KnowledgeWorks Helps Spearhead Strategy to Help Education Funders Leverage Impact
Two new reports provide insight into efforts to help transform education systems
Cincinnati, OH (Vocus) December 21, 2010
KnowledgeWorks, Grantmakers for Education (GFE) a national network of 260 public and private philanthropies, and Collective Invention, a social innovation firm, have developed an approach for grant funders and philanthropies to explore how to help transform the education system toward innovation and next-generation learning.
Two new briefs housed on the website of GFE offer insight into these efforts.
Innovation in Education: Redesigning the Delivery System of Education in America documents how funders at GFE’s April 2010 member briefing in San Francisco used three key approaches -- systems thinking, design thinking and scenario thinking -- to understand what grant makers can do to transform education systems. A second report, Learning 2025: Forging Pathways to the Future, summarizes themes from a working meeting in Chicago in which a small group of funders mapped their investments in next-generation learning strategies. A third convening to continue the work is set for the spring.
GFE is leading the initiative to build a common definition of innovation among education funders.
“GFE is spearheading the conversation about innovation out of our sense that incremental solutions are not enough, especially if we want to build an education system that supports all learners,” said Chris Tebben, executive director of GFE. “We see this as a learning and field-building process. We’re not expecting education funders to sign off on a common vision or plan.
Rather, we hope to increase understanding and create opportunities for greater coordination and alignment, in this emerging area.”
Jillian Darwish, Ed. D., vice president of KnowledgeWorks’ operating unit Organizational Learning and Innovation, or OLI, said this kind of collaboration is an important step to help move the education system forward.
“As we work together to bring about a student-centered world of learning, we need these kind of collectively generated road maps to help ensure that our efforts are coordinated and effective,” Darwish said.“Looking ahead together helps us identify possibilities that we might not otherwise discover. It opens up pathways toward a future that draws upon the best of, but is not constrained, by today's system.”
Formed in April, OLI uses its expertise in systems thinking, organizational learning and change management to support KnowlegeWorks’ high school transformation work throughout the United States. Much of OLI’s work is designed around KnowledgeWorks’ 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning, a learning tool designed to help organizations think about, prepare for and shape the future using six main trends.
Erika Gregory, president of Collective Invention, which helps leaders of innovation create, articulate, and implement visionary futures, said, “We're excited to see education funders embracing design and systems thinking as a way of building their capacity to support the field in transforming learning for the future."
Since April, Collective Invention and KnowledgeWorks have worked with organizations across the education sector, including school districts, helping them imagine what is possible and creating the learning system needed in a 21st-century global environment.
KnowledgeWorks is bringing the future of learning to America’s high schools and creating widespread, lasting change in the communities and states we serve. Our portfolio of high school approaches includes New Tech Network high schools, EdWorks high school redesign, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and Early College High Schools.
Collective Invention is a multi-disciplinary consultancy that leverages insights from organizational development, anthropology, architecture, design, the arts and business. Based in San Francisco, Collective Invention works with businesses, schools, philanthropies, NGOS, corporations, and government agencies dedicated to innovation that serves the common good. Much of Collective Invention’s work focuses on breakthrough approaches to education, health, and environmental sustainability.
Grantmakers for Education strengthens education philanthropy to improve outcomes and expand opportunities for all learners. As a national network of more than 260 private and public philanthropies representing over $1.5 billion in annual support for education, GFE provides research, programs and resources to increase funders’ ability to be strategic and capable in their grantmaking to support early childhood, K-12 and postsecondary education. Contact: Lois Leveen, lois(at)edfunders. org, 503-595-2100.
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