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About K12 Change Lab:
A nonprofit initiative from World Leadership School that launched in January 2025, K12 Change Lab is a cohort-based, 18-month change partnership program for school teams that includes coaching, on-site visits, and a three-day learning conference. This innovative program helps schools make cost-effective and efficient strategic change that improves learning and strengthens their school communities.
K12 Change Lab is focused on helping K12 schools “make change that sticks.” Their mission is to partner with K-12 schools worldwide to bring greater purpose to learning. Their vision is that K-12 education can, and should be, the ultimate platform for launching children into lives of purpose.
What They Do:
Schools invest a lot of energy in strategic plans, but often underinvest in implementation. When a goal is not met, schools enter a frustrating cycle of investing more time and effort only to circle back to the same conversations. This cycle causes schools to lose momentum, time and money, and community trust.
The K12 Change Lab is designed to break the cycle of unfulfilled change by helping schools make efficient, effective, and long-lasting change. The program helps leaders identify the right team and then gives that team the necessary space and support to move ahead. They help schools gain momentum by turning bold ideas into transformative results.
Partnership with EMA Foundation:
Over the last two years, EMA Foundation has contributed a total of $75K to support the development of the K12 Change Lab and to offer grant funding that enables a diverse cohort of public, charter, and smaller independent schools to participate in this close-knit learning community.
Their Impact:
K12 Change Lab is based on World Leadership School’s work since 2018 with their annual K12 Purpose Summit. In that 3-day event, they help teams of educators embark on the individual journey to explore what purpose means for them and the school expedition to design a game-changing idea for learning. As they worked with hundreds of teams, they began to see clearly why certain teams succeeded with their ideas, but others struggled. They codified those learnings into the design of K12 Change Lab, which continues to have the K12 Purpose Summit at its center. The K12 Change Lab deepens the K12 Purpose Summit process with more intensive coaching, site visits to each school, and a cohort-based learning model.
- 145 schools have participated in the K-12 Purpose Summit since 2018.
- 85% of the teams at the 2023 K-12 Purpose Summit designed and implemented a big new idea or program at their schools.
“This summit has strengthened my commitment to myself and to education. It has brought me back to my why. I believe every educator should have a journey similar to the one I experienced here.” - Carolín Escobar, The AWTY International School, Houston, TX
“The summit provided our team the time, structure, and headspace to dig in and do some incredibly valuable design work that we are confident will benefit our school community.” —Page Stites, Upper School Director, The Field School, Washington DC
Join the Movement:
Join K12 Change Lab and EMA Foundation in our mission to bring greater purpose to learning. Together, we can transform education by inspiring educators to reimagine learning and empower students to become next-generation leaders.
