PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Virginians are experiencing foundational and accelerated changes in many aspects of their communities. This is a decade of new business opportunities leveraging advanced research, uniquely skilled employees, and exciting innovations that influence the economy and workforce. It also is a time in which we are reflecting upon the fabric of our nation, questioning who we have been, who we are, and who we aspire to be.

Demographics are changing almost everywhere. Technology innovation radically impacts the way citizens mobilize and consumers behave and interact. Whether learners are growing up in rural, suburban, or urban settings, all need to acquire competencies that lead to lifelong learning, workforce success, and active participation as citizens. To accomplish this, we must ensure our children grow up in just and equitable school communities that don’t just provide opportunities but make explicit to children and families that those opportunities are accessible to all. To respond to these changes and the needs of today’s learners, educators must spark courageous and meaningful dialogue in every community in the Commonwealth about actions to realize outcomes of the Profile of a Virginia Graduate.

Over the last two years, the Covid-19 Pandemic has impacted every sector of the public and private lives of citizens, the workforce, health and medicine, government, and political governance. We know from longevity data that many of the Pandemic generation of babies born in 2021 will be living well into the 22nd century, their lives shaped by the social, cultural, and physical environment of today. As they become the next generation of children in our school communities, we will no longer be simply educating young people to thrive in the 21st century. We will be educating today’s babies for life in 2100!

The Virginia Department of Education, the Virginia School Consortium for Learning (VaSCL), the Commonwealth Learning Partnership, James Madison University, and with generous support from Ted Dintersmith, author and founder of the What School Could Be network, are partnering to offer Virginia educators the opportunity to innovate structures and practices through a collaborative of Lead Innovation Teams. In the network’s third year, Cohort 3.0 teams will lead local implementation of deeper learning pathways to develop learner competencies prioritized in the Profile of a Virginia Graduate and focused on the 5 themes of the What School Could Be Innovation Playlist with particular focus on Virginia’s performance assessment initiative.  Division teams from every region will participate in this highly-customized, dynamic experience that begins on Oct 7-8, 2021 and will culminate in June of 2022. 

From October 2021 to June 2022, partners will facilitate Lead Innovation Teams in Cohort 3.0 to make visible and advance Virginia’s vision for deeper, challenging learning grounded in access and equity for all students. The Cohort 3.0 teams will leverage a dynamic range of support through:

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), James Madison University, the Commonwealth Learning Partnership, and the Virginia Consortium for Learning (VaSCL) with generous support from Ted Dintersmith (Edu21C Foundation) are committed to empowering school divisions with high-quality resources and processes that scale the Vision of Deeper Learning for all students. 

Lead Innovation Teams in cohort 3.0 will use network resources and expertise to forge, implement, scale, and share deeper learning actions that fit their local community’s implementation of the Profile of a Virginia Graduate. The Virginia is for Learners Innovation Network provides both virtual and onsite resource and site visit support that address extending and increasing deeper learning, equity, and learner engagement strategies. 

On October 7 and 8, Cohort 3.0 Lead Innovation Teams from across Virginia will begin their journey together in Chesterfield at the Hull Center. During the Institute, teams will join State Superintendent Dr. James Lane and Ted Dintersmith, author of What School Can Be and producer of Most Likely to Succeed, as they together engage the Lead Innovation teams and share the vision for opportunities associated with the Virginia is for Learners Innovation Network. By day’s end on October 8, teams will have generated and defined local priorities and beginning actions as a foundation for work in the coming year.

The application process for Valin 3.0 has been extended through July 7. Interested school division staff can still access the application form from this memo to superintendents sent by Dr. Lane on June 9, 2021. Completed application forms will be reviewed to ensure alignment with the goals of the Virginia is for Learners Innovation Network.  The participation fee for Cohort 3.0 division teams will be $2500 to offset expenses.