Seven Helpful Constructs for Building a Coherent Future-Focused School System
Whether it is the World Economic Forum's Top 10 Job Skills, the McKinsey White Paper Defining the Skills Citizens Need in the Future World of Work (Dondi, et. al., 2021), Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation , or the explosion of generative AI, it is clear that schools must redesign their systems to ensure that they support whole child growth and development and prioritize learning experiences that foster the development of transferable skills in addition to mastery of traditional academic standards. My first Superintendent's Conference Day Keynote Address in the Northport-East Northport School District Union Free School District last April was titled Caring for the Present, Enabling the Future . The point of the presentation was to acknowledge and honor the outstanding opportunities available to our students due to the hard work of our staff and the tremendous support of our community. It also introduced some concepts for future-focused thinking that I believed we need...