November 1, 2020

Centering

The construction of the 2021 - 2022 budget is simmering on the front burner demanding the attention of school leaders. The opportunity to envision a horizon beyond the daily calamities brought on by the pandemic has been uplifting according to the heads I've been speaking to, particularly so as it has been an occasion to explore some of the gifts that the pandemic has brought to education. For one, the pandemic has accelerated the development of digital tools and the pedagogies to optimize them. Their potential to loosen the bonds of time and place, enhance programming, and make significant change in our financial models could transform education in this country. This month's edition of Ahead in the Count focuses on another gift,  the centering lessons that schools have learned over the last 7 months. Living without elemental pieces of our school models was no thought experiment this year.  It's provided school leaders with the opportunity to see just how important some of those pieces are and how some have turned out to be not so elemental at all and could be permanently retired. The most successful schools will be those that respond to both sets of lessons, the new and potentially revolutionary, and the central and calamity-tested, as they design for next year.