What Art School Taught Me about the Lean Startup

NAME

Naomi O’Donnell

ROLE

Operations & Communications Coordinator

BIO

Naomi brings a passion for creative problem solving and transparent operational systems to her work at LEANLAB. She has worked extensively in higher education administration, at the University of Missouri Kansas City and Indiana University Bloomington, and as an event coordinator with Overflow Companies. Naomi holds a B.F.A from the Kansas City Art Institute and an M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Outside of supporting educational equity as an operations & communicators coordinator, Naomi is an advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and the local arts community.

WHY I GRAVITATE TOWARDS THIS WORK…

The creative process is a circular exercise of being open to refining your skillset, making a product, presenting it to your audience and incorporating relevant feedback. I learned the value of this type of adaptive problem solving through my fine arts education, and I believe it is essential to our process at LEANLAB Education.

In 2007, I left the small town of Bloomington, Indiana to attend The Kansas City Art Institute. My arts education took me from Missouri to Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Carolina and finally back again, but the common thread of all these programs was inquiry-based learning. I was encouraged by scores of teachers and peers to reject the idea of a “right” answer, in favor of nuanced responses to generalized prompts. This practice encouraged us to explore materials and share our ideas freely. Good work embodied a mastery of material, clarity of intention and originality of execution. It was separate from the obligations of implicit or prescribed standards. I fondly recall a foundations professor at KCAI who tasked our freshman class with painting a representation of our first week on campus. The subtext of this lesson drew on our ability to express the subjective through an objective piece. The assignment resulted in animated conversations that bounced from brush strokes to deep-seated anxieties. The ultimate takeaway, we discovered, was that empathy arises when we see the true colors of others, consider their perspective, and take time to engage. 

I see both this generative, adaptable approach to learning and an emphasis on engaging and connecting with others in LEANLAB Education’s mission of supporting innovators and the Kansas City Community. The experimental, measurable values embodied by LEANLAB’s Pilot Research Program echo the creative processes I employed in my arts education. LEANLAB recognizes that the use and trajectory of any product must be shaped by its end user. We foster strong educational solutions that are the result of countless prototypes, strategic discussions, public showings, and revisions. Educators deserve the option to choose from contemporary solutions that have been proven effective. In short, we know that strong educational tools, like works of art, are not made in a vacuum.

LEANLAB Education Announces Innovation Research Program for Kansas City Schools Amid COVID-19

Schools can apply to participate and receive grants up to $25,000

August 18, 2020 | Kansas City, MO --  Kansas City based non-profit LEANLAB Education announced that it will resume its innovation research program for schools despite uncertainty around the new school year.  Schools will apply to receive up to $25,000 each in grant funding to complete a nine-month innovation and pilot process. Selected partner schools will work with LEANLAB’s research team and vetted education entrepreneurs to better understand the effectiveness of technologies, tools or services and to share lessons learned with other school communities.

 “We’ve seen remarkable ingenuity and innovation from schools this past year,” said Katie Boody, LEANLAB Education CEO. “There’s never been a time in history where schools have been faced with the need to innovate so swiftly and at such a broad scale as they have in the past six months. Now is an ideal time to conduct research and prioritize truly understanding what works -- and in what conditions -- in partnership with students, teachers, and parents.”

To support the program, LEANLAB will leverage $2 million in grants awarded from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, to expand its growing network of innovative schools across Kansas City and its unique community-led approach to developing new classroom innovations over the next three years. LEANLAB will work with these pilot schools over the 2020-21 school year to define their biggest problem in need of innovations, match them with an emerging innovator, and study the impact of the solution under the guidance of LEANLAB’s research team.

“What makes this process different from the status quo is our community-driven approach,” said Boody. “Innovation and research often feel like they are either being “done-to” communities or happening in a silo, far removed from the communities they serve. We believe that when students, parents, and teachers are empowered to lead the innovation process in real school settings, we will achieve breakthroughs in the field of education faster.”  

 This unique approach is what garnered LEANLAB attention from prominent national funders CZI and Gates Foundation. Prior to awarding LEANLAB significant funding to be dispersed across multiple years, each supported previous versions of LEANLAB’s community-driven research model with initial grants. 

 “Every child should enter adulthood with the knowledge, skills, habits, and agency they need to realize their full potential. We believe that applying what we know from the fields of learning science and human development to education is the most promising way to achieve this vision. In service of this vision, we collaborate with students, educators, and families to create educational tools and experiences that effectively meet the holistic needs of every child,” writes Sandra Liu Huang, head of education and vice president of product for Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

LEANLAB’s pilot school network evolved from partnering entrepreneurs directly with classroom teachers in previous programming. In 2019, LEANLAB facilitated eight education technology pilots in nine school systems. Solutions piloted ranged from a technology platform to help teachers track the social emotional health of students to an Australian company which creates curriculum to engage students in project-based learning with 3D printers. 

Previous research partnerships included KIPP KC which hosted Speak Agent, a digital platform tool that focuses on academic language learning that was piloted in 2019. School leaders and the company’s founders were able to determine that, through the use of the tool, students improved test scores and also demonstrated improvement in engagement and confidence. These collaborative findings were detailed  in a research summary report. 

“Our model has evolved in the past six years, but our theory of change has remained consistent,” said Boody. “We’ve always believed that those closest to the issues in education--parents, students, educators--hold the true insight and expertise to find solutions. We’re grateful to both our new and long-term funders for their support and advocacy of this important work.” 

LEANLAB is currently recruiting school systems across the Kansas City metro area to take part in their 2020-21 pilot program. Selected schools will receive up to $25,000 in grant funding, professional development, and access to a curated list of emerging education innovations. To learn more about LEANLAB’s Pilot School program and to apply, visit their website at: https://www.leanlabeducation.org/schools

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