Dr Paul Bloomberg

Paul is a continuous improvement coach, best-selling author, and CEO and founder of the Core Collaborative Learning Network. Paul partners with schools and systems globally to advance learner agency through collaborative inquiry and liberatory design. He’s the co-author of Leading Impact Teams, Peer Power, and Amplify Learner Voice. Paul’s background includes collaborations with Education Scotland, Hawaii Department of Education, Idaho Department of Education, NYC Department of Education, and regional education centres across the United States. He lives in California with his husband Tony.

Jeneca Parker-Tongue

Jeneca is a nationally recognized educational leader and Director of the Hunter College Collaborative for SEL and Leading (C-SELL). A former NYC Model Principal and national SEL Leadership award recipient, Jeneca’s work bridges emotional intelligence, system transformation, and racial equity. She co-creates sustainable, authentic cultures of belonging from K-20 and leads certification programs and fellowships that build leadership agency at every level.

Paul delivered the webinar live on 24th February 2025, along with his guest Jeneca Parker-Tongue, a College Director and former school leader. Change is inevitable, yet navigating it effectively in schools or organisations demands a balanced approach that harmonizes the human experience with collaborative practices. By cultivating learner agency at every level using asset-based approaches, individuals within the system can become active participants in shaping innovation rather than passive recipients, ensuring change is meaningful and sustainable by fostering ownership and adaptability.

The one-hour webinar introduced the Seven Circle Model, a holistic framework for understanding and addressing the interplay between relational and technical aspects of change, all while keeping equity at the core.

Participants explored:

• The Relational Core: Discover how identity, relationships, and access to information fuel collaboration, motivation, and meaning in systems.
• The Green Line of Change: Learn how operational elements like structure, process, and pattern interact to drive efficiency and clarity.
• The Seventh Circle: Understand the role of systemic oppression and how it influences dynamics at every level of an organization, from individual interactions to institutional structures.
• Human-centred Strategies: Gain actionable insights and reflective tools to design change efforts that honour both human and operational needs while fostering equity and relational trust.

Paul has kindly shared his slides from the webinar as part of a package of supporting resources, which you can find in the Supporting resources and contacts drop-down below.

You can use the short video to open a dialogue with a small group of colleagues about approaches to inclusive and equitable leadership.. This should connect to work already ongoing, or planned, about putting learners’ needs at the centre; be clear on your purpose in sharing the video. What do you want to achieve by showing it and how will you agree actions, for example?

Before sharing this video with others as part of their professional learning, watch it yourself to ensure you know the key messages. You might also want wish to familiarise yourself with some of the additional resources listed below and perhaps pick out one or two that are useful to signpost.

It is important to consider how best to ensure a safe space for sharing and reflecting on the issues Paul covers in the video. You should agree ways of working with the group beforehand so everyone knows the behaviours that are expected, e.g., attentive listening, respectful comments, inclusive practice and language. These ‘ground rules’ should be generated by the group and recorded where they can be seen and referred to if needed.

You could use a few of the following prompts to facilitate professional dialogue in pairs or small groups, or perhaps private reflections and note making where the questions feel more personal.

• What most resonated with you from the film? Why?
• What might it mean for you and your practice?
• What conditions exist in our setting that support learner agency?
• Is there more we could do to strengthen those conditions?
• Are learners (families and educators) flourishing? If yes, what is supporting that? If not, what can we do differently?
• How do we nurture the collective efficacy of educators, learners and families?
• In what ways do we take a human-centred approach to improvement? What else could we do/do differently?

You may wish to explore the questions set by Paul in his summary video:

• What is the Seven-Circle Model and how does it relate to continuous improvement?
• How can we lead effectively through complexity?
• How can we be sure collaborative enquiry is human centred?
• How are we using empathetic data-methods to drive continuous improvement?

Encourage the group to identify a small number of manageable, collective actions that will contribute to advancing learner agency in your setting. You might ask the group to note down an individual action that they will commit to, that you can revisit at a later date.

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for joining us for our Leadership+ session, From People to Process: Advancing Agency through Complex Change! The session was a highlight for both of us—and it was made even more meaningful because of your presence. If we’d had more time to connect and reflect together, we’re certain it would’ve been the highlight of our entire year.

We both left the experience feeling inspired and hopeful. Collaborating across systems with educators committed to advancing equity and agency never lets us down—it reminds us that we’re not alone in this work, and that collective transformation is not only possible, but already happening. Please reach out if you need a thought partner --- we would love to help in any way.

During our time together, we explored the Seven Circle Model, a human-centred, equity-driven framework for navigating complex change. We unpacked how meaningful and sustainable change demands attention to both people and process, and we reflected on strategies that honour human needs while strengthening collaborative structures. As promised, here are a few resources we shared that might support your continued journey:

Session resources

• Follow Up Video
• February 24, 2025 Slides
• Assessment Capable Progression
• Human Centered Design Examples
• Seven Circle Model

Additional online resources

• Core Collaborative YouTube Channel
• Impact Teams:
• Analysis of Student Work Primary
• Analysis of Student Work Secondary
• Student-Led Instructional Rounds
• Primary Assessment for Learning
• Secondary Assessment for Learning

Articles and blogs

• Elevating Collaborative Expertise with Impact Teams
• From Equity Traps to Treasure Maps
• Advancing Democracy with Assessment Capability
• Rigor Reimagined: A Pathway for Learner Agency
• Asset Based Evidence Walks: Illuminating Brightspots to Advance Agency
• Nurturing Learner Identity for Agency
• Aspiration Huddles: Realizing Our Learners’ Dreams

Publications

• Leading Impact Teams: Building a Culture of Efficacy and Agency (2nd Edition)
• Amplify Learner Voice through Culturally Responsive Assessment
• Peer Power: Activate An Assessment Revolution
• Moving from Trendy to Transformative Social-Emotional Learning

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to dive deeper into any part of the framework, or explore how to apply these ideas in your school or organisation.

Here’s to a purposeful and connected start to 2025. We’re grateful to be on this journey with you.

With appreciation,
Paul and Jeneca