Career-Connected Learning

What to Hold Onto When Everything Changes: Durable Skills for the AI Era

Michael Crawford & a panel of Michigan school leaders, America Succeeds

As AI reshapes the value of knowledge and technical skills shift in unpredictable ways, one question grows more urgent for school leaders: what do we teach students to hold onto? This session makes the case for durable skills as the human foundation that makes every other kind of learning more valuable. Drawing on America Succeeds' national research on where the workforce is headed, we open by framing why durable skills development has become the real differentiator for schools preparing students for an AI-shaped economy.

The room then hears directly from a slate of Michigan charter schools already doing this work well, spanning different grade levels, communities, and models: CTE programs and middle schools, schools with deep industry partnerships and schools building their own path. Each shares what works, followed by a facilitated conversation that surfaces what travels across contexts and what leaders can act on Monday morning. You'll leave with a clearer picture of durable skills as organizational strategy, concrete Michigan examples, and practical tools to assess and strengthen this work in your own buildings.

Session outcomes:

• Why durable skills are the through-line when technical skills and job fields keep changing, and why that matters more as AI shifts the value of knowledge alone
• A view of durable skills development as organizational strategy, not a classroom add-on
• Michigan-specific examples of durable skills in practice across diverse school models and communities
• Practical resources to gauge and grow this work in your own context

Anchoring the Classroom in Interdisciplinary Career-Connected Pathways Through Place-Based Learning

Julie Johnson, Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) · Lisa Sitkins, LSS Connections and Consulting LLC

Real-world learning shouldn't be a siloed extra. Using Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) as a case study, this session demonstrates how to use a single local environmental issue as an "anchor" for a school-wide, multi-content career pathway. We'll move beyond traditional STEM to show how ELA, Math, Social Studies, and other subjects can integrate into place-based projects that meet Michigan standards. Attendees will shift from theory to practice by identifying a unique challenge in their own community and collaborating to map out a multi-disciplinary unit. You'll leave with a concrete blueprint and the strategies to navigate policy constraints, allowing you to turn your local neighborhood into a living laboratory that prepares students for the future of work without sacrificing academic rigor.

Session outcomes: identify local community "anchors" for learning, map Michigan academic standards across multiple content areas to a single place-based project, and design a collaborative framework that creatively navigates policy and graduation requirements.