By Mary-Dean Barringer, CEO, All Kinds of Minds

There’s a critical meeting in Washington, D.C this Friday, September 17th, on the “Future of the Profession: New Learning Ecology for Teachers and Students.” Billed as “a discussion about the emerging realities facing the nation—the funding crisis, the teacher shortage, and new technologies—that will reshape learning environments and expectations for the teaching profession,” it has a stellar panel. Leaders from both teacher unions, the U.S. DOE, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Center for Teaching Quality, Michael Horn (co-author of Disrupting Class) and two teachers will present on “how school structures can capitalize on the transformative power of technology, the implications for creating a student-centered profession, and the federal and state policies that can support a new learning ecology for students and teachers.”

It’s disappointing that a conversation on a new learning ecology is absent any voice that would describe the new expertise that a profession needs to acquire and deploy if a new learning ecology is to be fully realized. But it isn’t surprising. The first chapter of Schools for All Kinds of Minds describes the challenge inherent in truly understanding learning as the core business of schools. As I state in that book, “Educators, school leaders and policymakers—working on new standards, new schools and new systems—talk around learning but not about learning.” Many people following education trends make the point that equipping the profession with the current knowledge from science about how we are wired to learn is essential to future vision of education.

Important initiatives are underway that can move us closer to a profession well prepared to develop the kinds of minds America needs. The Council for Chief State School Officers has created new teacher standards for licensure and practice that first and foremost address learning and learners. Organizations like the Dana Alliance, Johns Hopkins University, the Mind Brain and Education program at Harvard, and All Kinds of Minds are advancing this knowledge base and bringing it to teachers. All Kinds of Minds will be in DC this week as an audience participant, and we hope others working to bring the science of learning into our classrooms will be there as well.

The sponsoring organization of this event is the Alliance for Education Excellence—a first-rate organization advocating a better education for all students, particularly those in high school. They do a great job informing policymakers about critical and complex issues. And creating a learning profession is one. I invite you to read Chapter 1 of Schools for All Kinds of Minds (you can access it right here for free!). If the ideas resonate with you, write to the Alliance and tell them the next time they want to talk about learning, gather the experts and learning leaders.

To learn more about Schools for All Kinds of Minds or to read more book excerpts, visit our website.