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.

“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 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.

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.

Apprenticeships provide an innovative way for educators to experience real-life challenges and hone their professional skills. Allowing aspiring educators to gain hands-on experience, mentorship, and practice in actual classrooms positively impacts the development of their competency levels and the quality of education they can provide throughout their careers. Simultaneously, apprenticeships address the educator shortages many districts and schools are experiencing while creating a durable pathway into the teaching profession. It is essential to recognize that as the education field evolves, apprenticeships hold tremendous potential for the growth and advancement of educators while providing an opportunity for aspiring teachers to earn income while they learn.

One of the critical advantages of educator apprenticeships is the emphasis on practical experience. Traditional education preparation programs have focused on theoretical knowledge, leaving many new educators unprepared for real-world classroom challenges. Apprenticeships offer an immersive learning experience where aspiring educators can actively participate in the teaching process under the guidance of experienced mentor teachers. 

Educator apprenticeships strongly emphasize mentorship, pairing novices with experienced educators who serve as their guides throughout the program. This mentor-mentee relationship allows apprentices to benefit from the wisdom and expertise of seasoned professionals while also receiving ongoing support, constructive feedback, and opportunities to reflect on teaching practices. The mentor model is not new and is cited as a best practice, according to the Educator Prep Lab at the Learning Policy Institute, and is backed by a rich evidence base that prioritizes educator retention in the profession and other similar factors championed by teacher residency programs. 

Through this mentorship model, teaching apprenticeships foster a culture of continuous professional growth and core competency development. Novice educators receive personalized guidance tailored to individual needs that enables them to develop their strengths while addressing areas that need improvement. 

Another critical component of apprenticeships is the ability to earn while you learn. By offering a stipend or salary during their training, teaching apprenticeships become financially accessible for individuals considering a career change or for those with financial constraints who are passionate about teaching. Moreover, by providing an opportunity for aspiring teachers to work alongside experienced educators, apprenticeships offer a compelling and supportive environment for individuals to transition into education.

As America grapples with a persistent teacher shortage, apprenticeships offer a light at the end of the tunnel. As of October 2022, 4% of all public school teaching positions were vacant. Eighteen percent of public schools had one teaching vacancy, and 27% had multiple teaching vacancies. Teaching apprenticeships can address the deficit by attracting more individuals to the profession. 

Currently, apprenticeship programs are recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor in 16 states, with several more states presently applying for state or federal approval. The Pathways Alliance Apprenticeship Working Group, alongside other Pathways organizations and national partners, created the recently released National Guidelines for Standards for Educator Apprenticeships (NGS). The NGS outlines the requirements and responsibilities an apprenticeship program must be held accountable for and essential guidance about competencies that educators must demonstrate to be considered a successful apprentice.

Under the NGS, the term of the apprenticeship is at least one full school year of paid on-the-job learning (OJL)/clinical practice working alongside a mentor teacher who is the teacher of record for the classroom. The apprentice must demonstrate the competencies described in the Work Process Schedule throughout at least one K-12 academic year. Total time spent in the apprenticeship program, including during the school day, in professional learning opportunities, and preparation for classroom work, must be at least 2,000 hours. Exposure to constant feedback while operating amid real-life situations offers passionate individuals the opportunity to hone the emotional intelligence and capacity for adaptation needed in a capable teacher. 

This comprehensive framework outlines an apprentice’s professional and pedagogical skills alongside wage guidance and clinical hour requirements and offers standards for environments with and without collective bargaining. All guidelines are underpinned by an evidence-based approach to educator development and training from the Biden-Harris Administration’s call to provide high-quality apprenticeship programs and more for current and future educators. 

Looking ahead, it’s essential to keep in mind that teaching apprenticeships have the potential to transform educator preparation and deserve our attention and enthusiasm. The Pathways Alliance is contributing to that momentum by releasing a series of webinars focusing on apprenticeships and resources to help districts, states, IHEs, and other stakeholders understand this vital opportunity. 

