Is Your Kid’s School District Ready for the Smart Machine Age?

By Etienne R. LeGrand, CEO, Vivify Performance

Most of us have run willingly into the arms of the Smart Machine Age (SMA) – the new economic age of advancing automation that cuts across fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, the Internet of Things and biotechnology – embracing all manner of smart technologies in our homes –Amazon’s Echo, Google’s Nest, smart refrigerators, washers, and more. Technology is becoming as ubiquitous in our schools, too.

Increasingly, kids are required to complete assignments and conduct research on iPads and computers, teachers use Google Assist and other tools to help them assess learning and instruction, and district operations use technology to plan bus routes and plan for equipment maintenance. Does the integration of technology into public education qualify as readying kids for the Smart Machine Age--?

Answer: No.  Research conducted by a group funded by the Economist magazine suggests the U.S. is not doing enough to ready America’s kids, backs my answer up.

According to many experts, the SMA is already underway. It cuts across the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, the Internet of Things, and biotechnology.

One of the primary effects of this change is the possibility of mass displacement of jobs held by humans expected over the next 10-20 years. While the jury is out on how many jobs may be affected and what new jobs may replace them, many experts anticipate a dramatic change in the availability and nature of work in our society. With this disruption should come questions about whether our current education model is poised to deliver the new skills kids will need to pursue their dreams and live meaningful lives.

Ed Leaders’ Role in Preparing for the SMA Age

If this is news to you, you may not be alone. But don’t let this stop you from becoming more informed. If your superintendent, school board leaders and PTA are not discussing this, you have answered the question this article asks.

Sure, school districts should identify ways to integrate technology into its operations and instruction to gain efficiencies and scale. But more importantly, leaders, policymakers and parents must think more critically about what skills, habits and mindsets employers are requiring of today’s workers and what they are likely to demand in the near future. I believe that the education model that readied kids for the last century cannot adequately meet the needs of the new one with just a few tweaks here and there. 

School districts defined by command and control leadership style and high levels of bureaucracy, including rigid rules and strict policies, must give way to leaders who know how to establish an organizational culture that can optimize the human potential of every employee working toward the purpose of learning, who in turn can optimize kids’ learning. This outdated command and control leadership style must be replaced by an empowering one that encourages and engages employees and students as they learn and work together. Because leadership in this new economic age isn’t about control, it’s about taking care of people and inspiring them to be better.

Those whose teaching style is more reflective of a “sage on the stage” must give way to those whose style is more “guide on the side.” Teachers in this new age must not only know how to teach biology, but also know how to teach biology in ways that enable kids to learn that being open minded, actively collaborating with and learning from others, actively listening, and being inquisitive and curious, among other behaviors will allow them to learn how to learn not just in their classroom, but throughout their lifetimes. In this new age, kids will learn best from teacher whom they trust and who guide their learning, allowing them more autonomy and agency over their learning.

Yes, more experiential, personalized and project-based learning techniques offer a way for these new skills and habits to be acquired and honed. But, achieving this is more than just a training exercise for teachers to learn how to implement these new approaches. Teachers must also hone the very skills, habits and behaviors they intend their students to develop.

If this is to happen, leaders must establish the conditions, a culture in which these new approaches can take root. This will require more trusting, authentic relationships between employees and between teachers and students. It will require a learning process that values discovery, including taking risks and making mistakes without ridicule. The psychological safety that undergirds learning does not exist in most school districts today.

Let your experience interacting with your kids’ teachers, school employees and district leaders be your guide.