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LEADING COMMUNITY BASED CHANGE
Clarify Purpose. Build Community. Drive Change. Sustain Impact.
Transcend and Big Questions Institute (BQI), in collaboration with AAIE and AISH, are excited to invite international school teams to join a new global cohort focused on leading change in the design of learning environments with their communities, not just for them.
This experience brings together teams from multiple international schools to advance a real design priority - either starting from the ground up or already in motion at their school. Each school participates as a team of three to five people, depending on the initiative, and Transcend will support you in shaping and preparing that team.
Meet Your Guides
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Program Structure
The cohort includes five virtual monthly sessions, guided team work between sessions, and a coaching session each month. Each school that is interested in participating will have a conversation with Transcend cohort leaders before registering to help us understand your school’s context, current initiatives, and goals, and to ensure a strong mutual fit.
What Teams Will Explore
- What do our students actually experience day to day, and what needs to shift in how we design learning?
- What does our community most need from school in a world shaped by AI and rapid change?
- What innovative models exist in other places that we could learn and/or borrow from?
- How do we move from a compelling vision to designing real changes in learners’ daily experiences?
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How do we assess and build the community conditions and coalitions needed to make meaningful change stick?
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How can we pilot and learn from innovations to various aspects of learner experiences?
Meaningful change involves many stakeholders. School teams are invited to engage students, educators, caregivers, and other community members throughout the process. Each school's core design team - the group that will participate regularly in Cohort sessions and coaching - will consist of three to five people.
Leading Community Based Change
What to Expect
Cohort Timeline
August–September
Individual meetings with interested schools to share cohort details, answer questions, and finalize cohort planning. This is also when we hold fit conversations to understand your school’s context and goals before registration.
October–November
Registered schools begin individual coaching and pre-work. This is a time to set up your design team, identify a focus area, and begin listening to your community so that when the full cohort launches in January, your team is ready to hit the ground running.
January–May 2027
The full cohort experience runs across five monthly virtual sessions. Between each session, teams engage in guided work at their own school, applying what they’re learning, testing ideas, and gathering input from their community. Each month also includes a dedicated coaching session to support your team’s local design work.
Register Today
The cost of participation is $12,500 per school team. Each team may include three to five participants, depending on the school’s design priority. The fee includes the five-session virtual cohort experience, guided work between sessions, monthly coaching, and access to the cohort’s tools and resources.
If you have any questions, contact AAIE at info@aaie.org.
Session Overview
Session 1: Understanding Learner Experience
- Exploring what students currently experience day to day
- Making sense of student voices and community input gathered during pre-work
- Grounding the team in a shared understanding of the current state
Session 2: Community Vision and Engagement
- What does our community most need from school, now and in the future?
- Processes for listening to and engaging caregivers, educators, and students as co-designers
- Building shared understanding across the school community
Session 3: From Vision to Design
- Moving from aspiration to concrete changes in how learning is designed
- Models from schools that have redesigned learning environments in powerful ways
- Prototyping and testing ideas with learners before full implementation
Session 4: Building Conditions for Change
- Assessing what’s ready and what needs strengthening to support lasting change
- Building coalitions and navigating hard conversations across stakeholder groups
- Tools for productive disagreement and building trust within and beyond your team
Session 5: Sustaining and Spreading the Work
- Reflecting on what’s shifted and what’s been learned across the cohort
- Planning for continuity and deepening the work beyond the cohort
- Celebrating progress and connecting with the broader global community of practice
HOW
Five virtual cohort sessions. Individual onboarding and preparation meetings with each school team. Guided work between sessions. Monthly Coaching. Access to relevant tools, frameworks, research, and resources.
WHO
School teams to advance a real and meaningful community-based design priority. Three to five participants per team, depending on the school's design priority.
WHEN
June - December 2026: Onboarding, cohort preparation and information sessions ahead of the cohort launch. January - May 2027: Monthly virtual cohort sessions with coaching and support between sessions.
Register Today
The cost of participation is $12,500 per school team. Each team may include three to five participants, depending on the school’s design priority. The fee includes the five-session virtual cohort experience, guided work between sessions, monthly coaching, and access to the cohort’s tools and resources.
If you have any questions, contact AAIE at info@aaie.org.
Discover AAIE
Our Conversations
Our weekly conversations, where leaders come together to learn and discuss issues related to international schools.
Our Events
Our annual event where School Leaders in international education come together to learn from one and another.
Our Community
Our unique global network focused on supporting international school leaders and their senior leadership team.