{"id":19503,"date":"2024-11-21T09:19:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T14:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?post_type=cw_post&p=19503"},"modified":"2024-11-21T10:49:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T15:49:43","slug":"at-the-aurora-institute-symposium-2024-a-call-to-center-young-people-and-transform-k-12-systems","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/at-the-aurora-institute-symposium-2024-a-call-to-center-young-people-and-transform-k-12-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Aurora Institute Symposium 2024, A Call to Center Young People and Transform K-12 Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aurora Institute Symposium 2024<\/a> was one for the books \u2013 our team left New Orleans with hearts full of joy, hope, and wisdom. The time spent together with so many innovators \u2013 nearly 800 of you \u2013 focused on transforming our K-12 system to something bolder, brighter, more equitable, more relevant, and more personalized for our young people.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elevating Learners and Advancing Equity through Visioning, Community, and Collaboration<\/span><\/h2>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The opening keynote plenary (<\/span>see plenary recordings here<\/span><\/a>) of Symposium began with a message loud and clear from brilliant young people; as Sophia Ervin-Agudelo, a student at Santa Clara University remarked: <\/span>\u201cYoung people are literally our future; start investing in us\u2026young people are not an accessory to your success!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/span><\/h2>\n

Asking Critical Questions about the Investments We Make in Our Future<\/span><\/h2>\n

On Monday, we had the chance to engage in two inspiring keynote conversations focused on the future of learning. Beloved Community\u2019s Rhonda Broussard invited a panel of young people with experiences in youth participatory action research to share their \u201cone good question\u201d \u2013 or provocation \u2013 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, <\/span>\u201cMy one good question is: Will you listen? Will our voices [as young people] be heard?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"Rhonda<\/span><\/p>\n

An afternoon keynote conversation from Dr. Sabba Quidwai invited the audience to consider \u201cwhat your human advantage is in an AI world\u201d \u2013 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 \u2013 considering Wellbeing, Integrity, Skills, and Engagement?
\n\"\"\"Sabba
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Closing with a Call to Center the Genius of Young People\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

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 \u201cBecoming Einstein\u2019s Teacher,\u201d left the audience with an explicit call to create a system of learning that centers the genius of all young people.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cMay 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.<\/i><\/b>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Erika<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Aurora <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>As one attendee shared about her first-time Symposium experience,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>This has been the most informative, innovative conference I\u2019ve ever attended. Thank you all for caring so much for ALL children!!!\u201d We couldn\u2019t have done it without our community of innovators shining a bright light on a new dawn for all of us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Continue the Momentum\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the coming weeks and months, we\u2019ll 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 \u2013 plus even if you were there, there was more than one person could get to! Here are a few highlights to look forward to:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • The Ephrata Public Schools and Digital Promise will share their collaboration to make Portraits of a Graduate authentic and dynamic.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Chris Sturgis, one of the co-founders of <\/span>CompetencyWorks<\/span><\/i>, joined us at Symposium\u00a0 and will be sharing her reflections on our field from the <\/span>CBE Looking Backward, Looking Forward <\/span><\/i>session she and Laurie co-facilitated. She will also share reflections on gen AI and other Symposium themes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • 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\u2019ve invited all of the young people who attend to share their experiences and vision for the future of learning.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • 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.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • We\u2019ll highlight the momentum at the state level and the ways states are transforming policy and support for learner-centered systems and practices.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Here\u2019s to building a future where student voice is centered, and learner agency is unleashed.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"TwoLaurie Gagnon<\/b>\u00a0is the\u00a0Competency<\/i>Works Program Director and Chiara Wegener<\/b> 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!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","mapsvg_location":""},"legacy_category":[],"issue":[481],"location":[],"class_list":["post-19503","cw_post","type-cw_post","status-publish","hentry","issue-aurora-institute-symposium"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAt the Aurora Institute Symposium 2024, A Call to Center Young People and Transform K-12 Systems - Aurora Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aurora Institute Symposium 2024 was one for the books \u2013 our team left New Orleans with hearts full of joy, hope, and wisdom.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/at-the-aurora-institute-symposium-2024-a-call-to-center-young-people-and-transform-k-12-systems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At the Aurora Institute Symposium 2024, A Call to Center Young People and Transform K-12 Systems\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This year\u2019s Aurora Institute Symposium was one for the books \u2013 our team left New Orleans with hearts full of joy, hope, and wisdom. 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