The class of 2030: Imagining its future |
On Board Online • April 23, 2018
Timothy G. Kremer
NYSSBA Executive Director
Schools today must prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, for technologies that have not yet been invented, and for social issues that can only be imagined. To navigate such uncertainty, school systems are constantly rethinking what students will need to thrive and succeed when they graduate.
Many school districts engage in a strategic planning and visioning process. In a parallel effort, NYSSBA has embarked on a project to help its members further anticipate the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary for students to shape their future. We have set our sights on the year 2030 because the children who entered kindergarten in September 2017 will be the graduating Class of 2030 - both an exhilarating and sobering thought. What will the world be like for these students? What will it take for today's children to be active, responsible and engaged young adults? What can school boards do to help them thrive and shape their world in ways one can only imagine?
Beginning in May, NYSSBA will be convening a series of six summits throughout the state in which attendees will be asked to imagine that it is the year 2030. These half-day summits will be free-of-charge, and all are welcome to attend. We are hoping to attract school board members and professional educators as well as parents, students and other community members.
These forums were conceived by the NYSSBA Board of Directors last fall when it set forth a goal to organize a framework for school communities to think ahead about educational innovations that will help students prepare for an increasingly volatile, complex and ambiguous world. Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia will be kicking off each summit by offering her thoughts about 2030 and what is best for students. Bill Daggett, founder and chairman of International Center for Leadership in Education, will share leading indicators as to why we should be talking about 2030 now. A team from IBM will demonstrate Teacher Advisor with Watson, a new cognitive computing tool for classroom teachers. Finally, representatives for Microsoft US Education will discuss ways for students to be future-ready in a digital world.
Audience members will be asked to share their thoughts and questions as well.
The elephant in the room at each of these summits will be that our traditional ways of prioritizing, structuring and delivering education are outdated. According to a new study conducted by Microsoft in collaboration with McKinsey & Company's Education Practice, graduates of 2030 will be better prepared for their futures if they have a strong social and emotional foundation, developed in a personalized learning environment. Students in the study are both clear and bold about their vision of the future; they want greater choice and control over what they learn, when, how and from whom.
Let's face it: public education is organized around an assembly line model, staffing decisions are based largely on seniority, and the schedule is linked to the agrarian calendar - elements fundamentally unchanged for more than 100 years. While the world has transitioned from the agricultural age to the industrial age to the digital age to what Daniel Pink calls the "conceptual age," schools have not kept pace with it.
Moreover, our current educational techniques need to be better aligned with what we know about learning: different students develop and learn at different rates. They learn best when they find the subject matter interesting and relevant, hence, the increasing appeal for personalized and adaptive learning techniques.
I'm an optimist. I think that the Class of 2030 will be the best educated graduates ever to walk across the stage because the education community, led by courageous school boards, will rise to the challenge of rethinking public education. They will do so from the point of view of what students will need to know and be able to do in a world very different than what we know today.
These kids are counting on us. I hope you will join me and other stakeholders as we imagine the world in 2030. What does it look like to you?