Authentic Community Engagement Takes Longer...Or Does It?

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” - African Proverb

Here at 2Rev, we’re in the business of partnering with districts and communities to help them define and work toward their vision of Future of Learning / Future of Work models and systems, so students are better prepared for success in the future. The basic premise goes something like this: the world is changing much more quickly than most of our schools have been able to keep pace.  The definition of what today’s kids need to know and be able to do is also shifting and, as the grown-ups “in charge” of the system, it’s our job to close the gap between what students need and what they’re currently receiving. In other words: we all have important, urgent work to do!

Not surprisingly, most of our transformation work with partners begins with efforts to engage stakeholders — either broadly (full community) or more narrowly (a specific school team/community) — in the task of envisioning the future and then co-constructing a broader definition of student success to which future efforts can be anchored. There is no “right” answer, but in our experience, this work is essential, and shortcutting the process usually comes back to bite you.

Any leader worth his or her salt already recognizes the value of community engagement - at least from a check-the-box political perspective, but hopefully, also as a means of arriving at better, fuller answers to the complex, adaptive challenges that are always lurking just below the surface of this kind of work. So far, so good, right?  But here’s where things start to get interesting.

Even though we all recognize the importance of authentic community engagement, it still surprises me how consistently forces that pull away from this basic principle can creep into the process. In my 27+ years interloping across the U.S. K-12 ed sector, I’d describe the vast majority of district leaders I’ve encountered as hard-working, well-meaning individuals driven by a desire to do right by kids. Most often, these same leaders - especially the best and most ambitious - are juggling multiple complex tasks, each with unreasonable constraints around time, budget, politics, etc.  (For readers with less exposure, imagine someone carrying a tall stack of plates while on roller skates...typically as part of a team of other tall-stack skaters, all while the floor wobbles beneath their wheels.)

Within this context, making space for authentic community engagement is more challenging. With so many demands on scarce time and resources, it’s tempting to skip this step or rush through as if it were perfunctory, a procedural “i” to be dotted. The reality is that a small group of thoughtful practitioners typically can develop a strong definition of student success much more quickly on their own. But to do so would deprive the transformation process of its most important ingredient: community demand for change. Participation. Inclusion. Buy-in. 

Rocket fuel.

This is harder and takes more time...at least up front. It means working - I mean, really working - to ensure that traditionally underrepresented voices are included. Not just “invited” to the table, but actively encouraged to help build a new table together. It requires not just asking, but actually listening.  And even harder: being willing to consider shifting direction based on input even when it diverges from the draft version that might have emerged organically during planning. It’s this type of approach that earns the “authentic” modifier.  

As one example, my colleague Kelly Ocasio profiles our recent work in Denver to engage high school youth and recent alums in a multi-month process of reimagining how high school ought to work, then supporting them to translate their insights into practical policy recommendations to district leadership. Alternatively, check out my colleague Rachel Lopkin’s recent post describing our work in VA Beach (or the associated microsite) that tells a similar story in an even broader frame. By spending ~2-3 months deeply engaging the community, as well as conducting a transformation audit to assess regional readiness and capacity, we were able to prioritize two specific topics around which to build mixed-group Prototyping Networks: Building Transformational Mindsets and Ensuring Equitable Access to Opportunity. Teams spent most of last year developing potential solutions, and now a couple of the most promising ideas are being implemented. Go slow to go fast.

It can be helpful to think of the process of engaging community in discussions about change as the placing of an object in the middle of a room. An amorphous object that sits in the center of a huge, diverse circle of folks: kids, parents, teachers, principals, business and community leaders, innovators, bureaucrats and interested others. By asking them to describe what they see — each from their own unique perspective, where they sit in the circle — we can stitch the scenes to form a more nuanced, 3-D image of what (aka, the changed future) we’re aiming at. A shared north star on the horizon. Working together, we can map the nooks and crannies, the shapes and shadows. These are the contours of transformation itself. And frankly, it yields a much clearer picture than any individual or small group could create on their own. 

Perhaps more important, the process empowers your community to become part of the solution. To begin to recognize and test their own assumptions about what students need, and what more will be needed to make real change possible. To shift mindsets. In other words: Step 1. The argument that Community Engagement Matters (Now More Than Ever) has been well made previously, but the “Spectrum of Community Engagement” graphic (embedded in the linked resource) demonstrates what’s possible when you start to link explicit decisional authority with increased community participation. Don’t get me wrong, this can sometimes get complicated. As a general rule, more is usually messier. But remember: rocket fuel.

Viewed from up front, this approach can feel luxurious and inefficient or unnecessary. It does take longer. However, based on our dozen years of experience working with districts and communities across the country, we’d argue otherwise. It’s not only more efficient over the long run, but we’ve yet to see any community make lasting progress that didn’t invest in this work. Go slow to go fast.  And far.

Bottom-line: transformation is a long, winding drive and your GPS app will definitely cut out on you at some points along the way, so it’s best to leave with a full tank and a good map.