The American public school system is designed to treat learning as a competitive process, by which schools, teachers, and students are ranked and funded based on standardized testing metrics. This system equates knowledge with memorization, deemphasizing students’ voices and strengths beyond testing ability. 

Group Project communicates the destructive impacts of standard, rote, and authoritarian education models through designed artifacts and explores how design may support public school educators in centering student collaboration, creativity, and agency. Inspired by collaborative project-centered learning environments, the Collective Education framework advocates for a classroom ethos of learning through collective experience. Paired with an open-source platform, Collective Education creates a network for educators to discuss, develop, and promote educational practices which empower public school students to be agents of their own learning. 

Shifting educational paradigms towards more equitable, valuable, and engaging methodologies requires space and support for educators to explore interdisciplinary collaboration, dialogue, and ideation.