KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Institute for the Future (IFTF) are pleased to present the 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education. Created by a range of experts and analysts, the map is a forecast of the future, and each element on the map represents forces that could affect learning in the next decade. Many of these forces can work in tandem, and they could also appear seemingly unconnected. Nothing is definite. We don’t encourage debating with the forecast, but rather encourage you to explore the map, think about what you’ve seen, and use the map and its interactive features for group and online discussion. Think of the map as a catalyst for conversation.

One of the values of a map like this is that it allows you to hold in your mind, at once, the complexity of several forces of change. After familiarizing yourself with this high level overview, you'll be able to dig in deeper to specific spots on the map, and play with interconnections across the map. This process can stimulate discussions that allow for new insights about the future of education and new strategic decisions about your organization's plans and actions.

Public education in the United States is at a critical crossroads. The knowledge economy and globalization continue to challenge the basic industrial-era assumptions upon which most public schools, curriculum, and evaluation mechanisms are based. New interactive digital media are diffusing rapidly, even in lower-income communities, fostering a youth media culture that is crashing into schools and educators like a tsunami, raising issues of privacy, pedagogical relevance, and equity. Student performance is inconsistent across the country and average U.S. performance indicators lag disappointingly behind those of other countries.

KnowledgeWorks Foundation commissioned a map to examine the forces affecting education and our economy because we believe that excellent education is critical to the future. We bring to the map our passionate concern for certain fundamental values-high expectations, high quality, public engagement in public education, and equal opportunity for all, especially those who have been denied opportunity in the past. According to the map, increasing access to a burgeoning Internet over the next decade holds the promise of a watershed democratization of learning. Yet, at the same time, access to learning for children in poverty is under threat because of the growth of a new market-based learning economy. These issues are at the center of our own strategic planning around the map. But we also urge others to pay attention to these concerns.

We think it is time for education strategy to be more proactive, and to pay more attention to how the world is changing. We are sharing the map with other catalysts for change in education because we hope it will also inspire them to take advantage of the possibilities opened by trends affecting families, communities, markets, institutions, educators, learning, tools, and practices and the dangers that are also implicit in these trends.