How can school and district leaders leverage research-based practices and models of success to create an effective personalized learning ecosystem for all learners? Launched in 2015, Future Ready Schools®, a collaboration of over 60 national and regional organizations, led by the Alliance for Excellent Education, lays out a framework for change and provides a myriad of free tools and resources, as well as support for district and school-based leaders.
At the heart of the Future Ready Framework is the learner. The Framework is built with seven “gears” to guide digital conversion, fused by collaborative leadership. These components are:
- Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
- Personalized Professional Learning
- Budget and Resources
- Community Partnerships
- Data and Privacy
- Robust Infrastructure
- Use of Space and Time
Each of the research-based gears of the framework must work in unison and with synergy within the cycle of vision, planning, implementation, assessment, and refinement. Visualized, the framework can be seen this way:
Image Credit: Future Ready Schools
In 2017, Future Ready Schools launched a series of five collaborative strands, guided by 75 leading school practitioners from across the country, to further support leaders guiding their communities. These strands include detailed, practitioner-created frameworks and support for district leaders, principals, technology leaders, instructional coaches, and librarians.
District leaders can use Future Ready’s free Interactive Planning Dashboard to create a digital learning implementation plan with customized strategies for planning. Leaders can also take part in free, on-going learning opportunities at events or inside the Leadership Hub. and strategies to plan the vision forward. Leaders can also take part in free, on-going learning opportunities at events or find resources in the Leadership Hub.
Future Ready got its start in 2015 under the guidance of the Alliance for Excellent Education (the Alliance), a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization. Since then, more than 3,100 superintendents have signed the Future Ready District Pledge, committing to “collaborat[ing] with educators, families, and community members to ensure all students are ready for the future.”
