Giving Compass' Take:

· EdSurge interviews Sujata Bhatt, the managing partner of innovation of public schools in Boston, about her job and the ways schools can adopt an innovative mindset and how they can implement the newly created plans and ideas.

· How can schools better prepare students for their future and employment?

· Read this guide for innovation in education.

Running a lemonade stand may be the most entrepreneurial project that many students get to experience. But increasingly, schools leaders want to take the spirit of these old-fashioned projects and create more—and more meaningful—opportunities for students and teachers alike to think creatively and build skills that will prepare them for future careers.

In districts like Boston Public Schools, officials have set up new teams devoted to rethink everything from professional development and instructional design to class schedules and school culture. These efforts are often lumped into one overused term: “innovation.”

We think of innovation as building the capacity to design new solutions at every level of the system, from classrooms to the school level to central office.

People need to be aware of [the changes] driving our workforce and what the economy of the future looks like. It takes system-wide conversations, although how each school redesigns itself in relationship to those changing forces has to be local. We’re always opting people in. It’s never a top-down initiative because capacity needs to be built locally. As schools are interested in doing something different, we help partner them with the right opportunities, and provide technical expertise to help them grow to where they want to become.

Read the full article about school innovation by Tony Wan at EdSurge.