous future for our state.

Sen. Michael V. Lee represents New Hanover County in the North Carolina Senate. Dr. Lynn Moody is the former superintendent of Rowan-Salisbury Schools and the current Senior Director of Partnerships at SparkNC.

The post Igniting North Carolina’s Future: SparkNC’s Innovative Approach to Education appeared first on Getting Smart.

In 2020, however, the pandemic enabled families to see (and often engage in) their children’s school experience. This window into school made transparent the quality, types of learning and community that made up the lived experience of their children. For some, low satisfaction fueled renewed interest in microschooling led by parents, political support and philanthropic dollars.

The last two years of microschool growth (estimated enrollment by the National Microschooling Center at 1-2 million current students), heavily subsidized by the philanthropic sector, demonstrated that the demand exists. Alongside this resurgence, key questions arise: Are microschools sustainable? What outcomes should they measure (if any)? Are they compatible within the public sector? Can they scale? 

Below, we briefly hit upon the first three questions and then dive into the question of scaling.

Sustainability

Most microschools operate in the private sector, sustained by public funds (via Education Savings Account structures) or private tuition. Both of these funding sources supply individual students with far less than can be found in the public sector, making the business models and staffing (1-2 educators and a handful of students without the support of larger operations systems) challenging over time. Organizations like Microschool Revolution (investment model) and Prenda (service and support model) have emerged to address this issue.

Outcomes

In the public sector, there is a heavy focus on narrow slices of accountability which challenges  many families. Although microschools have far fewer accountability expectations outside of the public sector, they do have a responsibility to ensure that every child finds success. As a sector, we remain in the early stages of alternative, efficient, adaptive and flexible forms of measurement addressing both academic and whole child development.

Public Sector

With increasingly diminished enrollment in many districts (3% post-pandemic), the public sector needs to imagine the power of microschools within their existing communities. More specialized approaches, autonomy for teachers and small communities that benefit from larger districts will better serve all students. High school academy models such as CAPS and NAF have scaled around professional pathways to provide more opportunities for high school students.

Scale

Roughly 1-2 million students are enrolled in some form of a microschool, just 2% of all students enrolled in K-12 schools (estimates are difficult as many microschools are not required to report enrollment numbers). If demand is high for microschools – and demonstrated success continues, then scaling support is needed. ASU Prep in Phoenix, Arizona built a Microschool Entrepreneur Fellowship Program program to help facilitate this scaling. Based on the success of their microschool options — powered by ASU Prep Digital and partnered with ASU Prep school or ASU higher education campus — ASU Prep wants to support others in this journey. 

The size of microschools may provide the sense that they are easy to start and run. Yet, anecdotes from the field indicate challenges with sustainability and operations. Partner organizations and programs, like ASU Prep’s Microschool in a Box fill a needed space in the ecosystem to help these programs thrive and scale.

The ASU Prep Microschool Entrepreneur Program provides training and support for microschools. The fellowship spans one year with coaching calls starting for those accepted as early as October. A 3-day in-person Fellowship gathering in February in Tempe, Arizona kicks off the formal programming which leads to an online community of practice designed to build community amongst fellows. They then round out the year with frequent resources and ongoing mentorship and support. The program will support the launch of several new microschools in the Fall of 2024 to serve diverse learners across the country leveraging the assets of ASU Prep. The fellowship covers a range of topics including:

1. Policy and funding. Policy, rules and regulations, and funding models are the lifeblood of the microschool. Adhering to local and state regulations and securing appropriate funding is a key priority that ASU Prep will support.
2. Operations. Hiring, space design, leadership training, and general operations (schedules, transportation, facilities, etc.) can be overwhelming for microschools with 1-2 teachers and no administrators. Using established templates and resources, ASU Prep guides the construction of the operations of the microschool.
3. Pedagogy. While most microschools founders have some ideas of the approach for a school, ASU Prep’s robust resource base from a variety of approaches allows for more rapid development in this area. ASU Prep’s experience with professional learning and growth supports microschool leaders as they maintain relevance in the education landscape.

Funding is often a barrier for entrepreneur support programs like this but the Stand Together Trust has funded this program enabling up to 20 full grants for fellows. Similar programs from the Learning Innovation Fund at Getting Smart Collective and Community Partner Grant Program have also funded microschool models.

