Hard as it is to believe, many Americans in the early 1900s viewed automobiles suspiciously. After all, those new contraptions were no match for horses.

It can take major disruptions to alter entrenched perspectives, but necessity is a powerful change agent. 

This was the case in San Francisco in 1906 when a magnitude 7.9 earthquake and subsequent fire devastated the city. With horses injured or unwilling to venture down cracked streets lined with burning buildings, the power of automobiles to reach injured people—to help save lives—came into focus. Views changed. 

It's an old story: Innovators and early adopters of change sometimes face ridicule, or worse. Yet, as we know well, history tends to vindicate—even celebrate—the nimble thinkers, risk takers and dreamers.   

Two-plus years into a pandemic, our nation has been jolted by the stark realization the pandemic didn’t cause seismic shifts in our culture and demographics so much as reveal widespread underlying fault lines occurring, albeit less visibly, over a generation or longer. No segment of our society is more sensitive to or reflective of these fast-moving changes than education. 

Just as people must embrace agility and adaptability to succeed in a landscape that seems to shift at whiplash speed, so must the larger systems that support our society. 

That includes K-12 education, which presents a pressing need for an innovative that is model-focused, yet flexible, to effectively and productively manage today’s serious challenges. 

We face a mental health crisis among K-12 students. We face persistent achievement gaps. We face a teacher shortage. (A January 2022 poll by the National Education Association finds 55% of teachers intend to leave the profession earlier than they planned.) 

We face a changing economy that requires young people to graduate with new skill sets and ways of thinking. We face shifting perceptions that sometimes lead to contentious debates over institutional authority versus individual rights in educational settings.

Today, the traditional status quo isn’t working. 

Needed are innovative thinkers willing to take risks and symbolically drive down unhospitable streets to reach struggling students and teachers, families and school leaders.  

One avenue to initiate necessary change is the education foundation model, which connects innovative thought leaders, invested stakeholders and philanthropists, and school districts to support students and teachers—and to test new ideas, innovate education and take risks. 

I see innovation in action through my roles as president and CEO of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County and as membership chair of the Florida Consortium of Education Foundations. The most effective foundations have the ability to power innovation and address urgent needs so students and teachers can thrive. 

One of our state’s education foundations did trail-blazing work to close the literacy gap between elementary school girls and boys. Abandoning a one-size-fits-all approach, educators adopted different strategies in teaching boys and girls. The successful pilot program now reaches 10 schools. 

In Sarasota County, the Education Foundation, recognizing the urgent need to prepare high school students for college, career and life, in 2018 collaborated to open our first two Student Success Centers. Since then, we’ve opened three more. The yearly increases in visitors at the centers and the level of preparedness with which many underserved students graduate is a testament to our innovative solution to an issue of access and a need to foster relationships that make a difference.   

Education foundations understand the challenges that face local school districts and communities without losing sight of nationwide issues. They can mobilize quickly and test new ideas. Sometimes these tests don’t go as expected, but much innovation has sprung from so-called failed ideas. 

Unfortunately, as demands of some groups and individuals grow louder and more vitriolic, the pressing needs and valid core reasons for change can be drowned out. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to discuss ideas that lead to productive change when invested parties are on either side of a widening chasm and shouting accusations at each other. 

To bring about extensive innovation and change, all participants need a forum where ideas can be presented, challenges and barriers can be identified, and solutions can be devised in a respectful environment. 

I’m not naive enough to believe that any single organization can find the perfect solution to the confrontational atmosphere that has developed in education, but I am convinced we can achieve more productive change if we join in unity to improve the educational model, as opposed to tearing down people who work every day in education. 

In the automobile industry, hybrid and electric vehicles are helping to address fuel and climate crises. Skeptics scoff, just as in 1906 right before the ground began to shake in San Francisco. Yet, new ideas continue to emerge that create solutions and hope. I have faith in the power of education innovators to catalyze change and create solutions that best meet the needs of students and teachers. 

To our neighbors, friends and all community members who believe in the power of innovation and recognize the dynamic effect when innovation and education intersect: We are looking for people who want to make productive change. If that describes you, we invite you to contact us. 

Jennifer Vigne is president and CEO of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.