STC Virtual Forum: Life Launch: A New Approach to Learning for Life

In a time of accelerated change, the role of post-secondary education and its alignment to K-12 has become an increasingly important topic. The need for this reinvention has been accelerated by growing debate around the value of universities, as well as the emergence of AI and its impact on future learning. As a result, there has been a shift towards thinking about education not in the traditional paradigm of K-12 and college, but as a continuum of K-16.

Leading innovators in this area will join STC for a dynamic discussion on “Life Launch,” a new approach to learning for life, moderated by Matt Wunder. Matt is the co-founder and CEO of Da Vinci Schools in Los Angeles, California. He is one of our country’s leading innovators in the K-8 and high school space. We’re proud to welcome panelists in conversation:

Michelle Rainey, Executive Director, Da Vinci Connect, a career-connected learning high school experience, who has led Da Vinci’s approach to solving the college completion crisis by embedding college courses into high school at no cost to students or families, in order to lead to careers of choice.

Joel Vargas, Vice President of Education Practice at Jobs for the Future, overseeing programs on improving learning systems and outcomes, who is a nationwide leader on reinventing K-12 education leading to productive careers.

Yusuf Ahmad, the co-founder of PlaylabAI, Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab and VP New Products at Teach for America. At PlaylabAI, Yusuf is building an innovative platform for integrating AI into public education.

What possibilities can a continuous pathway contain? What does it mean to launch one’s life, and how do we support students as they begin that process? This conversation presents a reimagining of education that stands to change outcomes for young people today.