Microschools are meeting strong market demand for more personalized, more contextualized and more relevant learning for every student. Programs like ASU Prep’s Microschool in a Box make it possible for more learners to become future-ready with access to affordable, relational microschool learning.

The post Microschool in a Box: Programs Enabling the Microschool Movement appeared first on Getting Smart.

One of my favorite mom friends asks her young school-aged kids every day, “What did you make today?”

I love how subtly subversive this question is. Not, “How was school today?” “Were you good today?” or, “How’s [insert school subject] going?” But, “How did you put your ideas out into the world today?” 

That simple question understands this fundamental truth: to be human is to create, to employ our imaginations and partake in forming the world we want to live in. Our institutions have forgotten this basic truth, though—schools, especially. 

My oldest daughter Maeve is in first grade. I’m not sure what your impression or memory of first grade is, but I’m experiencing it like an academic boot camp for six-year-olds. You must immediately learn to: read, write, add, subtract, tie your shoes, memorize your facts, memorize your patriotic songs, and organize your things, and you need to do it all now. No time to waste. Maeve starts and ends most days with a sort of glaze over her eyes that I most certainly project as my own reaction to her extremely rigid daily schedule of keeping up with the skill/drill. 

Last week, I finally saw the lately-rare spark in her eyes when I picked her up from after-school art class. She had created glittered ceramic donuts, along with a wooden donut stand, and had designed a donut menu. I immediately was solicited by the tiny CEO, who informed me her donuts ranged from $100-$800 and I would need to pay her. 

To be human is to create, to put your ideas out into the world. Think of the last thing you were deeply invested in, and tell me it was not related to your own idea or problem you were passionate about. To solve problems and work on our own ideas is generally what, at the most basic level, makes any of us really give a damn at the end of the day, young and old alike. It’s the spark in all of our eyes, a sense of purpose and inspiration we could all use a hefty dose more of—kids in schools, especially. 

In my role and in my circles, I often partake in big-picture, philosophical discussions about education. Different flavors of the same conversation: our schools and communities are in crisis, educators are overwhelmed and in shortage, children/youth are ‘failing’, they’re unmotivated and struggling with mental health, and/or they’re so disconnected from the real world and inadequately prepared for the future—and what are we going to do about it all? 

I don’t have simple answers for public education, but here is what I do know. My years as a high school teacher taught me this very unlikely lesson for a traditional English teacher: to be human is to be entrepreneurial. Students crave opportunities to be active participants, creators, and solutionaries in real-world problems, and the essence of these opportunities is the essence of entrepreneurship. 

To Be Human is to Be Entrepreneurial

I learned this lesson most clearly from my own students, who by the time they were in high school, were exhausted from playing the game of school. Many who struggled to get through, but who came out of the woodwork and shined when the work and task of school shifted—when they were asked to launch real solutions to real problems they experienced every day. Students who I discovered were running successful businesses with their parents outside of school and who thrived when we no longer focused only on their deficits and skills gaps. Students who, in spite of – not because of – school, have gone on to open flower shops, body shops, cosmetic product companies. Students who have built new roles or departments within companies. And like the students we work with at Startland, who have launched viable, sustainable solutions to the community’s greatest needs that affect them—on topics they’re passionate about like immigration, environmental protection, racial equity, and women’s rights—many while still in high school.

To be human is to be entrepreneurial because to be entrepreneurial is to put your ideas and solutions into the world. To be entrepreneurial is to discover purpose, passion, and identity in this life. To be entrepreneurial is to be a shapeshifter with the fast-changing world, ready to meet the demands and challenges we can’t currently imagine. To be entrepreneurial is to build on your life experiences and bring innate value into situations, not deficits—which means being entrepreneurial is a path toward equity. Being entrepreneurial means you take on the world’s problems with confidence, curiosity, and persistence. It means you create opportunity for yourself and others, including economic opportunity and generational wealth. It means you negotiate your ideas with others, manage audacious goals with others, and gain empathy for others. Being entrepreneurial means becoming a leader.

Read that again and tell me it’s not what our children—and world—need now more than ever. And let me be clear— all kids, not just those deemed ready, capable, on grade level, or gifted. 

To be human is to be entrepreneurial, and when we leave entrepreneurship out of schools, or gatekeep these experiences for the elite few inside schools, we leave authentic learning and human development out of schools. Full stop. 

