Esteemed Colleague,

There's a growing question around the viability of the Department of Education. If the department is shuttered or broken into pieces that are redistributed, what will happen to Federal Accountability? Title programs and funding? What will happen to the Office for Civil Rights? How about IDEA enforcement? What data do or don't we need to be collecting moving forward?

All of these questions are valid, but I think there is a different one we should be asking that might unlock a very different line of thought.

Learn more in my latest blog post.

Together in Collaboration,

Last month, we announced our new partnership with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and their Secondary School Redesign project. We are so excited to support this project given the growing number of schools and districts we've been working with to make learner-centered school redesign a reality.

There's an important phrase there: "schools and districts." It might seem like an oddly specific thing to point out, but for educational change to take root and sustain itself for years and decades to come, schools need district support.

Sustainable school redesign requires district-level support through aligned cultural practices and values and enabling conditions. 

That support shows up through two key layers: Culture and Enabling Conditions. Here at Learner-Centered Collaborative, we think about culture as "the beliefs and interactions that energize individuals and teams to contribute to a thriving community." Culture is the foundational thread that weaves through every level of the educational ecosystem, shaping the mindsets, relationships, and collective beliefs that drive meaningful change.

Enabling conditions determine how we teach, learn, and collaborate. Our Co-CEO Katie Martin writes, "By creating conditions that empower educators as professionals and position learners as active agents, we build systems that inspire leadership rather than demand compliance." When our enabling conditions are cultivating leaders throughout our entire system, sustaining learner-centered change becomes inevitable.

Reflection Question: What shifts in your district's culture or enabling conditions might jumpstart or accelerate learner-centered change? Learn more about culture here and enabling conditions here. 

AASA's National Conference on Education (learn more)

February 12-14 | Nashville, TN

SXSW Edu (view our workshop)

March 9-12 | Austin, TX

JOIN US AT OUR NEXT EVENT

"Principals and central office leaders met in Encinitas Union School District to redesign the leadership growth and evaluation process and tools. We mapped the current system, engaged in dialogical interviews, looked at examples from other systems, and began to ideate the process and product we want to create." ~Kate Weisberg

"Hampton Township has six design teams this school year, and they met for a mid-year reflection and planning workshop that included learning walks around the district. We invited school board members to join those classroom visits, and we celebrated the authentic, personalized, and competency-based instructional practices that are bringing their Portrait of a Talbot to life with learners." ~Brittany Griffin

"School and district leaders from the Mamaroneck Union Free School District explored mindset shifts, influential learning experiences, and reflection and iteration of their fall design sprints." ~César Morales

LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW WE WORK WITH SCHOOL & DISTRICT PARTNERS

This month, we are honored to recognize Dr. Ryan Smith, Deputy Superintendent of Bellflower Unified School District, as our Catalyzer of the Month! Ryan’s leadership is grounded in a simple but courageous commitment: students first—always. With more than two decades of system-level leadership experience, Ryan has led complex work that he always believes must be co-designed with the people it serves—learners, educators, families, and community partners.

Learn more about Ryan's impact and leadership here.