Student-Centered Learning Resources and Research
Helping each student experience meaningful, personalized learning opportunities to realize their fullest potential
Students at the Center Framework
Comprehensive Resource Hub
Making the Case: Compelling Data
Advancing Student-Led Research: The YARI Project
Explore more information about our student-led research project featuring youth who have been historically marginalized by traditional school structures and policies. Learn More โบ
Critical Civic Inquiry: Empowering Students to Transform Communities
Dive into a research study that investigates how educators can center student leadership and student voices in school and community reform efforts. Learn More โบ
An Investigation into Culturally Responsive Mastery-Based Education
Culturally responsive and mastery-based education are two distinct student-centered practices. Read more about the research study that dove into how they can work together. Learn More โบ
Advancing Student-Led Research: The YARI Project
Explore more information about our student-led research project featuring youth who have been historically marginalized by traditional school structures and policies. Learn More โบ
Critical Civic Inquiry: Empowering Students to Transform Communities
Dive into a research study that investigates how educators can center student leadership and student voices in school and community reform efforts. Learn More โบ
Teaching Solutions
Educator competencies for creating and thriving in personalized, learner-centered systems
Advocacy Solutions
Resources for advocating or creating policy for personalized, learner-centered systems
Research Solutions
Education and policy research for personalized, competency-based learning frameworks
Resources
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Learning Through Teaching: Building Critical Consciousness
A former high school English teacher reflects on her experiences in the classroom and the importance of stepping back.
Current Landscape of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education
Read a summary and the report on the current landscape for postsecondary competency-based education in the United State.
Educator Competencies: Video Examples of 'Growth Mindset'
Watch video examples of how teachers practice a growth mindset and see mistakes and failures as opportunities for growth.
Educator Competencies: Video Example of 'Growth Mindset'
Watch a video example of how teachers practice a growth mindset and see mistakes and failures as opportunities for growth.
Resource Round-Up: Honoring Student Voice with Authentic Products
Blogs, podcasts and resources for educators to help engage students with authentic projects and products that honor student voice.
Education in the Balance: Tensions Affecting Education's Future
Explore "Education in the Balance" and learn tensions affecting education's future: leadership, contested power and strained systems.
Resource Round-Up: Teaching the Civil Rights Movement
Explore virtual exhibits, artifacts and stories about the pivotal figures and collective actions that were part of the civil rights...
For Students, Lived Experience = Expertise
Students, informed by their lived experiences, conducted research projects about the education system with ideas on how to reform it.
Highlighting the Importance of Relationships During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Associate Principal Darius Green shares why he believes relationship building is the cornerstone of a thriving school community.
Resource Round-Up: Teaching Jim Crow South and the Lynching Era
Explore virtual museums, videos and lesson plans designed to help educators learn more about Jim Crow South and the lynching...
Maintaining an Equity Focus During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Arria Coburn and Ellen Foley sat down to reflect and discuss how they have maintained a focus on equity during...
Sustaining Student-Centered Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Principal Arria Coburn and math teacher, Ellen Foley, sat down with KnowledgeWorks to discuss student-centered learning during the pandemic.
Reflections and Resources for Educators Facilitating Youth-Led Research
Victoria Restler reflects on what educators, mentors and graduate students learned from facilitating a youth-led research project.
Promising Practices for Designing Dual Enrollment for Students
Read about the promising practices and recommendations for designing dual enrollment for students from special populations.
Promising Practices to Accelerate Learning for Students with Disabilities
Explore the report that outlines promising practices that accelerate learning for students with disabilities.
Your Struggles are Systemic and Valid: Reflections from a Youth Researcher
A youth researcher reflects on the importance of relationships, especially between teachers and students who share similar experiences.
Student researches how students can pursue meaningful careers
As part of a youth-led research project, a student examined how historically marginalized students can pursue meaningful careers after high...
Culturally Responsive Education Hub: History, Tools and Resources
Resources for teachers and leaders that capture the power of culturally responsive teaching and tools to become more culturally responsive.
How Our School Shared Student-Centered Learning with Families
Using a library system to check out STEAM kits, an elementary school shares student-centered learning with families.
Youth Examine How to Improve Education for ESL/ELL Students
As part of a youth-led research project, students examine how their district can improve educational experiences for ELL students.
Students Examine How Ethnic Backgrounds Affect Relationships
As part of a youth-led research project, students examine how racial and ethnic backgrounds affect relationships in classrooms.
Students Explore the Disadvantages Female Students of Color Face
What advantages and disadvantages do female students of color face in schools, and how does it affect their learning journeys?
Students Explore How Schoolsโ Impressions Impact Accomodations
As part of a youth-led research project, students examine how schools' impressions of students impact the accommodations they receive.
One Schoolโs Commitment to Equity Using Student-Centered Learning
Learn about how one school overcame barriers to equity using student-centered practices, addressing literacy and social emotional needs.
Resource Round-Up: Talking About the Attack on the Capitol
A list of resources to help educators have conversations about the attack on the Capitol with their learners, peers and...
10 Drivers of Student Engagement You Can Use Right Now
Whether learning occurs in brick-and-mortar schools or in virtual environments, student engagement drives student outcomes.
Personalizing Math: Productive Struggle, Rich Content and Collaboration
Personalizing math for students requires intentional and productive struggle with rich content and opportunities for collaboration.
Resource Round-Up: Peer Discussions
Browse resources from other educators about engaging students in peer discussions to build community and understanding.
The Top 10 Resources You Loved in 2020
Browse the top 10 posts from Students at the Center Hub in 2020. These are the resoures and stories you...
Resource Round-Up: Project-Based Learning at a Distance
A curated list of resources to help educators implement student-centered project-based learning in virtual classrooms and beyond.
Strategies for Making Human-Centered Learning a Reality
Explore available strategies to create and sustain an education system where human-centered learning is the foundation.
Five Lessons the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Student Engagement
Working with youth researchers during the pandemic has taught us about it takes to engage and support youth during volatile...
Guidance on Culturally Responsive Remote Education
Now is the time to critically engage the systems we've set up to implement online educational opportunities in culturally-responsive ways.
Researchers of Color Make All the Difference
Students and youth researchers deserve to have mentors who can understand their lived experiences and can step back to let...
The Critical Importance of Youth-Led Research
Engaging in youth-led research not only provides a rich experience for students but it also provides adults with new, important...
Three Lessons From New Hampshireโs Effort to Expand Deeper Learning
From a research-practice partnership comes lessons learned about how to scale deeper learning practices and authentic assessments.
Resource Round Up: Competency-Based Education
This collection of resources explores the advantages of competency-based education and ways to implement it during remote learning.
Roadmap for Student Self-Direction: Building Essential Skills for the Future
Explore the collection of resources for teachers to use in the classroom for instruction and assessment that focuses on self-direction.
Resource Round-Up: Motivation and Remote Learning
Explore resources designed for educators to strengthen motivation and engagement in hybrid and remote learning environments.
What We Don't Learn in School: How a (Virtual) Road Trip Teaches Civil Rights
Explore a virtual road trip with the purpose of expanding understanding of systemic racism and biases inherent in our systems.
Brown v. Board of Education Resources for Educators and Learners
Explore resources for educators and learners around the history and consequences of the Supreme Court decision Brown V. Board.
Red Summer of 1919 and Black Wall Street Resources for Educators
Direct learners to interactive, immersive experiences to learn more about the Red Summer of 1919 and Black Wall Street.
Japanese American Relocation Camp Resources for Educators
Explore a variety of educational resources related to the events and policies that led to the internment of Japanese Americans.