It’s hard to get behind entrepreneurship as educators and as a community. It’s high-risk and often misunderstood. If implemented, entrepreneurship is usually pigeon-holed in business classes or extracurricular clubs rather than scaled across the curriculum for all kids. It’s uncomfortable, to say the least, for most educators, who’ve themselves generally emerged from traditional teacher preparation programs. Philanthropists and policymakers haven’t figured out how to prioritize and invest in K-12 entrepreneurial experiences in a meaningful way. The ROI is not quick. It’s generational. 

At the same time, the role of entrepreneurship in personal and community economic development is well-researched. If you want to create and compound opportunity in communities, you invest in entrepreneurship. 

Entrepreneurship is Misunderstood and Misapplied 

The disconnect I’ve observed is who is having those conversations (economic development professionals) and whom they are having those conversations about (small business owners and startup founders). This trend is shortsighted and siloed. We need to have these discussions about our community’s schools and children, and we need to be having them at every level, as parents, educators, policymakers, funders, and economic development experts—and with the same seriousness and intensity that we discuss and measure reading, writing, and math. 

We can invest in closing critical gaps in literacy and math, but if we aren’t also investing in closing gaps in entrepreneurial opportunity for children at every level, we are widening well-researched opportunity gaps and removing the spark from the eyes of children at every level. 

To be human is to be entrepreneurial, and this innate entrepreneurialism should begin to be nurtured at the same time kids are learning to read, tie their shoes, and sell $800 make-believe ceramic donuts. These are the generations whose huge hearts and imaginations will be soon tasked—in a more complex and conflict-ridden world than ever before—with creating opportunity for themselves, their communities, and leading us all.

Katie Kimbrell is the Director of Startland Education, a program of Startland, a 501(c)3 nonprofit. At Startland Education, our mission is to bring human-centered design thinking to classrooms in order to create communities that value our youth and inspire them as future change leaders and entrepreneurs. To learn how Startland Education can equip and empower educators in design thinking at your school, visit startlandedu.org.

The post Why Entrepreneurship Might Save Our Kids—and the Rest of Us. appeared first on Getting Smart.

And oftentimes, they were doing this work with little cognitive and emotional support.

Dr. Carmen Garcia, president of CCSS, Superintendent of Morgan Hill Unified School District and an incredibly thoughtful and kind leader, welcomed the group with one sentiment; “being a superintendent is lonely”. Because no matter how big your team is, the high-pressure, highly-public, and highly responsible role of superintendent has little room for mistakes. 

In the education world, we’ve seen ad nauseam the ways educators can use AI to produce lesson plans, quizzes, and report cards. But I would argue, the most important potential of AI isn’t to enhance human productivity. It’s to enhance and support human thinking. 

So at CCSS, I chose to prepare our Superintendents to use AI as the thought partner they’ve always wanted, in a world where leading is a lonely job. 

This 2-part article is about AI’s cognitive abilities as a thought partner.

In my last piece of this series, I mapped AI’s capabilities to Bloom’s taxonomy, differentiating the competencies of AI from humans. My hope is that readers will see what humans can double down on as their unique advantage, while also identifying a new standard for quality of thought.

The second part provides ideas for how leaders can train an AI thought partner to represent whoever they want – a critic, a twin, a mentor, a philosopher, or a guide. 

In my last piece of this series, I mapped AI’s capabilities to Bloom’s taxonomy where we learned that AI’s splotchy cognitive competencies can help us: 

• explain the human advantage over AI 
• depict AI as a cognitive partner
• identify ways learners might use AI and be duped by AI
• narrate how AI will elevate our standards in education for the production of content, ideas, and discourse

Now, we’ll identify how leaders can finally have the thought partner they’ve always wanted. 

Leaders are often faced with complex decision-making. It isn’t easy to expect others in their ecosystem to be able to provide a full evaluation of the situation or the final decision, because the leader often has more information. Collaborative decision making is always an excellent strategy to involve more stakeholders, but that can also fail if the stakeholders are uninformed or the decision needs to be made quickly. 

So in the moments when a leader needs to make a decision, help her collaborators make a decision, or evaluate a decision she made, who does she turn to?

