Future Ready Schools—NJ Collective Impact Success Story

This paper comments on the development of Future Ready Schools—New Jersey a state-sponsored, voluntary, school-level program and its shift to digital schools. Through collective impact and the NSF collaboration framework, the program engaged hundreds of educational stakeholders, to develop a comprehensive system around educational technology and future readiness towards personalized learning for all students in the state.

James Lipuma as principal investigator of this program utilized Interdisciplinary Participatory Strategic Planning to build the network and community of practice necessary to create the elements of the certification program. This paper presents the resulting certification program indicator rubrics built upon the National Future Ready Framework. The resulting system includes commitments from “district and school” leaders, collaborative teams charged with gathering and assessing evidence, and peer-reviewed by experts in three themes: Leadership, Education/Classroom Practice, and Technology Support and Services.

The indicators are both best practices and rubrics for self-assessment and planning by superintendents, technology coordinators, and educators. The common elements identified across all this work were a clear shared vision with details in planning documents, a collection of indicators that outlined the goals and metrics, as well as a commitment to working collaboratively to ensure that the voice of stakeholders was heard as the work moved forward. Finally, the article presents the move to digital schools in the state of New Jersey and a commentary on the key outcomes that can allow any school administrator to benefit from the materials produced.