Collective Action to Improve Schools and Redesign Education Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Throughout the world, there are increasing challenges to inherited models for schools as specialized institutions which are accountable only for academic learning and achievement. These challenges originate from three mass migration patterns associated with the multi-faceted process of globalization: (1) movements of individuals and families from rural areas to cities; (2) cross-border migration from one nation to another; and (3) migration from cities to inner ring suburbs and nearby rural communities. These population shifts present formidable challenges to schools located in rural areas that are losing families and also to schools located in inner ring suburbs and urban neighbohoods, which are known as “arrival cities” because migrants and immigrants cluster in these places. Challenges start with students who do not arrive at the schoolhouse doors “ready and able to learn”, and they include persistent difficulties in recruiting and retaining a high-quality education workforce.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has presented additional challenges to these special places and their constituent schools. However, this situation has given rise to timely opportunities associated with digital-age instructional and learning technologies, also drawing attention to innovative configurations that connect schools, families, community centers, and libraries. Notwithstanding the challenges associated with “digital divides” and “digital deserts”—places where shortages of facilities and equipment are normative—remote instruction and expansive opportunities for self-directed, online learning reminds us that, although education systems include schools, they also transcend what schools prioritize and accomplish. Imperatives for innovative education systems are growing with priorities for life-long learning, especially as adults routinely change jobs and careers.

The situation worldwide thus might be summarized as follows. While improvement initiatives are evident everywhere, including digital-age teaching and learning innovations, some initiatives which reproduce the inherited schooling system are not fit for purpose in places where poverty, social exclusion, and social isolation are clustered. 

In response to this need, innovative designs for education systems, some of which include new models for schools, are being piloted. Some such models, known as multi-service schools, community schools, and schools as community learning centers, are already being scaled up, together with policy innovations and partnerships with community agencies and higher education institutions. More than technical innovations, these new initiatives are founded on important core values involving equity, inclusion, and education’s roles in democracy.

Framed by the above context, this Special Issue is focused on important innovations of two kinds: (1) those described as improvement initiatives, especially ones founded on improvement in science; and (2) those offered as redesign initiatives, particularly those that provide reminders that education and learning systems transcend schooling. Authors are encouraged to “tell their respective stories”, i.e., provide salient details about the specifications for the new design(s), including indicators of need and opportunity, descriptions of the consequential choices they have made, and justifications for timely innovations. 

Together, the articles in this Special Issue will provide an innovation-focused map with an action-oriented compass for 21^st-century schools and education systems. Leaders for improvement of schools and leaders for new education system designs will be served, particularly as relations between these two agendas are identified, described, and justified.

This Special Issue provides a more expansive framework than the ones dominating the current literature. For example, it features globalization’s challenges, needs, and opportunities, alongside the innovations and new demands associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prof. Dr. Hal A. Lawson
Prof. Dr. Dawn Anderson-Butcher
Dr. Kirstin Kerr
Dr. Sarah J. Zuckerman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• improvement science
• implementation science
• institutional redesign
• systems change
• school innovations
• digital age learning systems
• collective impact
• complex partnerships
• equitable education