Leading Through Learning

Prof. William Koski spent his sabbatical from Stanford Law School at CPRL this semester to be part of what he's come to see as CPRL’s “secret sauce:” bringing together interdisciplinary groups of students to solve real-world problems while learning to practice across disciplinary and professional boundaries. We sat down with him recently to get his insights on dismantling inequities, when it does, and does not, make sense to use litigation as a tool for change, and the best way to prepare the next generation of lawyers.   

We go into 2024 with eyes wide open: The urgency to make, manage, and sustain change in education is palpable – and offers incredible opportunity. While many of the challenges are familiar, new and big changes are on the horizon  – from the proliferation of AI to the widespread use of high-quality curriculum. We enter this work with gratitude for past efforts and accomplishments and with hope and optimism for the year ahead, guided by strategies we see working and will continue in 2024. 

Educators across the country are using high quality instructional materials to change their instruction. But what about using it to transform entire school systems?

AI can help us realize solutions that have been on teachers’, families’, and students’ minds for years – joyful, inquiry-based learning; differentiation and personalization; effective, quick diagnostics; engaging and normed assessments, to name a few – all giving educators more time to devote to the human-to-human work essential in any educational experience. To do that well, we have to create opportunities to develop AI educational software much closer to students and classrooms. Both the software and, more importantly, the students will be all the better if we do. 

If anything is constant in schools, it’s change. The needs of students, families, and staff are varied and continuously evolving. Helping leaders proactively make and manage change carries a particular sense of urgency this school year as many districts face looming post-pandemic budget shortfalls and academic and social emotional challenges, all while the clock ticks on their students’ short K-12 school careers.

We’ve all read the headlines and seen the data on today’s challenges in education. If history is any indication, school system leaders are likely to respond with uniform interventions coupled with expectations of universal improvement. Our years of research and partnership with education sector leaders has us advocating for a different path to success, one that relies on system leaders’ ability to meet the unique needs within classrooms, schools, communities, districts, and states, with solutions designed for each context. We’ve studied and helped spread that leadership approach, which…

Last fall, Maryland Gov.-elect Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller announced a transition plan reflecting their belief that “those closest to the challenges are closest to the solutions.” They said they wanted to center the needs of all Maryland residents, particularly those who have been historically marginalized, in everyday decision-making. Who better to lead that work, they said, than Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) alum Cleo Hirsch. 

School district leaders gave us a massive task: Design a more equitable student assignment strategy for thousands of students enrolling in a city school district’s elementary schools. The demographic makeup of the community had changed. Some schools had long waitlists, others weren't even half full. Leaders had to consider budget, transportation, infrastructure, and tensions between choice and equitable and integrative opportunities, all while maintaining and improving school quality. To support this effort, we convened a diverse group of graduate students in law, policy, business, and education,…

It’s a common theme in education reform: Public school systems across the U.S. adopt the same evidence-based tool or follow the same policy – and get different results, so many of them disappointing. Why is that? It’s because leaders too often are laser focused on what they are changing but less so on examining and transforming how they make that change. How you do things matters as much as what you do. 

Imagine you are an education commissioner or in any leadership role you dream for yourself. Develop a theory of action for your next project. How will you ground your work in a systems approach? How will you open yourself up to the idea that leadership is not a role but a way of being? This final assignment for students in our graduate course was one they had been working toward all semester, building their muscles in governance theory, systems change, stakeholder participation, and measurement and knowledge management. They learned by reading about theory and practice -- and by doing, through…

CPRL matches systems design solutions with systems design challenges. Surveying the landscape of education improvement efforts underway, we see an opportunity to build change strategies from a new, more durable starting point: in partnership with the students, families, educators, and leaders who can own and drive change long after a superintendent’s contract or school board election cycle ends. Instead of focusing on the what of systems change, how we change systems will make all the difference.

It’s 2033. Education systems have transformed, advancing educational equity. What does education look like compared to today? What did schools, districts, and states do to transform? With these questions, we threw CPRL’s Spring 2023 cohort of graduate students into the deep end of public education change.