What does it take to truly transform education? For Adam Rubin, founder and CEO of Two Revolutions, the answer is clear: “All of our work really focuses on creating more learner-centered and equity-centered classrooms and systems. And we do that work concurrently.”

Since 2008, Rubin and his team have worked in over 44 states, helping schools, districts, and states rethink what’s possible for students and educators. “We have been working hard to push rocks up hills around the country for a long time,” Rubin says. “We’ve supported some very large statewide transformation efforts in New Hampshire and Colorado and Wyoming and Arkansas. Districts have been a huge point of focus for us.”

But Rubin is quick to point out that designing new school models is only the beginning. “Design by no means is easy, but it’s not the hard part. Implementation of those models is the hard part.” That’s why Two Revolutions focuses on building capacity for teachers and leaders, while also working to remove systemic barriers that limit their impact. “If we focus on capacity building and we don’t focus on helping to remove barriers and the system’s conditions, that work can’t be successful.”

Rubin describes Two Revolutions’ approach as a “capacity building revolution” paired with a “systems revolution.” The organization models learner-centered, competency-based, and personalized practices for educators, so they experience the same transformation they’re expected to deliver for students. “Educators have an experience when they go through our training and support that’s like, ‘That’s what that looks like. That’s what that means.’”

State-Level Innovation: A New Frontier

Rubin is especially excited about the potential for state-level transformation. In Wyoming, Two Revolutions is working with the governor’s office, state agencies, universities, and districts to drive change for half the state’s students. “The level of transformation that’s happening in classrooms is off the charts. But the same kind of transformation is happening at the state level from a policy standpoint and from a collaboration standpoint.”

He sees the trend toward devolving more control and funding to states as a major opportunity. “The potential devolution of dollars and control or greater control to states offers a real opportunity in our work to support a greater degree of innovation and transformation at the state level,” Rubin says. “Scaling good ideas to ensure that every classroom, regardless of zip code, seizes the benefits of those innovations—I think there’s an opportunity and potential for that to happen at greater degrees if more dollars go to states to make those decisions about how to scale.”

Rethinking Teacher Induction: Personalized, Data-Driven, and Supportive

One of the most pressing challenges in education is supporting new teachers. “The efficacy a new teacher has is typically the correlate for whether they stay. So teacher shortage and teacher retention really pass through the first year and the first three years of a teaching career,” Rubin explains.

Two Revolutions, in partnership with ETS and Ed’s Up, is piloting a new approach to teacher induction. Rubin wants to flip the script: “There is such an opportunity for Praxis not to be a hurdle, but for Praxis to be an entrance point and for Praxis to be an invitation to get better.” By using diagnostic data from Praxis exams, the program delivers personalized micro-learning modules and connects new teachers with mentors and peer support.

“Knowledge by itself is not the destination,” Rubin says. “What we care about in the real world is not your knowledge of it but your ability to apply that knowledge into a variety of different contexts.” The solution combines adaptive online learning with synchronous and asynchronous communities of practice, all anchored in high-leverage teaching practices. “If you combine personalized online learning and then synchronous and asynchronous community of practice, we think there’s a huge opportunity to grow your efficacy as a teacher, grow your sense of belonging with peers, and keep you in the profession.”

Leadership Development: Beyond Management

Rubin believes that leadership is the linchpin of healthy school environments. “We have a paucity of leaders. Quite honestly, I think we have a lot of managers out there and I think, we can’t wait for Superman. We have Lois Lane and Jimmy teaching or leading, but we’ve got to get Lois Lane and Jimmy better.”

He advocates for distributed leadership and adaptive leadership, empowering teams and managing change effectively. “There are huge opportunities to think about leadership development around some core transferable skills for how you empower others to lead.”

Rubin also challenges schools to create “portraits of an educator”—clear profiles of the competencies teachers need to succeed. “If I have a portrait, what is my portrait of an educator? And how could I construct that with my educators? If this is what we want kids to know and be able to do when they cross the stage in fifth grade, eighth grade and 12th grade—awesome. But if we challenge ourselves to think about what are the knowledge, skills and mindsets or what are the competencies we want our educators to have? I think that is game changing for any leader.”

Looking Forward: Hope for K-12 Education

Despite the challenges, Rubin is optimistic. “I do have hope. I think it’s connected to this idea of these portraits, these profiles, actually. Career-connected learning and work-based learning is having not just a renaissance, I think it’s growing.”

He sees a shift toward hands-on, competency-based learning, with greater emphasis on creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. “That’s what we want from our public education system. And I think that there’s an opportunity for us to begin to deliver on that more and more.”

For Rubin, the ultimate goal is clear: “Does every kid have an opportunity? Do they have more opportunities and good opportunities when they cross the stage for the handshake at graduation? That’s, from my mind, what public education in our country needs to be about. More opportunities for each kid.”