In the first in the series released this August, Pathways Alliance collaborated with Dallas College and Deans For Impact to discuss how Dallas College has developed its apprenticeship model. The next exciting apprenticeship-focused webinar was a collaboration with AACTE (The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) and AIR (American Institute for Research), which focused heavily on the role of EPPs.

The Pathways Alliance aims to build a national coalition focused on supporting and implementing diverse and inclusive educator preparation pipelines. By continuing to explore how apprenticeships and teacher residency programs can be continuously adapted to meet the challenges of the ever-changing education sector, Pathways Alliance and its partners have the potential to play a significant role in accelerating innovation toward an equitable, inclusive, and radically different future for all learners. 

Sabrina Baptiste leads InnovateEDU’s LAB Corps Fellowship program, which provides training and professional development to novice educators providing small group instruction and mentorship to middle school students.

The post The Future of Teaching Apprenticeships: Empowering Educators and Transforming Education appeared first on Getting Smart.

School systems across the nation face a common problem – how to use the vast amount of data available to them from various edtech tools to make informed decisions and equip educators with that data promptly. According to a recent LearnPlatform report, school districts accessed an average of 2,591 district edtech tools last year and about 1,379 edtech tools each month. However, much of this data is siloed, making it difficult for educators to use it to drive decision-making. 

The solution to this challenge is data interoperability – the seamless, secure, and controlled exchange of data between applications. Data interoperability makes it easy to exchange data between systems and combine it to be easily analyzed and made available through data visualizations and reports. This makes it easier for educators to get a holistic picture of each student and can help drive better instructional decisions.

Implementing data interoperability can be a challenging, multi-year process for school systems and edtech service providers. For many districts, the journey continues while moving to more sophisticated interoperability systems and leading educators through professional development in online learning and data-informed decision-making.   

Every year, Project Unicorn administers the School System Data Survey to help the education sector better understand current K-12 school system capabilities and infrastructure for leveraging education data. Questions are grouped into six domains: Leadership and Vision, Governance, Technology and Infrastructure Landscape, Procurement, Implementation Fidelity, and Impact on Educational Environment. Project Unicorn then analyzes the data and publishes the results in the State of the Sector Report. 

The 2023 report evaluated the responses from school systems across the United States, providing valuable insights into the state of K-12 data interoperability and suggested action steps to move the work forward.

Some key findings include the following:

• Consistent with all three years, governance was identified as the most significant challenge for school systems among the six survey domains.
• Consistent with findings from last year, school systems that reported having data teams scored significantly higher across all domains, and the size of a district’s IT team did not have a significant relationship with the size of a district’s data team.
• Many school system leaders still need to familiarize themselves with education data standards and/or how they might be used to benefit students. Although knowledge in this area is slowly increasing year after year, the buy-in for interoperability is high.
• Larger and more urban school systems tended to score higher on the survey than smaller and more rural ones. This is likely because larger systems have more resources to invest in infrastructure, which ultimately leads to better outcomes.
• School systems continue to indicate prioritization of data-driven decision-making but need more capacity for robust implementation and face obstacles.
• Funding continues to be a challenge for implementing data system modernization, including interoperability and privacy, even with increased federal dollars.

The State of the Sector Report indicates that school systems need funding and support to leverage data interoperability and use their data best. Despite the abundance of edtech tools, school systems need more infrastructure and human capacity to leverage this data at scale.

Fortunately, Project Unicorn provides support and guidance to school systems that want to use their data better. By signing the Project Unicorn School Network Pledge, school systems receive complimentary technical assistance from Project Unicorn interoperability experts to help them move forward. No matter where school systems are on their interoperability journey, Project Unicorn and our partners can help them move this important work forward to benefit students, educators, administrators, and parents.

Recommended Resources

• The First Three Steps for K-12 IT Leaders
• The Privacy Jump Start Guide
• The Better Edtech Buying Guide
• The K-12 Digital Infrastructure Briefs – By The Office of Educational Technology

Chloe Sanducci is the Project Director for Project Unicorn, an initiative of the non-profit InnovateEDU. This initiative is a coalition of 17 external organizations focused on advancing and implementing data interoperability in K-12 schools.  Project Unicorn helps school technology leaders and edtech solution providers integrate data interoperability standards into their data ecosystems by providing free resources, webinars, scholarships for professional development, interoperability certifications, and reports. Additional 1:1 technical assistance is available for signatories of the Project Unicorn School Network Pledge and the Project Unicorn Edtech Vendor Pledge to help them move forward on their data interoperability journey.Project Unicorn has released its 2023 State of the Sector Report, featuring insights from the field into the status of data interoperability in K-12 schools nationwide.

