“Calls to transform U.S. K–12 schools grow more pressing each day. Yet the complex web of relationships and expectations that shape most schools—referred to in innovation theory as their value networks—create formidable barriers to change,” writes Thomas Arnett, a senior research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute, in Education Next.
“These networks, which for public schools typically include families, unions, higher education, and state and federal agencies, dictate what schools must prioritize to keep seats filled, funds flowing, and doors open. But those priorities simultaneously make innovation a challenge. The schools of the future that our society needs won’t come from transforming our existing schools. They’ll have to come through launching new versions of schooling from new value networks.
“The most innovative approaches to schooling aren’t compatible with the processes and priorities of conventional schooling. At the frontier of innovation, new models are pioneering practices such as:
- mastery-based learning
- self-paced blended learning
- learning through projects and real-world experiences rather than coursework
- modular learning ecosystems.
“The most transformative new models of schooling entail a massive reevaluation of how schools operate, how teachers teach, and the priorities schools pursue.
“These practices challenge many of the basic assumptions of conventional schooling: that grade levels should be based on age, that schools should be open 180 days a year, that credit for learning should accrue on a semester-based calendar, that learning happens primarily in classrooms through teacher-directed instruction, and that test scores determine potential.
“Unfortunately, efforts to rethink the basic assumptions of conventional education consistently fail in established schools because strong forces within those schools’ value networks generate pushback.
“• Most parents made it through conventional schooling themselves—so when they consider what’s best for their kids, the devil they know is better than the one they don’t.
“• Most kids have learned to ‘get by’ in conventional schools—so they don’t want the rules changed on them mid-game.
“• Most teachers, administrators, and staff have spent years to decades honing their expertise within the conventional system—so, for very rational reasons, they favor efforts to improve that system over efforts to reinvent it.
“• Teacher preparation programs see most of their graduates taking jobs at conventional schools—so their programs center on preparation for conventional settings.
“• Most policymakers and education reformers have spent significant political capital trying to improve conventional schools—so they aren’t ready to call their efforts a loss.
“All of these groups will voice support for K–12 innovation. But when innovation means upending conventional practices and rethinking core priorities, nominal supporters become sources of resistance.
“Successful new models of schooling emerge from distinctive value networks. As we’ve studied programs like Village High School and Map Academy at the Clayton Christensen Institute, we’ve identified key value network features that give rise to unconventional models of schooling.
“1) New models of schooling need to start with a clean slate. Realistically, established schools don’t change their value networks because a school’s value network is the lifeblood of that school: the families who volunteer and vote, the teachers who keep classrooms humming, and the state agencies that set the rules and provide the funding. No rational leader of a conventional school is going to dismiss the existing value network and try to build a new one. Doing so will either cripple the school or get the leader fired. It’s only in very rare instances—often in small school systems facing poignant failure—that a whole value network shifts on its own. Hence, you need to create a new school that can assemble a new value network from the ground up.
“2) New models need to start off serving what I refer to as ‘frontier’ students and families. In some cases, these are students who have dropped out of conventional schooling because their lives don’t conform to its norms, rules, and expectations. They may need flexibility in scheduling or pacing—such as students with major medical challenges, students who struggle with school social dynamics, or students pursuing intensive interests outside of school. Some are in families that have a very different notion of what schooling should be—often valuing small learning communities, self-directed projects, family-centered education, entrepreneurship, or travel over conventional coursework. In all cases, these students are looking for something different, not something better. They willingly give up sports programs, honors and AP tracks, traditional electives and extracurriculars, and the campus social scene to get an education they want or need.
“3) New school models need autonomy from the policies, administrative hierarchies, and metrics that state agencies and districts set up for conventional schools. This is why many innovative new school models today—such as Acton Academies, Wildflower Schools, KaiPod Learning, and Colossal Academy—operate in the private microschooling space, where most policies created for conventional schools don’t apply.
“At districts, efforts to transform education should center on launching skunkworks programs. These will not be shiny new magnet schools. Rather, they will be virtual schools, alternative schools, hybrid homeschooling programs, or CTE programs. Their aim will be to develop new approaches for serving frontier students.
“Unfortunately, effective district leaders who are highly attuned to the priorities of their district’s overall value networks tend to focus their time and energy on conventional schools and treat their virtual, alternative, and CTE programs as mere stop-gaps. For districts to become vehicles for reinventing schooling, more leaders will need to adopt a dual transformation approach—maintaining and improving their conventional schools while simultaneously putting resources and energy into launching and evolving unconventional models of schooling.
“If that path proves untenable, you might be able to find what you’re looking for in a virtual charter school or regional alternative school. If neither of these paths offer worthwhile options, it might be time to join the private microschooling movement and appeal to your state to create an education savings account program to fund the private options you’re looking for.
Education Next
