How do you create change in an archaic school system?
Overview: In the past 100 years, we’ve gone from the Model T to the Tesla; from the typewriter to the touch screen; from the switchboard to the smartphone. Yet American high schools have remained frozen in time. They are still preparing kids for jobs that won't even exist by the time they graduate. XQ: The Super School Project set out to change that, starting with the largest open call in history to rethink high school. How do we create the kind of learning environment that will develop agile problem solvers, creative thinkers and collaborators?
This is behavioral change on a really long term scale as a nationwide reform of education is going to take a long time, a lot of investment and a lot of different touchpoints from highly targeted messaging to mass media through to political lobbying. I developed a comprehensive communication strategy based on classical behavioral change theory:
1) make people reappraise the shortcomings of the status quo
2) help people see how things could be different by showcasing the pioneers of 21st Century Education programs across the country
3) give people tangible things they can do to stimulate change in their school/neighbourhood