Posts by Guest Author
We’re Teaching Kids to Read. Are We Teaching Them to Think?
When an 11-year-old gets a polished ChatGPT answer faster than his parent can form a thoughtful one, something important comes into focus: access to information was never going to be the hard part. In her latest piece for Getting Smart, Dr. Barrie Olson makes a compelling case that critical thinking, the habit of questioning, connecting ideas, and weighing evidence, cannot wait until high school. It must begin in the earliest grades, woven into literacy instruction from the start. This is a timely read for any educator or leader rethinking what foundational learning really means in an AI-shaped world.
The School Choice Debate Looks Different From My Kitchen Table
This op-ed from Georgetown, Texas mother Courtney Parker Lopez offers what the school choice debate almost never surfaces: a ground-level, human account of why one family left public school, how they navigated Texas's new education savings account program, and what it cost them emotionally before it ever cost the state a dollar. For education leaders and policymakers, it is a necessary reminder that the families most affected by these debates are rarely the ones shaping them. Parker Lopez writes with clarity and without ideology, and that is exactly what makes this piece worth reading.
Bridging Passion and Possibility: Chicago’s Approach to New Pathways
What does it look like when a city braids entrepreneurship, the arts, and community into the fabric of K-12 learning? Getting Smart's latest New Pathways Convening in Chicago brought together district leaders, funders, workforce organizations, and students to answer that question together. From Academy for Global Citizenship's sustainability-rooted Villages model to Fenton High School's early adoption of entrepreneurial programming, the convening surfaced a shared conviction: the skills that will matter most in the future, human connection, creativity, and adaptability, are already being cultivated in classrooms right now. This is a story worth reading for any leader asking what learning can and should become.
Our Rooms Are Full of Collective Intelligence. We Need Collective Measurement.
What does it mean to be educated if our transcripts cannot capture the student who made every group around them smarter? In this new piece, Jane Shore challenges the foundational assumption of traditional assessment, that learning lives inside individual heads, and invites education leaders to imagine what becomes possible when we measure contribution, collective growth, and ripples of impact alongside academic knowledge. This is essential reading for anyone rethinking what counts, and for whom.
From Compliance to Contribution: What Happens When Students Do Work That Matters
What if the most important outcome of a learning experience was not a credential but a shift in how a young person sees themselves? Nikki Stancampiano and Reem Al-Adhami share how the PAST Foundation's work-based learning program moved students from compliance to contribution, and from career exposure to genuine identity formation. This piece is essential reading for leaders designing learning experiences that build agency, belonging, and purpose alongside academic skills.
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.
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.
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.
Digital Fluency Is the Missing Foundation in K-12 Career Pathways
What separates a student who can use a digital tool from one who can build something new with it? Kimberly Smith of Digital Promise argues that digital fluency, not just digital literacy, is the foundational skill K-12 career pathways have been missing. Drawing on credentialed cybersecurity programs in rural Alabama and a six-part fluency framework, this piece offers a clear, actionable case for why every career pathway, in every industry, must embed digital fluency now.