At the Aurora Institute Symposium 2024, A Call to Center Young People and Transform K-12 Systems

Aurora Institute Symposium 2024 was one for the books – our team left New Orleans with hearts full of joy, hope, and wisdom. The time spent together with so many innovators – nearly 800 of you – focused on transforming our K-12 system to something bolder, brighter, more equitable, more relevant, and more personalized for our young people.

We feel humbled and honored to be a part of gathering people to collaborate and connect. We heard so many stories over the course of this Symposium about the work of learning communities to transform K-12 systems to meet the needs of each and every learner via multiple pathways aligned with competency-based education (CBE). For those who attended, we hope that you all left with inspiring messages, action steps, and ideas to take back to your teams after our time together. 

And whether you could come in person or not, the ideas and themes of #Aurora24 will continue to be front and center of our collective work. We hope each of you feel connected to this movement that is bigger than our individual efforts. This post highlights a few special moments and sets the stage for ideas and stories we will share and bring forward. 

Elevating Learners and Advancing Equity through Visioning, Community, and Collaboration

Over the course of four days, the Symposium 2024 community had the chance to join together to share best practices around shifting to competency-based systems, building more equitable structures and policies, and centering learner voice and agency through all of it.

The opening keynote plenary (see plenary recordings here) of Symposium began with a message loud and clear from brilliant young people; as Sophia Ervin-Agudelo, a student at Santa Clara University remarked: “Young people are literally our future; start investing in us…young people are not an accessory to your success!”

Asking Critical Questions about the Investments We Make in Our Future

On Monday, we had the chance to engage in two inspiring keynote conversations focused on the future of learning. Beloved Community’s Rhonda Broussard invited a panel of young people with experiences in youth participatory action research to share their “one good question” – or provocation – around how education systems can change to be more relevant and meaningful for young people. David Ramirez, a student at Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans, asked, “My one good question is: Will you listen? Will our voices [as young people] be heard?”

An afternoon keynote conversation from Dr. Sabba Quidwai invited the audience to consider “what your human advantage is in an AI world” – Sabba encouraged us to think about how we might create a culture of innovation in our schools that begins with empathy. When using AI in education spaces, how might we use a WISE framework – considering Wellbeing, Integrity, Skills, and Engagement?

Closing with a Call to Center the Genius of Young People 

During our closing keynote address, entrepreneur and self-described learning enthusiast and optimist Erika Twani, Founder of the Learning One to One Foundation and author of “Becoming Einstein’s Teacher,” left the audience with an explicit call to create a system of learning that centers the genius of all young people.

“May you continue to look at children and see their strengths, not their shortcomings; may you teach the whole child, not just the curriculum; may you support learners to reach their full potential, not just do well on tests; and may you dare to dream and imagine the future, and never, ever stop learning.” 

From real world learning experiences through internship programs in New Mexico, to place-based learning opportunities in Philly, to systems transformation in North Dakota, and beyond – the Symposium was packed with lessons learned about rethinking education. We also partnered with Big Picture Learning to bring the wisdom, inspiration, and vulnerability (and dancing) of the Leadership Journeys experience.

As one attendee shared about her first-time Symposium experience, “This has been the most informative, innovative conference I’ve ever attended. Thank you all for caring so much for ALL children!!!” We couldn’t have done it without our community of innovators shining a bright light on a new dawn for all of us. 

Continue the Momentum 

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll feature blog posts and other artifacts from the Aurora Institute Symposium 2024. More than a summary, we hope to amplify ideas and stories beyond the few days people gathered – plus even if you were there, there was more than one person could get to! Here are a few highlights to look forward to: 

• The Ephrata Public Schools and Digital Promise will share their collaboration to make Portraits of a Graduate authentic and dynamic. 
• Chris Sturgis, one of the co-founders of CompetencyWorks, joined us at Symposium  and will be sharing her reflections on our field from the CBE Looking Backward, Looking Forward session she and Laurie co-facilitated. She will also share reflections on gen AI and other Symposium themes. 
• The Franklin, New Hampshire students will share the stories they captured from other students and adult attendees of the Aurora Institute Symposium 2024 and we’ve invited all of the young people who attend to share their experiences and vision for the future of learning.
• Karen Pittman will share research on attitudes about public education and make a case for our readiness for innovation in education and a shift to an ecosystems approach to our learning environments, in which Education Reimagined is leading a learning lab network.
• Several posts will reflect on the ways educators are and could be utilizing generative AI to cultivate personalization and ensure we are all equipped to engage in an AI-enabled world. 
• We’ll highlight the momentum at the state level and the ways states are transforming policy and support for learner-centered systems and practices. 

Here’s to building a future where student voice is centered, and learner agency is unleashed.

Laurie Gagnon is the CompetencyWorks Program Director and Chiara Wegener is the Communications Director for the Aurora Institute. In addition to collaborative writing projects, they both also enjoy running as a way to stay healthy and explore a new place. At the Symposium they were able to take a run together around NOLA , capping it off with beignets and cafe au lait!