Exploring the Impact of Student-Centered Learning on Mathematics
Learn what happened when teachers engaged in lesson study to test, refine and spread student-centered approaches in mathematics.
How to Choose Words That Motivate Students During Online Learning
Framing assignments in student-centric rather than teacher-centric ways can encourage engagement and persistence in learning.
Structured Collaborative Inquiry for Todayโs Hybrid Learning Environments
Learn how lesson study can provide opportunities for teachers to participate in structured collaborative inquiry in hybrid learning environments.
Lesson Study: Resources for Administrators, Educators and Guardians
Learn more about how to implement lesson study and student-centered math instruction in your schools and classrooms.
A Guide to High School Planning During COVID-19
This guide covers six areas of practice, each of which has an accompanying set of recommendations and guiding questions.
White Teachers: How to Support your Black Colleagues
Supporting the needs of Black teachers and recognizing their emotional labor is crucial in the fight for racial justice.
State Guidance for Building Resilient and Equitable Education Systems
This guidebook provides education stakeholders with important considerations for this calendar year and beyond.
Black Student Voices: Reflecting on Race and Racism in Schools
This Education Week series provides an opportunity for educators to hear from students directly regarding race and racism.
Strengthening Student Voices Through Social Justice
Students needs a safe place to process and use their voices to learn to contribute positively to the national conversation...
Social Justice Mathematics and Science Resources
This list is a great starting point for math and science teachers of any grade who want to make changes...
5 Steps Toward Cultural Competence for Educators and Schools
Five ways educators can build cultural competence, including setting measurable goals and being comfortable with vulnerability.
Black Lives Matter in Schools Week of Action Resources
Resources for the Black Lives Matter Week of Action, including lessons, teaching ideas, book lists and teaching guides.
Project Implicit Explores Implicit Social Cognition to Expose Bias
Project Implicit aims to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a โvirtual laboratoryโ for collecting data on...
31 Days of IBPOC Features Indigenous Teachers and Teachers of Color
#31DaysIBPOC is a blog challenge that features the voices of indigenous and teachers of color as writers and scholars.
Diversity Talks Centers Students in Race and Equity Conversations
Diversity Talks, founded by two students and a teacher, trains students to lead teacher professional development around race and diversity.
Resources for Understanding and Supporting Black Lives Matter
These Black Lives Matter resources are curated by Dr. Tia C. Madkins from the College of Education at the University...
Unboxing Equity for Teachers, By Teachers, With Teacher2Teacher
Teacher2Teacher offers opportunities to share resources, learn from one another and solve big equity problems.
How Online Teaching Can Be Culturally Responsive
One fifth-grade teacher reflects on empowering students and the building blocks of culturally responsive teaching when remote.
A Reading List of Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages
This reading list, ranging from articles to children's books, offers a wide-range of resources focused on anti-racism.
19 Black Educators on Instagram to Listen to and Learn From
This site will help educators connect with each other and gain ideas to promote equity in their classrooms.
SEL Strategies to Support Teachers of Students with Learning Differences
Explore ways in which SEL strategies can help reframe and address challenges in a remote learning environment.
Examining the Role of Ed Tech for Students With Disabilities
Released by the National Center for Learning Disabilities, this report poses the essential questions when approaching ed tech investments.
A School Reopening Plan Designed for Those at the Margins
Students benefit when educators plan first and foremost for students at the margins, whether due to disabilities, poverty or homelessness.
Planning for Better Professional Development in an Uncertain Future
Advice for administrators to provide professional development during remote learning, including a focus on trauma-informed teaching practices.
High Quality Professional Development From Home
The author provides ideas for making the most of the materials available on the web as well as professional reading.
Meaningful Summer Remote Professional Development
Ideas for creating your own professional development opportunities from home, including podcasts and the Google Certified educator program.
Tools for Scaling Best Practices: Windows, Bridges and Roadmaps
Explore the Motivis Learning platform, which incorporates key functions such as content modules, grade books and assessment tools.
Eastside Students Write Books on How to Overcome a Pandemic
Middle school students in Bullitt County, KY describe their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, with links to each student's work.
ASCD Resources for Building Racial Justice and Equity
Bringing together many of ASCD's resources on building racial equity in education in one place, ASCD has made these tools...
Two High School Students Speak Out on COVID-19
Two high school seniors describe their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on their future plans and coping with...
Non-Negotiables for Formative Assessment and Online Learning
Three teachers committed to formative assessment share thoughts on which teaching practices must be incorporated into remote teaching.
How Educators Are Showing Up for Black Students Following Protests
Ways educators are discussing the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality with students during remote learning.
Six Ways District Leaders Can Build Racial Equity in Education
Education Week staff asked six district leaders to share specific practices and processes they use in their school systems to...
Students Are Demanding Anti-Racist Curriculum and Instruction
Students across the country are demanding their districts embrace more culturally diverse and explicitly anti-racist curriculum.
Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships
The updated version of the framework highlights the role of strong and trusting relationships between families and schools.
Transitioning and Sustaining Competency-Based Education
A mastery-based approach positioned the South Bronx Community Charter High School to make a smoother transition to remote learning.
Providence Students Use Data to Participate in System Change
In student-centered math classes, students use and analyze data to help improve students' experiences in their district.
Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During COVID-19
Noted challenges and global success stories of innovation in preparing current and future teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Blended Learning Models that Can Help Schools Reopen
Explore two approaches to blended learning that could be used in schools, providing a mix of in-person and remote learning.
Fostering Connectedness in the Pandemic Era: Policy Recommendations
This report features policy recommendations to nurture students' connections to school to support both well-being and academic outcomes.
Supporting Students to be Independent Learners: State and District Actions
Culturally and linguistically responsive education helps students build a sense of connection to school and become independent learners.
Why There's a Push to Get Police out of Schools
This article and accompanying podcast from MindShift explores the rationale for decreasing police in schools.
The Sciences of Teaching and Learning: Neuroscience and Psychology
Neuroscience and psychology findings explore the importance of growth mindset, linking new knowledge to past knowledge, SEL and diversity.
Planning for Success in the Fall Starts with Personalization
Equity concerns exacerbated by COVID-19 school closures can only be addressed if educators commit to personalization.
Why Middle Schoolers Thrive in a Self-Paced Classroom
A veteran teacher discusses student engagement during remote learning by letting students take more responsibility for their own learning.
Veteran Teacher Attests Passion Projects Fuel Student-Driven Learning
Detailed steps and tips to guide students through creation of projects on topics of their own choosing to engage them...
How Student Agency Can Ease the Pain of Remote Learning and Teaching
The benefits to student engagement and deep level learning, social-emotional well-being and school operations.
Observations of Self-Directed Behavior in an Online Environment
Lessons learned regarding student agency during remote learning from educators and school leaders in New Hampshire.
15 Classroom Resources for Discussing Racism, Policing, and Protest
A collection of useful classroom resources to help teachers talk to students about racism, protest, policing and current events.
Schools Call Parents โCo-Teachers,โ but We Have No Idea What Weโre Doing
This article is a plea to educators to remember families and caregivers during remote learning school closures. The article reminds...
Learning in the Time of Corona: Fast Classes and Less Sleep
This article, written by a teacher at the Urban Assembly School for Math and Science for Young Women, an all-girls...
Educators Tackle Tough Conversations about Race and Violence โ This Time Virtually
This article discusses the importance of discussing current events with students. It presents examples of the many different ways that...
Three Ways to Scale Student-Centered Reforms in Your System
Aimed at capturing a more authentic assessment of content knowledge, educators have developed performance tasks.
