6 Ways State Policymakers Can Build More Future-Focused Education Systems: A Podcast Series with the Aurora Institute: Episode 2

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Hi, this is Aurora from the Educating All Learners Alliance,
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and you're listening to Six Ways State Policymakers Can Build More Future-Focused
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Education Systems, a podcast series with the Aurora Institute.
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The Aurora Institute is a national nonprofit organization working on policy
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advocacy, field building and capacity building, research and knowledge sharing,
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and convening to advance innovative approaches that transform education for youth across America.
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In April of 2024, the Aurora Institute released state policy recommendations
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to transform education for all learners,
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especially those who have been underserved by the current system.
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Each five-minute segment in our series will cover one of the six identified policy shifts.
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Joining us today is Virgil Hammons, CEO of the Aurora Institute, and Jennifer Kabaker.
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So Jennifer, let's dive into the second recommendation, which is to create the
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conditions for equitable, learner-centered, competency-based education systems.
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So just tell us a little bit more about what that means, you know, from a systems level.
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What are we talking about here? year. Absolutely. Thanks so much, Aurora.
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So once states have developed their portrait of a graduate or their profile
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of a graduate, they can use that portrait or profile to identify what existing
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policy barriers they have to making that a reality,
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as well as what policy gaps exist to help achieve those learning goals.
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So for example, if a state's envisioning a system where learners can progress
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based on mastery rather than seat time, they may need to provide districts that
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that are doing that work with a waiver from C-TIME policies to make that vision possible.
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You also see some states create what we call innovation zones,
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which provide schools additional flexibilities beyond those waivers,
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as well as guidance and a professional community of practice to share their
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lessons learned as they're doing the work.
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Some states like Washington and Utah have launched competency-based education
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and pilots, where they're engaging schools and systems directly in spreading CBE policies.
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In those best cases, the states are actually providing funding,
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professional learning, and even evaluation services to support the work and
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understand how those practices are actually shifting.
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But ultimately, achieving student-centered education systems moves beyond policy
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that affects what happens in the classroom and can affect other aspects of state
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education policy, like funding formulas, digital connectivity.
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Even access to technology and teacher professional learning.
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And states may need to tackle these areas of policy as well when they're creating
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the right enabling conditions.
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There are tremendous Tremendous opportunities to build networks of schools,
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similarly, that are exploring this work together to share the lessons learned
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both within states and across states regionally.
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I mean, lots of opportunities for state leaders to make real moves in a lot of these areas.
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And what about barriers or challenges
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that you anticipate? And I love the framing of opportunity, right?
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There's opportunity to change and to innovate.
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So, you know, through that lens, what can you imagine folks saying like,
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oh, well, we can't do this because X, Y, Z.
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Right. Great question. So with great opportunity also comes great complexity,
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particularly in the education policy space.
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And making change in education policy requires buy-in from many different stakeholders,
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state state superintendents, governors' offices, boards of education,
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the legislature, needless to say, also parents, students, educators, community members.
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And making those changes at the state level requires different moves in different
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states because they all work differently.
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So there's not really a one-size-fits-all approach to making these sort of shifts.
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Similarly, education policy is highly interconnected.
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If you change your funding formulas, then that might be linked to your attendance
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policies, which is then linked to supporting data systems, and on and on and on.
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So making one change in policy might require a trickle down of many different
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changes that take time and, more importantly, often political will.
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And we know education is extremely local. People care about what's happening
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in their local school because that's what affects them the most.
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And so when you change what schools look and feel like, what teaching and learning
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entails, it's a public relations campaign just as much as it is a policy challenge.
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Yeah, I love that. It's really about changing mindsets and making a shift that's
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not just happening in the classroom.
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Sure. But give us a sense of what might this look like in practice, in real life?
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You know, I know that there are implications for outside of the classroom,
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but for an educator listening, like what could this policy shift that you're
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recommending? What might that look like?
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Well, when done thoughtfully and in partnership with local leaders, educators,
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parents and families and learners, these enabling conditions can really open
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the door to education practices that will allow learners to progress based on
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demonstrations of mastery,
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moving away from age-based, grade-based progression that's been sort of the
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hallmark of education systems for so long.
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And it will ultimately empower educators and leaders to design learning experiences
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that truly meet their students' needs and interests, regardless of the student's
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backgrounds, of their learning needs, of their identities.
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So this is really about building learning experiences for that specific student.
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You know, we're in the process as a field of building an evidence-based to support
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competency-based learning, but the learning sciences tell us that the longest-lasting
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learning occurs when students are engaged, when they understand the relevance
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of what they're learning, and when they feel agency in that experience.
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And all of these enabling conditions will help us get closer to an education
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system that reflects those learnings.
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That's it for us today, folks. Folks, thank you to Virgil Hammons and Jennifer
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Kabakar. Be sure to check out the next episode in our series.
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I'm Aurora from ELA, and this was Six Ways State Policymakers Can Build More
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Future-Focused Education Systems.