Battelle for Kids

After 24 incredible years, Battelle for Kids is preparing to close one chapter and begin a new one. On July 1, we officially join forces with AASA, The School Superintendents Association, marking a powerful new phase in our journey to support the future of public education. Since our founding in 2001, Battelle for Kids has partnered with thousands of school systems across 35+ states and internationally with one mission in mind: helping empower educators and creating the conditions where every student thrives. Together with passionate educators, families, business and community leaders, and visionary superintendents, we’ve championed school improvement, deeper learning, the Portrait of a Graduate, and future-ready, hopeful schools. This work has impacted millions of students, but more importantly, its helped shape what education can and should be. To every partner, educator, and BFK team member who joined us on this journey: Thank you. Your commitment, courage, and belief in something better made this work possible. As we step into our next chapter with AASA, our purpose remains unchanged: to empower educators so that every student has hope, resilience, and the academic knowledge and essential skills to be future ready. This isn’t goodbye. It’s a handoff toward something even greater. The future is ready.

Public education is once again at a crossroads with endless debate about how to "fix" our schools. But what if the simple, powerful, and overlooked answer has been sitting with us all along? In closing out the final contribution in our Future-Ready Journey Series, President and CEO Mike Duncan, Ed.D. dives into a simple solution to fixing public education, issuing a challenge, and teeing up the future of Battelle for Kids as we join AASA, The School Superintendents Association on July 1. The important work continues! We’re doubling down on our mission to help districts nationwide bring joy, meaning, and purpose back to the center of education all while preparing future-ready students. Read the final thought leadership article from Battelle for Kids below to see why we believe the future of learning doesn’t need a flashy new fix—just a return to what works. Read more ⬇️

Brian Troop, superintendent of Ephrata Area School District in Pennsylvania, joined Battelle for Kids President and CEO Mike Duncan, Ed.D. for this conversation as part of the Future-Ready Journey Series. In their talk, Dr. Troop shares the importance of growing leaders and empowering them to help integrate and activate their district's Life Ready Graduate (Portrait of a Graduate) skills within academics and school culture. Developing strong building-level leaders is critical to the success and sustainability of the Portrait to Practice to Impact. He provides his thoughts on creating a culture of innovation, defining leadership roles, integrating change management, and the importance of community involvement. Read more and watch the conversation ⬇️

Putting the Portrait of a Graduate into practice is a critical part of transformational work in public education. Amanda Waldo, director of teaching and learning at Howard-Suamico School District (Wisconsin) shares about their district's intensive work in preparing future-ready students with their HSSD Graduate Profile to light the way. Their first step: aligning their curriculum with the Profile's competencies. In this Q&A, part of the Future-Ready Journey Series, Waldo offers that, "We selected curriculum alignment as our starting point for several strategic reasons. Most importantly, we observed that while Graduate Profile awareness was increasing, integration into everyday teaching varied widely...Before this work we observed powerful pockets of authentic, student-centered learning across the district, but these experiences were inconsistent. By grounding the Graduate Profile in curriculum frameworks, we are building a system in which those experiences are no longer the exception but the expectation." Read more ⬇️

The next contribution in our Future-Ready Journey Series comes from Battelle for Kids' Managing Director of Marketing and Communications Shane Haggerty, APR on the importance in narratives and storytelling in the work of public education, especially in rallying the community behind preparing future-ready students. Shane writes, "Future-ready work is not a branding exercise. It’s a systems imperative. Strategic storytelling is the connective tissue that holds a district’s future-ready journey together. It makes the invisible work of transformation visible. It gives shape and soul to abstract concepts. It engages hearts and minds around why change is needed, what it looks like when it works, and it builds the trust required for sustainable impact." Read more ⬇️

Battelle for Kids has partnered with hundreds of learning organizations over the years to help them design and implement their community's shared vision, the Portrait of a Graduate. The work doesn't end with just the Portrait. We have helped districts bring their Portraits to life through the various services in our Future-Ready Journey Map. For Troy City Schools (Troy, OH), they engaged with us to create a path to successful implementation of their Portrait. They did this by going through our Portrait Roadmap service that supports system leadership teams in creating a clear, actionable pathway. A well-designed Roadmap bridges the gap between vision and practice, ensuring that the Portrait of a Graduate becomes a reality for all students. Our Future-Ready Journey series continues with this Q&A with Troy City Schools to learn more about the Portrait Roadmap experience and its impact. ⬇️

Our Future-Ready Journey Series continues with a deep dive by Chief Learning Officer Colon Lewis, Ed.D. into the Portrait of a Graduate, which Battelle for Kids has led transformational work around for more than a decade. Dr. Lewis writes, "The Portrait is never just a poster on a wall. It’s a catalyst for dialogue, student and teacher voice, and complete systems change. When done well, it helps districts navigate from vision to impact, creating learning environments where students feel seen, empowered, and ready for what lies ahead." Read more ⬇️

