Once a school community has established its goals and built shared aspirations through listening and inspiration, the next step is turning those insights into a vision and a cohesive plan. In this phase, Design Teams envision what the school will be, leaning into Learner-Centered School Design Structures to rethink use of time and space and what teaching and learning looks like, crafting a 3-5 year implementation plan.
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Define An Identity
District or system-level vision, mission, and values statements, along with a Portrait of a Learner, form the foundation for a coherent and compelling North Star. Together, they clarify the system’s purpose, describe the future it is working toward, and identify the principles that will guide decisions. These statements are critical for establishing direction, coherence, and shared accountability across a district.
Importantly, the district vision should serve as the unifying anchor for all schools within the system. While each school should not create its own separate vision, mission, and values, every school can and should develop its unique identity—the way it brings the district’s vision to life in its context. A clear school identity expresses how the district vision is enacted through local priorities, partnerships, and learner experiences, ensuring both coherence across the system and relevance within each community.
Developing these identity statements should be a collaborative process that includes educators, learners, families, and community members. When co-created, they authentically reflect shared aspirations and serve as a living guide for decisions, helping each school community stay grounded in purpose while designing for its learners’ needs.
During this phase, the Design Team identifies the core principles of the school. Some schools identify a mascot, such as the VIDA Sharks who are guided by what they affectionately call “GILLS”, which define how they operate as a design thinking-focused school. Other schools anchor on something important to their community such as the natural environment at SEEQS, the School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability. Not only is this identity part of their name, but they have a core project with dedicated time in the schedule each semester focused on these essential questions. Schools like Hālau Kū Māna, an indigenous Hawaiian school, anchor on caring for the earth and reigniting indigenous ways of living and practice. This shows up in how they start the morning, with olis (chants) and how they spend one day a week working in the community.
Students, parents, teachers, and staff from Keith McCarthy Academy's Design Team in Lake Elsinore Unified School District gather to co-design.
Design for Learner-Centered Structures
With the identity clearly established, school Design Teams turn to the Learner-Centered School Design Structures that will bring their identity to life. These structures shape how teaching, learning, and community function each day, and, when designed intentionally, they ensure that the learner-centered vision is more than words on paper.
Each school will approach these structures differently, but when they are holistically addressed in alignment with the established identity, they create the architecture that enables educators to create a learner-centered community, with personalized, authentic, and competency-based learning experiences to achieve a school’s vision for learners. The planning phase is about naming which structures will be prioritized, how they will connect to the school’s identity, and which early prototypes will create the conditions for meaningful learning and change.
Create a 3–5 Year Blueprint for Implementatios
Planning for redesign requires both vision and pragmatism. A 3–5 year Blueprint maps out the major shifts a school will undertake, organized into sequenced goals and milestones. This plan should include:
Big Moves: The bold changes that will reimagine learning.
Early Wins: Smaller, achievable actions that build momentum and confidence.
Success Indicators: Ways schools can measure progress toward their redesign goals and make informed adaptations.
Ownership: Clear roles and responsibilities for each initiative, often using shared leadership models to distribute accountability across staff.
This is an example of 5 Big Moves the Felicita Elementary School Design Team drafted as part of their redesign planning process. As a part of Escondido Union School District, Felicita is part of a cohort of schools working to redesign structures and programs to be more learner-centered.
The Blueprint is not static; it is a living document that will guide implementation while leaving room for iteration. When developed thoughtfully, it bridges the aspirations of Phase I with the implementation in Phase III, ensuring the redesign plan is both ambitious and attainable.
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