Reimagine Learning: Unleashing the Potential of All Students

We are excited to share two resources that reflect on and celebrate the impact and lessons learned from one of New Profit’s breakthrough education initiatives: Reimagine Learning. Over the past six years, Reimagine Learning has helped seed a movement focused on putting the diverse learning needs of our most underserved students at the center of the national dialogue about the future of learning in our country.

Launched in 2013 by a founding group of 32 social entrepreneurs, educators, advocates, and funders, the Reimagine Learning network:

• Aggregated and deployed $38M in philanthropic capital to improve the way our education system serves the holistic and diverse needs of students;
• Invested in 25 organizations scaling innovative and inclusive learning environments that unleash creativity and potential in all students;
• Advocated for public policies that support the success of underserved students;
• Developed proof points of districts and schools that are transforming to better serve diverse learners; and
• Engaged a cross-sector network of over 700 education leaders to share insights and collaborate.

The bigger story about Reimagine Learning’s impact is encapsulated in two new case studies:

• Shifting a System: The Reimagine Learning Network and How to Tackle Persistent Problems. This morning, the Monitor Institute by Deloitte published a case study exploring how Reimagine Learning offers a successful model of a network that coalesced behind a shared vision for change and worked together to tackle big, systemic issues in education.
• Reimagine Learning: Unleashing the Potential of All Students. This breakthrough story summarizes Reimagine Learning’s impact and highlights the ways in which the initiative united formerly disparate communities with the shared purpose of improving the way our educational system serves all students.

These case studies show the potential of new approaches to creating systemic change and new, holistic ways of thinking about how we can unleash creativity and potential in all learners. The swiftest and most equitable progress is made when we break down silos and enable all of the different players in the education system to work together toward shared goals. New Profit will continue to invest in the movement to transform education to support the diverse and holistic needs of all learners by supporting greater collaboration and integration at multiple layers of the education ecosystem:

• Across the full education continuum, from early childhood to K-12 to post-secondary;
• Across different focus areas within education (e.g., personalized learning, social emotional learning, student health and wellness, etc.); and
• Across efforts to create and spread high-quality learning environments (both in school and out-of-school) and efforts to empower and activate students, families, teachers, and communities in designing and creating these learning environments.

Reimagine Learning, which at its core was a silo-busting effort, truly laid the foundation for our evolved vision and focus. We are driving this work forward by bringing together all of our education efforts under one umbrella and partnering with organizations in the field whose vision aligns with ours. We are excited to continue on the journey with our community toward ensuring that our education system is designed to support all young people in achieving academic, career, and life success.