5-Minute Film Festival: Future Ready Leadership

What does it really take to move the education system forward in a nation as vast and diverse as the United States? What are the levers to pull to grow towards sustainable, systemic change? The Alliance for Excellent Education's Future Ready Schools initiative has been exploring these big questions for some time, in partnership with the Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, and in April, the DOE published a bounty of resources for district-level change, including a research-based online self-assessment that generates a personalized playlist from a library of videos. We've included a sampler of these videos and resources below to get you started. Superintendents and district administrators, take note!

Video Playlist: Resources for Future Ready Leaders

Watch the first video below, or watch the whole playlist on YouTube.

1. Future Ready Leaders Trailer (02:12)

   This trailer introduces the initiative and the video series. The videos below dig into the Future Ready Framework by featuring districts around the country. We've chosen one video for each of the seven key areas of the framework, plus leadership, that all work towards creating a new system of personalized learning.

2. Personalized Learning in Core Content Areas (03:23)

   Find out how Palisades School District in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, has empowered their teachers to design curriculum that centers on student ownership. Learn more about the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment key area.

3. Recharge Ed: Collaborative UnConference (03:08)

   In Wales, Wisconsin, Kettle Moraine School District has embraced the Edcamp unconference model to give teachers agency over their professional development. Learn more about the Personalized Professional Learning key area.

4. 24/7 Connectivity: Wi-Fi Powered Buses (02:48)

   See how Coachella Valley Unified School District solved the issue of connectivity for their low-income families by wiring the school buses. Learn more about the Robust Infrastructure key area.

5. Garnering Sustainable Funding (03:00)

   St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado gathered the entire community to support a "Mill Levy Override" - an additional property tax to boost funding for the district. Learn more about the Budget and Resources key area.

6. Leveraging External Partnerships (03:01)

   In Cresco, Iowa, Howard-Winneshiek Community School District finds that working with business leaders and local colleges builds a stronger community and makes economic sense. Learn more about the Community Partnerships key area.

7. Development of Parental Buy-in Toward Digital Transformation (02:15)

   While none of the videos focus specifically on data and privacy, there are a number of videos about working with parents and tech. This one, for instance, focuses on developing parent buy-in at Indian Prairie School District, in Aurora, Illinois. Learn more about the Data and Privacy key area.

8. Learning Without Boundaries: Create House (02:56)

   Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin has built a personalized learning environment where students forge their own learning paths. Learn more about the Use of Space and Time key area.

9. Growing Teachers as Leaders (03:26)

   Administrators at Vancouver Public Schools in Washington describe how they create a culture that trusts and empowers teachers to become leaders in the district. Learn more about Collaborative Leadership.

More Resources for Future Ready Schools

We've shared just a small slice of the resources available through Future Ready Schools. Follow the links below for many more, along with some articles framing the challenges and opportunities of this kind of effort. You can also follow the hashtag #FutureReady to stay up to date. Edutopia is a partner in the Future Ready initiative, and we're excited to provide resources to the growing group of superintendents and districts who have pledged to make a commitment to meaningful change. Please share your thoughts or additional resources in the comments below.

• "Getting Started: Future Ready Leaders," by Bernadette Adams via Medium
• "5 Issues Every 'Future Ready' School Leader Must Address," by Rusul Alrubail and Tom Murray via Edsurge
• Future Ready Schools Homepage
• Getting Started: A 5 Step Process for Creating Your Future Ready Action Plan
• Future Ready Schools: Personalized Professional Learning for Leaders
• Future Ready Schools: Building Technology Infrastructure for Learning
• Future Ready Schools: Empowering Educators through Professional Learning Toolkit
• Future Ready Schools: Summits & Workshops
• Future Ready Schools: Interactive Planning Dashboard
• Characteristics of Future Ready Leadership: A Research Synthesis
• "Parent Engagement in a Future Ready School," by Tom Murray via PTA's OneVoice blog
• "Is Your School 'Future Ready'?" by Jeff Mao via Graphite