How This Book Is Organized

systems. On a certain level, we all want the same things from education, particularly when it comes to our own children: that it be meaningful, that it be useful now and later, that it be enjoyable and appropriately challenging. We can use the landscape model across socioeconomic differences, for example, because other than professional development, there are no real costs involved in making the shift. Educators can use it with all age groups, across all academic disciplines, and in rural and urban settings. They can use it in private schools, in public schools, and in charter schools, although there may be challenges to overcome in more traditional contexts, particularly in regions where schools and educators have less autonomy to respond to the needs of their communities. And educators can use it in small and large schools and classrooms, though we recognize that tracking and managing this kind of learning may be easier in smaller classrooms, at least in the first year or two of implementation as educators build out their strategies and toolboxes.

We also believe that both inclusive prosperity and rightful presence are meant to apply to absolutely every student who enters our schools, and that it’s our job to fit the education we offer to the communities we serve more than it is our students’ responsibility to fit themselves into our schools. When we say “every student,” we mean that we have designed this model with intentionality around all aspects of identity, including the cognitive needs and strengths of each, the socioeconomic situation they’ve been raised in, the cultural and racial orientations of the family, and the sexual and gender orientation of each student. Students each deserve to experience appropriate challenge—not based on a limited or stereotypeladen view of what their identity suggests they’re capable of, but based on an expansive, inclusive conception of their potential as whole human beings and their inherent right to be seen and treated as such.

How This Book Is Organized

This book offers a practical road map to inclusive prosperity for classroom teachers, curriculum designers, instructional coaches, and educational leaders. It not only provides theory, classroom stories, and broader case studies, but also the specific strategies that teachers and leaders need to put the landscape model into practice. We want this book to change how readers approach their work next Monday morning—not in some distant future—so supporting implementation has been a key goal throughout our writing process. Because of the model’s reliance on student-centered practices, the strategies offered connect to many of the trends in student-centered learning, including personalized learning, project-based learning (PBL), design thinking, authentic assessment, deeper learning, and learning for mastery, among others. We rely on the ideas and research of key thought

leaders in education, including a few emerging voices, as well as on the practical experiences of teachers and school leaders in our global networks. We both believe strongly that educational practitioners need to lead the way to educational transformation more than policymakers or theorists. Everyone we’ve interviewed has real practice in common, including our foreword author, Ron Berger. We have relied most on their experiences to support our model because they were working toward inclusive prosperity and student protagonism long before we designed our landscape model, and they know what works for kids. Just as we want educators to really listen to and understand the experiences and perspectives of students, we believe that educational progress requires that policymakers really listen to and understand the experiences and perspectives of our best educators.

Part 1 (page 21) provides the foundations for this work, including our purpose, vision, and central principles. In chapter 1 (page 23), we provide an overview of the landscape model that allows readers to gain a holistic sense of our vision, as well as an initial understanding of each element and its interplay with the others. Chapter 2 (page 45) establishes eight foundational principles on which the model is built, a set of principles we believe are essential building blocks or through lines at the heart of our thinking—and the model’s successful implementation.

In part 2 (page 63), we explore the implementation of the three elements of the landscape model, providing educators with the theory and practical tools needed to be successful with each. Chapter 3 (page 65) looks at the element of the ecosystem, in which we invite educators to understand, deeply and with a strengths-based lens, the context each student comes from and what they bring into the learning environment, which allows us to define their starting point on the landscape. Chapter 4 (page 93) looks at the element of the horizon, in which educators work with students and their families to determine the short- and long-term goals appropriate for each learner (each student’s horizon). The chapter includes a look at issues like implicit bias, which can impact the goalsetting process. Finally, chapter 5 (page 117) explores the element of the pathway, in which educators work with students to co-create a personal (and personalized) learning journey that leverages each student’s full self and potential.

See table I.1 (page 17) for the strategies included in this book for each element, and table A.1 (page 262) in the appendix for a thorough look at what each offers.

In part 3 (page 153), we look toward broader potential use of the landscape model and to the future of education. Chapter 6 (page 155) looks at the complexities of assessment with the landscape model, providing tools and strategies for documenting and tracking student growth. Recognizing that all assessment should be authentic and personalized, we also address strategies for the model’s

Table I.1: Strategies Included for Each Landscape Model of Learning Element

• Journaling • Iceberg Model of Culture • Cross the Line • Affinity Groups • Brave Space • Empathy Interviews

The Ecosystem

• Place-Based Learning—

Concentric Circles • Virtual Home Visits • Know-Wonder-Learn (KWL) and

RAN charting • Question Formulation Technique • Socratic Seminars

The Horizon

• A Letter to Myself • The Headline of My Year • Storyboards and Vision Boards • WOOP • ANCHOR • Student-Led Conferences • Portrait of a Graduate • SOAR Model Analysis • Capstone Projects

The Pathway

• Passion Projects • Affinity Mapping • Design Thinking as a PBL Structure • Student Portfolios • Workshop Model for

Skill-Based Disciplines • Student Shadowing • Student-Centered Iterative

Unit Planning • Zone of Proximal Development • Collaborative Protocol for Defining Outcomes • Wise Criticism

use in larger classroom settings. Chapter 7 (page 177) addresses some of the core challenges of implementation in different geographic and cultural contexts, from its use in more traditional academic contexts to its use in economically disenfranchised schools and districts. The chapter’s goal is to prepare readers for these challenges and to provide strategies for addressing them. Chapter 8 (page 195) looks at leading long-term school and district transformation, giving school leaders the resources needed to chart their own course toward inclusive prosperity. It includes guiding principles for designing and implementing a professional development plan to equip all educators with the tools and skills needed to manage the landscape approach, including three-year plan development guidance. Chapter 9 (page 235) looks at opportunities for the future of educational transformation, exploring new movements and schools already leading educators toward new—and occasionally ancient—ways of thinking about our common goals and approaches. In the epilogue (page 257), we offer a few last thoughts about why the work of