“Exponential growth in information is limited without platforms and networks to amplify and leverage its impact. As two of our nation's outstanding education leaders, Tom and Lydia explain the power and intentionality of connecting people and organizations to help them learn and grow.”
— Vince M. Bertram, Ed.D., MBA, President and CEO, Project Lead The Way
“A wise superintendent once said, ‘Isolation is the enemy of improvement.' This invaluable book provides a powerful rationale, great examples, and incredibly useful guidelines for genuine innovation networks among teachers and schools. It should be in every education leader's toolbox.
—Tony Wagner, author of The Global Achievement Gap and Creating Innovators
“I am a strong believer that we need networks and professional learning communities to learn and share from each other in managing the changes needed for education transformation. Creating a dialog for advancing contemporary approaches to rethink school models, how teachers teach and the demands on learning for our students is critical. This drive to transform demands collective capacity-building and deeper learning by adults around shifting practices and mindsets to create change. This book offers valuable insights on why networks for leading change matters and the ways educators will leverage networks to expand access to powerful, innovative learning models, preparing each student for success in college, career, and life.”
—Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL, co-founder of CompetencyWorks
“Brilliant work! We all know that we are better when we work together. However, the most forward thinking educators often choose to trailblaze alone. Better Together is a must read for anyone engaged in school reform.”
—Dr. Timothy S. Stuart, Head of School at the International Community School of Addis Ababa, and co-author of Personalized Learning in a PLC at Work: Student Agency Through the Four Critical Questions (Solution Tree, 2018)
“Education can no longer rely on hub and spoke methods of distributing learning. Learning is happening at a faster pace in a networked world. Across the 500 schools we work with the most successful schools are collaborating across schools within their district and across the country. Tom and Lydia provide examples a taxonomy of networks which increases learning and helps schools attain their goals.”
—Anthony Kim, CEO of Education Elements & co-author of The New School Rules
“A tour de force through the most cutting-edge ideas, schools, and educators, Better Together not only gives the 101 on the concepts educators and citizens need to understand, but also how they can be enacted effectively in schools.”
—Michael Horn, Chief Strategy Officer, The Entangled Group, Distinguished Fellow of the Clayton Christensen Institute, and author of Disrupting Class and Blended
“For a long time education reformers have focused on improving individual institutions—getting the best people at the helm of a school, solidifying the culture, and implementing best practices—in a siloed manner. Vander Ark and Dobyns show how limiting that approach can be. Better Together illustrates the power of learning on common platforms that connect networks of like-minded schools and institutions. At long last the whole of schools' efforts to innovate and improve could be great than the sum of its parts.”
—Julia Freeland Fisher, Director, Education, at Clayton Christensen Institute
“Tom Vander Ark and Lydia Dobyns have been working in the education trenches to find practical and realistic approaches to improve outcomes for kids as long and as thoughtfully as anyone. I highly recommend this excellent book, as school networks enable us to move past ‘one-off innovations' and create paths for schools to sustain great work and share their learning together. This book and Vander Ark's and Dobyns' expert views should move to the top of the list for educators, administrators, and policy makers serious about creating effective schools.”
—Chad Wick, Chairman, ACT, Inc., and founder and president emeritus, KnowledgeWorks
“It takes a network. The desire to collaborate is innately human; true collaboration is responsible for our species' advancement. Better Together finally articulates the ‘why’ and ‘how’ collaboration via networking is the most exciting thing happening in education today.”
—Barry Schuler, Chairman, New Tech Network and partner, DFJ Growth
“In Better Together: How To Leverage School Networks for Smarter Personalized and Project Based Learning, Tom Vander Ark and Lydia Dobyns convincingly demonstrate the power of school networks to transform learning so that all students develop the skills they need to be successful in college, career and life.”
