Public education has an important role to play in equitably preparing all students to lead successful and happy lives, and helping America to prosper. But it needs a new theory of change.
Learning must be more student-centered—that is, it must be built on a foundation of strong relationships, responsive to basic needs, driven by student interests, respectful of their identities, adaptive to their academic needs, relevant to their lives beyond school, and not confined within school days and walls.
If student-centered learning customized to each student's needs is the goal, how do we get there? Our theory of change is two-fold:
But change should not be orchestrated from the top-down or forced on anyone. Rather, bold innovation and continuous improvements to traditional school happen side by side in a "split-screen". Over time the system changes organically, as innovative approaches to learning are tried, refined, replicated, and adopted by others.
Below are six action points to move this new strategy.