The 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education was prepared for KnowledgeWorks by the Institute for the Future (IFTF). U.S. public education is at a critical crossroads.

The knowledge economy and globalization continue to challenge the basic industrial-era assumptions upon which most public schools, curricula and evaluation mechanisms are based. New interactive digital media are diffusing rapidly, even in lower-income communities, fostering a youth media culture that Is crashing into schools and educators like a tsunami, raising privacy, pedagogical relevance and equity issues. Student performance is inconsistent across the country, and average U.S. performance indicators lag disappointingly behind those of other countries.

KnowledgeWorks commissioned this map because we believe excellent education is critical to the future. We bring to the map our passionate concern for certain fundamental values – high expectations, high quality, public engagement in public education and equal opportunity for all, especially those who have been denied opportunity in the past. These are at the center of our strategic planning around the map. However, it is also time for education strategies to be more proactive and to pay more attention to how the world is changing. We are sharing the map with other catalysts for change in education. We hope it will also inspire them to take advantage of the possibilities opened by trends affecting families, communities, markets, institutions, educators, learning, tools and practices.

Foresight to insight to action

The Map of Future Forces Affecting Education is intended to help you think about the future of education in the U.S. engagingly and constructively. The map presents a forecast of important external forces in shaping the context for the future of public education and learning in the next decade. It is an outside-in perspective that will help reframe critical educational challenges in a broader, longer-term context of change. Your task is to use the map to create compelling stories about how education may evolve in this future context.

In essence, this map is a conversation catalyst. It Is a thinking tool for telling provocative, insightful stories about the future of education rather than a definitive representation of a single future. Its purpose is to spark new conversations about education, engage a broader audience, and provide a common framework to explore innovations, new solutions, and experiments.