A shared vision for student readiness defines and communicates the holistic set of skills that ALL students need for success.

Sees the learner as a whole person:

• Emphasizes interpersonal, intrapersonal, and metacognitive skills
• Values social-emotional skills and well-being
• Supports mental and physical health

Connects to instructional core:

• Goes beyond just stating desired student outcomes to provide clarity about the role of teachers and content in achieving success
• Informs the development of structures and conditions to engage in professional development and collaboration
• Results in a more coherent organization that eliminates the silos and multiple identities typically found in public school

Statements

• The vision for readiness is holistic, balancing skills, dispositions, and knowledge.
• The vision for readiness influences both structural (e.g., syllabi, MTSS, report cards, governance) and instructional decisions.
• Students can see the connection between their learning and their future plans.
• The vision for readiness reinforces the strengths of students who are furthest from opportunity.

Points of Emphasis

• Our education system is still aligned with 20th century skills, especially our accountability models. While reading, writing and math are important, we need to recognize and elevate 21st century outcomes as equal to the traditional goals of the education system.
• Create shared definitions of student outcomes to prepare students and staff for using them in classrooms and beyond – EVERY PERIOD, EVERY DAY, with ALL staff.
• Intentionally reach out and engage students and families whose voices are not normally heard.
• Develop student outcomes that speak to students first and foremost, but that are easy for families to understand and use as well. Use those outcomes to tell stories and create rituals and routines. Connect them to their daily lives.
• Lots of little things can move a mountain. Big Plays, which can take 6-18 months to fully implement, and Key Moves, which can take 3-6 months to fully implement, require significant time, energy, and effort. Little things, actions could have done yesterday or could do tomorrow, require intention and coordination with minimal time and energy.

Key Terms and Concepts

Four Keys to College and Career Readiness

Think is about solving problems and addressing issues through versatile and intentional thinking. Examples of Think skills student need include:

• critical thinking and inquiry. 
• coming up with new ideas
• creative discovery
• innovative solutions
• design thinking
• communication using different methods and adapting to different audiences

Know includes content knowledge and skills such as reading, writing, and math. An over-inflated emphasis on Know skills tends to fixate on students’ challenges and weaknesses rather than playing to their strengths. Especially students with disabilities or those whose first language is not English. Students should be able to answer these questions as they develop Know skills:

• Do I understand the point of what I’m learning and how it fits with what I already know?
• Am I pushing myself to work hard, tackle new challenges, and embrace new ideas?
• What am I learning that will open doors to future career paths?

Act is best expressed as ownership of learning as well as the ability to collaborate. Examples of Act skills are:

• self direction
• goal setting
• collaboration
• note taking
• time management

Go includes elements of student agency– self awareness, self knowledge, and an understanding of who you are in the context of the world around you, including your family and your community. Because of this, Go includes leadership skills, advocacy skills, self-care and healthy habits as well as skills like kindness and empathy.

Key Resources

Future Readiness Community Engagement Activity: Ensure Every Student is Prepared to Succeed After High School

Discover Your School’s Shared Vision Readiness: Rate Shared Vision for Readiness in Your School With Your School Leadership Team

Assess the Four Keys in Action: Find Challenges and Opportunities in the Classroom Using Think, Know, Act, and Go

Quotes

“Education is the kindling of the flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

Socrates

“When you’re surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.”

Howard Schultz

“Society needs people who take care of the elderly and who know how to be compassionate and honest,” he said. “Society needs people who work in hospitals. Society needs all kinds of skills that are not just cognitive; they’re emotional, they’re affectional. You can’t run the society on data and computers alone.”

Alvin Toffler

Reflection Prompts

If you are an elementary leader, first imagine a student walking across the graduation stage who is ready to successfully transition and navigate the world beyond high school, then identify your vision for a student ready to transition from primary to intermediate grades and from elementary to middle school. List characteristics, skills, mindsets, and behaviors of this student. Which of the characteristics, skills, mindsets, or behaviors you listed have helped you the most through transitions in your own life?

If you are a middle school leader, first identify your vision for a student ready to transition to high school, then imagine a student walking across the graduation stage who is ready to successfully transition and navigate the world beyond high school.  List characteristics, skills, mindsets, and behaviors of this student. Which of the characteristics, skills, mindsets, or behaviors you listed have helped you the most through transitions in your own life?

If you are a high school leader, imagine a student walking across the graduation stage who is ready to successfully transition and navigate the world beyond high school.  List characteristics, skills, mindsets, and behaviors of this student. Which of the characteristics, skills, mindsets, or behaviors you listed have helped you the most through transitions in your own life?

If your school community shares a vision for readiness and uses it every period, every day, which student groups do you think will be most impacted? And what would make this approach most impactful for them?

As you think about your vision for readiness through an equity lens, what new metrics and indicators of success do the team need to consider (or prioritize) in your vision for readiness?

What new and continued methods might you use to solicit feedback from your targeted students and families to inform the development of the vision for readiness?

Reflect and write down three challenges within your school community that could be barriers to your students’ experiences becoming more aligned with your vision for student readiness.

Based on the current way resources are allocated at your school, which student groups have the least access (in and outside of the classroom) to the opportunities that develop 21st century skills?

All Toolkit Resources

Additional Resources

Simon Sinek on the Future of Education: The Change That’s Needed and the Change That’s Possible