Today’s education system includes ingrained practices, including policy and decades-old methods, that prevent schools from moving to competency-based models.
Solutions to this problem include:
- Creating and making available educational resources on competency-based learning. These resources might be best practices, rubrics or tools, or research.
- Convening a coalition of League of Innovative Schools districts that are working to build successful competency-based models.
- Creating a technical solution for flexible tracking of competencies and credits.
Problem No. 2: Leadership doesn’t always support second-order change, and those in potential leadership roles, such as teachers and librarians, aren’t always empowered to help effect change.
Solutions to this problem include:
- Promoting League of Innovative Schools efforts to enable second-order change leadership
- Creating a framework, to be used in professional development, that would target and explain second-order change leadership discussions
- Schedule panel discussions about second-order change leadership
Problem No. 3: Communities and cultures are resistant to change, including technology-based change
Solutions to this problem include:
- Identifying new and engaging ways to share cutting-edge and tech-savvy best practices with school and district stakeholders and community members
- Involve business leaders in technology-rich schools and create school-business partnerships
- Look to influential organizations to spearhead national ed-tech awareness campaigns
Problem No. 4: Education budgets aren’t always flexible enough to support the cost, sustainability, or scalability of innovations
Solutions to this problem include:
- Build relationships with local businesses and career academies, and create incentives for companies to hire students, in order to create a revenue stream for schools
- Look to competitive pricing and creative solutions
- Leaders must not be afraid to take risks and support the changes needed to bring about this kind of budgeting
Problem No. 5: Professional development in the U.S. is stale and outdated
Solutions to this problem include:
- Identifying best practices from other industries or sectors, and learn more about adult learning
- Create a community for teachers to access immediate help
- Personalize professional development
- Create and strengthen K-12 and higher education partnerships
- Create alternative modes of certification and reward forward-thinking practices
Problem No. 6: School districts do not have evidence-based processes to evaluate, select, and monitor digital content inclusive of aligned formative assessments
Solutions to this problem include:
- Creating a marketplace or database to help educators identify and evaluate, as well as take ownership of, digital content
- Involve students in digital content evaluation
- Identify schools or districts to test digital content evaluation and storage systems
Problem No. 7: Current and traditional instructional methods leave students less engaged and less inclined to take ownership of their learning
Solutions to this problem include:
- Creating working groups, within education organizations, with the aim of advancing authentic student learning
- Leverage the internet to create online tools and resources that offer innovative teaching strategies to help engage students
- Help teachers understand and practice authentic teaching and learning to help students master skills and standards
- Children learn best on paper: We need better technology, not less of it - July 13, 2026
- In districts, reaching readiness, retention, and success - March 5, 2026
- AI use is on the rise, but is guidance keeping pace? - January 2, 2026
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