Why the Experience of Experience Matters: Designing learning through experiences that actually have an impact
What actually makes a learning experience valuable, and why do so many students point to school as the place that falls shortest? In this deeply researched piece, educator and doctoral faculty member Chris Unger unpacks the difference between faux experiences and authentic ones, drawing on Kolb, Lave and Wenger, Schon, and field case studies from innovative schools across the country. For any education leader thinking seriously about learning design, this is the framework you have been looking for.
What Makes Dual Enrollment Actually Work: Sustainable, Aligned Funding & Data-Informed Evaluation
The final installment of our four-part series with Britebound asks the questions most districts quietly avoid: where does your dual enrollment funding actually come from, and are you measuring what happens after a student leaves? This post explores how funding design can either anchor students to high school support systems or quietly pull them away, and why tracking participation numbers alone is no substitute for tracking persistence. If you are building or scaling a dual enrollment program, this one is worth the full read.
The Creolization of Recognition
What if our recognition systems are still doing the quiet work of colonization, even when they claim inclusion? Simone Ravaioli of Instructure explores creolization as a generative framework for redesigning how we validate learning across cultural and epistemological borders. Drawing on thinkers like Tyson Yunkaporta and Serge Ravet, this piece challenges education leaders to move beyond Recognition of Prior Learning toward relational protocols that let different knowledge systems meet as equals. It is a critical read for anyone shaping the future of credentials, competency frameworks, or equitable recognition.
What Makes Dual Enrollment Actually Work: Robust Student & Family Support & Career Connection
The third installment in our four-part series with Britebound moves beyond course design to ask a harder question: who is responsible when a student struggles? This post makes the case that robust dual enrollment requires named staff, early drop windows, family scaffolding, and mentors who open doors to careers students have never had reason to imagine. For district leaders building or scaling concurrent enrollment programs, this is the support infrastructure blueprint you have been looking for.
Before Students Miss the Opportunity, Adults Miss the Signal
By: AJ Gutierrez Since 2021, U.S. public schools have lost about 1.18 million students. Projections indicate that enrollment will further decline by 2.7 million students by 2031. To better serve students, schools have an opportunity to better understand their…
Steward Stories: How Big Thought Turned Compelling Questions Into a Citywide Learning System
What does it look like when a city becomes a learning system? Big Thought's story spans 35 years, 480,000 young people, and a foundational insight that changed everything: dosage matters, but it doesn't have to happen inside a single organization. This Steward Story traces how Erin Offord, Greg MacPherson, and the leaders who came before them built Dallas City of Learning into one of the country's most sophisticated learning-ecosystem intermediaries. For education leaders thinking about scale, community partnership, and what real systems change requires, this one is essential reading.
What Makes Dual Enrollment Actually Work: Building Pathways Students Can Actually Trust
A student can earn a dual enrollment credit, feel proud of the work, and still discover a year later that it transfers nowhere they actually plan to go. Blog 2 of our series with Britebound examines what it takes to build guided pathways that genuinely count and postsecondary partnerships that share vision, budget, and responsibility rather than simply purchasing seats. For district leaders and intermediaries, this post offers concrete questions to ask and a framework for knowing whether your dual enrollment model is keeping its promise to students.
One Map, Every Framework: The Shared Architecture Behind School Transformation
If your teams have ever spent valuable meeting time translating between frameworks instead of moving learning forward, this piece is for you. Nate McClennen and Rebecca Midles analyzed 16 leading school-design frameworks and 7 change models and found something remarkable: beneath every different vocabulary, the same seven questions keep emerging. Their Learning Innovation Wayfinder offers a common map, not to replace the frameworks your system trusts, but to help every partner finally see they have been working toward the same destination all along.
What Makes Dual Enrollment Actually Work: Intentional, Coherent Design & Equitable Access
Dual enrollment promises a head start on college, but for which students? In the first installment of a four-part series developed with Britebound, Getting Smart examines what separates a well-designed dual enrollment model from a catalog full of disconnected courses. This post introduces two foundational principles, intentional design and equitable access, and offers concrete questions every district can ask about its own program. It is essential reading for leaders who want dual enrollment to be more than a line item.
How to Rethink School Finance Models Before the Funding Cliff Hits
Public schools are navigating a perfect storm: declining enrollment, expiring ESSER funds, and expanding school choice mechanisms are reshaping the financial ground beneath district leaders. Nate McClennen's latest piece on Getting Smart breaks down traditional and emerging school finance models, from weighted student funding to student-run enterprises, and offers concrete action steps for leaders ready to think creatively about sustainability. If your district is feeling the pressure, this is a timely and practical read.