What We Do
We are solution designers.
We help leaders, schools and systems ideate, design and implement innovations for equity.
Getting Smart is an advisory, design and media organization that focuses on building the future of learning for all. We work with our partners, including schools, districts, organizations, foundations, business, and higher education, to advise on strategy and scaling, design new systems, convene innovative educators, and amplify stories.
We host a media channel and provide services and solutions around the following:
- Advising: We advise on the future of education to scale great solutions
- Designing: We build new systems of learning to better reach all students
- Professional Learning: We bring together education leaders and practitioners to learn from each other to ignite new approaches and strategies
- Storytelling: We share and amplify innovative systems, models, and approaches to inform the field and spark new ideas
Our Innovation Framework
The Getting Smart Learning Innovation Framework is our north star for driving lasting system level change.
Our Services
Strategic Advisory
We provide strengths-based, flexible, client driven strategic support to a variety of philanthropic, educational and workforce organizations and school districts. Our varied strategy partnerships include project design, planning and management, network design and development, scaling strategies, strategic guidance, technical assistance, product and brand development, product development, market positioning and go-to-market strategy, organizational development, strategic communications, and education foundation investment strategy. Services include:
- Scaling and strategic planning
- Product and brand development
- Foundation investment strategy
- Organizational development
- On-demand strategic support and coaching
- Strategic Communications
System and Learning Design
Our team empowers leaders in learning. We specialize in instructional, school and system design, network advising and innovative leadership and learning models. This work includes workshops, design sessions, coaching, thought partnering, innovative program design and implementation support for learner-centered personalized learning. Services include:
- Development/implementation of Learner Profile, Portrait of a Graduate, Educator or Leaders
- Unpacking, supporting and scaling Instructional Design
- New School and program design
- On-demand, flexible coaching
Professional Learning
We design and facilitate in-person and virtual school and learning tours, speaking engagements, professional learning, and workshops. We also work with clients to develop event strategies and provide event management and logistics. Services include:
- Leadership development
- Community of practice development and facilitation
- Webinars and workshops
- Keynotes
- School tours
- Coaching
Storytelling
We design and implements high impact, change making, thought leadership campaigns and initiatives with foundations and learning organizations. This movement building work includes spotting, naming and framing emerging issues, initiative and partnership building, campaign management, and tool and resource development, publication and dissemination. This includes:
- Thought leadership campaigns
- Tool and resource development
- Community and partnership building
- Advocacy
- Storytelling partnerships and workshops
Getting Smart partners with ASU Preparatory K-12 Academy Charter Network in Arizona to support strategy around new school model design and launch, network alignment, professional learning, learning model development, branding, communications and curriculum design. Through on-site meetings, virtual meeting and coaching, design session facilitation, and project work, our focus is helping ASU Prep reach the mission of designing new models for educational success and raise academic achievement for all learners.
Working together with a local foundation, we helped to develop a regional strategy and shared vision for high school learners to graduate with authentic real world experiences that are badged and recognized at businesses and universities across a two state partnership. This includes building entrepreneurial skills, job shadows, college prep opportunities and more. Through this project we worked with varied sizes of districts serving diverse communities to create a common set of agreements on what opportunities and experiences should be provided to high school graduates.
To highlight the employment, ethical and educational implications of exponential technology, we launched the Ask About AI campaign. Through over 50 blogs, a social media campaign, a series of podcasts, nationwide convenings and a culminating white paper we explored implications for employment, public policy and education and how we can prepare learners for the future of work and learning.
We supported The Learning Accelerator with storytelling for their Strategy Lab cohort in the Summer/Fall of 2020 in order to expand their practices and make them available to other districts, and to share success stories from the field. This included digging into existing content and resources to find story opportunities, interviewing cohort members and TLA leaders, and content development.