The post Using the Insights of Project Unicorn’s 2023 State of The Sector Report appeared first on Getting Smart.

Young people keep telling us that school is boring and irrelevant to their lives and careers, yet schooling has not radically changed for over a century. The pandemic underscored the need to refresh education amidst today’s pace of change and to redesign what, why, how, where and with whom students learn.

But any transformation relies on big systems making space for innovators — and on innovators having faith in the ability of big systems to change. When people with a bent towards innovation consistently hit walls within inflexible institutions and are drawn to launch other ventures, the places where our kids are learning stay outdated. On top of the often-touted entrepreneurs, education needs intrapreneurs, people transforming systems from the inside. 

In 2019, I partnered with our CEO, Elisa Villanueva Beard, to launch the Reinvention Lab at Teach For America (TFA) to catalyze the next chapter of TFA’s impact for young people. Since then, the Reinvention Lab’s charge has been “transforming ourselves to radically transform learning,” a concept inspired by Grace Lee Boggs. We ask where the future of learning needs to go, how the system of education needs to evolve and, ultimately, how we put TFA’s assets to work on behalf of creating that future. In collaboration with colleagues across the organization, we help lead TFA’s evolution from the inside to make sure it doesn’t get calcified in its thirty-year approach and design new learning environments with and for young people. One transformation can’t happen without the other.  

Even though TFA is serious about doing things differently, the journey has been imperfect and sometimes difficult. From experiences working in public school districts, government agencies, academia, philanthropy and large nonprofits, my teammates and I have compassion for the ways that systems can get stuck. 

In the spirit of humility and knowledge sharing with those working to transform our education systems and institutions, here are 4 principles about changing from within that we’ve learned and continue to refine. 

Principle 1: Innovate on your core model and build towards the future of learning

TFA’s two-year corps member program is its largest offering. Since 1990, it has attracted young people to teach in low-income communities for at least two years, where they’re employed by local schools and become lifelong leaders in the fight for educational excellence and equity. Like any model created thirty years ago, it requires modernization for the needs of today’s rising generation. This critical work lives alongside nascent projects out of the Reinvention Lab that create new models to address students’ emerging needs. Two current projects for example: designing a summer school experience for students to develop greater agency in exploring post-secondary interests and creating an AI literacy course that college students deliver virtually.

TFA works to simultaneously improve its core model and build towards the future. An in-house innovation team allows a separate and distinct group to focus on new offerings without diluting an organization’s core business. For us, this model allows The Reinvention Lab to experiment in ways that do not put TFA or its existing work at risk. 

But we still need to align with the organization’s overall priorities and mission. The Reinvention Lab leaders regularly coordinate with others across the organization even as Lab team members work independently. TFA senior leaders reiterate that all innovative work across the organization matters and is valued, and that the relationship between an in-house innovation team and the rest of the institution is a mutually reciprocal one. Without this, competition over resources or confusion about roles can fester, even among people with shared values and strong professional relationships.

We made missteps around this principle when creating The Reinvention Lab. We took too long to communicate intra-organizationally what was going on behind the scenes, creating anxiety about diffusing organizational focus. We worried about The Reinvention Lab getting scrutinized before we had time to learn deeply from those already working at the intersection of equity and innovation and because it took time to determine how TFA could add unique value to the field. Our concerns meant we didn’t clearly explain how the new team would contribute to TFA’s shared mission. Elliott Witney at ECHO Learning reflected on this same tension from his time running an innovation wing in a Texas school district. He described the ideal as creating a fishbowl around an innovation team to allow collective understanding and transparency without requiring collective input at every step of the way. In hindsight, we should have created this type of transparency and cohesion and done so sooner.

