HOW WE LEARN AND ADAPT TOGETHER DETERMINES THE COURSE OF EVERYTHING.
That's why we're improving our schools with the same set of design principles needed to achieve social, economic and environmental wellbeing on a planetary scale.
OUR DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Contextual Behavioral Science
Contextual Behavioral Science ("CBS") is an evolutionary theory of behavior, language and thinking. The key leverage point for coordinated learning and action is changing the way we relate to our own experiences and to those of others.
Political Science and Economics
Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom showed that groups are capable of avoiding the "tragedy of the commons" if they possess certain core design principles ("CDPs"). We apply the CDPs to the educational commons in the same way they apply to our social, economic and planetary commons.
Evolutionary Science
We rely on cultural evolution to navigate fast changing conditions in our world - a capacity embedded in our genes. The CDPs together with CBS foster the psychological and behavioral flexibility necessary to allow us to adapt at the speed of change.
OUR SHARED AIMS
Teacher collective efficacy
Social and emotional health
Academic achievement
Community science
Shaping the future of school
Shaping the future of work
21st century economics
Applied research
Youth voice | engagement
Equitable education systems
OUR INITIATIVES
Social and Emotional Health
The physical and social-emotional health of everyone across the school community is critical to support and evaluate.
Prosocial incorporates contextual behavioral science (CBS) which provides evidence-informed practices for all ages and all levels of need. The following resources are easy to learn and applicable for children, teens, parents, teachers and school leaders.
Adaptive Capacity
Nobody, no matter their educational expertise, has the experience to ensure a fail-safe plan for the 2022-23 school year.
As school improvement specialist David Sherer has argued, it is not about choosing "the right model", it is about ensuring your school has the right systems in place to improve and adapt.
Networked Improvement
The Networked Improvement Community (NIC) model builds on the latest insights for the spread of evidence-informed social innovation.
Combined with Prosocial as a theory and methodology, we:
1. Clarify individual and group improvement aims;
2. Increase the capacity to ideate, share, and evolve solutions to complex improvement barriers;
3. Help groups stay focused on coordination around targeted goals, with an emphasis on cooperation within and between schools.
Prosocial Youth
We are seeking to empower youth as ambassadors for the principles and challenges of behavioral flexibility, starting with real-world projects that matter to them, their schools and/or communities.
What is a co-design? Confident, yet humble, we want to design the Prosocial Youth from square one with youth voice and youth agency. Then we want to nurture a peer to peer, Prosocial Youth movement.
Prosocial Institute
Our free tools help group members practice the Prosocial methodology, at any age. Key stakeholders receive Prosocial for Facilitators training that we sponsor, designed by Prosocial Institute.
For groups looking to further embed Prosocial leadership, you may consider taking a Prosocial for Facilitators training course.