Racial Equity Tools for Individuals, Schools and Communities
Tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and work toward justice at...
Measuring and Improving Student-Centered Learning Toolkit
Designed to help schools and other stakeholders measure, understand and reflect upon the extent of student-centered learning in high schools.
What Will Schools Do in the Fall? Here Are 4 Possible Scenarios
Explore four possible scenarios for instruction that include varying mixes of in-person and distance learning.
How to Foster a Positive School Climate in a Virtual World
Ways to improve culture including physical and emotional safety, respect for diversity and equity and supportive teaching practices.
A Plan to Safely Reopen Americaโs Schools and Communities
Designed to help communities chart a path to safely and responsibly reopen school buildings and other institutions.
Relationships Check Sparks Self-Reflection and Conversation
Meaningful relationships, self-reflection and conversation with caring adults are critical to children's wellbeing during this time.
Disrupting Inequity: Having Brave Conversations About Bias
This toolkit was designed to help school communities have facilitated conversations about race, inequity, bias and prejudice.
The Power of Protocols for Cultural Responsiveness and Equity
Zaretta Hammond outlines how to use structured protocols to encourage equitable participation and create more culturally responsive discussions.
Responsibilities to Family and Community for Empowering Youth
Fffers a look into students' perspectives on community service and family and personal responsibility, even during a pandemic.
Fostering a Strong Community in a Virtual Classroom
Practical tips to help students feel comfortable and safe participating in synchronous and asynchronous virtual learning.
Practical Tips for Teaching Online Small-Group Discussions
Three strategies that can be used during break out sessions for small-group discussion held through zoom or other similar platforms.
7 Strategies to Increase Student Engagement in Online Discussions
Catlin Tucker, an educator, author, and blended learning coach, suggests seven easy actions teachers can take to improve synchronous online...
Rural Community Coronavirus Resource Hub
News and resources related to the Coronavirus outbreak, informed by rural school administrators and leaders across the country for rural...
The Impact of Sharing Lived Experience in Youth Voice Work
What can improve when we allow youth to share their lived experiences in high school? What do we learn about...
Always Ready for Learning Network for K-12 Leaders
A national, philanthropically-supported initiative to ensure K-12 school systems leaders receive guidance on how to successfully shift to remote learning..
More Urgent Than Ever: 66 Years After Brown v. Board of Education
The anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education provides a moment to consider the work that's still needed for...
Coronavirus School Closures: An Educational Opportunity
Explore decades of research on self-directed learning in which young people do not attend a curriculum-based school but are homeschooled.
Creative Connections for K-12 While Social Distancing
This article for parents looks at the importance of helping kids maintain connections and relationships while social distancing due to...
How Families can Foster Civic and Social Responsibility
Draws on research supporting how families can reinforce important civic lessons and foster social responsibility during the pandemic.
Parenting Advice For Managing Anxiety in the Era Of COVID-19
Four ways in which anxiety works to "trick" the brain and ways to overcome the influence of anxiety, for parents...
7 Guiding Principles for Parents Teaching From Home
Basic teaching concepts grounded in research and science for parents taking on new roles as their children's teachers during remote...
Not a Normal Convening but What's Normal Anyway?
This is where we solve problems of practice, refine public-facing components and ask big questions about equity-driven and learner-centered approaches.
Educating All Learners Resource Database for Special Education
This database helps ensure the continuity of special education services during remote instruction and spotlights best practices for schools and...
Supporting Undocumented Students & Families During COVID-19
The importance of supporting the most vulnerable families during COVID-19 school closures, especially immigrant families without documentation.
Supporting LGBTQ+ Students During and After School Closures
Kimm Topping, an educator and consultant for the Safe Schools Program in Massachusetts, offers practical suggestions to support LGBTQ+ students...
How Educators Can Use Research to Increase Engagement
Research-based strategies to engage learners remotely, using multiple strategies to motivate students, help them focus and engage them in learning.
10 Questions for Equity Advocates to Ask About Distance Learning
This report from Digital Promise and Education Trust explores the biggest equity challenges that districts face from school closures due...
5 Strategies for Teacher Self-Care While Facing Stress
This ASCD Express article focuses on five strategies for teachers to reduce burnout and prioritize self-care so they can better...
Wide Open Schools: High-Quality Online Learning Experiences for Kids
More than 25 organizations aim to make learning from home an experience that inspires kids, supports teachers, relieves families and...
Harvard EdCast: School Leadership During Crisis and for the Future
Deborah Jewell-Sherman from the Harvard Graduate School of Education explores leadership challenges and offers advice on how to stay grounded.
Unleashing Your Innovative Genius: A Conversation with Deborah Olatunji
Deborah Olatunji, a high school student, hopes to ignite young people across the country to realize they have the power...
NHLI Voices from the Field with Jonathan Vander Els
Students, teachers, principals and others share the ways in which they have tried to provide guidance and support for their...
Tips for Formative Assessment During Distance Learning
This article discusses how to check for understanding and provide meaningful feedback to students during distance learning.
How Top Teachers Make Student Voice a High Priority
Education Week reporters interviewed winners of the Milken Educator Awards about the importance of supporting student voice.
Opportunities Gained by Helping Students of Color Resist Racism
The importance of supporting student protest actions rather than teaching about systemic inequalities and the activism needed to combat these...
10 Steps to Incorporating Student Voice into Remote Learning
The authors discuss the importance of connecting with students on a personal level, encouraging feedback and keeping learning joyful.
Practical Guidance for When Students Go Back to School
Practical advice for schools and districts to help students catch up when they return to school after closures due to...
3 Ways to Use Video Conferencing with Students Learning Remotely
Three ways to leverage video conferences to foster deeper, student-centered learning and connections with and amongst students.
Ensuring Student-Centered Opportunities for All Students
Ensuring student-centered opportunities not only increases the academic progress of students but also empowers them.
Innovative Ways to Make Coronavirus a Teachable Moment
Explore the ways teachers can incorporate discussion of COVID-19 in their current lessons, with examples from a variety of subject...
A New Reality Special Report: Getting Remote Learning Right
Topics include tips for building community, helping students cope with anxiety and supporting students with IEPs during remote learning.
Remote Learning Readiness Survey for School Districts
This free remote learning survey helps districts understand how students, teachers, principals and parents are handling the transition to remote...
Surviving and Thriving as a School Librarian During COVID-19
Ways to transform school libraries during closures due to COVID-19, with tips on how to maintain access to resources, engage...
Pandemic Preparedness Resources for School Libraries
Resources of interest to school librarians during school closure due to COVID-19, with a special focus on the role of...
New Strategies in Special Education as Kids Learn From Home
Strategies for helping families recreate school supports, such as a sense of structure or ways to participate in sensory and...
Lesson Study from the High Tech High Graduate School of Education
This blog series documents how High Tech High Graduate School of Education's network of schools became interested in lesson study.
The 3 Biggest Remote Teaching Concerns We Need to Solve Now
Examines concerns over student privacy, accessibility of ed tech materials for all students and equitable access to online learning technologies.
Confronting the Coronavirus Outbreak for Educators
This section of the Usable Knowledge website brings together advice for educators during school closures due to COVID-19.
Best Practices for Online Teaching for K-12 Educators
Simple tips for educators for connecting with students and their families and delivering content during distance learning.
Blended Learning Universe for K-12 Educators and Schools
Basics on blended learning and related instructional models, including videos and examples in action, tips and resources to take a...
From Disruption Comes Change: Nurturing Sociopolitical Action with Youth
Dr. Carlos Hipolito-Delgado with the University of Colorado Denver discusses research on sociopolitical development and transformative student voice.
