The Human School Connection Catalog

There simply isn't enough evidence that you can have a learner-centered education system (having your cake) while perpetuating the current system that hasn't substantively changed since its 1894 inception.

"Here's what we heard, over and over again: What's true of the vision and learning model for the kids needs to be true of the professional culture and operating norms of the adults. To help students become capable, caring, self-directed learners and creative problem-solvers, these educators believe, their schools should deliberately model those same attributes for them-in their design of learning, for sure, but also in the ways the adults work together, address problems, design systems and procedures, and engage with the community."

"I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation. Not mediation, negotiation, problem-solving, debate, or public meetings. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well."

"How you answer the question depends on what you want out of the team experience… What are you after? What evidence are you seeking? This is a fundamental question that task designers often skip, usually because they think the curriculum or the standards make it obvious. It's not obvious."

Might stories count as a form of data?

Complex adaptive leadership recognizes the need of today's context to acknowledge the expertise of the crowd.

One example of how we can prime the thinking of our communities to see other human-centered possibilities for the current education system.

Reflection BEFORE, DURING and AFTER.

When you talk about problems, frame them as a problem with the system, and not the behavior(s) the system produces. People in the system that are acting in ways that you don't appreciate are symptoms of this problem, not the problem itself. "Our teachers are stuck and don't want to change" can become "Our system rewards those that conserve what has worked in the past at the expense of what might be possible."

The idea of emergent design

This is a resource on conversations. It contains a number of good questions that communities might dig into as they design new systems of education.

In the new organization, subordinates must challenge in order to follow-while superiors must listen in order to lead.

KnowledgeWorks latest future of education forecast - March 2022

In the United States, as many as half of today's 5-year-olds can expect to live to the age of 100, and this once unattainable milestone may become the norm for newborns by 2050. Yet, the social institutions, norms and policies that await these future centenarians evolved when lives were only half as long and need updating.

George Saunders reveals the pitfalls of bad storytelling and explains the openness and generosity required to breathe life into great characters.

What sort of data are we using to make decisions? How can we get down to the "street" level of data and information where we find humanity, stories, experiences, and use that to inform decisions versus dehumanizing and decontextualized numbers?

How do we review our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors and allow ourselves and others space to rethink them?

How do we use our emotions and our needs to support placing humans and humanity at the center of our work?

Too many of our systems have placed humanity in the background. We can be objectors and act to transform these human-created dehumanizing system.

How might we rethink systems of power and hierarchy?