We Believe Every Student Should Graduate Prepared For The Future.
That Starts With Clarity About Where Technology Belongs In Your Schools.
At Designing Schools we’re on a mission to help school leaders use design thinking principles to build human-centered systems that strengthen the judgment, creativity, integrity, and agency students and educators need to thrive in the age of AI.
Trusted by organizations committed to designing the future today
School leaders come to Designing Schools when they’re navigating both pressure and possibility. They know technology is changing how people work and learn. They see what it could make possible, but they also hear the concerns, from screen time and student well-being to deeper questions about what AI should and shouldn’t do in schools.
They need a clear way to turn ambitious ideas into an approach their community can help shape and put into practice.
Every School Is Already Making Decisions About AI.
The Question Is Whether Those Decisions Add Up To A Shared Direction.
At Designing Schools, We're On A Mission To Change That.
We help district leaders move from reacting to technology to designing what comes next, building human-centered systems that give leaders clarity, help educators thrive, and prepare every student for the world they’re actually walking into.
Design Think·ing (noun)
The practice of understanding a challenge from an empathetic, people-oriented perspective before choosing a solution. Found in schools that ask better questions before making big decisions.
Design thinking is the same method I’ve used for over a decade at schools and organizations like USC and Apple. The process is: understand the people, then design the solution. That’s what we do at Designing Schools.
Growing up in London, I loved school. We had swimming, music, horseback riding, and teachers who made you feel like your ideas mattered. Then my family moved to California, and almost overnight, that love disappeared.
American school was rigid, boring, and had exactly one “right” way to do everything. I remember raising my hand in math class to share a different way to solve a problem, and ending up in the principal's office for it. Something shifted in me that day. I stopped questioning and learned to just do what I was told.
Hi, I'm Sabba
Founder of Designing Schools
It wasn't until I became an educator myself that I realized, the US education system is broken. I was watching the same thing that happened to me, happen to my students every single day. Brilliant, curious kids were learning to shrink themselves to fit inside a classroom that was never designed for them.
Around this time, mass layoffs started to hit most of the American working-class. Amid the uncertainty, I picked up Seth Godin's Linchpin and I became laser-focused on how to make myself so essential to my school that they couldn’t imagine work without me.
So when a principal approached me looking for help on launching a program that required tech, I said yes. The problem was: I was deeply tech-averse. I genuinely believed cell phones would destroy education.
But when I discovered design thinking at a conference, it reframed everything I thought I knew about teaching.
Design thinking taught me it didn’t matter so much what apps we used or what devices we brought into the classroom. (In some instances, it might not make sense to rely on tech in the first place!)
The central theme was shockingly: empathy. Understand the challenge. Design the best solution for the people in front of you.
I started applying that lens to everything, and doors I never knocked on began to open. I never applied for another job again. USC recruited me. Then Apple.
And it was at Apple that the question that would define my life's work finally surfaced: Why did nobody teach me this? Why do we spend twelve-plus years in school and graduate so unprepared for the world we're actually walking into?
Stay curious.
From my early days as a high school science teacher to serving as an Education Executive at Apple and Director of Innovative Learning at USC, I've seen what's possible when people feel empowered to embrace change, rather than fear it.
Today, through Designing Schools, I partner with school districts to build human-centered classrooms that don't just adapt to change in the age of AI, but lead it.
We use design thinking and AI integration to help leaders build cultures where innovation becomes the standard, educators thrive, and every student graduates ready to design their future, regardless of the latest technological advancements.
The Skills That Matter Most Are Timeless
Creativity. Judgment. Integrity. Collaboration.
When you start with empathy and build systems around people instead of around compliance, people surprise themselves. Students light up, educators remember why they chose this work, and leaders stop reacting to change and start designing it.
Signature frameworks built specifically for school leaders
3
Years inside education — as a teacher, at USC, and at Apple
15+
Average AI adoption with design thinking frameworks
67%
School districts served across the country
150+
our values
We Take A Human-Centered Approach To AI
Mindful Optimism
We lead with positivity. The future of AI & technology poses risks, but that just makes it even more important educators are equipped to participate in the conversation. When school leaders are given the right frameworks and support, we get the best people in the room in the digital age.
Cultures of innovation start with cultures of empathy.
By Design, Not Default
AI is here to stay. You can either let it happen to you schools, or you can design it for your schools. We help schools intentionally design systems that reflect what’s best for their students, their educators, and their communities.
What you don't design, you inherit.
Agency
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with AI is following someone else’s playbook. We use design thinking to guide school leaders to uncover what’s best for their parents, students, and educators and empower all parties with the frameworks they need to think critically about their own AI-usage (or lack-thereof) in the day-to-day.
Prompt the human before the machine.
Economic Mobility
There are jobs that don’t exist today that AI will unlock for our students. We must teach students to think critically and lead with empathy, so they’re prepared for the economic opportunities made possible by AI and design thinking.
Capabilities outlast credentials.
our values
We Take A Human-Centered Approach To AI
When you start with empathy and build systems around people instead of around compliance, people surprise themselves. Students light up, educators remember why they chose this work, and leaders stop reacting to change and start designing it.
Economic Mobility
There are jobs that don’t exist today that AI will unlock for our students. We must teach students to think critically and lead with empathy, so they’re prepared for the economic opportunities made possible by AI and design thinking.
By Design, Not Default
AI is here to stay. You can either let it happen to you schools, or you can design it for your schools. We help schools intentionally design systems that reflect what’s best for their students, their educators, and their communities.
Mindful Optimism
We lead with positivity. The future of AI & technology poses risks, but that just makes it even more important educators are equipped to participate in the conversation. When school leaders are given the right frameworks and support, we get the best people in the room in the digital age.
Cultures of innovation start with cultures of empathy.
What you don't design, you inherit.
Capabilities outlast credentials.
Agency
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with AI is following someone else’s playbook. We use design thinking to guide school leaders to uncover what’s best for their parents, students, and educators and empower all parties with the frameworks they need to think critically about their own AI-usage (or lack-thereof) in the day-to-day.
Prompt the human before the machine.
Looking For A Keynote Speaker Who Actually Understands What School Leaders Are Facing Right Now?
Artificial intelligence is forcing schools to make decisions they were never designed to make quickly.
I’ve spent the past decade studying what happens when systems are asked to change faster than the people inside them can keep up.
As a former educator, USC faculty member, and Education Executive at Apple, I've spent my career inside the systems school leaders are now being asked to redesign.
My keynotes are practical, engaging, and built around the challenges your audience is navigating. You’ll leave with frameworks you can use on Monday and confidence to navigate AI well.
