We partner with individuals, classrooms, schools, and organizations to foster new conversations and a new vision for schooling at the local and national levels.
Here we share the stories from students, educators, parents, leaders, and community members across the country. Each story is an expression of an individual's hopes, fears, joys, and aspirations. Each story is unique and powerful on its own. Together they are the collective dreams of a nation.
We hope you will enjoy browsing and sharing your thoughts. You can search for your state, or people you know by using the search bar. Intrigued, Inspired?! Sign up to be a Catalyst!
“Freedom to still dream, freedom to still execute their dream. Freedom to always be in a space of possibility. Freedom to be adventurous, freedom to explore. And freedom to love. Freedom to care about human life. Freedom to understand - and this just from a spiritual place for me - for them to understand that this life is transitional, that you are here temporarily and that you have a choice of how you live it. A freedom to choose how you live it.“
Read More“I think the reason why we should have a public schooling system is that if you're going to provide everyone an equitable society, you have to give them all a level playing field through their education. They have to have opportunities provided to them by the community and by adults who have their best interests in mind and give them a voice in their lives and figure out what it is they want to do. They want to figure out what the good life is. That's the whole point.”
Read MoreThe rules that have been created as a result of this system stifle innovation and we within education perpetuate it because we have a hard time seeing an alternate reality...
We have to give the people who are in education the opportunity to innovate to solve those problems, and to use data to ensure that they're solving them well.
Read MoreWhat I want is for kids to be ready to adapt and embrace whatever happens. To be able to respond to it thoughtfully - with kindness and compassion for themselves and others. And to be collaboratively figuring out: "How are we going to work together to make this planet, this world, this nation a better place...?"
Read MoreIf you are a child who was born into poverty in this country, the likelihood that you will be able to escape poverty is not high. And that goes against every ideal that we have as a country, and it makes me mad - it is the fire in my belly that just pisses me off every day, that we have children who have so much potential and so much to offer the world, and they are not able to live up to that potential because they're not able to attend high-quality schools.
I think school in its ideal form provides a variety of opportunities, and provides a belief in the innate capacity of every child. Schools that have a variety of opportunities for individuals to flourish and then see every child as having potential and capacity really can make a huge difference for a child. I don't think that's how most schools work... We say that school is empowering, but largely we act in very controlling ways. So we use the language of empowerment, but we use actions of control.
Read MoreSchool should help her know herself. It should help her know her power. It should help her find her sense of responsibility and community. It should offer her access to inspirational guides. It should offer her skills to be able to fully embrace and utilize the information that exists in the world, and it should offer her access to great thinkers and great teachers, and the intersection of ideas.
Read More
