By Ryan Steuer | CEO of Magnify Learning
Project Based Learning can transform what students experience in school—but that transformation rarely begins with a project planner, a new schedule, or even a great professional development workshop.
It begins with leadership.
For school and district administrators, especially those working in smaller or rural communities, the challenge is often figuring out how to create meaningful change without unlimited staff, resources, or funding. The temptation is to look at what a larger district has and think, We could do that if we had their budget.
But strong PBL leadership starts with a different question:
What can we do with what we already have—and who can we bring alongside us?
Dr. Will Darter, superintendent of Everton School District in Missouri, describes this shift as moving from a scarcity mindset to a stewardship mindset. His experience offers three important lessons for any administrator trying to build a stronger culture, implement PBL, and create better opportunities for students.
1. Replace a Scarcity Mindset With a Stewardship Mindset
Every school leader can make a list of what they do not have.
- Not enough money.
- Not enough staff.
- Not enough instructional coaches.
- Not enough planning time.
- Not enough substitutes.
- Not enough hours in the day.
The list can get long quickly.
But focusing on what is missing rarely moves a school forward.
As Will Darter notes, leaders can easily fall into the pattern of saying, “We can’t do this and we can’t do that.” Instead, he encourages leaders to ask what can be accomplished through the people, resources, and partnerships already available.
That mindset matters enormously when implementing PBL.
Maybe you cannot afford four instructional coaches. Could you develop teacher leaders who become internal PBL champions?
Maybe you cannot purchase every resource you want. Could a local company provide expertise, materials, equipment, or an authentic project challenge?
Maybe your teachers do not have an additional planning day. Could you redesign an existing meeting so teachers have structured time to develop projects together?
Stewardship does not mean pretending resources do not matter. They absolutely do.
It means refusing to let limited resources become an excuse for limited vision.
Will describes a partnership mindset with a simple question: “What can we do together?”
That is also one of the most important questions PBL leaders can ask.
Authentic Project Based Learning is naturally connected to the community. Businesses, nonprofit organizations, parents, government agencies, universities, tradespeople, and other community members can become authentic partners in student learning.
Your constraints might actually become the catalyst that forces you to build stronger relationships.
Leadership takeaway: Before saying, “We can’t afford that,” ask, “Who could help us make this possible?”
2. Build Relationships Before You Need Them
School transformation moves at the speed of trust.
That is especially true when implementing PBL.
Teachers are being asked to change long-established instructional practices. Students are being asked to take greater ownership of learning. Parents may initially wonder why classrooms look different. Community partners are being invited into the educational process.
Administrators cannot mandate their way through all of that.
They have to build relationships.
When Will arrived in Everton, one visible need was the condition of the school building. Instead of simply hiring the work out, the district invited the community to help paint the school.
Students came.
Families came.
Churches came.
Staff came.
The hallways got painted, but something much more important happened: people began building the school together.
Later, when the district faced serious HVAC problems during winter, Will’s leadership philosophy became even clearer. He describes moments when leaders simply have to “pick the flag up as a leader, and you gotta run up the hill.”
That kind of visible leadership builds credibility.
And credibility matters when you are leading instructional change.
Administrators implementing PBL need teachers to know: I am not asking you to do something difficult while I watch from the sidelines.
- Be in classrooms.
- Attend student presentations.
- Celebrate project launches.
- Help teachers solve problems.
- Talk with community partners.
- Ask teachers what support they actually need.
- And perhaps most importantly, involve educators in decisions that affect their work.
Will describes using committees for decisions involving salaries, calendars, and other working conditions. Teachers are invited into the process because their perspective matters.
That same philosophy should shape PBL implementation.
Do not simply announce the PBL plan.
Build it with your people.
When teachers have voice, support, and ownership, PBL stops feeling like another initiative being done to them and begins becoming part of how the school operates.
Leadership takeaway: Do not wait until you need community or teacher buy-in to start building relationships. Build trust before the difficult moment arrives.
3. Use AI to Create More Time for Human Leadership
There is one resource every administrator desperately needs more of:
Time.
This is where AI could become particularly powerful for school leaders.
Will makes an important distinction. The goal should not be using AI to replace people. The goal should be using AI to reduce repetitive administrative work so leaders have more time to serve people.
As Will explains, if AI helps reduce the time spent managing email, that recovered time can be spent in classrooms, the cafeteria, arrival lines, or conversations with teachers and students.
That principle applies directly to PBL leadership.
AI can help leaders and teachers:
- Analyze large amounts of teacher or student feedback.
- Organize project ideas.
- Develop early drafts of rubrics.
- Brainstorm authentic community connections.
- Sort survey responses into themes.
- Draft communications.
- Generate possible driving questions.
- Handle repetitive administrative tasks surrounding implementation.
But there is an important warning.
Efficiency is not the same thing as expertise.
AI can generate a rubric, but educators still need to understand quality assessment.
AI can generate a driving question, but educators still need to recognize whether it creates authentic inquiry.
AI can suggest a project, but teachers still need to understand voice and choice, authenticity, sustained inquiry, reflection, and the standards students actually need to master.
In other words, AI can accelerate strong PBL practice.
It cannot replace knowing what strong PBL actually looks like.
That makes AI a leadership capacity tool rather than a shortcut.
Used wisely, it could give administrators and teachers back hours previously consumed by low-value repetitive work. Those hours can then be reinvested in coaching teachers, observing learning, meeting community partners, and talking with students.
And those are the activities that actually change schools.
Leadership takeaway: Use AI to automate what does not require your humanity so you have more time for the work that does.
Lead With What You Have
Transforming teaching and learning does not require waiting until every condition is perfect.
There will probably never be enough money.
There will never be unlimited time.
There will always be another operational problem, staffing challenge, initiative, or unexpected furnace deciding that January would be the perfect time to quit.
Strong leaders move forward anyway.
They steward what they have.
They build partnerships.
They develop relationships before they need them.
They use tools like AI to create capacity rather than replace human connection.
And most importantly, they keep the focus on students.
Will describes small rural schools as “speedboats, not cruise ships.” They can respond quickly to students’ needs, dreams, fears, and opportunities.
That mindset applies to any school implementing Project Based Learning.
You do not need to copy what another district is doing.
Start with your students.
Start with your teachers.
Start with your community.
Then ask:
What could we build together that gives our students opportunities they do not have today?
That is where meaningful PBL implementation begins.
And sometimes, very big things really do come from small schools.
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