What We Know about Successful Instruction in a Digital Environment
Digital learning leverages high-quality, standards-based teaching and learning, using high levels of student engagement and achievement to promote mastery.
4 Common Barriers to Accessible Content for all Students
Whenever educators are delivering new content online is is important that all students, including those with disabilities, can access the...
Bridging Digital Divides Between Schools and Communities
Explore the gap between internet connectivity at schools and within under-resourced, low-income communities, referred to as the homework divide.
How Will Schools Provide Special Education During COVID-19?
Explores the challenges districts are facing to provide special education services and equitable access to learning during school closures due...
14 Tips For Helping Students With Limited Internet Have Distance Learning
Strategies and tips to help make distance learning work for students with limited internet access during this time of school...
What Schools Can Do For the Millions of Students Without Internet Access
How schools are working to address issues of unequal access to learning during school closures due to COVID-19 by boosting...
Four Questions to Teach Every Educator How the Brain Learns
Explores the work being done in the Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland to align research on learning science with...
COVID-19 Racial Equity & Social Justice Resources
Comprehensive tools to help community leaders address the COVID-19 pandemic with a social justice and racial equity lens.
How #DisruptTexts Can Help English Teachers Be More Inclusive
The #DisruptTexts Twitter chats and website are working to help other English Language Arts teachers create equitable and inclusive curriculum.
4 Strategies to Make Grading Tolerable and Formative
A teacher offers advice to K-12 educators on how to move away from grading and share responsibility for providing formative...
How to Make Student Choice Work With Accountability
A teacher discusses how she gives her students the power to choose what they learn and how they demonstrate their...
Teacher Resources While Social Distancing During COVID-19
Thereโs so much available online to help educators, families and students optimize their learning, but information overload isnโt helping.
School Closure Toolkit for Teachers, From a Professional and a Parent
Step back to consider the big picture of what we want and need to get out of this potentially lengthy period of...
PeerGrade Lets Students Conduct Peer Review Online
The tool allows teachers to set an assignment and select a review rubric from an existing database or create their...
Teaching Students to Give Peer Feedback From a High School Teacher
To help teach students this important skill, one teacher defines quality feedback, provides structured routines and models how to provide...
How Research Helped One Educator Solve Her Greatest Problem
A high school English teacher shares how her approach to student feedback has changed through her teaching career and using...
The Novice to Expert Shift With Students and Science
Useful take-aways from a small scale study of students participating in a student-driven, problem-based science curriculum.
Strategies for Educators for Making SEL Culturally Competent
These strategies ensure social-emotional learning (SEL) practices are enacted in ways that are culturally responsive and equitable for youth.
Student-Centered Learning With the Del Lago Academy Series
A focus on competency-based practices, personalization and authentic interdisciplinary learning projects in the pursuit of student-centered learning.
Digital Promise Product Certifications for Districts and Schools
This tool was designed to help districts and schools select ed-tech products that are based on solid research on learning...
10 Reasons Edtech Works Sometimes, But Not All the Time
The collaborative EdTech Genome Project researches the contextual factors that impact education technology implementation.
Scaling is All the Rage, but How Do You Make It Happen?
Learn about how a number of districts, organizations and agencies came together to scale deeper learning practices across the state...
Making Powerful Educational Choices for our Children
Written by a parent, this article outlines the advantages of learner-centered education and advocating for changes in the education system.
How Hands-On Projects Can Deepen Math Learning for Teens
A public magnet school in Philadelphia committed to project-based learning shares the benefits of hands-on projects in math class.
3 Steps Educators Can Use to Help Students Rethink Failure
Explore three steps educators can use to help students rethink their negative associations with failure and see its more positive...
How Can Your Schools Recruit and Retain More Black Teachers?
An overview of a report focused on recruiting and retaining black male teachers for policy makers, district administrators and school...
Ways to Build Culturally Responsive Schools for K-12 Educators
Explore the importance of understanding students' home culture and steps to encourage equity school-wide to ensure culturally responsive schools.
The Role of School Librarians in Open Educational Resources Curation
This guidebook was created for librarians by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education after a study...
The Best Edtech for Students Is Backed by Research
Researchers draw on their experience studying technology and learning to offer advice on selecting effective ed-tech products.
Leaders to Learn From Report in School District Leadership
Meet some of the nationโs most exceptional school district leaders and their impact on the success of educators and students.
Digital Learning Day Resources for Educators and Schools
Digital Learning Day highlights great teaching practice and showcases innovative teachers, leaders and instructional technology programs.
3 Steps to Supporting the Crusade for Better Student Collaboration
Strategies for administrators and school leaders for getting all teachers on board and making student collaboration a priority school-wide.
Making Cooperative Learning Work Better, From a Veteran Teacher
Concrete suggestions to address four common problems, including unequal contributions and interpersonal conflicts between students.
Spotlight on Collaboration for Teachers and Students
Topics include assessing group projects, supporting team work and encouraging collaborative experiential learning for students and teachers.
20 Collaborative Learning Tips And Strategies For Teachers
Tips include creating roles, building trust and norms, considering diversity, focusing on problem-solving and providing scaffolding.
The Science of Talking in Class: Effective Collaboration in the Classroom
Takeaways for teachers following a recent review of the research studies on the effectiveness of collaboration in the classroom.
5 Worthwhile Augmented and Virtual Reality Tools for Teachers
Explore five free tools teachers can use to integrate AR and VR in the classroom to create engaging learning experiences.
From the Pueblo to College: The Journey of Two Rural Students
These three videos document the personal and academic stories of two rural students from the Pueblo of Jemez in New...
This District Uses Micro-Credentials to Boost Personalized Learning
The Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative provides more than 3,000 rural educators from southeastern Kentucky with personalized professional development.
7 Ways to Make Teaching a More Sustainable Profession
This article offers school leaders general advice on how to create a supportive culture to nurture teachers. The author offers...
Competency-Based Transformation in Northern Cass School District Series
The three pieces in this series, look at the transformation of Northern Cass School District, a rural district in North...
Better PD through Design Thinking
This article describes Martin County School Districtโs innovative professional development series, CampTEACH (Technology Empowering Academic Change), which helps teachers more...
Quality Counts 2020
Every year, Education Week releases a Quality Counts report which examines state-level efforts to improve public education and pulls together...
Involving Families: A Relationship-Centered Approach
This article describes the efforts to more fully include Latino parents at a school in Boulder Valley School District. While...
Youth Action Researchers at the Intersection - Youth Research project
The Youth Action Researchers at the Intersection (YARI) project empowers youth to investigate education related issues that matter to them...
Modernizing the Teaching Workforce for Learner-Centered, Competency-Based, Equity-Oriented Education: State Policy Recommendations
This issue brief discusses opportunities in state policy to modernize educatorsโ professional learning to support a mastery-based k-12 education system....
Black Girls CODE
Since 2011, Black Girls CODE has been empowering young women of color to learn the technology and computer science skills...
Black Lives Matter at School Teaching Materials
As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Action Week, this webpage lists resources which align with the Black...
Bringing a Culturally Responsive Lens to Math Class
This article describes how a 7th-grade math teacher created a 3-week unit project to connect math to a real-world issue...
Teaching Tolerance
This website is full of resources to promote diversity and inclusion, including classroom activities and lesson plans, as well as...
In Support of the Black Lives Matter at School โWeek of Action,โ Feb. 3-7
The Black Lives Matter at School โWeek of Actionโ is February 3-7. Among the goals of the project are these:...
4 Questions to Ask About Multimedia Content
This short article provides advice on selecting the best multimedia resources. To ensure they will lead to deeper learning experiences,...
