No Going Back to Normal: A Peek Into the Future of Education

Chris Rush, Senior Advisor For Innovation and Improvement at the US Department Of Education, joined NewSchools Venture Fund President Frances Messano and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for a keynote at the NewSchools Venture Fund Summit 2022. The session, entitled “No Going Back to Normal: A Peek Into the Future of Education” spoke to how resilient schools and their communities are and how a reimagination of public education will provide the tools and solutions for this tough time. 

Chris and Frances go on to speak about the role of innovation in teaching and learning, and how technology can assist educators in the move towards a post-pandemic education landscape. Together Chris and Frances talk about this important window of blame-free opportunity to engage in challenges and accept permission to do something different. Now is the time to put the wind in the sails of education innovators, and to truly recognize that we can’t, as schools reopen, go back to how things were before the pandemic. Funding research and development in education now is a downpayment in the transformative outcomes ahead of us. 

Chris shares his excitement for the role that innovation and technology have to play. The fatigue educators across the country are facing is very real, and innovations have the potential to relieve this and reduce teacher workloads while improving student learning. There are connections being forged between families, teachers, and schools that have never happened before. Dialogues have shifted, conversations about research and development are more inclusive, and innovation is becoming something that’s happening with students, rather than to students. 

To hear more about the shifts happening in education, and how leaders are uniquely positioned to tackle today’s challenges, view the session’s recording. 

(Chris Rush, co-founder and chief program officer of New Classrooms, is on sabbatical following his U.S. Department of Education appointment in 2021.)