Future Ready Schools®

Advancing Innovation and Equity in America’s Schools

Future Ready Schools® (FRS) helps innovative educators ensure that each student graduates from high school with the agency, passion, and skills to be a productive, compassionate, and responsible citizen.

Through FRS’s tools and resources, district and school leaders apply evidence-based practices resulting in engaging student-centered learning environments that empower robust learning opportunities, anytime, anywhere.

The FRS network focuses on leadership. We help district teams set a vision for the student outcomes and school experiences that today’s modern learners need to thrive. We emphasize goal setting using our research-based framework that advances policies to equitably deliver strong instruction, personalized professional learning, and creative community partnerships. Coupled with robust technology infrastructure and sustainability models – we build leadership capacity so that  school systems can offer flexible, rigorous, and equitable learning opportunities to each student.

Join Us In Making a Difference

Now, more than ever, the nation’s schools face high demands to prepare students for an information-rich, high-tech, entrepreneurial, global economy that requires a highly skilled, knowledgeable, flexible, and capable workforce. FRS provides educators with research-based tools, resources, and capacity building that facilitates the modernization of schools and districts that support personalized, student-centered learning. 

Consider Investing in Future Ready Schools Today!

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The FRS Way

We believe every child—regardless of the zip code they call home—must graduate from high school and deserves

  • a personalized and robust student-centered learning environment where students learn in and out of traditional school settings;
  • learning experiences that prepare students for an increasingly technology-driven workforce and world;
  • work-based opportunities that tap into passions, purpose, and interests for deeper engagement and multiple pathways to success in life;
  • innovative research-based instructional strategies facilitated by caring and qualified teachers; and
  • a clear exploration of options through which every child achieves postsecondary success.

We are Future Ready!

Why Our Work Matters

Nearly 17 million of America’s 53.1 million children are unplugged from instruction because their families lack home internet access. This “homework gap,” has contributed to significant opportunity gaps, particularly for students from marginalized communities. Beginning in spring 2020, many districts tapped federal, state, and local funding to provide all students with the connectivity and devices necessary for home-based remote learning. Now, the Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and subsequent federal investments provide ample opportunities for education leaders to close opportunity gaps and realize the promise of technology for America’s public school students. FRS can help ensure that this investment is not squandered.

Now, more than ever, the nation’s schools face high demands to prepare students for an information-rich, high-tech, entrepreneurial, global economy that requires a highly skilled, knowledgeable, flexible, and capable workforce. Today, 80 percent of good-paying jobs require postsecondary education, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

However, in 2017, fewer than 50 percent of Americans ages 25–64 years held a quality credential beyond high school, according to the Lumina Foundation. The statistics are even more alarming for Americans from historically underserved groups; only about 24 percent of Latinos and about 30 percent of African Americans held an associate’s degree or higher in 2017.

This is a momentous time for education. Closing the digital divide and the homework gap remains one of America’s most consequential challenges. The need to systemically address opportunity gaps resulting from our students’ lack of ubiquitous technology access and devices—at home and school—is now an urgent economic, social, and moral imperative for our nation’s future success.

Tools and Resources

FRS provides educators with research-based tools and resources that facilitate the modernization of schools and districts that support personalized, student-centered learning. FRS tools and resources include the following:

  • Research-based framework that allows for digital learning visioning, planning, and implementation
  • Five-step planning process for district digital transition
  • School leadership strands (district leaders, principals, technology leaders, instructional coaches, school boards, and librarians)
  • Personalized professional learning webinars; blog posts; national institutes and specialized workshops (online and in person); and other resources
  • FRS District Pledge for superintendents

All tools and resources are aligned with the evidence-based Future Ready Framework and focus on instructional leadership and systemic reform.

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Our Work

FRS’s tools and resources help support district and school leaders with the modernization of schools and the implementation of personalized, student-centered learning.

May 16, 2025

Blog | Future Ready Schools, Social and Emotional Learning

Trauma-Informed Teaching in Action: Lessons from the NC Center for Resilience & Learning

At a time when educators across the country are grappling with unprecedented mental health challenges among students, North Carolina is leading the way with…
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May 15, 2025

Blog | AI, Budget and Resources, Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Data and Privacy, Funding Equity

A Seat at the Table: What School Leaders Are Saying About AI, Equity, and the Future of Learning

What happens when you gather some of the most forward-thinking school and district leaders around a dinner table to talk about artificial intelligence, equity,…
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May 14, 2025

Podcast | AI, Collaborative Leadership, Data and Privacy, Digital Learning, Educator Policy, Future Ready Schools, Professional Learning

UnDisruptED: Education Needs More Risk-Takers

It’s time to talk the truth about edtech. 💡 In this episode, Adam and Carl welcome the ever-provocative Dr. Scott McLeod, co-creator of the “Did You Know? (Shift Happens)” series and a bold voice in educational leadership.
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May 7, 2025

Podcast | AI, Collaborative Leadership, Data and Privacy, Digital Learning, Educator Policy, Future Ready Schools, Professional Learning

UnDisruptED: Are Chatbots Friends?

This week’s guest, Sue Thotz from Common Sense Education, brings the real talk about digital citizenship, media literacy, and the power of student agency. From outdated edtech purchases to modern challenges like AI, device use, and social media, this episode covers it all with heart, humor, and hope.
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April 30, 2025

Podcast | AI, Collaborative Leadership, Data and Privacy, Digital Learning, Educator Policy, Future Ready Schools, Professional Learning

UnDisruptED: We Don’t Pretend We Practice

What’s your theme song as an edtech leader? This week, Adam and Carl are joined by the insightful and always entertaining Chris Lockhart, a veteran district tech leader with stories, strategies, and yes—soundtracks—for navigating the ever-evolving world of educational technology.
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April 23, 2025

Podcast | AI, Collaborative Leadership, Data and Privacy, Digital Learning, Educator Policy, Future Ready Schools, Professional Learning

UnDisruptED: We are in the trouble business…and business is good!

What’s your theme song as an edtech leader? This week, Adam and Carl are joined by the insightful and always entertaining Chris Lockhart, a veteran district tech leader with stories, strategies, and yes—soundtracks—for navigating the ever-evolving world of educational technology.
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April 16, 2025

Podcast | AI, Collaborative Leadership, Data and Privacy, Digital Learning, Educator Policy, Future Ready Schools, Professional Learning

UnDisruptED: Life is About Living

In this episode, Adam and Carl sit down with Christine Fox, VP of Operations at CAST, to explore how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is shaping education and why inclusion must be built into technology from the start.
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April 9, 2025

Podcast | AI, Collaborative Leadership, Data and Privacy, Digital Learning, Educator Policy, Future Ready Schools, Professional Learning

UnDisruptED: AI in All Aspects of Life

In this episode, Adam and Carl sit down with Christine Fox, VP of Operations at CAST, to explore how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is shaping education and why inclusion must be built into technology from the start.
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April 2, 2025

Podcast | AI, Collaborative Leadership, Data and Privacy, Digital Learning, Educator Policy, Future Ready Schools, Professional Learning

UnDisruptED: The Comeback of Digital Literacy

We’re BACK for Season 9! Kicking things off, Adam and Carl dive into AI, digital literacy, and the ever-elusive promise of seismic shifts in…
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