Wow! You know how some conversations tend to stick with you for days? Well, conversation #43 with Michael Barnes, Superintendent of Mayfield City School District was just that. If you're curious to hear more from Michael he has several published books. His new book, WINNING: Lessons on Life, Learning, and Leadership will be out soon. #100DistrictConversations "100% of our PL focuses on enhancing instruction, data analysis & assessment building. We aim to realize a deeper learning experience for every student that develops student agency, voice, and choice. This work is primarily conducted within PLCs with 4 guiding questions: 1. What do we want students to know, be able to do, and deeply understand?  2. How do we know if they're learning?  3. If not, what interventions can we provide?  4. And if they are learning, how can we enhance and extend that learning? At the elementary level, we dedicate a full day every 5 days to PLC work. These PLC days are like football teams huddling up in between plays. Teachers are making decisions constantly in pursuit of student success. When a teacher begins tries a new strategy, they need the opportunity to debrief how it went, with enough time for every teacher in that huddle to understand & internalize the next “play” to run in their classroom. Parents appreciate our personalized approach, where we understand each student's strengths, needs, and learning profile. Our high school works to empower students with such a clear understanding of themselves as learners that they can actively decide on their preferred learning modality. We've created 4 distinct learning modalities, driven by student voice – Traditional, Cross-curricular, Self-paced (with flexible attendance & targeted support), and Fully Customized (student-designed daily schedules). This has presented scheduling complexities, but by identifying and leveraging internal expertise, we've successfully navigated this, yielding significant gains in student achievement across our HS measures. Our collaboration w/ EdLeader21 from Battelle for Kids was instrumental in developing a shared vision, emphasizing that a strong compass is the greatest gift a superintendent can offer. Attending the National Security Seminar at the War College further shaped my perspective when I encountered the acronym VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous. I questioned whether our education system adequately prepares students for VUCA in the real world. Initially, the answer felt like no, but EdLeader21’s framework helped us collaboratively define the skills, abilities, and habits of mind students need to thrive. This process culminated in our Portrait of a Graduate (POG). Our approach to AI is one of exploration and action research. We cannot afford to be afraid; instead, we must embrace its potential. AI is expediting things like synthesizing feedback in our strategic planning & sharpening students' ability to ask insightful questions, fostering deeper curiosity."

Battelle for Kids is joining AASA, The School Superintendents Association, effective July 1, 2025, to amplify our impact in transforming public education. This includes scaling up the Future-Ready Journey Map and Portrait to Practice to Impact to more communities around the nation. While this closes the chapter on the storied 24-year-old organization that has been BFK, the important work continues at AASA. Today, we begin our final thought leadership series at BFK called The Future-Ready Journey Series. Over the next month, BFK experts and educational leaders will highlight the purpose, the frameworks, the implementation, and the impact of this work designed to help empower educators so that every student has hope, resilience, and the knowledge and skills to be future-ready. Part one features Battelle for Kids Chief Learning Officer Shannon King taking a deep dive into the power and purpose of our Future-Ready Journey Map and why it matters in education now more than ever.

How can we create tools and resources to help districts implement and scale a Purposeful Assessment System that supports deeper learning and student growth? That question has guided the work of the EdLeader21 Purposeful Assessment Innovation Group over the past year. Districts partnered to design, pilot, and reflect on a more coherent, student-centered approach to assessment that supports deeper learning and a broader definition of student success. The group created a Purposeful Assessment Playbook, which includes: • A visioning protocol to define the purpose of assessment • Customizable Cornerstone Experiences as student-engaged, common assessments • Tools for reflection, student work analysis, and district-level planning • A framework to support scaling and sustainability Today, our network gathered for one of the most energizing milestones: a cross-district sharing and reflection session. Teams presented their experiences piloting Cornerstone Experiences, authentic student-engaged assessments designed to foster conceptual understanding, Durable Skills, and student agency. Here are a few highlights from the field: Cupertino Union School District (CA) As co-leaders of the project, Cupertino launched a large-scale pilot across elementary and middle schools, grounded in shared vision and professional learning. Students engaged with real-world problems, and educators noted a significant rise in student voice and engagement. Troy City Schools (OH) Troy piloted the Change We Can See Cornerstone Experience in junior American Literature, replacing a traditional research paper. Students uncovered invisible problems in their community, conducted field investigations, and developed proposals to address them. The experience brought relevance and authenticity to student learning. Howard-Suamico School District (WI) Howard-Suamico implemented the same Cornerstone Experience in Civics and AP Government. Building on existing purposeful assessment work, they focused on: • Clear criteria for selecting and designing embedded Cornerstone Experiences • Using tools to foster meaningful student self-reflection • Using context-specific learning targets Across the network, one thing was clear: Visioning, piloting Cornerstone Experiences, and reflecting are powerful entry points to building a Purposeful Assessment System. They support deeper learning, elevate student voice, and offer actionable insights for educators. Students are more engaged and see themselves as active learners and contributors. We’re grateful for the collaboration and creativity of the district teams who made this work possible. This effort exemplifies the power of the EdLeader21 professional learning community, a vibrant network where forward-thinking education leaders connect, share ideas, and learn from one another to reimagine education. #PurposefulAssessment #DeeperLearning