When these connections are strong, they’re easy to see. But when families and systems are stretched thin—without the human or financial resources they need—these connections can be harder to recognize and easier to overlook. 

Our public education system is too essential to fail. It holds a uniquely important place in the web of people, places, and possibilities in young people’s lives. That is why the broader learning ecosystem—the full range of people, organizations, and systems that support learning, development, and engagement—is too important to ignore. 

Learning opportunities are more abundant than often realized, even in communities facing the greatest challenges. And young people are wired to be changemakers, no matter where they are on their journey.  Those identified as needing the most help can often bring about the greatest change when trusted with the opportunity.  

The best way to reimagine education is to broaden our field of vision by asking everyone who has a stake in the success of young people to look beyond the traditional classroom to describe all of the exciting places where learning is happening—in and beyond the school building, school day, school year, and beyond age 18. 

Shifting mindsets from deficits and scarcity toward assets and abundance gives youth and adults the freedom and confidence needed to cultivate vibrant, year-round, community-wide learning ECOsystems—where Every Connection is Optimized across communities and systems where everyone thrives.