—David Ross, CEO, Partnership for 21st Century Learning
“Tom Vander Ark and Lydia Dobyns understand that the future of education will be built on the shoulders of the strongest school networks. Better Together is a timely and much-needed book that advances a world of endless possibilities replete with practical and ready-to-use resources. The authors' unparalleled commitment to finding and highlighting over a hundred exemplar schools and networks that promote both inclusion and equity makes this book a must-read for all educators hoping to build a better world for the next generation of students and school leaders.”
—Dr. Justin Aglio, Director of Academic Achievement and District Innovation, Montour School District
“Better Together makes the future of teaching and learning in a digital world understandable as well as less intimidating. Through the discussions of personalized learning and project based learning utilizing networks of learners and schools with teams focused on a common outcome, Tom and Lydia show us a future that is achievable.
They take the mystery out of the use of big data and artificial intelligence by showing us how to use school networks and our own agency to build a learning platform that is workable across America.
Hats off to the team for hitting it out of the park.”
—Bev Perdue, Founder & Chair, digiLEARN 2015, Governor, State of North Carolina 2009–2013
“A decade's worth of organizing across hundreds of schools and organizations commonly committed to relevant, engaging, and equitable learning has made abundantly clear that our kids are much better off when their teachers, librarians, and youth workers as well as local artists, technologists, and entrepreneurs connect continuously. Networks make possible for diverse yet commonly-committed people to genuinely connect so that they imagine differently what's possible together. And then they're poised to forge ahead powerfully to remake learning.”
—Gregg Behr, Executive Director at The Grable Foundation and Co-Chair of Remake Learning
“Vander Ark and Dobyns make incisive arguments about the power of networks for school innovation. For existing schools to iterate their way into the future, educators want to see and collaborate with others on the same path.”
—Eileen Rudden, co-founder, LearnLaunch
“Engaging with our parents, teachers, principals, school board and students to seek their input to develop a district vision where all students graduate prepared for college or career paths is relatively easy. After all, we know what we want for our daughters and sons. The challenge is execution. School networks can make the difference in a district's ability to translate an active learner vision into reality. Vander Ark and Dobyns have depicted the success possible via network-district partnerships.”
—Juan Cabrera, Superintendent, El Paso Independent School District
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vander Ark, Tom, 1959- author. | Dobyns, Lydia, 1955– author.
Title: Better together : how to leverage school networks for smarter
personalized and project based learning / by Tom Vander Ark, Lydia Dobyns.
Description: San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass ; Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, 2018. | Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018005474 (print) | LCCN 2018011283 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119439523 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119439462 (epub) | ISBN 9781119439103 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Communication in education. | Project method in teaching. | Educational innovations.
Classification: LCC LB1033.5 (ebook) | LCC LB1033.5 .V34 2018 (print) | DDC 371.102/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018005474
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © DrAfter123/Getty Images
FIRST EDITION
Tom Vander Ark advocates for innovation in learning. As CEO of Getting Smart, he advises schools and impact organizations on the path forward. Tom is the author of Getting Smart, Smart Cities, and Smart Parents. He previously served as the first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as a public school superintendent in Washington State.
Lydia Dobyns has combined careers as a technology entrepreneur and executive with education policy and nonprofit service. Lydia is President and CEO of New Tech Network (NTN), a leading design partner for comprehensive school change. Starting with the first public district high school 20 years ago, New Tech Network consists of 200 K–12 schools in 28 states. NTN, a nonprofit organization, works with school districts to design innovative learning environments. Lydia previously served two terms as an elected school board member, co-founded and co-led a local education foundation, and directed replication strategies in the education sector. Her career includes work in the tech, online services, consumer products, and health care industries.
We'd like to thank the teams we work with for their support and contributions to this project. The teachers, school directors, and district leaders who are the heartbeat of the New Tech Network are a constant source of inspiration and learning for us. The New Tech Network national team, dispersed across the country and anchored by the Napa office, demonstrate daily the potency of passion combined with the desire to get better. The Getting Smart team developed and supported the Network Effect blog series that led to this book.
For 20 years, we've worked and learned with school network leaders across America. We mentioned more than 75 networks and more than 50 school support organizations in this book (see the appendix) and have a learning relationship with almost every one of them. Their commitment to equity and excellence at scale has made an enormous contribution to innovating and improving American education. It is our hope that this book helps to acknowledge and advance their work.