Principle 2: Create a culture of testing and composting

Historically, Teach For America staff feel most successful if they create something quickly, make it big and get it right the first time. I grew up professionally in TFA and in many ways helped create our organizational culture around scale, speed and results. This approach is an asset when it encourages us to be bold and reach as many kids as possible, but it can also result in a culture of perfectionism or risk avoidance.

The Reinvention Lab models dreaming big while starting small. We come up with ideas, test our assumptions through prototypes, refine and iterate. If a project is impactful, we pass it along to our friends in other areas of the organization who are better poised to take the idea to scale. If the data shows we’re on the wrong track, the time was not wasted because we didn’t invest in an expensive program that wouldn’t have made a significant impact.

Moreover, we capture what we’ve learned to inform future projects. We call this process composting, an intentionally organic metaphor. Composting is a way to invest projects we’ve decided not to pursue back into a nutrient-rich soil that can grow into related or different ideas. For example, we observed that a number of our urban and rural district partners began moving to a 4-day school week after the pandemic, partly because of a growing teacher shortage. At the Reinvention Lab, we asked ourselves: If this trend continues, could TFA build an offering for the 5th day? Exploratory research showed that such a program, while promising for young people, would not have been financially viable. Starting small paid off and kept us from building out an entire new initiative that we could not sustain. We composted this idea, and it has influenced our work around reinventing summer school, another potential way to bring innovative models to young people during less regulated learning time. 

In a culture of perfectionism, no one wants to “fail.” But if low-stakes prototypes prove assumptions wrong, failing is a win. It’s a responsible way to ensure high-quality experiences for participants and steward an organization’s resources before making huge investments. Adults need space to practice nimbleness and flexibility, skills that young people need too.

The practice of composting is slowly spreading across TFA and helping the organization focus on the places where real breakthroughs and transformations are possible. Our ultimate hope is that we successfully build new offerings that advance the future of learning and become part of TFA’s fabric.

Principle 3: Resist fixed work plans and staffing structures

The culture of testing from Principle 3 requires a new pace of work and a different staffing model. Instead of starting with a predetermined outcome and operating on fixed annual planning cycles, The Reinvention Lab functions in trimester cycles. We set four-month goals, sort ourselves into project teams, plan ahead two weeks at a time and use emerging data to influence what we do next. In between trimesters, we reorganize teams and projects as needed.

More traditional backward planning makes sense in other parts of the organization. When refining an existing program or increasing efficiency, a more linear, annual approach is preferable. The outcome and capacity required are largely known. When you’re trying to create something that does not yet exist, it’s impossible to predict what you’ll need and when.

This style of working runs counter to the common approach in education. School principals and teachers are year-long fixed roles. The plan is linear: students need to master math or English Language Arts content by the end of the school year. Education organizations tend to mirror that linear approach: annual goals, fixed teams, fixed staffing.

Despite our best intentions, The Reinvention Lab found ourselves slipping back into static positions. We continually remind ourselves that our jobs can and often do change, even when that ambiguity is hard to hold. We view the regular evolution of our jobs as an asset and an opportunity to grow. Staffing flexibility also means we can bring in outside people for a broader range of expertise. A number of contractors join our small full-time team to work on specific projects, bringing technical expertise that would be too expensive to hire full time.

In doing so, we’ve brought new vantage points to the work. Because we believe the future of learning needs to expand beyond current school buildings, we value expertise from the edtech sector and from museum, after-school and homeschool settings. We’re betting on the benefit of diversity and different world views, even if doing so means we may bump up against differences in values, working styles, and assumptions. Harnessing a combination of perspectives feels critical to getting something different while making sure it is relevant at TFA.

Principle 4: Get serious about authentic youth participation

There is no effective path forward in education without the earnest involvement of young people. Organizations need to move beyond box-checking surveys and focus groups to thoughtfully engage and uplift the leadership of young people. At The Reinvention Lab, we’ve learned that this is more difficult than anticipated, but essential — having young people at the table has in fact changed the outcome in healthy and unexpected ways. 

