Possibly A New Way

I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth telling again.

Years ago, I had lunch with the dean of education at a public university located in Houston, Texas. I wanted to pitch him an idea for a new way to educate adult learning leaders. The idea revolved around training a corps of learning coaches to build dynamic learning plans for young learners so that their learning could be personalized.

After my pitch, the dean sat there for a while and then he said this:

“Scott, that sounds interesting, but I don’t think the school districts I work with aren’t buying this type of learning system. They like things the way they currently are.”

Pivot to today, when, let’s face it, our current K-12 system is struggling mightily to teach reading, writing, and problem-solving skills to the country’s children – especially if those children are black, brown, or poor.

Not many are willing to admit it, but our nation’s K-12 educational system is a mess.

K-12 districts are too slow to change. Most parents are clueless about how their kids are doing, or not doing, in the schools they send them to every day. And successes, whenever found, can be described as boutique programs that serve too few kids to really make a difference.

But occasionally, there comes an idea that is exciting enough to spend time writing about. Today, that idea comes from Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss, a retired Pennsylvania superintendent, now employed at Moravian University as a professor of education. Ziegenfuss and his team just released an article titled “A Principles-Based Approach to Systemic Transformation” through the Education Reimagined website. Portions of the article are found below:

“At the intersection of AI advancement, systemic inequity, and an unpredictable future lies an opportunity to reimagine educational leadership. Two powerful metaphors illuminate this reimagined approach: the kaleidoscope and the workbench. Like a kaleidoscope, transformational leaders must constantly shift their perspective, allowing their identity, lived experience, and theoretical understanding to create dynamic patterns of possibility. When the kaleidoscope turns, new configurations emerge – just as leaders must help their communities discover new ways of thinking and being. The workbench represents the tactical space where these insights transform in action. Here, leaders prototype solutions, refine approaches, and craft interventions that address their communities’ unique needs. Together, these metaphors capture leadership as both an art and a craft, where continuous reflection meets practical application.”

“This dual nature of leadership – reflective and action-oriented – is precisely what today’s educational challenges demand. Schools, districts, higher education institutions, and workplace learning environments face unprecedented complexity: integrating rapidly evolving AI technologies, dismantling systemic inequities, and preparing humanity for a future we can barely imagine. These challenges require more than conventional leadership development – they demand a fundamental rethinking of how we prepare educational leaders to navigate complexity and drive meaningful change.”

“The Moravian University Ed.D. in Transformational Leadership embodies this reimagined approach. Unlike traditional doctoral programs that separate theory from practice, this program interweaves reflection and action through the lens of five learner-centered principles from Education Reimagined: agency, competency-based learning, personalized-relevant-contextualized learning, open-walled learning, and socially-embedded learning. Through these principles, leaders develop the capacity to turn their kaleidoscope of experiences while crafting solutions at their leadership workbench. This article explores how these principles come to life in the program, examining both the theoretical foundations and practical applications that are already transforming diverse learning environments. Through case studies and emerging impacts, we’ll see how this approach is equipping leaders to redesign systems for a more equitable and human-centered future.”

“The Moravian Ed.D. program transforms the five learner-centered principles from theoretical constructs into lives experiences. Through intentionally designed, interconnected learning experiences, leaders discover how these principles reinforce and amplify each other, creating a powerful framework for systemic change. Each principle serves both as a lens for understanding leadership and as a practical tool for transformation, allowing leaders to deeply internalize approaches they will later implement in their own contexts.”

“Agency manifests through experiences that challenge leaders to move beyond traditional notions of authority and control. In Adaptive Leadership sprints, leaders critically examine workplace challenges through the lens of their own involvement in maintaining current systems. By embracing vulnerability in reflective writing and engaging in structured partner dialogues, participants uncover how their beliefs and actions might inadvertently sustain the status quo. As one participant noted, ‘These exercises forced me to confront my own role in perpetuating outdated practices while giving me the tools to envision and implement new approaches.’ This deep engagement with agency not only builds self-awareness but also develops the confidence needed to catalyze change in complex systems.”

“The program’s commitment to personalized, relevant, and contextualized learning manifests in every aspect of the leader’s journey. Through structured co-design sessions, faculty collaborate with leaders to craft action research pathways that address pressing challenges in their specific contexts. An assistant principal exploring equity in support services, a corporate learning leader reimagining hybrid professional development, and a higher education administrator exploring initiatives to design for belonging, each receive tailored guidance to connect theoretical frameworks with their unique circumstances. This deliberate alignment ensures that every project, reading, and learning experience serves dual purposes: advancing the leader’s immediate work while building transferable approaches to transformation. The result is a learning journey where theory and practice aren’t just connected – they’re inseparable.”

“Competency-based learning in the program transcends traditional assessment models by placing leaders’ voices at the center of their developmental journey. Through structured self-reflection processes, leaders assess their growth across fourteen action research skills and mindsets, while regular updates to Leadership Manifestos and Impact Portfolios document their unique trajectory. One student wrote, ‘And in a sort of meta way, I have to keep reminding myself I don’t always have to collect quantitative data as we often feel compelled to do…because that’s just how we’ve been programmed to think within the larger system. It’s one of those deep-seated assumptions we need to question.’ Rather than measuring progress against standardized benchmarks, leaders use their agency to determine, with faculty support, which competencies and strengths will best serve their unique contexts. They then craft personalized measures of success, treating their workbench as a laboratory for developing their leadership capacities. Progress is measured not by time spent, but by meaningful growth in areas that matter most to each leader’s transformational work.”

“Open-walled learning expands leaders’ perspectives beyond traditional academic boundaries through immersive experiences that illuminate systemic transformation. A visit to The High Line in New York City during the summer residency served as a powerful case study, demonstrating how collaborative leadership and adaptive thinking transformed and abandoned railway into a thriving community space. Leaders analyzed how stakeholders navigated complex challenges, challenged established norms, and reimagined possibilities – parallels they draw to their own work in educational transformation. Similarly, exploring the history of Bethlehem Steel revealed crucial lessons about organizational adaptation and the consequences of resisting change. These experiences are enriched by monthly dialogues with guest speakers and panelists who bring diverse perspectives from across sectors. From mindset experts to social entrepreneurs, these voices challenge leaders to expand their definition of what’s possible in educational transformation. Through these open-walled experiences, leaders develop new mental models for understanding and approaching systemic change.”

“Socially-embedded learning permeates the program’s design, fostering a vibrant community of practitioner-scholars who learn with and through each other. Through regular inquiry sessions, leaders engage in dialogical pedagogy – a collaborative approach where knowledge emerges through structured dialogue rather than traditional lecture. Together, they unpack foundational frameworks like The Three Box Strategy, The Human School Compass, and Adaptive Leadership, examining how these theories resonate within their diverse professional contexts. A leader implementing competency-based assessment might gain insights from a colleague redesigning corporate training, while another’s experience with equity initiatives sparks new thinking about community engagement. This collaborative meaning-making builds more than just understanding – it creates a network of trust, belonging, and shared purpose that amplifies each leader’s capacity to drive systemic transformation. The relationships formed through these socially-embedded experiences become a lasting resource for continued growth and innovation.”

Monday we’ll explore Moravian University case studies, exemplifying the five learner-centered principles discussed above.

Friday News Roundup tomorrow. Til then. SVB