Creating meaningful change in education requires more than new programs or technologies. It requires systems that can adapt, collaborate, and continuously evolve. Margo Roen is the co-founder and CEO of Imagine Network, an organization that helps education leaders develop the skills and perspectives needed to drive systemic innovation alongside students, families, educators, and communities. In this 5 Questions interview, Roen reflects on the power of collaborative leadership, the importance of thinking beyond today’s challenges, and what it will take to build more future-ready learning systems.
What do you do?
I lead Imagine Network, an organization I co-founded to help education leaders think beyond today’s challenges and create a shared vision for the future. We know the future of learning is created through collaboration, not in isolation, and are equipping education leaders with the skills, tools, and perspectives they need to lead systemic innovation with others.
As a former teacher, charter leader, and district leader, I’ve spent my career seeing educators work tirelessly on behalf of students within systems that often struggle to meet their needs. That reality became especially clear to me early on in my career as a teacher in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina. I saw firsthand how systems can either stand in the way of progress or evolve and adapt to provide the learning experience students want, need, and deserve. And I learned–first through the rebuilding process in New Orleans and then through helping lead a bipartisan Race to the Top effort in Tennessee–how community and collaboration are essential to change.
We acknowledge that there is a system component to creating future-ready learning experiences and that systemic innovation is required to design, deliver, and scale new ways of thinking and working in our sector. And we often forget that systems are made of people. What motivates me most is the belief that every person has the capacity to contribute to meaningful transformation.
Why is this work important?
I’ve spent over twenty years in public education, and one thing has remained true: students are incredibly capable, but the systems around them don’t always create the conditions for them to thrive. Too often, systems are designed around limitations—what’s broken, what’s missing, what can’t be done. We’re interested in helping people shift that mindset toward possibility, creativity, and collective problem-solving. Most importantly, we help them do that alongside students, families, educators, and community partners–not for them, but with them.
Today’s students are entering a world that is changing rapidly, yet many school systems are still organized around compliance and standardization. The school system and ecosystem leaders we work with care deeply about students, but most have never been taught the innovation and systems-change skills needed to redesign learning for the future.
That’s why Imagine Network exists. We help leaders move beyond incremental improvement and toward meaningful transformation. When systems become more adaptive, inclusive, and future-focused, students gain access to learning experiences that better prepare them to succeed in school, work, and life.
What’s been the biggest surprise so far?
The biggest surprise has been how hungry education leaders are for permission to think bigger and be bolder.
All of our Imagine Network cohort leaders are in demanding environments where immediate challenges (declining enrollment, changing role of tech, etc.) can consume most of the attention. And we know how energizing it is for them to step back and think about what is possible on a longer time horizon. The real surprise has been in how quickly and thoughtfully the leaders we support are moving from visioning to action. They take the deep skill building Imagine Network provides–learning and practicing strategic foresight, human-centered systems change, and inclusive innovation–and immediately utilize these skills to change how change gets done in their school systems. Transparently, we expected a larger lag from learning to evolving. And yet we see examples, like the recent Salem Public Schools case study we shared, where our cohort leaders are helping their systems lead for the long view and start the process today to ready the system for the future of learning.
When given the space, tools, and peer network to do this work, leaders don’t just create new ideas, they rediscover why they entered education in the first place. We’ve seen leaders reimagine strategic planning processes, empower families and students in new ways, and build innovation agendas that extend beyond any one initiative or administration.
Perhaps most encouraging is that these leaders aren’t looking for quick fixes. They’re looking for ways to build systems that can continuously learn, adapt, and improve alongside the communities they serve.
Where do you see your work in five years?
In five years, I hope Imagine Network has shaped a national movement of education leaders who see innovation not as a program, but as a core capability of their systems. With a cadre of leaders able to spur and sustain systemic innovation practices that deliver the dynamic and meaningful learning experiences students want and need, Imagine Network’s work will also extend in new, mission-aligned ways that look at the local education system and ecosystem together (we’ll be sharing more on this soon!).
We’re already seeing what this can look like. A great example is the work being led by one of our cohort leaders, Harold Border, in Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) in Orlando, FL. Rather than treating innovation as something that happens outside of public education, Harold and his team are exploring how new learning models can be developed, tested, and scaled from within the system itself. As a result, OCPS is piloting an in-system microschool strategy in collaboration with an external partner, designed to offer students more customized learning experiences while remaining connected to the district. The early parent demand for this approach is incredible, and shows how systemic innovation can help transform student learning experiences.
Ultimately, our goal is simple: help build public education systems that are flexible enough to evolve, inclusive enough to reflect community aspirations, and innovative enough to prepare students for a future none of us can fully predict.
What else should people know?
People sometimes hear the word “innovation” and assume it’s about technology. For us, it’s really about people.
The most important part of our work is creating conditions where students, families, educators, and community partners help shape the future together. Whether I was teaching in New Orleans, helping lead disaster recovery after Katrina or district reunification many years later, serving in state or district leadership, or supporting parent-led organizations, I’ve learned that lasting change happens when people have ownership of the future they’re building.
Imagine Network is still young, but we’re building on decades of lessons from education, design, community leadership, and systems change. We’re optimistic because we see extraordinary leaders across the country (of different district sizes, contexts, etc.) who are ready to think differently and work differently on behalf of students.
The future of learning won’t be designed by any one organization. It will be created through collaboration, curiosity, and courage. We’re honored to help bring those people together and bring rigor and focus to what innovation looks like in public education.
