Course Overview

To explore the conditions for innovation, this Institute anchors in Transcend’s Conditions for Innovation framework, which suggests that a community’s ability to engage in innovation depends on several crucial factors, including their capacity, internal culture, conviction that change is necessary, clarity on their context, goals, and strategy, and the depth, breadth, and diversity of their coalition for change. Participants of this Institute will explore how to use the framework for reflection and self-assessment, strategic planning and decision making, professional development, collective action, partnership vetting, and vision casting.

In addition, this Institute draws on multiple leadership theories, case studies, and strategies that will develop a leader’s and/or leadership team’s capacity to grow—and sustain over time—the conditions for innovation. Institute participants will learn ways to grow local conviction for innovation, to improve their clarity of vision, to build a culture of innovation in their organization, to fully align resources with innovation goals, and to develop a coalition of support.

Similar to how trees need good soil to live and grow, innovative learning communities require strong conditions perpetually. Thus, paying close attention to conditions for innovation is applicable for teams at any stage of the innovation journey—whether they’re building a new learning model, advancing or improving an existing learning community, or codifying and sharing an education innovation. The experiences of this Institute are also relevant across a wide range of education settings—including districts, charter, and private; rural, urban, and suburban; and in- and out-of-school.