Come help us redesign the K-12 Content Map
Do you ever wonder…
Is it really best to sandwich Geometry between Algebra 1 and 2? Or, why does most K-12 curriculum exclude Native American history after the year 1900 (erasure, anyone)? And, what do you mean they just “took out” the standards on climate change?
If you’re thinking what we’re thinking, we can do better.
What if we reimagined our K-12 disciplinary maps, both in content and in sequence?
What if we centered inclusion and antiracism in our subject area content choices?
What if we ditched the long lists of factual knowledge, and moved toward disciplinary concepts and cross-disciplinary competencies that are in-sync with how the brain actually learns, and how the adult world actually works?
And, what if we came together this summer to make all of the above happen?
We’re seeking 250 content experts, across 25 disciplines, to reimagine the K-12 content “canon.”
Are you ready to help redefine the most important, relevant, and preparatory disciplinary content for young people in the K-12 education system? Join us this summer!
reDesign will convene a total of 250 multicultural, disciplinary content experts, with teams of 10 experts engaging in a design process for each of the following disciplines:
25 content area disciplines
PHYSICAL & MATERIAL SCIENCE |
ENGINEERING & DESIGN |
MATHEMATICS |
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HUMANITIES |
SOCIAL SCIENCE |
LIFE SCIENCE |
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Open Call: Now accepting nominations of disciplinary content experts for the K-12 Content Design Studio.
Nominate yourself.
If you have a well-reasoned critique of the current K-12 scope and sequence and a desire to help map meaningful, coherent, and responsive learning, then please apply to join the summer Design Studio.
Nominate someone else.
Do you have a colleague or friend who popped into your head when you heard about this opportunity? Complete the Nomination Form and follow the instructions regarding the nominee.
Program Essentials
- What: A weeklong virtual design studio to redesign K-12 disciplinary content maps
- Who: 250 content experts, organized into teams of 10 across 25 disciplines
- When: June 27 – July 1, 2021
- Time Commitment: Between 6 – 40 hours (max) per person, depending on the availability provided by your life and work circumstances
- Stipend: $15,000 per disciplinary team
2021 Application Timeline
- March 23: Application period opens
- April 30: Application deadline
- April 16 – May 10: Rolling notification of selected participants. Apply early to get notified early!
Applications received by:
April 2: Notified by April 16
April 16: Notified by April 30
April 30: Notified by May 10
Informational Webinars: What do you want to know?
Learn more about both of our 2021 summer co.Lab opportunities – the Designers-in-Residence Program and the K-12 Content Map Design Studio. We have one final informational webinar coming up:
- March 29, 2021: 7-8 PM ET
- April 2, 2021: 4-5 PM ET
- April 14, 2021: 1-2 PM ET
Bring your questions, ideas, and friends!
It’s all part of reDesign’s Big, Hairy, Audacious 5-Year Plan
reDesign’s virtual K-12 Content Mapping Design Studio is intended as an important primary step in our collective journey to transform our vision of what deep, agentic learning can be.
Learn about our big, audacious 5-year plan to build inclusive and equitable learner-centered communities for young people and adults that embrace every learner.
Check out the Designers-in-Residence program too.
Also launching Summer 2021.
Is this for you?
We’re looking for folks who can’t imagine developing a K–12 content map without using a critical antiracist, culturally-affirming lens. Who can articulate a robust and well-reasoned critique of the current K–12 scope and sequence. And who are passionate about making school relevant and connected to the rich variety of communities and work contexts that our young people participate in.
Come join us if you’re:
- A teacher or academic working against the oppressive impact of culturally subtractive coursework, practices, and policies at the heart of their K–12, community college, and university institutions.
- A professional or industry expert actively provoking their field to take action on system inequities.
- Everyday folks, experts, and thought leaders who experiment, teach, apply, and create in any of our first round of 25 essential disciplines.
FAQs
What do you mean by "content experts"?
We mean folks in the world who deeply understand and creatively apply the most essential skills and concepts of a discipline in their daily work: to teach, critique, create, produce, and design.
You might be an architect or a 2nd grade teacher of reading. You might be a physicist or a teacher of algebra. You might be an antiracist community organizer or an artist. What you all have in common is a powerful set of skills and understandings that deeply inform how you do your work, engage with your community, and lead your life. We believe these critical skills and understandings are a guidepost for redefining K-12 curriculum.
What's the application deadline?
The window to submit nominations, including self-nominations, opens on March 23, 2021 and closes on April 30, 2021. Selections will be notified on a rolling basis, so if you submit early you will get notified early.
What are reDesign's selection criteria?
We are seeking discipline content experts, within our 25 disciplines, with the following characteristics and skills:
- Able to collaborate virtually with diverse teams in a creative, affirming, and constructive way to produce a high-quality product.