We believe school networks are the most important invention of modern US education. We have worked with or sponsored most of the informal, voluntary, and managed school networks and believe that they, and the exciting new networks being developed, are the key to unlocking the power of new learning models—which are promising, but very difficult to develop and support.
Networks offer the best path forward to proven solutions, so that every school does not have to reinvent the wheel. Some offer the opportunity to innovate up from proven capabilities, as well as meaningful ways for educators to “give and get” expertise and create vibrant communities of adult learners. In addition, networks build sustainability by serving as a bridge during periods of leadership transition in school systems.
The dawn of an innovation age powered by the rise of artificial intelligence makes school networks more important than ever. For young people, the new era offers the opportunity to code an application, launch a campaign, solve big problems, or start a business. Emerging opportunities require young people to be skilled in attacking complex problems, working in diverse teams, and directing lifelong learning. While the new age comes with unprecedented opportunity, it will also be accompanied by massive waves of social change and unexpected challenges.
New learning models that combine personalized learning and extended team-based challenges help develop the knowledge, skills, and mindset necessary for success in the innovation age. But they remain complicated to design and implement, particularly for students with learning gaps and risk factors. This level of complexity reinforces the need to work together in networks of likeminded schools to meet new challenges.
Each of us started in business and saw the early stages of the technology revolution firsthand. Together, we helped create some of the first network businesses where it wasn't just scale economies (where stuff gets cheaper as you get bigger) that mattered—it was a network effect, where the customer experience got better as the network got bigger and smarter. This idea of working on platforms in networks has changed the world and continues to transform learning.
More than 20 years ago we both came to realize that education was the most important thing that we could work on, and that there was an emerging opportunity to transform learning and attack inequity. We imagined ways that platforms and networks could extend access and opportunity.
We share a passion for encouraging young people to take on the great challenges of our time—with the inspiration, support, examples, and time to do it well. In thousands of schools we have seen how extended and authentic challenges can help young people connect with their community and develop the cognitive muscles for difference-making.
We've seen some success and some failure in our public advocacy efforts to lead public school districts, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic and venture investments. We've learned that good ideas are insufficient, and that transformation is hard to start and even harder to scale. This book is about the two conclusions we have reached, two ideas that can transform education: Powerful, project based learning, and taking it to scale by working together in networks.
It's not easy to create schools where every student is prepared to engage in powerful learning experiences, but it can be done, one school at a time. Networks of like-minded schools getting better together are the key. It's that dream that our work, and the work of our respective organizations, is all about. And it's why we're so passionate about this topic. We believe that, as expressed by the New Tech Network, we can create a nation proud of its public schools.
Dan Leeser taught social studies in a traditional school district. He followed a scripted curriculum with a focus on preparing students for standardized tests. In 2015, Leeser had the opportunity to help launch a new high school that was part of a national network. Teachers in the network engage students in challenging, integrated projects. Leeser enjoys the creative work of designing his own projects using network tools. The inaugural class at Cougar New Tech created graphic novels that combined Greek myths with Asian culture—an interesting thought experiment that encouraged students to consider the role of myth in society in the past and the present.
Sarah Dominguez taught math in the same district, where the administration was fixated on test preparation. Sarah was frustrated by the lack of student engagement and the inability to reach students where they were and help them learn to collaborate. She jumped at the chance to join Leeser to start a new school focused on engaging learners in authentic challenges. Dominguez selects some problems from the network library and creates others herself. Like Dan, Sarah appreciates the instructional coaching she receives and the annual network conference they attend.