Imagine if every leader had a personal coach who was critical when she needed feedback, a twin when she needed efficiency, and a philosopher when she needed inspiration. Imagine that this guide knew everything about the leader, her ecosystem, her stakeholders, and her problems.

During my keynote at CCSS, the thoughtful Dr. César Morales, Ventura County Superintendent, said he had a lightbulb moment at this point. Although he didn’t feel comfortable producing content on ChatGPT, he realized he could have it critique his work. And that completely changed his perspective on AI. 

Breaking Down Complex Decision Making

So how do we do this? There are ways to literally create a digital twin using AI. In fact, my friend Bodo built two with his kids using my friend Dima’s AI platform. But let’s consider ChatGPT as our main tool.

Let’s start by breaking down complex decision making. 

To make a difficult decision (or write a letter to the board, advocate for a staff member, produce a business report, etc. etc.), leaders have to gather and analyze the appropriate information from various sources first. We can equate this to the “empathy” stage of design thinking. Without analyzing information from all sides, it’s impossible to conceive a wise decision or prioritize the components of the decision. 

As leaders brainstorm a solution to their problem, they should explore alternative perspectives and generate scenarios that assess the risk, trade-offs, and predict the response. If leaders are not considering what could happen if this decision were made, they may run into bigger problems. 

These components work much like Bloom’s in that they’re more of a spiral that volley back and forth between each other. In sum, complex decision making is made up of gathering information, clarifying complex concepts, exploring alternative perspectives, facilitating brainstorming, analyzing data, and generating scenarios and predictions.

But the reality is that leaders don’t always have time or the skill to make these levels of assessments before they execute.

Enter, AI. 

In addition to asking AI to brainstorm the decision for us, we can ask AI to analyze the decision we may want to make. Remember that AI cannot make meaning so humans must always make their own judgments. Here are my go-to questions for complex decisions.

These questions allow teams to quickly iterate and adapt their decisions before executing. They allow us to simulate outcomes and consider alternatives we may never have thought of. And most importantly, they equip us with strategies to improve our thinking that we can potentially learn from for future decisions. 

This, of course, is my main thesis across these articles: AI can help us become better thinkers.

Context Setting 

To set up a cognitive friend on ChatGPT, we first need to set clear context for our ecosystem using the four Ps, before you even ask my go-to questions. 

Place: Tell AI what makes up your ecosystem from the size of the organization to the history it’s had. 

People: Describe who your stakeholders are and be as detailed as possible. Try introducing a few personas that your decision impacts.

Purpose: Identify the goals and objectives of your organization, your own professional goals in your leadership role, and any KPIs that might be relevant to the short or long term.

Problems: Explain the obstacles your organization has had over the last few years. Explain what your team has been struggling with. 

By asking ChatGPT to remember these things, every new piece of information will build upon the last. 

To set up a critic, add the prompt: “You are an expert in complex systems thinking, conflict-resolution, and design thinking. You are also my critical yet supportive thought partner who helps me see beyond my blindspots.” 

To set up a philosopher: “You are an expert in philosophy, regenerative ecosystems, and moral theory. You are also my critical yet supportive thought partner who helps me see beyond my blindspots.” 

…you get the idea. Following this, present your draft solution to AI and then ask the aforementioned go-to questions.

There are oodles of prompt engineering resources out there that will show you how to increase the reliability of responses. Our Ed3 DAO community member Brian Piper recently identified prompts he’s used. Please choose your own adventure.

The main goal with setting up a cognitive thought partner is to improve your thinking, not just the production of content. If used correctly, leaders having a thought partner who knows them can be game changing. 

Grasping our Self-Governance

Technology will outpace our ability to keep up with it. Expanding datasets and neural links will likely help AI get “smarter”. But if we want to stand a chance against the machine, we must retain our self-governance, AKA our ability to own our decisions and data. We need to continually evolve our cognitive abilities and explicitly recognize the nuances only humans know, from politics to pedagogy.

I’m grateful to the folks at CCSS for inviting me to share my ideas with them and commend their continued leadership across their school districts, despite how lonely leading can be.

Check out my newsletter for more thoughts on AI + Web3 and my website, www.vritisaraf.com. Join our community at Ed3 DAO to continue the conversation and to access AI courses for educators. 

The post AI is the Cognitive Friend We’ve Always Wanted appeared first on Getting Smart.