If you skim the headlines—budget uncertainty, staffing shortages, AI’s rapid ascent—it’s easy to feel like the ground is moving beneath our feet. But the last few episodes of The K-12 Change Equation (and a timely visit to NISCOSS in New York) point to a steady north star: lasting change happens when schools and communities act together, regionally.
This piece distills takeaways from recent conversations with Dr. Gladys Cruz (Questar III BOCES), Patrick Miller (STEM East), and Ernesto Durán (California Region 8 expanded learning)—three leaders working in very different contexts who are solving common problems by pooling capacity, elevating teachers, and engaging families.
Through-Line #1: “Teachers are economic developers.”
What
Patrick Miller (STEM East) describes teachers as the tip of the spear for regional economic development. STEM East operates at the intersection of education, workforce, and economic development across 31 districts and 15+ community colleges in Eastern North Carolina. Their “Industry-in-Schools” model immerses teachers in regional industry clusters—Smart Ag, Aviation, Healthcare, Biopharma, Blue Economy, Energy Systems, Smart Manufacturing—via site visits, community college tours, an industry dinner, and protected design time to align lessons to standards. They also run a Strategic Planning Institute (SPI) with the Smithsonian to produce five-year STEM plans that districts integrate with their core strategic plans.
So What
When teachers see how algebra lives on the shop floor or why communication and design matter in a hangar, they teach with purpose—and students learn with purpose. This reframes accountability: employers won’t ask for bubble sheets; they will ask for problem solving, collaboration, communication, and presentation. Those are cultivated through inquiry, PBL, and public showcases.
Now What
- Stand up a regional cluster map (labor demand + community college programs + HS courses) and align pathways accordingly.
- Launch a two-day Industry-in-Schools PD: industry brief → tours → industry dinner → college labs → standards-aligned lesson design.
- Convene an Employer Advisory Council (through the regional service center) that sets credential targets, offers WBL, and co-funds equipment.
- Track both hard indicators (credentials, WBL hours, dual enrollment, placements) and “standing ovations” (public presentations, employer feedback).
Through-Line #2: Leadership as a compass, not a crown.
What
Dr. Gladys Cruz (Questar III BOCES) showed how a regional intermediary can pool resources for CTE, apprenticeships, and stackable credentials across many small districts—scale individual systems cannot reach alone.
So What
Service centers (BOCES, IUs, ESCs, county offices) are engines for shared staffing, shared programs, and coherent data. They let leaders orchestrate change across districts instead of each district “owning” a tiny version of everything.
Now What
- Use your service center as convener, fiscal agent, and data steward for multi-district pathways.
- Embed pathways into the district strategic plan (budget + roles + metrics), not as add-ons.
Through-Line #3: Expanded learning is not extra—it’s essential.
What
In California Region 8 (San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern), Ernesto Durán and the county office lead compliance and capacity-building for expanded learning (after school), powered by state investments (ASES, ELO-P) plus 21st CCLC. Programs prioritize whole-child wellness (wellness centers, check-ins, yoga/meditation, counseling), hands-on enrichment, and family engagement—with a regional family liaison who literally bridges school systems and communities across ~115 districts and ~700 program sites.
Crucially, Ernesto reframes “21st-century learning”: once shorthand for devices and coding, it now also means belonging, safety, and mental wellness, because kids can’t learn letters and numbers in the midst of chaos.
So What
- Language, identity, and psychological safety are inseparable. SEL and mental health supports aren’t “nice to have”; they’re core infrastructure for learning—especially for English learners and immigrant communities.
- Access is relative: not every family has a laptop, but almost everyone has a phone. Meet families where they are.
Now What
- Fund family liaison roles regionally; measure their reach (home visits, multilingual sessions, referrals, attendance lift).
- Create wellness centers and staff them (counselors, social workers, community partners).
- Offer PD for all staff on partnering with families of English learners (communication, translation, culturally responsive practice).
- Build SMS-/mobile-first touchpoints for outreach, surveys, and two-way translation.
Through-Line #4: Budget volatility is real—coherence is the hedge.
What
From NISCOSS to California and North Carolina, leaders face stalled budgets, post-ESSER cliffs, and fast-moving tech. The difference maker is coherence: the extent to which pathways, staffing, PD, community partnerships, and measures ladder up to a few clear goals (e.g., Employment • Enrollment • Enlistment).
So What
Coherent systems survive headwinds. Disconnected pilots don’t.
Now What
- Run a coherence audit: does every big spend (staffing, gear, PD, contracts) tie to 2–3 student-ready outcomes?
- Publish a regional dashboard (service center-hosted): credentials, apprenticeship starts, dual credits, WBL hours, attendance/engagement, plus qualitative evidence (showcases, capstones).
- Use MOUs among districts, the service center, higher ed, and employers to lock role clarity, data sharing, and cost-sharing.
Regional Examples You Can Lift (and adapt)
- Questar III BOCES (NY): shared CTE/apprenticeship hubs; multi-district credentials.
- STEM East (NC): cluster-based teacher immersions; Smithsonian-supported SPI five-year plans; employer councils.
- CA County Offices/Region 8: robust expanded learning infrastructure; family liaison model; wellness centers; multilingual outreach.
What this means for leaders—big and small systems alike
At NISCOSS, we sat with leaders from one-building districts and big-city systems. Strategy will always look different at each scale. But the workflows are the same:
- Start with the region. Use your service center to convene districts, colleges, and employers.
- Invest in teachers. Give them direct exposure to local industry so they can teach with purpose.
- Center belonging. Fund the liaisons, wellness, and multilingual PD that make learning possible.
- Measure what matters. Monitor credentials and placements—and celebrate the “standing ovations” when students present real solutions to real partners.
- Write it into the plan. Make pathways and expanded learning part of the core strategic plan with stable funding lines.
Invitation: Build the Regional Readiness Playbook—Together
Several guests floated the idea on-air: a Workforce Readiness Summit that brings together service centers, district teams, employers, and higher ed to co-design regional SPI-style plans and launch cluster PD. Education Elements will help convene; we’ll bring templates (cluster maps, SPI agendas, MOUs, dashboards) and facilitate cross-state learning.
If your region is in—let’s start the planning call. The sooner we act together, the sooner our students will feel the baton fall, the room quiet, and the music begin.
.png?width=352&name=Ed%20Elements_Website%20Image%20(2).png)