Tapping Studentsโ Interests to Develop Literary Analysis Skills
This article introduces a strategy for increasing student voice in English Language Arts (ELA) classes. A veteran teacher shares how...
How Systems of Assessments Aligned with Competency-Based Education Can Support Equity
This report from the Aurora Institute and Center for Assessment looks at ways in which state leaders can build balanced...
6 Strategies to Support the Development of Self-Directed Learners
This article explores several strategies to help students build the skills needed to be self-directed learners. The author, an experienced...
Advancing Equity by Building Development Relationships
This story looks at the importance of building developmental relationships in which adults and youth share power, especially for students...
Teaching Students to Think About Thinking
The articles in this issue of ASCDExpress explore metacognition, the ability to understand ones own mental processes and to monitor...
This Pennsylvania District Knows Transformation is a Human First Endeavor
In this article district leaders from Salisbury Township School District, a small public district in PA, detail the first 4...
Pittsburgh-Area Students Tackle Community Challenges in Learn and Earn Program
This article describes a summer learning program in the Pittsburg, PA area. Through the Learn and Earn Program, students conducted...
Hearing Youth Voices
This group is a youth-led, action research group where students learn about the different oppressions they face every day and...
Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)
CAST is a nonprofit research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with...
Youth and Adults Transforming Schools Together
This organization was founded in Vermont to increase student voice in decision-making and engagement in learning. Youth and adults participate...
Building Support for Student-Centered Learning: A Toolkit
This toolkit provides strategies, resources, and tools for those who would like to build public understanding and engagement around student-centered...
Youth Participatory Action Research Hub
This site features a curriculum to empower students to begin Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). Through YPAR young people are...
Young Organizers United
This organization, Young Organizers United, is the only organized group of students focused on addressing systemic education issues in New...
Youth Action Researchers at the Intersection - A Story Begins!
We have designed and built the YARI Project to showcase student-centered approaches, integrate inclusiveness in design and advance the struggle...
Transforming Teaching: What University Presidents and Deans of Colleges of Education Need to Know about Modernizing the K-12 Educator Workforce
This issue brief outlines how university presidents and deans of colleges of education can use their influence to advance changes...
Measuring SEL
This collection of resources can help schools, districts, and states determine how to measure studentsโ social emotional learning (SEL). Compiled...
5 Truths for Building a Successful Data Culture
This article describes five qualities often seen in schools that use data effectively to drive improvement. At these schools, leaders...
Getting Started with Culturally Responsive Teaching
This article demystifies culturally responsive teaching. Becoming more culturally responsive begins with getting to know students well. The author lays...
The National Standards for Quality Online Learning
More and more students are taking part in some type of online learning. To guide educators, families, and students, the...
Helping Students Track Their Learning
This article explores how to help students become โassessment capableโ learners, monitoring their own content understanding. Assessment capable learners can...
Assessment Resources Bundle
Articles, examples and tools to help educators implement values of student-centered learning: self-assessment, peer assessment, portfolios, and exhibitions.
How Do We Teach Kids to Assess Themselves?
This article discusses the importance of student self assessment to build student agency over learning and help both teacher and...
Developing โAssessment Capableโ Learners
This article in the Measuring What Matters issue of ASCDโs Educational Leadership magazine looks at the importance of including students...
Using Sketchnotes and Doodles in ELA Lessons
In this blog, a veteran ELA teacher shares ideas for incorporating art into ELA lessons to improve learning. She describes...
Bringing Student Choice to Assessment in Science Classes
An experienced science teacher describes how he uses alternative assessments in this article. He explains the system he developed to...
The State Education Agencyโs Role in Supporting Equitable Student-Centered Learning
This guide was designed to help state education agencies empower local districts to create student-centered learning environments. State agencies have...
Exploring the Impact of Personalized Learning on Student Outcomes
We believe in the power of personalized, competency-based learning because we want each and every student to learn and be challenged...
National Action Civics Collaborative
The National Action Civics Collaborative (NACC) brings together a group of diverse education and youth serving organizations committed to advancing...
The Blogs You Loved from 2019
Throughout 2019, educators and researchers from across the country have shared blogs about their goals, passions, challenges and triumphs working...
Civics Education and Student-Driven Civic Action
In this article a Washington DC government teacher shares her experience using action civics in her classroom. Action civics empowers...
Amplifying Student Voice
This website was designed to introduce educators to action civics. Action civics projects empower youth to become agents of change...
Student Agency: Resource Collection
A collection of resources to support student agency, all with a student-centered teaching and learning perspective.
Dear Educators, Stop Being Jerks and Amplify Student Voice
Sometimes educators can be jerks, particularly when youth are trying to teach decision-makers (school board members, school administrators, or lawmakers)...
Distinguished Fellowโs Leadership Produces Results
Learn how Principal Arria Coburn is raising the achievement of her students from low-income families and students of color.
Weโre Thankful for our Educators, Researchers and Funders
The end of November is always crunch time. Between finishing projects, producing research, educating students, fighting for social justice and planning for the...
Asking Big Questions by Rebecca Wolfe
We are committed to asking big questions about student-centered learning and how to democratize research in education.
Thank You for Your Feedback on Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching
Please take this short survey by October 25th to help us understand the current use of the competencies in the...
Educator Professional Development Through Public Research Lesson Events
Have you been looking for an educator professional development structure that builds teacher leadership and inquiry capacity, develops robust content...
Student Voice-Transformative or Symbolic?
Francis is the student body president. She has a 4.3 GPA. She is enrolled in honors and AP classes and...
Student-Centered Approaches to Equity, Empathy and Engagement in School
How does a predominantly White, middle class, rural high school in Vermont prioritize racial justice and educational equity? Mike McRaith,...
Transforming Research by Having Students Lead the Investigations
Anyfern Gonzalez is a youth researcher who has lead her own investigation into student-centered learning. Learn more about her journey.
Critical Civic Inquiry: Students Master Academic Content through Action Research Projects
When I was starting out as a youth worker in San Franciscoโs Mission District in the 1990s, I saw powerful...
Linking Equity to Practice: A User-Friendly Tool to Document How Educators Center Students
Research is a tool that can be used to deepen our understanding about getting to equity. Although researchers are often...
Awareness, Knowledge, Action: A Middle-School Journey to Empowerment
Read about one middle school's classroom journey to empowerment through a growing awareness, new knowledge and calls to action.
The Research Collaborative and Equity: Framing the Conversation
In education research, whose knowledge do we most trust? Who is at the table when we make decisions about where...
Researching the Effects of Culturally Responsive Mastery-Based Education
Every year, there are renewed calls to improve, reform and reinvent public education for all students, and particularly for marginalized...
Explore the Student-Centered Learning Continuum (SCL Continuum)
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, in partnership with the RAND Corporation, has been working hand in hand with teachers, school leaders,...
State Policy Framework for Personalized Learning
This framework helps states define and navigate their pathway from the exploratory phase of system design to statewide transformation.
Creating diverse learning environments: What We Learned from Project Citizen
As an educator in an urban high school in Bridgeport, Connecticut, I see firsthand that race continues to be a...
Developing a Modern Teacher Workforce
This report, Developing a Modern Teacher Workforce: Federal Policy Recommendations for Professional Learning and Supporting Future-Focused, Competency-Based Education Systems, addresses...
The Digital Point of Divergence
This brief explores the differences between digitized and digital curriculum. Digitized content is barely altered from its original analog form,...
From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope - Students at the Center
This report includes recommendations for practitioners, policymakers and researchers on how to can suppor the whole learner in classrooms.