When we created the Enduring Ideas Fellowship after the pandemic hit, we included youth fellows on the Enduring Ideas Award grantmaking process. Young people comprised 50% of the decision-making body and joined adults to distribute $1.5m to community-based efforts. Time and time again, the group funded efforts that adults alone wouldn’t have funded, a testament to what can happen through participatory decision-making.

Under Malliron Hodge’s leadership, we moved from listening and sharing decision-making to actually co-building. We’ve done this in several different ways, including embedding youth as part-time staff on all projects. Even with our commitment to youth-adult co-creation, putting these values into action has been harder than we expected. Much like the importance of affinity groups, young people need and deserve their own space in addition to time with adult colleagues. Yet students have full school schedules during traditional business hours. If they miss a project team meeting for The Reinvention Lab, it can be difficult to disrupt traditional power dynamics that default to adult decision-making. We’re still figuring out how to maximize the unique assets and participation of young staff by defining what we do as a full team and what we can take on in smaller groups.

Young people are the most impacted yet least engaged stakeholders in education. If the education field doesn’t start sharing power with young people, a small set of largely white adults will continue to make decisions that impact young people and communities of color. 

TFA envisions a world in which young people participate in joy-filled, affirming and relevant learning experiences and are prepared to thrive in and shape the future. This world won’t create itself. To unlock and shift our education systems, adults need opportunities to be creative, agile and work in new ways, ways that mirror the responsive learning environments young people have long been demanding. The work of transforming and re-structuring institutions from the inside is never easy and never finished. The transformation of The Reinvention Lab, Teach For America and the nation’s public school system are all works in progress. But each is necessary, interconnected, urgent and possible.

Michelle Culver is the Founder of The Reinvention Lab powered by Teach For America.

The post 4 Principles for Transforming Education Institutions and Systems From the Inside appeared first on Getting Smart.

Teachers often report feeling anxious, stressed, and eventually burned out from technology. Oftentimes, it’s due to a lack of effective training.

More than 50 percent of teachers said their edtech professional development training was a one-time event with little follow-up coaching or mentoring. Behind the data is a pattern that many superintendents and principals should recognize. Often a leader hears powerful claims about a new tool, gets educators excited about how the technology can unleash teacher capacity, implements the tool and then turns their attention to the next big tech trend. Teachers are left swimming alone in the deep end, trying to figure out how to effectively use the new technology.

Leaders can break this cycle by easing the edtech learning curve for teachers with professional development experiences that focus on teacher-centered mentorship, practicing and modeling patience and setting realistic expectations. It’s a philosophy that Concord Community Schools in Concord, Michigan recently took to heart. 

Redesign Training as Teacher-Centered Mentorship

Many traditional professional development and training models are built on the same “sit and get” approach that leaders are trying to move away from in classrooms. In contrast, a teacher-centered mentorship model enables teachers to learn in ways that supports diverse learning levels, provides ongoing support and becomes self-sustaining so new teachers can easily adopt technology. 

At Concord Community Schools the transition in professional development began as the district explored the power of the Modern Classrooms Project (MCP) framework as an instructional shift in classrooms. The model centers on blended instruction, self-paced learning and mastery-based grading, as opposed to a traditional lecture-based model. Using the model, teachers leverage technology to engage students with a broad diversity of learning levels and social-emotional needs through bite-sized teacher-created videos, and one-to-one and small-group classroom learning. The MCP framework also enables parents, guardians, or other people in a student’s life to get involved, because they can access the content just like a student would and support the student’s learning.

As part of adopting the model, school leaders and an initial cohort of teachers, completed a modern classrooms mentorship program. The district experienced how mentorship could help teachers learn new instructional skills, inspiring them to think about how it could be used in other forms of professional development.

Along with in-person training, the district converted professional development sessions into self-paced virtual units so educators could rewatch the material as needed. Educators at Concord Community Schools also continue to receive ongoing coaching to maximize their impact in the classroom and even guide their fellow educators in developing new skills in everything from technology use to instructional models. One educator described the experience as, “It’s a challenge, but worth it. What worked 10-20 years ago, just isn’t as effective anymore! This is the method all schools need to be introduced to, in order to be relevant in this time of teaching kids.”

