Walking the talk, teaching the walk: developing a collective learning system for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Abstract

We are far from delivering on the educational promise that the young people in this country deserve. While there are standout students, exemplar educators, and model schools, we are nowhere near being able to provide a quality education, reliably across contexts. In order to do that, we have to learn how to get better across the sector at an accelerated pace. The Carnegie Foundation is dedicated to just that. Through the application of improvement science in networked improvement communities (NICs), the Foundation brings together practitioners, scholars, policy makers, systems leaders, and designers to solve important problems in the education sector. During my residency, I led Carnegie’s efforts to increase coherence between the methods it advocates and its internal practices. I engaged in a three-phased approach where I: (1) learned my way into the organization, (2) designed and developed routines to help Carnegie reach its aspirations, and (3) provided guidance for how to build a collective learning system. The idea of a collective learning system was derived from the insights gained in the first two phases. It continues to be developed beyond the span of this capstone so that it can be used in Carnegie’s NICs. Lessons about how to enter an organization, affect cultural change, and build collective learning systems are presented in this capstone.