Integrating Design Principles in Schools

The Guiding Principles for Equitable Whole Child Design are each critical to supporting youth learning and development. Yet, their impact is deeply felt and effective when practitioners integrate all five into a coherent, continuously reinforcing set of practices and structures.

Taking Whole Child Design to Scale

There is not just one way to integrate whole child practices and structures in a school or community learning setting. Rather, there are a number of ways that educators can nurture students’ assets and address their needs and challenges to create equitable and impactful school settings. To create more schools that teach all students the complex skills they actually need for academic and life success while affirming their identities and potential, developing their character, and fostering equity, evidence suggests that we must:

• Redesign schools to support high-quality teaching and strong relationships;
• Rethink curriculum, assessment, and accountability structures so that they focus on powerful learning with associated supports;
• Improve professional learning opportunities;
• Build unified integrated support systems; and
• Take a systemic approach that enables change in all schools.