Practice Patience with Yourself and Your Team

In a world of instant gratification, it’s easy to stop innovating when challenges arise. However, learning to use new technology, especially if it impacts how teachers teach, takes time, dedicated and intentional work and a resilient attitude. When scaling innovation, a leader must practice patience and not cut the process short because someone is struggling or stakeholders are questioning a district’s progress.

Practicing patience starts with understanding not all teachers will be ready to change. Leaders will be best served by starting small and focusing on a coalition of the willing. 

When it comes to actually showing teachers how to use new technology or implement a new approach, leaders have to be the number one risk taker and model self-compassion because inevitably there will be frustrations and failures. Afterall, educators, just like students, learn at different paces and in different ways. Dedicating time to nurture teachers through their struggles, help them identify their strengths and develop a solution together, will soften feelings of fear and self-doubt and help guide teachers from initially learning a new model or technology to competency and mastery and then to advocacy. 

Reaching the advocacy stage is essential to easing the learning curve for teachers who may initially be hesitant about new technology. Amplifying the voices of teachers who successfully adopted a new tool can help those still going through the process see what is possible. It takes patience and a willingness from administrative leaders to create space for teachers to get there.

Set Realistic Expectations

During the pandemic, districts were focused on helping students continue to learn so there was minimal time to thoroughly vet edtech solutions, provide sufficient professional development and communicate changes to families. 

Today, however, districts have the capacity to be more intentional when implementing educational solutions. In addition to easing teachers into using these solutions, district leaders must be transparent with all stakeholders on the progress of the implementation so any issues can be worked out before a new program launches. For example, families who may have concerns about the implementation of a new instructional model can be invited into a conversation to better understand the impact on their students. When introducing new technology or models into the classroom, some educators at Concord Community Schools have created demonstrations for parents and guardians during parent-teacher conferences. Teachers walk parents through the new approach or tool or even create mock assignments where family members pretend they are students. It’s a meaningful step that helps the larger community fully understand the goal of changes in the classroom.  

Bonus considerations for leaders. Reimagining professional development is a journey. The above practices will make the biggest difference, but leaders can also consider:

• Learning alongside educators – joining educators in the process of learning a new tool or model creates a shared experience and demonstrates leaders are invested in the change.
• Centering “why” – communications about new technology should focus on why it is important and the benefits it brings to teachers and students. Leaders should also connect it to a school’s greater mission or strategic plans. 
• Create a continuation plan – learning often doesn’t stop after a single workshop or a few weeks of training. Intentionally creating a plan for ongoing training, follow-ups, and ad hoc questions provides teachers the continued support they need.

As district leaders, we have the opportunity to reimagine how we support educators with professional development through mentorship, patience and setting realistic expectations, preparing them for what’s next in K-12 education and ultimately creating equitable learning environments for our students. 

Becky Hutchinson is the Superintendent of Concord Community Schools in Concord, Michigan.
Kareem Farah is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Modern Classrooms Project, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering educators to build classrooms that respond to every student’s needs

The post 3 Ways to Reimagine Professional Development in Districts appeared first on Getting Smart.

Picture this: a second-year university student from Ghana wants to transfer to the University of Leeds and receive credit for courses completed in their home country. Similarly, an individual has completed a law degree in Malaysia and now wants to practice in Italy. Both of these learners hit the same snag, the immense challenge of converting credentials and experiences (e.g. converting UK Key Stage 4 to US early High School). Those responsible for this critical work exist but are rarely talked about. 

At the 10th Annual The Association for Credential Evaluation Professionals (TAICEP) Conference, nearly 250 delegates from 24 countries gathered to focus on topics like the varying national educational systems, issues with refugees and war-torn countries, spotting fraudulent transcripts and diplomas, and evaluating non-traditional pathways like micro-credentials and work experience for credit. 

TAICEP shines a light on the whole world of benevolent behind-the-scenes operators who manage the fate of thousands of applicants to universities, trade schools, and visa offices who don’t quite fit the definition of normal. Determining eligibility and the next steps require a massive amount of knowledge about national systems, languages, and deciphering what is meant by items like “paraprofessional level one training.” Through sessions and conversations, a few big-picture questions emerged.

