A Prediction for the New Year – The Power of Innovative Schools

January 11, 2017

Late last year, with our CEO Stacey Childress, I co-authored a paper called “Reimagining Learning: A Big Bet on the Future of American Education.”  An overview of the report is posted on EdSurge, in a piece penned by Stacey.

In it, the “Reimagining Learning” paper is framed as a prediction for the future of education in America.  As anyone who has worked with Stacey or taken her class at Harvard Business School can attest, she is often able to spot patterns and emerging trends before they’ve fully taken shape.

This paper is a window into Stacey’s ability to see things unfolding, and is informed by my own experience as a management consultant supporting innovation in multiple industries.  “Reimagining Learning” highlights promising practices and proposes approaches for supporting the adoption of the best ideas, in order to dramatically improve student outcomes.

While writing the paper, we spent months talking to others who have been doing this work for years, and we explored how change has taken place in education and many other sectors.  We synthesized these ideas and landed on a set of ambitious aspirations that many of us believe are bold – yet achievable – over the next decade.

As Stacey says in her EdSurge piece, she made a prediction a few years ago that personalized learning would take off as a concept, and it sure has.  Let’s hope she and I are right again this time, in predicting that many educators, entrepreneurs and philanthropists will join forces over the next 10 years to help millions of students have more personalized, meaningful and valuable learning experiences in innovative schools.