Cougar New Tech opened as a new academy at Franklin High School in El Paso, Texas. It meets in its own facility and has the autonomy to use different tools, curriculum, and professional learning than the rest of the district. Cougar New Tech is one of eight academies in El Paso that belong to the New Tech Network. These small academies have a dual allegiance to the New Tech Network and the El Paso Independent School District. The district, pedagogically aligned with New Tech, allows the academies to use different schedules, courses, tools, and professional development experiences. As part of this network, Dan, Sarah, and the other Franklin Cougar teachers—most of whom are new to project based learning—benefit from a proven model, startup support, and on-site coaching, as well as a curriculum library, project authoring tools, and an annual conference.
For Sarah, being part of a network has provided her with the support and resources needed whenever she's struggling with an idea or a project. For example, when Sarah was feeling conflicted about how she wanted to teach calculus for the upcoming year, she was able to get connected with a teacher in another state and share ideas and feedback on how to approach calculus lessons and projects.
“Having a coherent model has allowed our students to know that we have high expectations across the board,” said Sarah. “Students are comfortable and they know what to anticipate,” Dan added, “because everybody is on board with the same ideologies and methods.”
Franklin High School administrators were enthusiastic hosts of the new academy. Having visited similar schools, they knew it would be a high-quality learning option for some of their students. They appreciated the comprehensive nature of the school design, tools, and support, as well as having enough flexibility to make it their own.
New Tech Network is a network of voluntary association. Some of the 200 schools were newly created, like Cougar, and offered as schools of choice to students and teachers. School districts often opt to implement the New Tech model in existing schools as a school redesign initiative. Half of the schools in the network are neighborhood schools and the rest are schools of choice. For more than 15 years, public school districts around the country have looked to New Tech for support in promoting teaching that engages, a culture that empowers, technology that enables, and outcomes that matter.
School networks are the most important innovation in modern US education. Rather than layers of inherited features, schools that belong to networks are organized around a shared approach to teaching and learning, common tools, and collaborative learning opportunities for principals and classroom teachers.
Thousands of schools in traditional school districts voluntarily affiliate with organizations like the New Tech Network. Schools join the network, in part, because it works—more students are engaged, graduate, and go to college than in comparable schools.1 School leaders cite similar reasons for joining Big Picture Learning, Expeditionary Learning (EL) Education, and the career-focused National Academy Foundation (NAF) network.
About a third of the 7,000 charter schools in the US operate in networks. Most are operated by nonprofit management organizations. A 2017 Stanford study showed that schools in strong networks outperformed unaffiliated schools.2
Curriculum networks provide programs of study on shared platforms with professional learning experiences. Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum used by more than 10,000 schools that share a platform and training. The Advancement Via Individual Determination program, also known as AVID, is a college readiness system used by 6,000 schools that share structures, curriculum, and tools. These curriculum networks are not whole school models but they represent much deeper relationships than buying a textbook.
Why are we seeing a steady increase in schools working in networks? Why are they likely to become more important in the future? The primary reason, as previously cited, is that they work pretty well especially in difficult circumstances. Better than average performance is likely a function of a coherent design where everything works together for students and teachers. In many cases, commitment to common practices, tools, and training consistently produces better teaching.
Coherence and fidelity are becoming more important as teaching grows more complex. Using new tools to create personalized learning journeys for every student is promising but raises the degree of difficulty in education. New learning models require more tools, more collaboration, and more expertise. Working in a network that invests in a coherent model can help schools facing tough conditions achieve strong results.
What the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation calls deeper learning outcomes further adds to the level of challenge for individual schools. Building on the four key outcomes identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills—communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity—deeper learning adds two additional outcomes: academic mindset, and learning how to learn. There is evidence that these outcomes are becoming more important for college and career readiness. US schools have struggled to achieve high standards in basic skills, and developing a new picture of what graduates should be able to do and identifying ways to promote and measure these new skills is challenging.
In addition to addressing the degree of difficulty problem, networks help create a sustained sense of focus that can help alleviate turnover. Almost all of these networks, both managed and voluntary, were formed by nonprofit organizations which have the benefit of perpetual rather than political leadership—and that allows them to create and sustain a mission-focused organization over a long period of time. A two-year study of innovation in education made apparent that sustained leadership was key to improved results.3 Elected bodies like school boards have a difficult time sustaining an agenda. The average tenure of urban superintendents is about three years, and the average tenure for principals of high-challenge secondary schools is about the same.4 Rapid leadership turnover is disastrous for sustained school improvement and creating an environment where innovation can flourish.