Who is governing?

The world is getting more complex. Different countries are adapting their educational and professional certification programs and there is a proliferation of fraudulent credentials, which will likely get worse before it gets better as we enter an increasingly AI-infused world. To combat this, some attendees proposed global governance on items like verifying credits awarded for MOOCs, Micro-credentials, competency-based programs, and industry certifications. 

Even within this reimagined governance model, there was no consensus on effective strategies to assess the value of non-traditional, non-credit-bearing learning experiences. Anneta Stroud, AACRAO (Registrars and Admissions Officers), was very clear that universities need to get on board, like yesterday.  At one of the later sessions, a team from South Africa presented on their attempts to bring micro-credentials (AKA short skills programs or part qualifications) under their National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The presenter noted that Malaysia has also had success with defining and evaluating micro-credentials and that UNESCO, the EU, and the OECD have all drafted blueprints or policy recommendations on micro-credentials, but to date, there is no common agreement on definitions, rigor, or assessments.

Who certifies the certifiers?

The recognition of this global community of credential evaluators organized by TAICEP is only ten years old. However, TAICEP itself is just a membership organization for anyone involved in the specialized field of international credential evaluation. Delegates represent “higher education institutions, independent evaluation agencies, ENIC/NARIC offices, government ministries, licensing authorities, examination boards, awarding bodies, and other organizations.” It is not a global governing body. Therefore, there remains a need for a certification program and industry standards for the credential evaluation profession. TAICEP has proposed its own set of rigorous mini-certifications on various aspects of the profession, but ironically those micro-credentials suffer from the same lack of authority that puzzles the credentialing community on other forms of micro-credentialing.

How do we deal with the non-traditional?

This profession is full of completely out-of-the-box situations. One panel discussion which included university and industry representatives shared stories about candidates presenting credentials that had never been seen before and the rabbit holes they have to go down to figure out equivalencies or to validate that person’s education or training as acceptable. The panel and audience members shared the view that they should act as an accessory rather than an obstacle and how much joy it brings them when they can tell someone that their credential has been accepted as valid. Three different sessions addressed the issue of dealing with credentials from war-torn regions like Syria or Ukraine where there was longer a university or trade school to validate. In one panel, one of the better-known agencies, World Educational Services, had teamed up with the national certification board in South Africa in a pilot project to validate the credentials of over 6,000 refugees. 

As the world continues to evolve its understanding of what an education is, professional credential evaluators are an important component of that cycle, whether behind the scenes or sitting directly in front of that candidate clutching a piece of paper they worked very hard to achieve and hoping it will be accepted as valid evidence of learning. 

James Mattiace is an assessment reform advocate. Previously, he was a principal and an IB teacher.

Credentialed Learning

With Credentialed Learning, students have ownership of creating their academic selves, determine where they’re headed  and with whom they share their journey.  Credentialed Learning allows students to carry digital credentials and learning records with them everywhere they go so they are always ready for every opportunity.

View Publication

The post The Global Credentialing Landscape: Messy, Massive and Meaningful appeared first on Getting Smart.

Schools, as integral components of the social tapestry within any given community, possess the potential for a more profound role. They hold the potential to be dynamic centers of community engagement and enrichment, creating learning experiences that touch every demographic of the community. Too many schools are shuttered at the end of the day, or after the last student practice or club has adjourned. When schools start viewing themselves as resources in the lives of the entire community, not just its children, it creates opportunities to actively involve the community, creating a reciprocal relationship that benefits both the students and the surrounding neighborhood. This collaborative approach transforms schools into vibrant hubs that enhance not only student learning but also the well-being of the entire community.

By developing shared resources, or making minor updates to make them shareable, a school can open its doors and invite community members into the school environment. Educators can tap into this rich resource to enhance student learning while providing additional benefits to the community by bringing the outside in.  Community members can gain the benefits of educational athletic and recreational facilities, theatrical and multipurpose facilities, and beyond, which also an opportunity to put money back into the schools through renting these facilities. Applications and websites, such as facilitron, already exist to match community groups and users with public facilities, including schools. However, these are applications for people to request access to school facilities, not those schools actively inviting the community to contribute to education. To do that, districts must be proactive. 