Will Design Thinking Kill the Rubric
In this article from ASCD Education Update, the authors explore ways to assess student learning when using a design thinking...
When Personalized Learning Also Boosts Special Education Students
This article looks at Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School which is successfully serving a large number of students with learning disabilities, in part...
Access Does not Equal Equity
This article looks at the schools in New York City that are using a mastery-based education model. These schools tend...
Making Connections: 53 Teenagers Suggest Creative Ways to Link School Curriculum to the World of 2019
This article in the New York Times showcases the winners of a contest asking students to connect what they are...
Shift Your Paradigm - Education Reimagined Podcast
This podcast episode includes takeaways, questions to consider and a list of resources for educators diving into learner-centered education.
What Student-Centered Schools Look Like
This Education Week special report offers practical examples of student-centered strategies to help schools better meet the personal and academic...
Guide to Schoolwide SEL
Schoolwide social and emotional learning (SEL) engages the entire school community in creating caring, motivating, and equitable learning environments that...
Chief Privacy Officers: The Unicorns of K-12 Education
This article discusses how two large school districts handle staffing related to data privacy, Denver Public Schools in Colorado and...
8 Ways Schools Can Form a Better Relationship With the Media
This article summarizes key takeaways for working with the media from a panel discussion at the TCEA 2019 conference. San Antonio....
6 Lessons Our District Learned from Our Move to Blended Learning
This article provides very practical advice for districts beginning blended learning initiatives. It pulls from the experiences of Temple Independent...
Work-Based Learning: A Systemic Approach
This video, and the accompanying article, introduce the work-based learning taking place in the East Side Union High School District...
Six Strategic Steps to Digital Learning Success
This practical article provides advice for school and district leaders looking to harness the power of digital learning. It includes...
Finding Voice, Taking Action: Sociopolitical Development for Students
Learn how one middle school educator empowered students to become leaders in their school and community reform efforts.
A Teacher-Centric Approach to PD
This article takes a close look at how the Kettle Moraine School District implements a professional development system based on...
Moving Toward Mastery: Growing, Developing and Sustaining Educators for Competency-Based Education
Building off examples of effective teaching, professional development and practice across the nation, this CompetencyWorks report explores how communities can work...
Portfolios Boost Assessment Relevancy for Truly Transformative Learning
This opinion article makes a strong case for states to adopt portfolios as part of their assessment programs. The article...
Assistive Technology Module
Originally created by the Center on Technology and Disability for college and university personnel training programs, this module can help...
Differentiating Instruction: How to Plan Your Lessons
๏ปฟ In this video instructional expert Larry Ferlazzo and veteran teacher Katie Hull Sypnieski talk through the kinds of questions...
3 Lessons from Students about Improving School Culture
This article describes the Youth Leadership Program developed at Vestavia Hills High School in Birmingham, Alabama to improve school climate...
Being Wrong Has Made Me a Better Teacher
In this blog article from Education Week Teacher a middle school language arts teacher and curriculum coach discusses how she embraces...
7 Ways to Spark Engagement
This practical article looks at student engagement. It discusses the importance of sparking curiosity to engage students in learning. The...
Hereโs What Happened When Students Solved Social Media Problems With Design Thinking
This article provides a peek into a student-centered classroom. In this elective high school course on digital literacy students used...
Perkins V: Five Strategies for Integrating Personalized Learning with Career and Technical Education
This resource looks at the implications of the the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (commonly...
Could Giving Parents Homework Help Students?
This article describes a pilot program to include families in studentโs learning conducted by the nonprofit, PowerMyLearning, at South Bronx...
Making Dream Group Work an Everyday Reality - Student-Centered Math
Group work can bolster student engagement, boost achievement, and promote a whole host of positive psychosocial outcomes like belonging.
Assessments Can Support, Not Just Measure, Student Learning
This article looks at the work being done by The Assessment for Learning Project to recognize assessment as a positive...
Inquiry-Based Tasks in Social Studies
This article explores ways to foster deep learning in social studies classrooms. The author, a classroom teacher and instructional coach,...
Quality Principles for Competency-Based Education
As states, districts and schools re-design education systems to move from more traditional approaches to a system focused on success...
Student-Driven Restorative Justice
This article looks at the restorative justice circles established by students at Grand Mesa Middle School in Grand Junction, Colorado....
Moving Beyond the 4 Myths of Maker Education
This article examines the ways in which maker education is student-centered. At itโs heart, maker education supports the belief that children...
Eastern Carver County School District Learner-Centered Resources
The resources below illustrate the work being done in Eastern Carver County School District, Minnesota to promote learner-centered education: This...
NMEF Board Member Deborah Jewell-Sherman Shares Her Perspectives on the Foundationโs Equity Journey
We had the chance to sit down with Nellie Mae Board Member Deborah Jewell-Sherman, who is the Gregory R. Anrig...
Four Feet on the Ground: The Youth-Adult Partnership โTeeter-totter Effectโ
The personalization of learning requires the relationship of students and teachers to shift to partnership and shared responsibility. Educational change...
Using Computer Science Resources in Student-Centered Classrooms
This e-guidebook provides a set of resources and strategies to help educators empower students to build digital literacy and computational...
Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions?
This report from the RAND Corporation looks at restorative practices. Many feel restorative practices can empower students by changing how...
Frequently Asked Questions about Social-Emotional Learning
This FAQ provides a quick overview of SEL. It examines the definition of SEL and answers some basic questions about...
Productive Problem Finding for Student-Centered Learning
Through problem-finding, students set objectives, define purposes, decide what is interesting and ultimately determine what to study.
Why It Matters to Have Teachers That Look Like Me
For ten yearsโthe first decade I was in schoolโall my teachers were white women. As a Mexican American kid, I...
4 Things you Should Know about Digital Portfolios
This article provides a quick overview of the components of student-centered digital portfolios. It highlights four takeaways, including the importance...
Visual Teaching Ideas to Spark Creative Thinking in Math
This article looks at ways to spark creativity and deep thinking in math classes. The author, a veteran educator and...
Deeper Learning and Diffusion of Innovation and Scaled Impact of New Hampshireโs Work-Study Practices
The study explores how certain professional development opportunities impact experiences as they learn to use and assess work-study practices.
Critical Civic Inquiry: Student-Centered Learning
This study will investigate student-centered learning, especially asking the question "How students can be supported to take โownershipโ of their...
Culturally Responsive Mastery-Based Education Research Project
This study examines how culturally responsive mastery-based practices influence historically marginalized studentsโ learning capacities and engagement.
Leveraging the Power of Improvement Networks to Spread Lesson Study
This study explores how student-centered instruction and assessment strategies impact student mathematical understanding and achievement.
How to Move From Digital Substitution to โDeeper Learning
This EdSurge On Air podcast features a discussion with Scott McLeod, Associate Professor of Education Leadership at the University of...
MetaRubric Game
This game was designed to help teachers and future teachers learn how to design and use rubrics to assess project-based...
Edutopiaโs 2018 Research Highlights
This article summarizes and provides links to important research studies from 2018. The studies are organized into a number of...
Students Learn to Put the โCivilโ in Civil Discourse
This article looks at the efforts at Overland High School, near Denver, CO to help students learn to engage in civil...
Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools
This organization connects forward-thinking district leaders from across the country. Members work together on shared priorities, partnering with leading entrepreneurs, researchers,...
Teachers Want Education Research. The Feds Spend Millions on It. So Why Canโt It Get to the Classroom?
The initial results of the Institute of Education Sciencesโ listening tour on teacher priorities highlight both an urgent need for new studiesโin...
