Too Essential to Fail:�Why our Big Bet on Public Education Needs a Bold National Response
Transforming the Education Ecosystem �Karen Pittman & Merita Irby
April 19, 2024
Why we wrote this paper
�2018 �
Where and When Learning Happens (SEAD Commission)
Expanding Our Understanding of All of the Places and Times Young People Grow and Learn
�with AIR & NUL 2020 with SoLD Alliance 2021 with Pitt School of Ed 2022
Readiness Projects
Knowledge to Power Catalysts 2024�with AIR with Education Reimagined with XQ Institute
Our Premise
Ecosystems exist. But many are unhealthy, and all are highly inequitable. Looking carefully at our experiences in the broader learning ecosystems will help us reimagine the role that the public education system plays in supporting learning ecosystem health and equity.
Our Goal
To build overall confidence in our collective ability to enact local change because we are already actors in learning ecosystems that stretch far beyond the school building.
How we organized the evidence
Development-Driven Learning
��They’re definitely engaged…�But Are They Really Learning?
CF + XQ Learning Experiences Design Checklist
Crafting Powerful Learning Experiences
Science Findings + Design Principles
The Clip Affirms What Sciences Tells us about learning and development.
For Schools and for Community-Based Settings
Developing Life Skills�Parents Value a Broad Range of Skills and Competencies ��They See Distinct Yet Reinforcing Roles for Schools, Home and OST
TETF, Page 20
Parents and Teachers Agree on the Value of OST Programs�Top 5 Motivations to Enroll Children in OST Programs
TETF, Page 21
Perspectives
The vast majority of�the general population�believes more things�about the educational�system should change�than stay the same,�including 21% who�say nearly everything�should change.�Populace
Parents are satisfied with OST experiences but want schools to change.
Page 21
From School and OST Systems to Learning & Development Ecosystems
Dynamic interactions between people, places, and possibilities.
Current Context & Assertions re: Action
CURRENT CONTEXT:�Schools have societal legitimacy through regulative systems; that is, they receive tax dollars, and students are legally required to attend. Without such provision, non-school youth programs must primarily seek legitimacy through…shared understanding, cultural support, social expectations.
ASSERTION 1: Realizing the promise of learning ecosystem approaches will require expanding beyond narrow views about what is valued as learning, what learning spaces are considered legitimate, and who is “deserving” of learning opportunities.
ASSERTION 2: Realizing the promise of learning ecosystem approaches will require expanded notions of adult leader expertise for supporting learning and development.
Akiva, Delale-O’Connor, and Pittman 2020�quoted in Too Essential to Fail, p.49
“Using ecological thinking changes the way we see the ecosystem itself: it is no longer a collection of participants and learning places with separate essences that need to be connected for individual children. Instead, the learning ecosystem emerges as a constellation of intertwined and entangled elements, where learning happens through dynamic relational processes among the people, places, and stuff we find across/within/ between school and out-of- school places.�
By taking a deeper look and exploring the dynamic processes of learning ecosystems, we may be better able to manage systems that offer more equitable lifelong and lifewide learning opportunities.”
- Hecht & Crowley (2019)
Quoted in TETF p. 5
Possibilities for youth to access creative arts were increased because the people in creative arts places were asked to name the other places they knew and valued.
Over 250 creative learning organizations were identified
Size did not determine network centrality
4 subnetworks emerged –
1 had concentration of small, Black-arts centering organizations
Pittsburgh’s Creative Learning Ecosystem
Continue reading OECD Scenarios
A Path Forward
How do we optimize the people, places and possibilities existing within and between these institutions in ways that ignite learners, strengthen communities, and reverse inequities?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
Schools are the primary institution responsible for core academic preparation of ALL children & youth, with custodial responsibility during school day and year.
Schools have become de facto multi-service agencies providing many supports. Staff, resources, and facilities are over-taxed, Bringing in staff from other public and private agencies helps but still requires coordination effort.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
Community Institutions offer basic services and enrichment & engagement opportunities directly to youth and families, primarily in the out-of-school hours and outside of the school building.
Families recognize the value of supplemental learning and development opportunities for their children, but often lack the time, information, and financial resources needed to assemble them. Quality and access are consequently highly inequitable.
?
$
The adults employed in schools and community institutions aren’t encouraged to bring their “full selves” into their roles, leaving opportunities for L& D on the table. This is especially true for adults in secondary roles.
When they see a need to connect their participants to people, places, possibilities outside of their organizations, they often find that they have to “assemble” their experiences on their own.
“Keystone Species”
“Keystone Species”
Municipalities are establishing children’s cabinets and coordinating bodies (including OST intermediaries) charged with assessing community needs, developing community plans and engaging public and community agencies in supporting child well-being & youth success.
Infrastructure for Learning & Development
Look For and Build Upon Existing Coordination Capacity�
Learning Hubs
A New Architecture to Support Learning and Development Ecosystem
Ecosystem Stewards: Community Share example
Community Action Framework for Youth Development
Page 29
Community Action Framework for Youth Development
Page 29
ecosystem infrastructure & stewardship
healthy, productive, connected adults
identity� & agency
differential opportunities
A Potential Path Forward
Overcoming Resistance to Change�Vision x Dissatisfaction x First Steps x Believability > Resistance
Page 46
Do we have the vision, evidence, and examples to build the CONFIDENCE that change can happen?
?
?
?
?
?
?