From Achievement to Agency

The best schools will not just produce achievers. They will develop explorers.

Author

Stephen Carter
March 16, 2026

Every once in a while, I read a book or have a conversation that puts words to something I have been seeing in schools for years. My recent podcast with Jenny Anderson, co-author of The Disengaged Teen, was one of those moments.

Jenny made a compelling case that schools have become very good at producing achievers. We know these students well. They follow the rules, hit the deadlines, check the boxes, and jump through every hoop placed in front of them. And to be clear, achievement is not the enemy. We want students who work hard, pursue excellence, and take their learning seriously. But achievement alone is no longer enough.

What students need now is agency.

Jenny defined agency as the ability to set a meaningful goal and marshal the resources to achieve it. That is a powerful definition, and it gets right to the heart of what so many schools are missing. In a world shaped by uncertainty, complexity, and AI, our students need more than the ability to comply. They need the ability to think, adapt, take initiative, ask for help, solve problems, and move forward when the path is unclear.

That is why one of the most powerful ideas in our conversation was her framework of the four modes of learning: Passenger, Achiever, Resistor, and Explorer. The goal is not for students to live in Explorer mode every minute of every day. That would be exhausting. But her research found that fewer than 4% of middle and high school students regularly experience opportunities to step into that mode. 

That should stop all of us in our tracks–because Explorer mode is where students begin to come alive.

It is where learning becomes more than compliance. It is where students develop ownership. It is where curiosity grows. It is where struggle becomes meaningful. It is where students stop simply asking, “What do I need to do to get the grade?” and begin asking, “What can I build? What problem can I solve? What matters here?”

That is exactly why this conversation resonated so deeply with me.

For years now, I have been watching students come alive when school stops feeling like a checklist and starts feeling real. I have seen it through student-run businesses, entrepreneurial mindset formation, design thinking, problem solving, and collaborative work that actually matters. When students are given the opportunity to create something, serve someone, solve a real problem, and take ownership of the outcome, something shifts. They are no longer just playing school. They are growing.

And that growth does not happen in the absence of struggle. In fact, one of the most important parts of my conversation with Jenny was her reminder that struggle is not something to eliminate. It is something to steward. Too often, as educators and parents, we rush in to remove the discomfort. But meaningful struggle is where resilience is built. It is where confidence is earned. It is where students discover that they are capable of more than they realized.

That is one reason entrepreneurial learning is so powerful. It gives students a laboratory for real-world growth. They have to collaborate. They have to adapt. They have to face setbacks. They have to communicate. They have to solve problems they did not see coming. In other words, they begin developing the exact muscles they will need in life after school.

Jenny also made a point that every school leader needs to hear: students disengage when they do not see the point. That does not mean every lesson must be perfectly personalized or endlessly entertaining. It does mean that relevance matters. Students want to know why their learning matters, where it connects to the real world, and how it prepares them to contribute in meaningful ways. And honestly, that is a fair question.

The schools that will thrive moving forward are the ones willing to answer it.

They will create more room for real-world learning. More room for ownership. More room for contribution. More room for meaningful risk. More room for students to build, reflect, fail, adapt, and grow. They will not settle for producing students who know how to follow the map. They will help students develop the compass.

And that is why this conversation with Jenny Anderson mattered so much to me. Her research gave language to what many of us are seeing in practice: students do not come alive when school only asks them to comply. They come alive when school gives them something real to own.

That is the future of learning. And I believe the best schools are just getting started.

Want to explore what this could look like in your school?
That is exactly the kind of work we are helping schools build through Seed Tree Group.

Standing out as a Christian school while staying true to your values is more challenging than ever. At Seed Tree Group, we help schools implement a proven entrepreneurship program that empowers students to take ownership of their education, equipping them with life-ready skills and creating a distinguished school with engaged students, inspired parents, and energized donors.

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Imagine your culture infused with growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. Imagine your team acting and thinking like entrepreneurs.

Stephen Carter