Reflections on education’s journey in 2024
Editor’s note: This week, we’ve invited Dr. Vicki Phillips, CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) to reflect on a blog post she wrote early in the year regarding the issues that would shape education.
At the beginning of 2024, I spent some time reflecting about what I thought were some of the big issues that would shape education in 2024 and wrote about them here.
Now that we’re nearing the end of the year, I wanted to pause and reflect on them once again—Do they hold? How have they played out this year? What’s before us in the year ahead? And, how can we look around the corner to 2025, which is nearly upon us?
Artificial intelligence and the use of new technologies to transform learning
With respect to AI, it’s clear that its power to transform learning, being anticipated eleven months ago, is likely just scratching the surface. But what I didn’t write about in the blog earlier this year is its power to transform teaching. We can’t really think about learning without thinking about teaching. Digital technologies, including AI, continue to shift the teacher’s role from being the sole source of knowledge to helping students access and apply knowledge to complex tasks. This likely isn’t how most current teachers were prepared for their role. It requires agility, flexibility, and an upskilling in the profession—just what we expect from our students. Teachers are now more than ever, learners. Learning how to harness the power of AI so their students understand how to use it to further knowledge, hone skills, and develop habits of long-life learning is now essential for teachers. Parents and families are also essential actors in this dynamic. When families take the time to learn about AI alongside their students, they have the opportunity to encourage appropriate AI use and model critical thinking around generative content—crucial skills that will help ensure students are prepared to effectively engage with these technologies in the future.
Student engagement, advocacy, and agency
We know through research that having ties that bind students to their school community can increase students’ sense of purpose and reduce feelings of loneliness, which is particularly important given the ongoing declines in student mental health. And the pandemic set the world back significantly in this effort. NCFL’s mission is demonstrative of a common component of some of the highest performing education systems across the globe—which is to engage families to improve student learning and belonging. Further, strengthening parent voice and agency and elevating family provides the opportunity for elected leaders and decision makers to center parent and student voice as they construct policies that create the conditions for education systems that are learner-centered and future-ready.
Teacher and leader pipelines
One of the five issues I wrote about last January is the teacher shortage crisis. It’s still here. But as I reflect on teacher and leader pipelines, I’ve been thinking about how in places across the globe, top systems consistently cultivate high-capacity, forward-thinking educators. Successful systems know that they can only go as far as their teachers and leaders take them. We need to envision a system where teachers and school leaders get strong preparation and consistent support from the beginning of their careers and throughout. Teaching, learning, and leadership strategies should be shared, discussed, and improved together in a supportive environment that includes young people and their families. Stronger connections between districts and teacher education programs show promise as they work together in a more holistic way that engages and honors local communities and families. When family voice is prioritized in teacher education, the stage is set for teachers to become more conscious of the importance of family engagement for student success. This approach also recognizes that to prepare teachers and school leaders effectively, their training needs to be tailored to meet the unique needs, perspectives, and aspirations of the students and families they serve.
Future-Ready Education and Systems to Deliver It
The term future-ready is everywhere. But what does it mean? One thing we know for certain…the world isn’t going to stop changing, nor is the pace of change likely to slow. And a future-ready education means students prepared for that world. In a future-ready education system, students become skilled at working in different fields and applying what they’ve learned in various situations. Beyond academics, they develop habits that improve their well-being and help them find purpose in life, balancing work, family, community, and leisure. By participating in cultural and physical activities, they build confidence and a strong sense of self. With modern skills, students handle the fast-paced, ever-changing world by communicating well, working together, thinking creatively, and making ethical choices. They are ready to tackle complex problems, work alone or in teams, and show curiosity and kindness in their interactions. Additionally, they learn how to contribute to their community with empathy, fairness, and courage, while considering diverse perspectives and the common good in their decisions and actions. While school is where they develop some of these skills, it’s part of the connective tissue along with family and community that really power up this learning. We might not always think of family or community as an education delivery system, but they are powerful ones, and best when aligned with what’s happening in the classroom. When schools provide guidance to families to compliment and extend student learning during out-of-school time, they build crucial partnerships that have the opportunity to improve student outcomes across a variety of contexts.
Rethinking what, when, and how we assess student learning
I previously wrote that ‘the tired old battles about assessment will limp along, as they always do, in the year ahead.’ And they are. However, last June, the OECD released the first assessment on creative thinking, a new domain introduced in PISA 2022. It brought a fresh perspective and looked at how well students can come up with, evaluate, and improve new ideas, highlighting the importance of creativity in problem-solving and deeper learning. Although creativity is often recognized as important—in fact it’s the number two skill employers say they value in employees—it often gets overlooked in school curricula, which leaves gaps in helping students develop these skills. The OECD assessment surfaced big differences between countries and showed that creativity can thrive even without traditional academic success. The results also indicated that a student’s socioeconomic background has less of an impact on creative thinking than it does on subjects like math and reading, meaning that focusing on creativity in education could help give learners who struggle academically a boost. It’s interesting to think about as we look to the future and the role that families and communities play in fostering highly creative thinkers. Cross-generational learning opportunities—where parents and grandparents share their love of creative pursuits like gardening, woodworking, or cooking—can provide early opportunities for students to build their creative muscle in ways that can ultimately benefit their academic achievement.
As 2025 swiftly approaches, the challenges and opportunities in education are more interconnected than ever. AI’s potential, evolving teaching roles, student and family engagement, and future-ready systems all intertwine to shape the future of learning. The choices we make now will resonate for years, demanding bold vision, collaboration, and a commitment to creating, not just preparing for, the future. Together, young people, educators, families, policymakers, and communities can join forces and build an education system that truly equips our students—and ourselves—for whatever lies ahead.
About the Author
Dr. Vicki Phillips is the CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), where she leads NCEE’s efforts to help states, districts, and schools design and implement high-performing education systems. Dr. Phillips’ career in education spans more than three decades, driven by a fierce determination to ensure all students are prepared to succeed in the future of work and life. Her extensive leadership experience includes roles as a teacher, state policymaker, nonprofit leader, superintendent of schools, state secretary of basic and higher education, and director of education, College Ready, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.