Over time, people have sought to impact that system—adding new goals, altering the resources it uses, and seeking to remedy some of its negative impacts. Yet, these efforts have largely taken the underlying infrastructure of the current system as a given. They modify parts of it, reform aspects, and add new elements to it but leave its foundation untouched.

The Ecosystems Working Group took a different approach. Instead of starting with what has been a given, we started with a vision of what a thriving, dynamic learning experience would look like for our children—one built on what we now know about learning science and the power of relationship, autonomy, and community. We call this starting place learner-centered education.

And from there, we set out to discover, newly, what an infrastructure might look like that would enable this learning experience, for each and every child. We explored and identified a new set of principles, values, and assumptions that we would choose today. And we imagined what a system of education might look like with these assumptions and choices at the core.

When we stand in this full realization of the learner-centered vision, we see a world in which the public education system serves as the backbone for equitable, community-based, learner-centered ecosystems.

This is a bold, audacious challenge. And as we discovered again and again, not an easy one.

As committed as we might be to invent and imagine freely, the system we’ve grown up in (and for many of us, have worked in) has a strong gravitational pull. So, getting to a place where we could reliably and consistently stand in a world of learner-centered ecosystems required diligence and intention. But it was imperative to this work.

That is why the first chapter of this guide begins here—with the vision of learner-centered education and how equitable, community-based, learner-centered ecosystems would fulfill the promise of this vision. We invite readers to return to this section to reground themselves as they make their way through the guide.

We start with the purpose of education. When we take a learner-centered approach to the growth and development of our children, the aim of the public education system is to support each young person to discover who they are, their unique gifts, and how to contribute those gifts meaningfully to their families, communities, and the world.

Said another way, it is “to nurture and support the development of whole human beings within caring communities where each learner is known, accepted for who they are, and supported to learn and thrive now and into the future. Education itself is seen as a partnership amongst young learners, their peers, and adults. Emphasis is placed on developing each learner’s own agency—growing their capacity to act independently and to effectively make meaningful choices regarding their learning, so that they are able to follow their own interests and pursue their own aspirations” (Education Reimagined 2021).

We are seeking to support each and every child—with no exceptions—to build and lead a secure and fulfilling life of their own choosing. This purpose contains within it myriad assumptions about who children are, how learning happens, and what it takes to create equitable, powerful learning experiences that serve each unique learner and create a collective community of learning.

It is important to note that these assumptions are in stark contrast with those at the foundation of our country’s current, standardized approach of education. Four key assumptions stand out:

• The central work of education is learning itself. Holding this assumption, it follows that the primary focus of the education system and those within it is on how to create and maintain the conditions for great learning to happen. This is in contrast to a system in which the work is the delivery of content. Instead, we have to get curious and ask such questions as: What does great learning look like? Does it look the same for everyone? How do we create sustainable structures that support, rather than inhibit, the conditions for learning? What does it take to ensure those conditions are equitable? How do we create a system that itself is based in learning, iteration, and adaption?
• Education is done by and with the learner. If we assume learning is done by and with a child, the work becomes about creating the space for children to co-create and drive their learning journeys in developmentally appropriate ways. We set aside the assumption that learning is something you can do to or for someone. The role of the adults is to partner, to encourage, and to facilitate—not to dictate, force, and dominate the process. The role of the system is to ensure its conditions allow children equitable access to the resources, supports, and opportunities to own and pursue their learning goals.
• All learners are unique, capable, curious, and wondrous. Taking this view of learners invites us to be present to their inexhaustible potential and their ability to contribute their thinking, ideas, and gifts, right now. Moreover, it is an assumption that applies to each and every child without exception. This is inclusive of their race, neurodiversity, gender identity, age, socioeconomic status, family situation, religion, nationality, language, or life circumstances. Young learners are not vessels to be filled with knowledge, or people preparing for a life yet to come, or the sum of their test scores. Instead, it becomes an honor to see each child as someone to discover, build relationship with, support, guide, and learn from.
• Finally, learning happens when a learner’s interests, passions, and purpose are engaged. As we get curious about what a system would look like that enables young people to co-create their own learning journeys, we see that learning lives everywhere. Young people grow and learn with and from their families, community, and peers. In fact, learning happens most naturally when they are in authentic, real-world situations that tap into their curiosities and invite their ideas and contributions. From this view, education is no longer an attempt to force learners into a standardized curriculum with a standardized set of outcomes, creating the problems we may call poor engagement, classroom control issues, and lack of motivation. Rather, we start to see where, when, with whom, and how learning can happen in wholly new ways. And we begin to imagine what a system would look like that leverages varied learning providers, builds stable community, and ensures growth and development toward each learner’s goals.

This is not an exhaustive list of the assumptions that a learner-centered purpose for education contains, but if we dig into each of them, we can see the world of a learner-centered future of education emerge.

This future doesn’t take the current system as is or enable the perpetuation of inequitable access, opportunity, and life outcomes that pervade our current system, despite the years and dollars spent on reform. A learner-centered future strives for and sees the possibility of equity by which every child, no matter who they are or where they come from, is unequivocally supported with what they need to learn, grow, and build secure and fulfilling lives for themselves and their families.

In this future, we can see that each child’s agency is developed as they set their learning goals, make choices about and navigate their unique learning journey, and discover and equip themselves to lead lives of their own choosing. And we recognize they are not doing this in isolation because we learn, grow, and develop as human beings through relationships and in community. We are socially embedded by nature.

The learning pathways chosen and the learning goals set are clearly derived from who each child is—informed by their families, life circumstances, and aspirations for their futures. Because each child is known and their journey is co-created with them based on their interests, curiosities, and goals, their education is personalized, relevant, and contextualized. Because the full possibility of their journeys cannot be fulfilled within one building or by one set of adults, their experiences are open-walled—connected to and rooted in the community. And, all along the way, their growth and development of competencies is demonstrated, recognized, and credentialed, such that they are documenting and building the stories of their learning to tell themselves and their community, as well as admissions staff and employers.

When brought to its full expression, this is a vision of dynamic, community-based, learner-centered ecosystems that center the humanity and dignity of each child. Yet we know that the current system of education cannot support this transformed reality of learning; in fact, its systems, policies, and requirements are all organized to push against the realization of this vision.

So, what is the system that would enable this future? What principles would guide this system, what tensions would it have to address, and what would it look like for its key stakeholders? These are the questions the Ecosystems Working Group set out to address. From the structures of governance, accountability, and resource allocation; to the dilemma of how to assess and credential learning in new ways; to the question of what people and people systems must be in place—our group generated new frameworks and images. We invite you to explore and consider what we created, acknowledging the invention of a transformed public education system is not only possible but within our reach.