Big thinking has fueled this big idea.

The design of community-based, learner-centered ecosystems is done in deep partnership with visionary champions, practitioners, scientists — and is grounded in centuries of practice.

As aligned systems and structures are built, we continue to collect, refine, and offer resources. Begin reimagining, inventing, and building anew in your own community. Below are ways to bring this new shape of learning into view, and inspirations to take action.

State-Level Policy and Conditions Landscape Analysis: Progress and Possibilities to Support Learner-Centered Education and Ecosystem Design

Learner-Centered in Focus: An Exploration of Young People’s Experiences in Learner-Centered Environments

Learner-Centered in Focus provides an in-depth exploration of the learner-centered experiences of young people from nine sites across the United States, offering critical insights into how learner-centered education truly comes to life. Through three core dimensions of insight—youth experiences, leader and learner strategies, and national comparisons—this report reflects the transformative potential of learner-centered education.

State-Level Policy and Conditions Landscape Analysis: Progress and Possibilities to Support Learner-Centered Education and Ecosystem Design

State-Level Policy and Conditions Landscape Analysis: Progress and Possibilities to Support Learner-Centered Education and Ecosystem Design

Creating thriving public learner-centered environments and ecosystems requires not only a mindset shift, but an understanding of the existing state policies and conditions that can be leveraged to enable these systems to emerge by learner-centered leaders and practitioners. In this report, we offer examples from our comprehensive landscape analysis of state-level policies and conditions that support learner-centered design and creation.
State-Level Policy and Conditions Landscape Analysis: Progress and Possibilities to Support Learner-Centered Education and Ecosystem Design

Learner-Centered Ecosystem Lexicon

To support the work of realizing the promise of an equitable, learner-centered education system that can support dynamic ecosystems of learning, this technical document seeks to clarify key terms of the learner-centered education movement. In addition to the terms distinguished in this Learner-Centered Ecosystem Lexicon, Education Reimagined offers a companion lexicon that distinguishes key terms associated with the learner-centered education paradigm for education.

Too Essential to Fail: Why Our Big Bet on Public Education Needs a Bold National Response

Too Essential to Fail: Why Our Big Bet on Public Education Needs a Bold National Response

This paper, authored by Karen Pittman and Merita Irby of Knowledge to Power Catalysts, brings together a preponderance of evidence from disparate sources that combined gives us the confidence we need to create “a new modern public system of education that is grounded in learners and their communities, not singular school buildings.” The paper unpacks data around the growing demand for change—from parents, young people, educators, the business community and other leaders—and shares existing, foundational Positive Youth Development research that undergirds the power and possibility of a community-based, learner-centered path forward.

Fertile Ground for Ecosystems

Commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Ecosystems for the Future of Learning investigates programs that have demonstrated remarkable success in enhancing learner outcomes by providing learner-centered experiences and fostering deep relationships with community partners. The research, conducted by History Co:Lab and Education Reimagined, illuminates where pieces of a new system are already at play, with fertile ground for a learner-centered ecosystem approach to take hold.

Designing for Thriving Learner-Centered Ecosystems

Education Reimagined brought together 40 diverse learner-centered practitioners, experts, systems thinkers, and young people to explore and imagine a future of thriving learner-centered ecosystems. From their expertise, experience, and creativity, this guide emerged with frameworks and insights to support on-the-ground systems re-invention.

Reflect and Dig Deeper with Others

Download this Conversation Guide to find prompts, structured conversations, and reading to carry your thinking forward. Whether you engage on your own or gather a group of friends or peers, the conversations will be enlivening and thought-provoking.

Stories to Prompt Reimagining

To fully imagine an ecosystem approach to learning, playing around in this new future is helpful. Download this storybook with 12 short stories, each ending with questions to ponder. Use it for your own reflection, or gather a group for a series of conversations.

Interested in supporting or championing an ecosystem initiative in your community?