Our Work
We facilitate connections, build relationships, and share learning among those who must work in concert to bring about equity-seeking change in education.
Specifically, we work at the intersection between two sets of relationships that define the education system: the relationships local districts and schools have with the students, families and communities they serve; and their relationships with the broader system, including the state, and federal agencies that oversee them or influence their work through policy.
Too often, these two kinds of relationships play “tug of war” with schools, holding schools and districts accountable to two different sets of expectations that are not always aligned. And because the education system is hierarchical, with influence over policies, funding, and political will concentrated at the top, state and federal accountability tends to overpower a district’s ability to be attuned to – let alone responsive to – the expectations of its families and communities.
Our work seeks to bridge these two sets of relationships, aligning them both to a shared mission of serving every student and family well. This doesn’t mean that state and federal agencies and families and communities should use the same measures to hold districts accountable, but that families and communities should be involved in setting priorities that are shared and coherent across the levels of the system. More on how we do this can be found in our Core Practice Areas [hyperlink]..
We also believe that how we go about our work is of equal importance as what we do and must model the shifts we desire to see in education systems broadly. Therefore we strive to approach each project - and each relationship - in ways that honor and apply the 4 Habits of Transformed Systems (inclusion, empathy, co-creation, and reciprocity) interpersonally as we go about the work. See the Change We Seek [hyperlink] for more on how we see these habits playing out in a transformed system.
