One way that Ecosys seeks to better understand the problems in complex social ecosystems like education is to surface and explore the many bright spots.

Included might be schools, programs, initiatives, or reforms that appear to be working, if only on a local basis.  

Not every local innovation will scale, but, just maybe, some of them could.  The important thing is to bring an open mind to the collaborative evaluation of these ideas, to avoid the pitfalls of negative thinking.  If we find ourselves saying "this will never scale" or "it's been tried before" then we're applying filters. Challenge that thinking. We need to give interesting ideas more time to germinate.

9/22 9pET.  We need to explore ideas that are portable, that work in multiple locations & contexts. And it's very important to learn how to specify & measure results.  Seeking "lateral innovation" across "new locals" to tip viable ideas and fan solid practice .  One test: what is required of students (skills, knowledge, aptitude) to make the Bright Spot work? - Sean, Bill

9/22 9:30pET. Can best practices be portable? First, need definitions. Believe approach can be ported, if defined w/ sufficient generality. - David, Chris, Jenna

On WEDS 9/22 at 9pET we will be surfacing Bright Spots in Education, and will post links from this page.  In the weeks ahead, we'll drill down into each a bit further, to see what useful patterns we can discover.  

EcoEdu Bright Spots (nominated by team for in-depth evaluation):

1. Harlem Children's Zone source/moderator:

2. Urban Schools that might not seem bright on their face (Bill Chapman)

3.

4.

Potential Bright Spots (holding tank - ideas for exploration):

1. Video Games in Classrooms source: 

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Tweets on this topic:

@GWoodJCG 9/21 on favorable adaptation

@ToughLoveforX on finding what's working

Background reading:

Complexity in Organizations: Finding Patterns That Work by @sourcepov