Start with Why: The Belief Behind the Work

When you walk into a school we’ve partnered with for several years, you hear learning in every direction—students discussing success criteria, teachers guiding with purpose, and classrooms buzzing with curiosity. Every hallway echoes with the sound of possibility. Why would we devote ourselves to this kind of transformation? Because we believe—deeply—in meliorism.

Meliorism (pronounced MEE-lee-uh-riz-um) is the philosophical belief that the world can be made better by human effort. It asserts that progress in society, morality, and the human condition is not only possible but achievable through deliberate, collective action over time. The word derives from the Latin melior, meaning better, and entered the English language in the mid-19th century. It gained intellectual traction in the works of philosophers like William James and novelist George Eliot, who viewed human progress as both moral duty and attainable aspiration (James, 1910; Eliot, 1876; Merriam-Webster, n.d.).

Rooted in optimism but grounded in action, meliorism holds that while perfection may be unreachable, meaningful progress is always within our grasp. Nowhere is this belief more urgently needed—or more vividly realized—than in our schools and communities.

How: The Power of Human-Centered Design and Collective Action

John Hattie’s research confirms that the most powerful influences on student learning are relational and collective. Collective teacher efficacy, with an effect size of 1.12, has been identified as one of the single most significant predictors of student achievement (Hattie, 2023). When educators believe in their combined ability to impact student outcomes, transformation follows.

Hattie also elevates the power of collective efficacy—not just as a Visible Learning influence, but as a shared belief that together, we can make a difference. When educators trust one another and their collective impact through data use, they foster a culture of hope, deepen empathy, and unlock levels of student achievement once thought impossible.

These strategies mirror the foundations of democratic engagement — interdependence, voice, and shared responsibility (Bloomberg & Wells, 2025 in press).

Human-centered design amplifies this impact by beginning with empathy and prioritizing the lived experiences of students and families. It asks: What barriers do learners and their parents face? What do they dream of? What do they need to thrive? This approach, when paired with asset-based pedagogy, transforms schools into incubators of identity, voice, and agency rather than sites of compliance and sorting.

In the 2023 2nd edition of Leading Impact Teams: Building a Culture of Efficacy and Agency, my co-author Barb and I offer a dynamic school transformation framework centered around this very vision. The Impact Team Model (ITM) reimagines traditional ILT-PLCs as collaborative, justice-driven agents of change anchored in efficacy and design thinking (Bloomberg & Pitchford, 2023). This model:

Here’s your expanded and refined list:

  • Leverages human-centered, liberatory design that embraces empathetic methods to cultivate equitable, inclusive, and learner-driven experiences.
  • Shapes self-empowered learners who are intellectually adept and socially conscious.
  • Enhances collaboration by harmonizing diverse skills and perspectives.
  • Advances formative assessment via assessment for learning through an asset-based, culturally responsive lens.
  • Recognizes learners’ cultural strengths as powerful sources of knowledge.
  • Transcends deficit-based approaches in favor of equity, creativity, and belonging.
  • Strengthens students’ capacity to direct their social, emotional, and academic growth.

The book provides practical tools, illuminating case studies, and compelling narratives that empower teams to transform their practice and cultivate more democratic learning environments. When paired with the asset-based approaches described in Amplify Learner Voice through Culturally Responsive Assessment, teams can foster inclusive classrooms where every learner’s voice is celebrated, agency is nurtured, and improvement is pursued collaboratively—both deeply infused with meliorism, the belief that intentional effort continually makes learning and society better (Bloomberg et al., 2023).

 

The “why” of education must be anchored in meliorism—the belief that together, we can build better schools, better communities, and a better future.

 

What: Schools as Microcosms of Democracy

If democracy is built on participation, voice, and equity, then schools must be designed to reflect and reinforce these ideals. Yet too many students—especially those impacted by opportunity gaps—are spectators in their own learning journeys.

To disrupt this, we must reimagine school improvement not as a top-down reform but as a collaborative act of community building. What if student-led conferences, peer feedback, and goal setting were core instructional practices? What if teachers worked in Impact Teams—cohesive groups that analyze evidence of learning, identify opportunity gaps, and co-design just-in-time responses to advance learner agency? What if they responded by teaching students approaches to learn on their own?

As Sinek (2009) reminds us, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” The “why” of education must be anchored in meliorism—the belief that together, we can build better schools, better communities, and a better future.

This is the spirit of democratic learning: amplifying learner voice, distributing leadership, and co-designing meaningful, authentic learning experiences (Bloomberg, 2025).

A Call to Principals, Teachers, and Changemakers

To lead school improvement is to practice meliorism daily. It means holding fast to possibility even when progress is incremental. It means designing systems around learners, not logistics. It means showing up with love, listening with empathy, and acting with purpose.

So let’s double down on what works: collaboration, efficacy, design thinking, and a relentless belief in our shared humanity.

Because schools aren’t just places where we prepare students for the future. Schools are where we create the future—one relationship, one reflection, one act of love at a time.

Closing Thought

Meliorism teaches us that while perfection may be out of reach, progress is always within our grasp. And in every school, every day, we hold that progress in our hands.

Join the Impact Team Movement

If you believe—as we do—that collective effort, learner agency, and asset-based practices can change the world, then now is the time to act.

The Impact Team Movement is more than a PLC Model. It’s a community of courageous educators reimagining schools as places where democracy thrives and every learner is empowered to lead their own learning journey.

Join us in advancing the principles of efficacy, equity, and excellence.

🌟 Start with your team. Start with your “why.” Start today. Learn more, access resources, and become part of a growing network of changemakers at our Impact Teams Resource Hub.

Let’s build a better world—one empowered learner, one collaborative team, one human-centered school at a time!

References: 

  • Bloomberg, P. J., Vandas, K., Twyman, I., Dukes, V., Carrillo Fairchild, R., Hamilton, C., & Wells, I. (2023). Amplify learner voice through culturally responsive and sustaining assessment. Mimi & Todd Press.
  • Bloomberg, P. (2025, July 4). Designing for democracy: Empowering teacher teams through collaborative inquiry.
  • Retrieved: https://thecorecollaborative.com/designing-for-democracy-empowering-teacher-teams-through-collaborative-inquiry/
  • Bloomberg, P. J., & Pitchford, B. (2023). Leading impact teams: Building a culture of efficacy and agency (2nd ed.). Mimi & Todd Press.
  • Bloomberg, P. J., & Wells, I. (Forthcoming, 2025). Metacognitive clarity: Think rigorously. Advance democracy. Mimi & Todd Press.
  • Eliot, G. (1876). Daniel Deronda. William Blackwood and Sons.
  • Hattie, J. (2023). Visible learning: The sequel. A synthesis of over 2,100 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.
  • James, W. (1910). The moral equivalent of war. American Association for International Conciliation.
  • Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Meliorism. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved July 5, 2025, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meliorism
  • Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Meliorism. In OED Online. Retrieved July 5, 2025, from https://www.oed.com/
  • Sinek, S. (2009). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Portfolio.