We are surrounded by local intermediaries. Banks manage the exchange between people and capital. Trainers connect individuals to their fitness goals. Real estate agents guide home buying through the complexity of markets and contracts. In every sector, intermediaries build bridges between systems and people, translating complexity into access and opportunity.

In education, the same dynamic holds true, though we often underestimate its power. Local intermediaries are the connective tissue between policy and practice, vision and execution, innovation and sustainability. They convene partners, translate strategy, and anchor change in relationships rather than compliance.

At Getting Smart and the Center for Innovation in Education, we believe that you can’t automate localized, systemic change. It requires people who live in the communities they are transforming, people who understand the history, relationships, and rhythms of local life. Intermediaries operate in the middle ground, between state capitals and classrooms, translating broad policy into locally grounded practice. They are the unsung heroes of educational change, the connective tissue that makes reform last.

The Local Advantage: Intermediaries in Action

Intermediaries are indispensable because they are rooted in the regions they serve, allowing them to convene partners, align systems, and grow ideas that fit their unique context. Across the country, diverse organizations prove that sustainable transformation happens locally, not through mandates, but through relationships and trust. A few of these organizations are described below.

Across these examples, a pattern emerges: intermediaries succeed when they act as connectors, not controllers, when they lead by building trust, shared ownership of change and they often hold a vision for a region or a state that outlasts any one administration or era.

Navigating the Tension: Compliance and Agility

Intermediaries operate in a constant state of balance. Political turnover, policy shifts, and compliance mandates often disrupt progress just as momentum builds. Yet these organizations persist because they know how to translate volatility into adaptability, protecting promising work while cultivating what’s next.

Read the full article about local intermediaries by Rebecca Midles and Doannie Tran at Getting Smart.