Learn Deep is an independent initiative to drive the creation of a Milwaukee Model for education. It comes from some pretty straight forward realizations:
We know what it takes to build talent in K-12: Repeated opportunities for hands-on, minds-on work that crosses disciplines; an environment that rewards curiosity, exploration, reflection and collaboration; a recognition that we can’t build deep technical skills without also developing students’ creative application of those skills.
We know what it takes to engage K-12 students: Meaningful work that connects with students’ passions, under the guidance of educators who can tune a challenge to meet a student where most rapid gains are made; connections that extend beyond the classroom, that allow students to see themselves not only a citizens in a broader community, but pathways they can follow to become who they want to be.
We know what it takes to do this: A community. A community focused on providing all students the chance to experience what education should look like, what it should feel like, what it should allow students to become. A community that can collaborate across boundaries, that recognizes a shared interest in developing the talents of all of our students, that is willing to show up for students and the educators that would lead them. A community willing to experiment, to dare, to work together to figure out how to get this right.
That leaves us with a pretty clear mission. Connect educators and partners who want to see a change in education. Identify opportunities for them to work together to create meaningful learning experiences for students. Help them develop the mindset, processes and relationships to do so at scale.