Wishful Thinking

Devin Vodicka and Katie Martin, from the Learner-Centered Collaborative, are smart people. Theoretically, both are spot on when it comes to what young learners need in their lives to become smarter and stronger with their reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development skills.

There’s only one problem.

Most of what they preach can’t be done to scale in our current K-12 educational system.

Earlier this month, Vodicka and Martin wrote an article for Tom Vander Ark’s Getting Smart. What they write here makes a lot of sense:

“America’s education system was a groundbreaking effort to help a growing nation thrive in the 19^th century. Now, 200 years later, the world has changed; the horizon looks drastically different. Collectively, we need to redesign our education system to enable all of our children – and, by extension, our nation – to thrive today and tomorrow. ‘Horizon Three’ or ‘H3’ names the future-ready system we need, one that is grounded in equity serving learners’ individual strengths and needs as well as the common good. [This article] provides a glimpse of where H3 is already being designed and built. It also includes provocations about how we might fundamentally reimagine learning for the future ahead…”

“What are your desired outcomes for young people? When engaging in the co-design process to create an ideal learner-centered ecosystem, this is the question we always start with at Learner-Centered Collaborative. Across the 40+ public school systems we work with, we bring together key stakeholders – parents, youth, teachers, principals, district leaders, community members, and industry experts – who offer remarkably similar aspirations no matter their geographical or cultural context. We consistently hear different versions of: ‘We want young people to be safe, happy, successful, resilient, effective communicators and collaborators, and to have the agency and confidence to chart their paths based on their strengths, goals, and opportunities.”

“However, many students express that school feels irrelevant. They feel the experiences, constraints, and busy work don’t prepare them with the skills we all hope they will gain and the world demands they have as Antonio Rudenstein describes in her article, “What should Young People Get Really Good At?” Data backs this up: indicators like attendance, disengagement, and stress show a clear disconnect between the experience in schools and the skills necessary to thrive now and in the future.”

“In today’s rapidly evolving world, the traditional school-centered model no longer prepares students for life beyond the classroom. To truly serve every learner, we need to shift to a learner-centered paradigm, where schools are reimagined as dynamic community hubs that place learners and their growth at the heart of every decision. This shift isn’t just about a narrow view of academic success; it’s about nurturing the whole learner. In these environments, learners embrace challenges, navigate complexity, leverage technology, solve problems, and learn how to learn as the world continues to change.”

“Realizing our aspirations for young people requires us to consider how, what, and where they learn. Many districts are bringing their Portrait of a Learner to life by moving from school-centered systems to learner-centered systems. Promising models are emerging, offering innovative approaches and pushing the boundaries of what is possible. We don’t believe there is one right way – there are many, shaped by your goals, community, and context. As Tom Vander Ark highlights, we need more school models to continue to expand our collective view of what is possible….”

…

“Shifting to a learner-centered paradigm – a vision that transcends outdated, school-centered models reinvigorates and redefines schools as essential hubs within their communities. By redesigning public schools around the principles of flexibility, personalization, and community engagement, we can build a system where every student has the opportunity to succeed.”

“A learner-centered approach empowers students, families, and educators to shape learning experiences that are relevant and responsive to individual needs, eliminating the one-size-fits-all structure that has long constrained public education. By centering public schools in this transformation, we can both preserve and enhance them as critical, accessible resources that serve the whole community – ensuring the future of our education systems are robust and adaptable institutions that evolve with the changing times.”

Sounds good, but I’m not buying it – if traditional schools are the ones responsible for making this type of transformation.

Most traditional schools are inflexible, non-personalized places with little connection to their communities. Portraits of a Learner (describing what young learners should really be working on) don’t work in traditional schools because there is no time to work on work that answers the question “What should young people get really good at?”

Vodicka and Martin’s organization currently works with 40 school districts. There are over 13,000 public school districts in the U.S. Working with 40 at a time, how long would it take to reach a tipping point where learner-centered focus is the rule and not the exception?

No, this is going to take a new learner-centered system appearing within communities across our country. One has to hope home schools, learning pods, and microschools are the beginning of such a movement.

Til tomorrow. SVB