New Research Is Shaping the Future of Education

Education goes beyond just academics.

"It's not because academics and content don't matter," Ulcca Joshi Hansen says, "but they have to be the vehicles through which young people learn to deal with ambiguity and to adapt."

Hansen, an author and education expert, was joined by Vicki Phillips, CEO of the National Center of Education and the Economy, for a session on the future of education at NCSL's Legislative Summit. Both see an important role for state legislators in that future.

"Policymakers and education leaders in top-performing systems help their communities revisit core assumptions about how, when, where and by whom education is delivered," Phillips says.

"Successful systems know that they can only go as far as their teachers and leaders can take them."

-Vicki Phillips, National Center of Education and the Economy

The future of education has changed because of what researchers know about human development and technology, including AI. There is now a more holistic and "human-centered" approach to education issues, Hansen says.

"Our current systems are not designed to support human-centered education, so when schools try and do something different, they are brought back through accountability, grade levels," Hansen says

To create a system that engages students beyond the classroom, legislators can support research groups in finding solutions. Once these solutions are more developed, they can draft policy to support them, Hansen says.

Philips is also working to create a system that benefits students in every aspect of their lives. Her group has a four-point blueprint of "interdependent" ideas that can help create a strong system. The first point is to prepare people for "long-life" learning.

"Long-life, rather than lifelong, (is) a nod to the reality that we are all living longer, and our young people will need the kinds of skills and education that will help them over that extended lifetime," Phillips says.

The full blueprint is not public yet, but it includes concepts that relate to educator support, student well-being and the role of leadership in education, Phillips says.

"I think it's not one step at a time, it is doing a lot of these things simultaneously," Phillps says.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and it cannot be predicted what young people will need because the world is rapidly changing, Hansen says.

"We have to improve our existing system for the kids in it, and we also need a new infrastructure for public education that is more ecological in nature and supports human-centered education," Hansen says.

These issues require time and energy to fix, and leaders must create momentum for the short-term solutions but always keep the big picture in mind, Phillips says.

"Successful systems know that they can only go as far as their teachers and leaders can take them," Phillips says.

However, legislators don't need to reinvent a completely new system; rather, they should try to "understand the field and build on and springboard from what people are doing," she says.

Both Hansen and Phillips say that multiple parts of the community should be consulted in education discussions, including civic leaders, community advocates and those involved in all types of education.

Young people and teachers should also be at the table during these conversations, Phillips says.

Hannah Edelheit is an intern in NCSL's Communications Division.

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