Promoting Productive Problem Finding
As an educator dedicated to student-centered learning principles and project-based learning, I cringe to my core when I hear a...
Developing Assessments for Learning That Lead to Equity
This blog post explores ways in which assessment can become a lever for equity by shifting its purpose from comparing and...
Navigating the Future of Learning
Navigating the Future of Learning is a ten-year forecast on the future of learning from KnowledgeWorks. This report presents the ways in which current...
Scaffolding Discussion Skills With a Socratic Circle
๏ปฟ This video includes footage of students engaging in deep dialogue with the help of scaffolding to help support learning....
Principals Guide: Creating an Effective SEL Program that Boosts Achievement
This report can help school leaders begin implementing a SEL program, create buy-in and support staff. It discusses common challenges...
Highlights and Reflections from the Research Collaborativeโs Public Convening
At the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative, we ask a lot of questions. In fact, itโs kind of our thing. Weโre...
Agriculture Students Harness Innovation
This article looks at the reworking of one districtโs agricultural program to incorporate more 21st century skills. Across the country...
STEM for Social Justice
This issue of ASCDExpress pulls together many articles that look at STEM from a social justice lens. Together the articles provide...
How Teachers Designed a School Centered On Caring Relationships
This issue of the MindShift podcast and accompanying article features Social Justice Humanitas Academy, a district pilot school in Los...
Individualized Learning Plans for College and Career Readiness
This report from National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), in partnership with Hobsons, examines how states and schools are using...
Schools Out
This tool, created by five education leaders, takes the reader through a visualization exercise to explore what a totally new,...
Interview with Ellen Wang, Program Officer at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation
We had the chance to sit down with Ellen Wang, a program officer at NMEF and member of our Equity...
Supporting Youth Organizing: A Tale of Unexpected Insights
This brief, written by Algorhythm and funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, discusses the ways in which grantmakers can effectively support...
The Better Math Teaching Network
The Better Math Teaching Network is a group of researchers and practitioners looking to transform high school math instruction to become...
Want to Offer Internships At Your School? A Tool To Make It Easier
This article describe the online tool developed by the Big Picture Learning network to help their schools facilitate and manage...
Unchaining Digital Data: K-12 Interoperability
This special report from Education Week brings together several articles focused on interoperability of digital data. As schoolโs use of technology increases,...
When Equity and Student-Centered Learning Go Hand in Hand
Chris Strugis explains her biggest takeaways from the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative convening.
Secondary Traumatic Stress for Educators: Understanding and Mitigating the Effects
This article shines a light on the impact supporting students who have gone through trauma has on educators. Teachers often...
Inside the Fishbowl: A Tool for Student Discussions
In this article, a teacher shares her experiences using relevant world events as topics for deep, student-led discussions. She has...
Center on Technology and Disability
The Center on Technology and Disability (CTD), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is designed to increase the capacity...
Quality and Equity by Design: Charting the Course for the Next Phase of Competency-Based Education
This report seeks to advance K-12 competency education by examining key factors required to bring competency education to scale while...
From Hotspots to School Bus Wi-Fi, Districts Seek Out Solutions to โHomework Gapโ
This article discusses possible ways to address disparities in a access to high-speed internet connections in the home. As more...
Students Analyze Rap Lyrics with Code in Digital Humanities Class
This article looks at ways in which different schools are incorporating computer science across disciplines. It discusses the policies surrounding...
The Kinetic Energy of Learn Next
At 2Revolutions, we have been at work for the past decade helping to support the development of schools and systems...
A District That Prioritizes Social-Emotional Learning Grapples With How to Measure If It Works
This video and supporting blog article looks at how Washoe County, Nevada is measuring Social Emotional Learning (SEL) to gauge growth...
Competency Works Series on Mastery Based Education in Idaho
This series of ten articles looks at how mastery-based education is being rolled out in the state of Idaho. The...
Student-Centered Learning Self-Reflection Tool
The Student-Centered Learning Self-Reflection Tool was created by Mary Bellavance, Instructional Coach at Biddeford Middle School and Students at the...
Understanding implementation of proficiency-based education in Maine
This study investigates the impact of specific student-centered practices and then translate their findings for cross-sector audiences.
Why Giving Kids a Roadmap to Their Brain Can Make Learning Easier
This article discusses the work of Imagine Scholar, a youth and educational development initiative in South Africa, to help students understand...
EdTech That Connects
This free, searchable market map features edtech tools designed to connect studentsโto new people, supports, and opportunities. This article by...
The Opportunity Myth
This report showcases the findings from a large study conducted by The New Teacher Project (TNTP) in an effort to answer the...
Abolishing the phrase โIโm not a math personโ
Student-centered classrooms that emphasize multiple strategies for solving problems become places where more students see themselves succeed.
Exploring the Relationship Between Collaboration, Personalization and Equity
This study examined the impact of collaboration on learners in student-centered classrooms and how that impact varied by race and...
Implementation of Student-Centered Learning Approaches
Teachers participating in a Network Improvement Community reaped concrete and actionable benefits that allowed them to make changes that benefited...
Learner-Centered Professional Learning Culture - Resource
The tool presents a continuum of professional learning practices organized around four research-backed principles of student-centered learning.
โPrincipalโed Teaching and Innovative Student-Centered Practices
This was originally posted on the Center for Collaborative Education on May 4, 2017. Adrian Robbins and Elijah Wright, 10th-graders at...
Getting Real About Career Readiness: A Focus on Cross-Sector Competencies
This Paper shares learnings from the Global Learning Network 2017 Convening of World-Leading Learners, hosted by America Achieves, in partnership...
Personalized Learning Plans How-to Guide
This free guide from Edmentum, a provider of curriculum and instructional management and assessment tools, demystifies personalized learning plans (PLPs)....
What Do You Mean When You Say โStudent Agencyโ?
This resource entry includes two articles in a series on the concept of โstudent agencyโ and the impact of the...
Valuing Our English Language Learners by Learning to Listen
When I lived overseas, I remember wishing desperately that people would understand that I was intelligent. I wanted to become...
How to Find, Curate, and Assess OER
This short article provides practical suggestions to help educators find and use open education resources (OERs) effectively to personalize learning...
Arriving at a Definition of Learning
In this thoughtful article, the author, a veteran teacher, pushes the education community to define and deliver learning in a...
5 Ways to Build Real Teacher-Student Connections for the Year Ahead
In this article, a veteran teacher shares ideas to create meaningful relationships with students. She asserts the importance of personal...
Learn Next: A Toolbox for Educators to Transform Practice
Every student deserves access to powerful learning experiences โ experiences that help them develop agency, grow their skills and expand their curiosities....
Five Ways to Help Students Ask Better Questions
In this article, the author explores practical ways to help students learn to generate their own essential questions. It looks...
Owning the Classroom Together
In this article from ASCDโs Educational Leadership Magazine a professor and veteran teacher, describes her efforts create a positive classroom culture...
Reading on Competency-Based Education
This article provides a great overview of key texts to help any educator or education leader better understand competency education....
LearnNext: Culture and Environment
Culture and Environment is a course that examines the learning culture and environment needed to support the development of learner...
LearnNext: Pedagogical Approaches
This course focuses on the changing role that educators play as they implement pedagogical approaches that promote learner agency. Specifically, participants...
A National Landscape Scan of Personalized Learning in K-12 Education in the United States
This publication provides findings from a national survey of teachers and students to underscore how, and to what extent, core...
What โMastery-Basedโ Can Look Like in the Classroom
This article looks at a competency-based math classroom. It describes how Molly Nealeigh at Piney Grove Elementary School in North...