One effective way to create dynamic community participation is through the inclusion and utilization of flexible maker spaces or tinker labs. These spaces can be the perfect environment to invite guest professionals, artists, entrepreneurs, and experts from various fields to share their insights and experiences with students. These guest speakers can provide real-world context to classroom learning, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Students gain a deeper understanding of how their studies translate to the world outside, which can ignite their passion for learning and open their minds to new possibilities.

Moreover, community members can serve as mentors, guiding students in areas of their expertise. This mentorship goes beyond traditional education, offering personalized support and guidance that helps students develop crucial life skills, set goals, and make informed decisions about their futures. The mentor-student relationship also instills a sense of belonging and builds self-confidence, as students receive validation and encouragement from role models within their community. 

In recent years, to provide more value to the community, many schools have built administrative community resource space in the form of wellness and family centers for adult instruction, legal and housing assistance, health resources and services, and English as a second language instruction. These types of community health and wellness resources can be excellent vehicles for career education training in health careers or in second language learning where adult and adolescent students teach one another under supervision from trained instructors. 

Collaborative projects between schools and community organizations are another powerful way to enrich both student learning and the community. Local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and civic groups can partner with schools to create hands-on projects that address real community needs. This not only teaches students about social responsibility but also equips them with practical skills while making a tangible impact on the community. For instance, students could work on environmental initiatives, urban planning projects, or community service initiatives, fostering a sense of civic engagement and empowerment in shared research space such as the library, large meeting spaces, or even the campus quad. 

Cultural and artistic engagement is equally vital. Schools can collaborate with local artists, musicians, dancers, and performers to offer workshops, exhibitions, and performances. This not only encourages creativity and self-expression among students but also introduces the community to a diverse range of artistic experiences. Cultural events hosted at schools provide a platform for community members to interact, share their cultural heritage, and celebrate diversity. These events not only enrich the community’s cultural fabric but also provide students with an opportunity to learn about different traditions and perspectives.

Collaborations like these not only maximize the use of available resources but also fosters a sense of ownership among community members. Schools become a shared space where people of all ages can gather, interact, and learn from each other. In many communities across the country, schools are engaging in facilities upgrades to create secured and monitored entries for just such joint-se activities. Most school facilities are already equipped with spaces that could be utilized in numerous ways beyond the examples above to benefit the broader community and students in flexible after-hours special projects, education, or hobbyist activities and skill sharing.

Community involvement fosters a positive reputation for the school, strengthening its ties to the neighborhood and garnering support for its programs. Additionally, involving the community can often provide financial support through grants, donations, and volunteer efforts, enabling schools to enhance their resources and offerings. When developing new facilities or modernizing existing ones, we encourage our district clients to consider how their campus can open itself to the community and provide additional value that engages the whole community. 

One of the most important steps to ensuring success that we have seen is writing community engagement goals into Strategic and Capital Improvement Plans for the District. By outlining community engagement as a discrete facility project goal at the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, we as the design firm were able to be informed of the key project goal from the very beginning. This shaped how we approached the project and informed the design possibilities we brought to the table when working with each District. We as designers can come to the table with concrete facilities suggestions on each project to make the facility more porous and adaptive to community need. In the case of all the project examples here, community engagement was a goal written into the outset of the project, and our team was able to design around that goal and propose use cases and examples for the District and community stakeholders to discuss and vet in meetings and charettes. 

The collaboration between schools and communities holds immense potential to enrich student learning while benefiting the community at large. By opening their doors and inviting community programs, guest speakers, fostering mentorship relationships, engaging in collaborative projects, and promoting cultural exchange, schools become vibrant centers of knowledge, growth, and interaction. This approach nurtures well-rounded, socially responsible students while also strengthening the bonds within the community, creating a cycle of continuous enrichment for both students and the neighborhoods they inhabit.

Mary Ruppenthal is the HED Pre-K-12 Education Sector Leader

The post The School as a Whole Community Resource appeared first on Getting Smart.