reDesign Launches the Future9 Competencies

Drawing on more than a decade of work with schools, districts, and state leaders, reDesign, an educational design consultancy, is introducing the Future9 Competencies, a free and open resource for system leaders and educators. The Future9 Competencies, which can be adopted or adapted for school or system use, are informed by the latest and most relevant research on cognitive, social-emotional, and future readiness skill development, as well as feedback and critical review from educators, students, academics, and industry leaders.

“All 50 states have created pathways for competency-based learning, and schools are eager for guidance on how to navigate this approach,” said Antonia Rudenstine, founder and creative director of reDesign. “The Future9 Competencies are a first step: they provide a way to measure the learning that matters—those crucial skills that are needed now and in the future.”

The framework emerged from reDesign’s work with state and district leaders and educators using competency-based education as a lever to transform learning for young people. The nine competencies are: Build Community, Design Solutions, Engage in Inquiry, Express Ideas, Learn Interdependently, Navigate Conflict, Read the World, Reason Quantitatively, and Sustain Wellness.

reDesign’s Future9 Competencies offer pre-K through career-level skill progressions that make the pathway to future-ready skills transparent for learners, while providing educators with a tool to support and measure the learning that matters. The Future9 Competencies represent cross-cutting, crucial skills organized by research-informed developmental stages of learning. The framework is written for learners, describing specific, observable indicators of success at each performance level. Teachers and learners alike get a clear, consistent picture of what growth within each competency looks like in practice so they can understand where students are in their learning, as they establish learning goals, or next steps on the pathway toward future readiness.

To support educators in implementing the competencies, reDesign is hosting a free introductory webinar on March 14, 2024. To register, visit .

In addition to offering the framework, the organization will release a suite of free resources, tools, and courses for schools and districts that want to implement the Future9 Competencies in their learning community. Multimedia resources include introduction videos, summary downloadables, quick tours of each competency, a research review, online courses for educators, competency-aligned classroom activities, and implementation/adaptation guides. To learn more about the reDesign Future9 Competencies and the future of learning, visit www.redesignu.org/Future9.

About reDesign

reDesign partners with schools, districts, and state leaders to reimagine what learning can be. Founded in 2008, reDesign is a women-led, nationally-recognized education design and leadership consulting organization committed to ensuring every young person is future ready. To learn more, visit www.redesignu.org.

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