Anderson & McClennen: Across the Country, Communities Are Creating New Ways for Students to Learn — and Empowering Them to Succeed
The world is undergoing a significant transformation right before our very eyes. Traditional office setups with rows of cubicles and separate departments are being replaced by co-working spaces and virtual collaborations that span the globe. People are realizing the importance of their surroundings and are driving meaningful changes at the local level. These evolving changes in how we work and interact with others are generating innovative ideas across various disciplines, organizations, and communities.
However, the way learning takes place in American classrooms has not evolved in the same manner. Even today, children primarily experience their education within the confines of a school building, for five days a week, between approximately 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
If we want the next generation to make transformative contributions in an ever-changing world, we must bring about similar changes to the education system. All students should have the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning, establish open-ended relationships, and tackle complex problems in spaces that go beyond their school walls.
To truly revolutionize the way our children learn, we must first acknowledge that learning happens everywhere, across our communities. It takes place not only in schools, but also in local libraries, science centers, businesses on Main Street, and cutting-edge startups in incubators. We need to intentionally integrate these opportunities into a comprehensive, community-based learning experience for our young people.
However, expanding the range of institutions involved in shaping the public education system is not enough. We also need to empower students to navigate and access these diverse opportunities. Since this is a community-driven initiative, each network of resources and support should align with the culture, needs, and opportunities of the specific locality.
For instance, in rural schools like Teton Science Schools, middle and high school students engage in a wide range of real-world, interdisciplinary experiences. They analyze open space options for town planning, build exhibits for local nonprofit organizations, and create campaigns to reduce bird mortality on roads.
In Colorado, Aurora Public Schools collaborates with businesses throughout the state, such as the Colorado Ballet, McDonald’s, Home Depot, and Boulder Engineering Studio. They create environments where students can earn digital badges for 21st-century skills like innovation, information literacy, organization, and research.
As part of the Remake Learning initiative in Pittsburgh, schools have formed deep partnerships with informal educators, business leaders, technologists, and community activists. They have established a network of classrooms where students develop skills aligned with careers in coding, early childhood education, and media.
To ensure effective out-of-school learning opportunities, it is vital to not only establish networks like Wyoming’s Place Network schools but also empower trained advocates to help all young people access these networks and achieve their goals.
This requires us to reconsider how we finance student learning. We need to deploy existing resources more equitably and flexibly across the entire educational pipeline. Additionally, community-based organizations, both large and small, should have better access to public funding streams. As students explore postsecondary education options, they should be able to combine Pell Grants and workforce development funds to support more expansive learning experiences. Moreover, as we strive to allocate more funding to a wide range of learning opportunities, we must ensure that these resources not only meet the needs of a particular place but also align with students’ interests, needs, and aspirations.
In a rapidly evolving world, these changes can transform how young people approach learning. Key to this transformation is rethinking the school day, incorporating community learning experiences, and expanding the range of environments that students can explore and engage with to shape the future.
Amy Anderson, the former associate commissioner of the Colorado Department of Education and the executive director of ReSchool Colorado, is pioneering efforts to modernize the education system. Nate McClennen, the vice president of education and innovation at Teton Science Schools, is launching Place Network, a national network of rural K-12 schools that are deeply rooted in their local communities.
