Discussions about U.S. education policy often focus on structural debates – whether schools, curricula, funding and decision-making authority should fall under federal, state or local control, how much funding should be allocated and how accountability measures should be reformed.
While these issues are significant, they overlook a more fundamental question: What steps might we take today to move toward an education system that better prepares our learners for the future when so much remains uncertain? Instead of reactive, short-term fixes, leaders must embrace a futures thinking approach – a strategic, longer-term view that anticipates change, explores future possibilities and informs policies and strategic choices that ensure education systems remain resilient, relevant and capable of successfully navigating significant change. This type of anticipatory governance approach is more important now than ever before.
This is the moment when states can truly shift what teaching and learning look like in their communities. In the face of deep disruption and uncertainty, we need to work together to build the education system our children deserve.
For more than two decades, KnowledgeWorks has set a bold charge for the future of learning – publishing forecasts that explore what is plausible, possible and probable in education. These insights map the far horizon for education leaders seeking to craft forward-thinking policies that anticipate and respond to emerging opportunities and challenges.
Thinking through a range of future possibilities is essential for establishing a vision for a preferred future. KnowledgeWorks uses futures thinking to navigate uncertainty.
Policymakers and education leaders are under immense pressure to navigate complex challenges with limited resources while also examining tremendous opportunities. How people respond to accelerating change, and this moment of change specifically, will define the trajectory of education for years to come. Now is the time to step up, not step back.
Rethinking traditional education approaches
We know that the system is not effectively preparing students for a future that will demand adaptability, problem-solving and continuous learning. In contrast, personalized, competency-based learning ensures that students advance based on mastery rather than seat time, provides relevant and meaningful experiences and rethinks how, when and where learning occurs. Current education approaches remain misaligned with the goals of this innovative and effective approach.
We have partnered with more than 573 school districts and state partners since 2017 and have supported education policies that advance personalized, competency-based learning, such as:
- Revising graduation requirements to include competency-based pathways
- Rethinking assessments to focus on real-world applications rather than relying solely on standardized test items
We partner with many states to determine what policy flexibilities exist within their states and how to explore them. The State Policy Framework for Personalized Learning provides concrete policy recommendations for implementing personalized learning at scale and has helped us work with North Dakota, Nevada and Kentucky and others.
Education must be future-ready
The world is changing, and so are expectations for public education.
- Parents and students want schools to prepare students better to build decent lives in their community.
- Parents and students want more real-world skill-building in schools.
- Too many students say that what they learn isn’t important to their futures.
- More and more students are unmotivated to attend school.
- Teachers are dissatisfied with their jobs.
Employers demand workforce-ready skills, prompting several states to develop and adopt competency-based frameworks to ensure these essential skills are embedded in classroom experiences and rigorous academics. Others have reimagined graduation requirements to expand student-centered options or have launched innovation zones to align education with local community and business needs.
Student-centered approaches like personalized, competency-based learning are successfully shifting the trajectory in hundreds of districts and schools across the U.S.
At KnowledgeWorks, our goal is to champion and expand these policies – policies that give schools and districts the conditions to create engaging, dynamic learning environments that truly prepare students for the future.
In Looking at What’s Ahead for Education, we examine future possibilities raised by our recent explorations of the future of learning. Readers can use this publication to get a quick sense of the changes that KnowledgeWorks’ futurists have been watching for the past three years and the possibilities that they present. This paper also includes strategic considerations highlighting key issues to watch.
Collaborative leadership and education innovation
Education policy cannot be transformed in isolation. State leaders must work alongside educators, businesses and communities to shape more flexible and future-ready learning systems. Cross-sector collaboration and a futures thinking approach allow policymakers and education leaders to create and support education systems that will prepare students for the future, even when the future is unknowable.
Getting in front of change is hard, but change is inevitable.
If education is to keep pace with the needs of the future, states must embrace change as an opportunity to redefine what’s possible. This means:
- Embedding futures thinking into education policy decisions
- Scaling personalized, competency-based learning approaches
- Building meaningful student-centered school quality systems
- Integrating emerging technologies to support learning
- Ensuring policy reforms create opportunities for all students
- Fostering collaboration between education, government and industry
- Creating sustainable change and growing future leaders
As states continue to navigate this moment of immense change and opportunity, the focus must shift from merely deciding who controls education to reimagining how it can best serve future generations.
While we cannot anticipate every challenge ahead, we can use futures thinking to adapt, build upon proven approaches, leverage emerging innovations and ensure access to quality education. The choices made today will determine whether we continue on a path of incremental side steps or boldly build the education system our future demands.
