Future Ready Leaders is a collaborative leadership program for both students (grades 9-12) and educators that fosters young, innovative thinkers and problem-solvers through a project-based approach. While schools in Pennsylvania have made immense strides in meeting the new PA Future Ready benchmarks, we recognize that students play a pivotal role as stakeholders in this work. This program aims to ensure that students have a seat at the future ready table.
In Future Ready Leaders, students work alongside their adult counterparts as colleagues to identify and solve challenges related to future readiness, while growing the school’s capacity for more meaningful and impactful future ready work. This means learning deeply about the work that is ongoing, identifying opportunities, and executing projects and activities that can support their peers.
Throughout the year, students and educators receive targeted training, engage in school team meetings on-site, and attend topic-specific gatherings with other school teams in this regional network. In this way, great work can be shared, fresh ideas introduced into systems, and new connections forged.
We know that students learn and grow best when given an opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge to something that is real and meaningful to them; and while not every school has the privilege to send their students out into the broader community, every school has its own internal community where students can serve and grow alongside their peers and educators.
Student trainings:
- Develop students’ confidence, leadership, and employability skills.
- Provide guidance for communicating and collaborating as members of a team.
- Utilize design thinking methods to listen, observe, and define challenges.
- Learn design methods to brainstorm, prototype, and test-drive solutions in their schools.
- Receive support for building social capital, crafting professional communication, and mentorship.
Concurrent to student trainings, educators have the opportunity to increase their own toolbox by participating in a variety of professional development workshops aligned to state expectations:
- Individualized student plans.
- Work-based learning/School-business partnerships.
- Instructional approaches to support career exploration and develop student employability skills.
Frequently Asked Questions
A diverse team of at least 3 adults from various roles with a minimum of 4-5 students in grades 9-12. Administrator approval and support.
CPE will provide professional development focused on:
- Project-Based Learning/Human-Centered Design
- School-Business Partnerships
- Individualized student plans
Network of professionals to share best practices
Gain student perspective of current future readiness activities
- Training in tangible strategies to grow their leadership and employability.
- Opportunities to tackle projects within their own school (no travel or external resources necessary.)
- Experience working as part of a team of adults.