Because charter schools are authorized to operate outside district structures, they largely avoid the turmoil associated with waves of political change and rapid leadership turnover. School support organizations like the New Tech Network form district partnerships that result in new schools that often have charter-like autonomy through an agreement with the district. Purpose-designed schools often achieve early success and develop a constituency that also protects them from the consequences of turnover.
The last reason networks are likely to become more important is that they are organized to invest in improvement and innovation. School districts are usually cash-strapped from meeting current obligations, and not well organized to support investments that may take years to show a return. Networks offer coherent designs that support high fidelity teaching sustained over time and supported by investment.
Networks typically have a hub that that organizes work and makes decisions. Some less formal networks, such as parent teacher organizations, self-organize and have multiple hubs. Networks may be spontaneous like Black Lives Matter, or planned and continuous like the NAACP. Networks may require a simple pledge or be as selective and expensive as the Augusta National Golf Club.
Networks usually support a core set of transactions that adds value for participants and the network as a whole. Millions of teachers work together in professional learning communities because they share a commitment to improving on shared practices. Schools in California joined the ConnectEd network to receive access to grant funding, technical assistance, a learning platform, and collaboration opportunities.5 Foundations continue to fund managed school networks because they appear to be a reliable way to create quality schools in underserved communities.
This book is about steady increase in educators working together in networks—a trend we are confident will only continue to accelerate. An important part of this trend is that as dynamic networks with powerful platform tools create a network effect, they get better and more valuable as they grow—and in turn, the tools get better and the growth opportunities for staff members grow with scale. Along with many good examples highlighted in this book, the New Tech Network serves as an illustrative example of this network effect (which is discussed in greater detail in Chapter Two).
Digital platforms have transformed the way we live, work, travel and play—that is the thesis of Chapter One. However, despite the shift to digital learning, the platform revolution has yet to fully transform formal education. So what's the hold up?
The first problem is that learning platforms have not received the same level of attention and investment as social media and marketplace platforms; they are generally still a few years behind what we have all come to expect in user experience. More importantly, after adding more than 30 million computers to US schools, it has become clear that it is not technology tools that transform learning, but rather a vision of powerful learner experiences made possible by new tools and environments. Learning is also transformed by new working conditions for teachers to construct experiences that impact thousands and, simultaneously, enable small group instruction. It is a professional work environment for classroom educators and school leaders that supports multiple contributions and provides personalized professional growth opportunities.
Project based learning is easy to initiate but hard to do rigorously. Adding personalized learning, where every learner has a unique path and pace, is promising but complicated. It remains academically, technically, and financially challenging to construct a personalized learning model, a learning platform, and an aligned professional learning system.
The situation is further complicated in US public schools by a decentralized system where 14,000 superintendents and school boards operating in 50 very different state contexts are charged with designing and operating instructional programs. Managed and voluntary networks can develop the scale to invest in an instructional programs, technology platforms, improvement frameworks, and professional learning opportunities.
We wrote this book because we are excited about the potential of new learning models to dramatically improve achievement and extend access. However, the work is complicated and difficult. Educators should work in networks, or in districts that act like networks in order to get better.
The first section (Chapter One to Chapter Three) provides some background on the technology revolution underway and how and why platforms and networks are reshaping life and work. The second section (Chapter Four through Chapter Eight) describes our vision of powerful learning for all students and why design thinking is the new framework for school. Chapter Six describes the empowered environment of co-creation that teachers should expect. Chapter Seven describes how dynamic networks improve. Chapter Eight compares network models for scaled impact.
The third section of the book contains specific strategies you can use to build an impactful network including leadership (Chapter Nine), business models (Chapter Ten), governance (Chapter Eleven), school support (Chapter Twelve), and advocacy (Chapter Thirteen).