Operational Components: Key Stages

1) Select two State Education Agencies (SEAs). FutureMinds will identify several SEAs that are at a high level of readiness for transformational change. It will then select two with which to explore a partnership.

2) Prepare a contract with each SEA. FutureMinds will visit each of those SEAs to explore the goodness of fit between what FutureMinds has to offer and the SEA’s needs, as well as the goodness of fit between the SEA’s current situation and the critical success factors for a FutureMinds project. If there is a good fit and mutual desire to proceed, FutureMinds and the SEA will develop a contract for FutureMinds to offer direct assistance to develop the SEA’s capacity to support paradigm change in several school districts (Local Education Agencies—LEAs) in their states. The contract will specify:

• the goals of the project
• organizational changes to be made by the SEA
• initial expectations for the number of LEAs to participate in each of the first five years of the project
• the number, role, and qualifications of SEA employees to be devoted to the project in the first budget cycle, plus expectations for subsequent years
• the activities to be done by the SEA and by AECT (including training of SEA employees to be district transformational change facilitators, selection of LEAs, and facilitation of the district-level transformation process), including timelines, for the first budget cycle, plus expectations for subsequent years
• other organizations that will be involved in the project (such as the Educational Commission of the States and the Council of Chief State School Officers), along with their specific roles, including foundations that might supplement SEA funds that support LEA activities
• the SEA budget to support each LEA during the first budget cycle, plusexpectations for subsequent years
• the number, roles, and AECT personnel to be devoted to the project during the first budget cycle, plus expectations for subsequent years
• the budget for AECT’s involvement in the project during the first budget cycle, plus expectations for subsequent years.

3) Finalize the contract with each state. The executive director and president of AECT will finalize the contract with each state.

4) Carry out the project. The project will be carried out according to the stipulations of the contract, with funding from the SEA. Additional sources of funding may be procured in following years.

For further information

Overview of FutureMinds (880 KB PDF)