Dear Friends,

The Education Reimagined team has had an incredibly busy, exciting, and energizing two weeks! We attended SXSWedu in Austin, TX; hosted a conversation in Washington, DC on meeting the needs and aspirations of ALL learners; and launched a conversation with Next Generation Learning Challenges on the #NextEdStory.

At SXSWedu, we hosted a panel on the possibility of learner-centered education; a 3-hour summit delving into the questions of how to make the systems shift toward learner-centered education; and a cocktail party co-hosted with NGLC to…well…kick back and unwind! Read our insights and reflections from SXSWedu on page X.

And, overall, what truly stood out to us throughout the day was the joy of working with leading pioneers in the field and of meeting so many new people working to make the vision a reality. If you’re receiving Pioneering for the first time after meeting us at SXSWedu, welcome! We’re so happy to have you in the community.

We want to give a special thank you to the partners who served as our speakers, facilitators, and co-hosts of conversations: Taylor County Schools, Summit Public Schools, Houston A+, Big Picture Learning, Iowa BIG, KnowledgeWorks, NGLC, Big Thought, EduStart LLC, Destination Imagination, Teton Science Schools, and Dallas ISD.

Also in this issue, we’re excited to be featuring Kim Carter’s article, “We are All Good Learners.” As the Executive Director of the QED Foundation and Chair of MC2 Charter School, she presented these remarks at our convening last week on how learner-centered education serves those learners most ill-served by the current one-size-fits-all education model. She shared her experience of meeting the needs and aspirations of learners with wide ranges of learning variability. We were inspired by her stories and the work of MC2—and wanted to share it with all of you.

Lastly, please read the article that Andy Calkins and I co-authored inviting the images, metaphors, and phrases that reflect the new future of learning. It was originally published in EdSurge on March 3rd. We hope you’ll answer the invitation through blogs posts, Twitter, and Facebook. Just remember to use #NextEdStory to keep the momentum going!

Warm wishes,

Kelly Young