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We are Capacity-Builders
We are Capacity-Builders

Schools are filled with limitless capacity for great learning, teaching and leading. We strip away complexity and turn silos into systems. We clear a path that leads ‘from good to great’, and we stay around for the journey. This is how we meet our mission: Becoming Human.

We are Culture-Builders
We are Culture-Builders

Schools are learning cultures so we intentionally co-construct all the features of a great learning culture: a shared learning language, shared beliefs, values and norms, shared transfer goals, shared artifacts, shared celebrations of learning.

We are Curriculum-Builders
We are Curriculum-Builders

Learners need learning pathways so we co-create a seamless learning continuum for our times: clear Learning Goals embedded in compelling Learning Modules, connected in one coherent Learning Matrix.

We are Community-Builders
We are Community-Builders

It’s only a culture if everyone owns it…so we work actively with the school’s leadership to reach all learning stakeholders: students, parents, teachers, Boards, to build ownership of your learning culture.

We are Context Builders
We are Context-Builders

We always co-create in context. We can also help to co-create the context: all the supporting systems that make a school. We are particularly experienced, for example, in supporting schools with their accreditation process, and creating strategic plans that synthesise the school's priorities with accreditation recommendations and CGC initiatives so that the school only has one plan, not multiple versions. We do love simplicity!

We are Principle-Driven
We are Principle-Driven

The Common Ground Collaborative is bonded together by a set of values that create a shared picture of the future of learning that is distinctly different from anything else “out there”.

See our principles

The Common Ground Collaborative (CGC) is a non- profit organization headquartered in the USA, with Regional Offices in Europe and Latin America. The CGC has grown in impact and influence since our founding in 2014. Our members include international and national schools, both independent and public.

We work with everyone from new schools in Quito to well-established independent schools in Toronto. We work in public school districts in the USA and in public ‘experimental schools’ in China. We work with partners, both nonprofit and for-profit, to reach thousands of learners currently mired in learning poverty.

Our primary process is conversation. When schools join the CGC, they do not adopt a fixed programme, they join a conversation. Together we puzzle out what is best for the school, or other organization, co-creating customized models in context, using the CGC’s acquired experience and practical models.

Our theories are built backwards from decades of experience in leading, teaching and learning in multiple contexts and cultures and yet are rooted in decades of research and acquired wisdom drawn from the rich well of progressive, constructivist education.

We hope that you will find our work interesting, and perhaps intriguing enough for you to contact us with a view to joining our global conversation.

WHAT IS THE CGC?

Kevin Bartlett, Founding Director of the Common Ground Collaborative, in Conversation with Leo Thompson from Edsplorer

In this insightful interview, Kevin Bartlett shares the CGC's vision for transforming education. Discover how we're empowering educators to create extraordinary learning experiences for every student.

CGC Playbook

 

What's New?

LEARNER-FACING LEARNING DESIGN
LEARNER-FACING LEARNING DESIGN

I seem to find myself focusing frequently on paradigm-shifts-that-should-never-be-necessary. To be more honest, maybe it's things-I-wish-I'd-realized-sooner.

Here's one. I'm working with three focused, highly capable young secondary teachers at Valor International Scholars (one of two Christian Schools in Seoul that have recently joined the CGC Community). All three happen to be Korean, with interesting backgrounds outside of teaching and deep disciplinary knowledge. They are a team that's leading the charge in learning evolution at Valor.

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PASSING THE LEARNING BUCK
PASSING THE LEARNING BUCK

Years ago, while still the Director of the International School of Brussels, I had a chastening experience. Along with the (brilliant) co-founder of the Common Ground Collaborative, Gordon Eldridge, we had reached the conclusion that we should co-teach using our own learning principles. So we designed a year-long high school course, 'Independent Learners'.

Read More about PASSING THE LEARNING BUCK
PATHWAYS to the PORTRAIT
PATHWAYS to the PORTRAIT

The CGC's Portrait of a Learner doesn't float in limbo outside of a set of programs. It frames one continuous learning continuum: one learning language, one simple planning template, one balanced assessment system, one collective cultural continuum to frame professional growth.

 

Read More about PATHWAYS to the PORTRAIT