- Eager and able to apply anti-racist, multicultural, and interdisciplinary lenses to a critical analysis of disciplinary content.
- Able to think outside-the-box, systems thinker, thrilled to let go of the highly fragmented and sequenced, superficial and eurocentric, content map that continues to dominate K–12 education.
- Eager to create a K–12 content map that reflects the disciplinary skills and understandings that are most needed in our current and future world.
- Determined to distill the K-12 Content Map, so that it supports deep learning through the investigation of big questions.
- Constantly exploring new aspects of a discipline: evolutions, shifts, new branches, new research, new materials, and resources.
- Able to identify the mental models, schema, and thinking processes that are at the heart of a discipline.
When will selections be announced?
Selections will be notified on a rolling basis. We understand that many people need to confirm their summer events with enough time to plan for work, family, and other commitments, so our rolling admissions process allows for early submissions and notifications.
For applications submitted by:
- March 29: Notified by April 9
- April 9: Notified by April 21
- April 30: Notified by May 10
Why should I participate?
reDesign is taking some giant steps forward this summer to realize a vision to build inclusive and equitable learner-centered communities for young people and adults. We want to make high quality, relevant, inclusive materials available to all learners.
Discipline Content Experts are essential to this vision. As a first step this June 2021, we’ll be creating a ground-breaking, 21st century K-12 Content Map, with experts from schools, industry and academia. Our second step is to invite exceptional curriculum designers to collaborate and create engaging, relevant projects that center social justice within the new K-12 Content Map.
Over the course of the coming school year we will collaborate to create over 100 adaptable, relevant, responsive, and inclusive projects. The best of these will be affordably available in a newly launched digital marketplace. And this is just the beginning.
Learn more about reDesign’s big, hairy, audacious 5-Year Plan to bring learner-centered communities to life.
What will we create in the K-12 Content Mapping Design Studio?
Here’s the ideal project outcome: A draft content map for each of 25 initial disciplines (additional disciplines will be added in 2022) that:
- Identifies major topics, concepts and skills for the discipline, laying the groundwork for the design of engaging, interdisciplinary projects.
- Develops one or more sequences for concepts and skills, identifying and annotating critical dependencies.
- Grounds the content map work in research from trusted source documents.
We don’t want a “version” of what already exists. We want to capture what the doers and knowers of the “content” believe are the critical concepts that young people need to know in order to thrive in life and work — arcs of learning that are sustaining, inclusive, bold, and forward-thinking. We will learn as we go, from your contributions, from what emerges, from the gaps we discover.
That said: we are designing structures to help organize the work to come up with a draft map of these first disciplines, AND we remain agile to shifts that may need to happen.
The key: Being open to the messiness that comes with creating change.
What's the schedule and time commitment?
- DAY 1: 6-9PM ET: Launching and Organizing the Design Work
- DAYS 2-5: Over these four days, 10-person, discipline teams will collaborate and self-organize their work to reimagine and prototype their portion of the content map.
In addition to the self-organized team time, synchronous sessions will be held during these two evening sessions:
- DAY 3: 6-9pm ET: Feedback and critique sessions
- DAY 5: 6-9pm ET: K-12 Content Map Showcase
Will I be compensated as a Design Studio participant?
A stipend of $15,000 will be distributed across each team of 10 discipline experts.
We understand that some individuals, because of other commitments, may be participating on a more limited basis. So, shares of the stipend will be awarded based on time invested during the week-long session.
Commitment & Honorarium: What do your life and work circumstances allow you to contribute?
- I can commit to getting the map done (full-on participation, estimated at 30 hrs): $2000
- I can commit 15 hours during the week: $1000
- I can commit 9 hours (Day 1 + 6 hours of map development): $600
- I can commit to 6 hours: $400. Options:
- Day 1 + Day 3 Feedback Session OR
- Day 3 Feedback Session + Day 5 Showcase
What technology will I need to participate?
Technical requirements:
The reDesign CoLab is committed to equity and access. Please let us know if you do not have access to the required technical resources. If you are selected, the CoLab will troubleshoot the technical requirements issue with you to ensure your active participation.
Computer
- Desktop, laptop, Chromebook, or Surface PRO 4 or newer, are ideal. (We do not recommend iOS or Android tablets)
- Speakers (either external or internal) or headphones/earbuds
- Webcam (either external or internal)
Internet Connection
- Regular access to an internet connection – broadband wired or wireless
- 3Mbps/3Mbps (upload/download) – Not sure? Check here.
Operating Systems
- Mac OS 10.10 or newer, Windows 10 or newer, and Chrome OS Browsers
- Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge are recommended.
Software
More questions?
Come to one of our information sessions!
