NCRVE CenterPoint: New Designs for Learning

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Transitions to New Designs
Putting new designs to work in the school is a major undertaking. Old paradigms and their associated practices must be challenged and, in many cases, fundamentally changed. To assist in thinking through, more operationally, the priorities and processes to move toward new designs, the Transition to New Designs framework can be used to think about and describe the present state of affairs at the school and the new designs that the school has in mind. The new designs should be the result of working through each of the design elements in the design-down process for the school, similar to what was described above. What should be evident after completing the framework are the gaps between what is and what should be. These gaps can then be prioritized to identify where to focus the initial efforts of the transition to new designs.

Benchmarking is set up to identify institutions that exemplify new design ideas in practice. Using the ideas and practices from other organizations is not counterproductive to the design-down process. The desire for close alignment among design features always implies the need to adapt rather than direct copying from other places. One needs to search nationally and internationally for such institutions. Benchmark schools may be more "maverick" in implementing new innovations than simply "top-notch" schools. In some cases, the benchmark school will be another educational organization, but it may even be more productive to look beyond educational institutions (that is, at business and industry, community-based organizations, or government agencies) for new design concepts and practices. Benchmarking studies can then be completed to identify the aims and processes that are of interest and how they were put in place. Benchmark schools and organizations can become mentors for the school of concern.

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