Designing Schools for the Future: Supporting the Needs of the 21st Century Student
In this video, Reinvention Lab founder Michelle Culver presents a theory of change for education which is inspired by examples of innovative leadership from within the Teach For America network.
Designing the Future of School: Ideas and Examples from the Education Reinvention Network
In this video, Reinvention Lab founder Michelle Culver presents a theory of change for education which is inspired by examples of innovative leadership from within the Teach For America network.
December 9, 2022
View transcript
Michelle: We’re facing some big challenges in education. We’re seeing the largest declines in national test scores since 1990. The teacher shortage is devastating many schools, especially in rural and urban America.
These are symptoms of something deeper. The real problem is that our education system was developed over 100 years ago and is simply not designed to give young people what they need to thrive today.
In the Reinvention Lab, we fuel the future of learning by deeply understanding, amplifying, and designing based on the innovative bright spots that already happening in our communities. We’re asking ourselves, “How we, as educators, can meet the needs of young people today, while simultaneously designing an entirely new system?”
We’re facing a design problem, so why not seek design solutions?
I’m inspired by the story of the Bay Bridge. When it was built in the 1930’s it was an engineering feat. But within decades, it was widely understood that it no longer met modern safety standards. Then, in 1989, an earthquake caused a portion of the bridge to collapse. Now there was a choice: repair the old bridge, or build a new one. At the time, 400,000 people a day depended on the Bay Bridge. They couldn’t just shut it down while they built a replacement. So they did both. After repairing the damage, engineers were charged with building an entirely new bridge alongside the old one. Then traffic was shifted, section by section, from the old bridge, to the new.
In education, the ground has been shaking under us for decades. Coming out of the pandemic, most of our creative time, energy, resources is still going towards fixing the old system - the old bridge. Yet this might be our one chance to build something radically different. Something that can actually adapt to our young people’s evolving needs. It doesn't have to be either-or. Let’s do both!
The blueprint for the new bridge? It’s already being drafted. Educators are asking themselves: How might young people be best prepared to thrive in and to actively shape this rapidly changing world?
This is Noah Fortson, he’s showing ways that learning extends beyond the four walls of the classroom. Students collaborate to create media projects with and for their community.
Noah: I told them, this is not a class that’s about grades, this is going to be a class that’s going to be about telling stories of people in your community, telling your own stories and really kind of using the tools that we have as an A/V class to maximize the potential of our community.
Michelle: Ebony Payne Brown is founding a school that centers the whole child by implementing an Afro-centric curriculum, restorative justice model and deep collaboration with parents and community members.
Ebony: As they engage in this curriculum, not only will they learn about themselves, but they will get a different picture of what it means to be Black in America.
Michelle: Here at Da Vinci Schools, students are offered the chance to pursue career pathways and to specialize in subjects they’re passionate about so they graduate high school prepared to lead in the industries that shape our world.
Erin: So we at the Da Vinci school are un-siloing the classroom from the world around it and really looking at relevant kind of realistic project-based learning, all fueled by what is the industry asking for today and what may be thinking about tomorrow.
Michelle: At Da Vinci RISE High School, executive director Erin Whalen extends that model to youth who have been traditionally written out of these opportunities.
Erin: RISE is built upon the idea of building from the margins. We focus our design process around youth who are in the foster care system, have experienced housing instability, and/or have been in the juvenile justice system.
Michelle: So what’s exciting about this is that there are so many educators, innovators, and leaders who are already answering these questions in different ways alongside students and communities.
I think the question for all of us in education is: how do we work on both bridges? We need everyone. We need people working to repair the current system, and we need more people willing to join in the work of reinventing education, to build that new bridge alongside the old. So that when it’s built, we can finally have the deeply relevant, liberatory, joy-filled education system that every young person deserves.
These are symptoms of something deeper. The real problem is that our education system was developed over 100 years ago and is simply not designed to give young people what they need to thrive today.
In the Reinvention Lab, we fuel the future of learning by deeply understanding, amplifying, and designing based on the innovative bright spots that already happening in our communities. We’re asking ourselves, “How we, as educators, can meet the needs of young people today, while simultaneously designing an entirely new system?”
We’re facing a design problem, so why not seek design solutions?
I’m inspired by the story of the Bay Bridge. When it was built in the 1930’s it was an engineering feat. But within decades, it was widely understood that it no longer met modern safety standards. Then, in 1989, an earthquake caused a portion of the bridge to collapse. Now there was a choice: repair the old bridge, or build a new one. At the time, 400,000 people a day depended on the Bay Bridge. They couldn’t just shut it down while they built a replacement. So they did both. After repairing the damage, engineers were charged with building an entirely new bridge alongside the old one. Then traffic was shifted, section by section, from the old bridge, to the new.
In education, the ground has been shaking under us for decades. Coming out of the pandemic, most of our creative time, energy, resources is still going towards fixing the old system - the old bridge. Yet this might be our one chance to build something radically different. Something that can actually adapt to our young people’s evolving needs. It doesn't have to be either-or. Let’s do both!
The blueprint for the new bridge? It’s already being drafted. Educators are asking themselves: How might young people be best prepared to thrive in and to actively shape this rapidly changing world?
This is Noah Fortson, he’s showing ways that learning extends beyond the four walls of the classroom. Students collaborate to create media projects with and for their community.
Noah: I told them, this is not a class that’s about grades, this is going to be a class that’s going to be about telling stories of people in your community, telling your own stories and really kind of using the tools that we have as an A/V class to maximize the potential of our community.
Michelle: Ebony Payne Brown is founding a school that centers the whole child by implementing an Afro-centric curriculum, restorative justice model and deep collaboration with parents and community members.
Ebony: As they engage in this curriculum, not only will they learn about themselves, but they will get a different picture of what it means to be Black in America.
Michelle: Here at Da Vinci Schools, students are offered the chance to pursue career pathways and to specialize in subjects they’re passionate about so they graduate high school prepared to lead in the industries that shape our world.
Erin: So we at the Da Vinci school are un-siloing the classroom from the world around it and really looking at relevant kind of realistic project-based learning, all fueled by what is the industry asking for today and what may be thinking about tomorrow.
Michelle: At Da Vinci RISE High School, executive director Erin Whalen extends that model to youth who have been traditionally written out of these opportunities.
Erin: RISE is built upon the idea of building from the margins. We focus our design process around youth who are in the foster care system, have experienced housing instability, and/or have been in the juvenile justice system.
Michelle: So what’s exciting about this is that there are so many educators, innovators, and leaders who are already answering these questions in different ways alongside students and communities.
I think the question for all of us in education is: how do we work on both bridges? We need everyone. We need people working to repair the current system, and we need more people willing to join in the work of reinventing education, to build that new bridge alongside the old. So that when it’s built, we can finally have the deeply relevant, liberatory, joy-filled education system that every young person deserves.