Coming Soon: New Findings from the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative
Leaders in education rarely have the bandwidth to comb through technical studies in order to apply research findings in their...
Strategies for Stronger Engagement
Recent statistics indicate that over half of students are disengaged in school, and teachers spend a lot of their time...
Six Fixes for Proficiency-Based Learning
This article offers practical advice to schools and districts implementing competency based education. Drawing on the groundbreaking work being done...
North Dakota School District Ready to Make Bold Changes
This article discusses the shift to a competency-based model underway in the Northern Cass School District in North Dakota. The...
18 Examples of State Policies that Support Competency-Based Programs
This article provides brief examples of state initiatives that support competency education. It includes initiatives identified as exemplars during the...
How Turning to My Students Made Me a Better Teacher
I was frustrated. My students werenโt completing their homework, and Iโd run out of ideas for motivating them. I didnโt...
Want To Get To Know Your Students? Try Learner Profiles
Each year, I am approached by students with the same concern: They donโt feel that their teachers understand who they...
Camp C-Block Introduces Blockchain Technology to Black Girls
This article discusses the work done by Project Bitmobile. Project Bitmobile hopes to educate, inform, and inspire young black women...
Improving Teaching With Expert FeedbackโFrom Students
This article, part of the Schools That Work series by Edutopia, describes the approach a physics teacher at Trinidad Garza...
Teacher Inquiry Labs in South Carolina Demonstrate Personalized Learning in Action
This article discusses a hands on approach to teacher professional development. In South Carolina learning labs are part of the...
Every Student Is a Mathematics Language Learner
This article discusses the benefits of explicitly teaching all students how to use mathematical language. The author, a veteran teacher,...
Let Student Voices RingโIn and Out of School
Imagine building a bonfire in a local parkโlegally, of course. You start throwing in file folders filled with papers, and...
Resources for Assessment in Project-Based Learning
This is a compilation of resources to support the development of high-quality, authentic assessments of any learning project. The list...
Pittsfield Tries New Approach On Education
The small district of Pittsfield adopted an approach that flips the traditional model of teaching through student-led discussion and independent...
How an LMS Can Solve Professional Learningโs Challenges
This interview transcript looks at the role of Learning Management Software (LMS) in the delivery of professional development opportunities for...
Leveraging Digital Depth for Responsive Learning Environments
This paper explores the potential for wearables, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to help create more responsive learning...
Designing for Equity: Leveraging Competency-Based Education to Ensure All Students Succeed
This Competency Works publication offers equity strategies for personalized, competency-based education to ensure a more equitable K-12 education system. Competency-based...
360 Story Lab
The Digital Promise Globalโs 360ยฐ Story Lab supports young people to produce 360ยฐ media on topics that affect their communities....
A Focused Practice for Relationship Building
In this article an educator shares a simple practice to build relationships with students. The author describes the use of...
Visioning Toolkit: Laying the Groundwork for a Community-Wide Vision for Personalized Learning
This toolkit was designed to help districts include the larger learning community in the development of a vision for personalized...
Allowing Students to Design Assessment Tools
As an educator, one would think that the point of every assessment would be clear to students. But if you...
The Promises, Challenges, and Futures of Media Literacy
The Promises, Challenges, and Futures of Media Literacy addresses the โfake newsโ problem by evaluating the successes and failures of...
5 Steps to Guarantee Your PD for PBL is on Point
This article examines ways to ensure professional development to support project-based learning (PBL) is effective. The author provides tips to...
11 Ways Schools Canโand ShouldโInvolve Families in SEL Programming
This resource shares ways in which schools can get families involved to make the most of Social Emotional Learning programs...
Bilingualism as a Life Experience
This article shares a general overview of the cognitive effects of speaking two languages and what that entails in the...
Separating the Facts from the Myths in the Competency-Based High School Transcript
These resources could provide a good overview for any parent or student in a school moving to a competency-based transcript.
Let Teens Lead in Makerspaces
This article shares ideas and techniques to let students take ownership of a schoolโs makerspace in order to develop engagement...
Creating a Student Centered Choir Classroom
It happens at every concert. I mentally recite all of the cues and gestures that I need to remember. The...
Student-Centered Planning
This article explores the importance of planning instruction tailored to studentsโ needs and interests. The author asserts that learnersโ involvement...
Equity by Design in Learning Technologies
This report looks at equity in access to and application of new technologies that support learning and an accompanying podcast...
Student-Led Conferences
This two-page overview of student-led conferences was created by Share Your Learning, an organization dedicated to helping teachers create opportunities...
MisEducation
In this podcast, eight student interns report stories from inside New York Cityโs segregated high school system. From the extreme...
Cult of Pedagogy
This website, created by an ELA teacher and pre-service professor, is dedicated to creating a community of teachers to support each...
Using Cooperative Learning to Increase Engagement and Understanding in Mathematics
Do you ever feel that your students arenโt engaged enough in the content you are currently teaching? As if the...
Youth Leading Youth and Transforming Education
GripTape is an organization that lets go. We let go of the common notion that young people are only capable...
How Giving Students Feedback Through Video Instead of Text Can Foster Better Understanding
This article describes how several teachers have shifted from providing written to video feedback for students. Ongoing feedback is an...
Paper Tweets Build SEL Skills
In this article, an ELA teacher shares a strategy that can be used to build positive classroom culture and SEL...
School Counselors: An Integral Part of School Change
If students are the heart of education, then school counselors are undoubtedly the ears. Counselors listen to students and work...
How Podcasts Can Improve Literacy
This article, written by a veteran educator, describes how podcasts can be used as a strategy to boost literacy. This...
Learning Strategies as Metacognitive Factors: A Critical Review
This report provides an introduction to learning strategies. In many student-centered classrooms the use of โlearning strategiesโ to support student...
Case Study: Lindsay High School Transforms Learning for English Language Learners with Personalized, Competency-Based Education in California
This article features Lindsay High School, which implemented a competency-based education model that focuses on advancing student mastery and student...
Youth Leading Youth and Transforming Education
This article advocates for youth agency over learning. It was written by a student from the Leadership Board of GripTape,...
The 5th (C) of 21st Century Skills? Try Computational Thinking (Not Coding)
This article was originally posted in EdSurge on February 25, 2018. For better or worse, computing is pervasive, changing how and...
Innovative Staffing to Personalize Learning: How New Teaching Roles and Blended Learning Help Students Succeed
This report explores the need for changes in staffing patterns and school organization in order to support personalized learning. The...
Envisioning the Graduate of the Future
This course was developed by MIT with support from the XQ Institute, to help school communities rethink what a high school...
Satellite Podcast - Students at the Center
Satellite examines innovative educational perspectives. Dr. Frank LaBanca hosts this six-episode series exploring student-centered learning.
Communicating Personalized Learning to Families and Stakeholders: Terminology, Tools and Tips for Success
This white paper is a guide to creating informative conversations and preventing miscommunication about personalized learning. It is based on...
Levers and Logic Models: A Framework to Guide Research and Design of High-Quality Competency-Based Education Systems
In this CompetencyWorks report, authors Chris Sturgis and Katherine Casey present logic models that are intended to help researchers and...
Lessons from Teachers of the Year
This vast list of videos showcases lessons from teachers across the country. The โLessons from Teachers of the Yearโ series...
Have You Ever Seen a Black Band-Aid?
As I have thought about describing my experiences with racial inequity in America, I wanted to do more than simply...
Student Goal Setting: An Evidence-Based Practice
The Midwest Comprehensive Center at American Institutes for Research, with the help of What Works Clearinghouse House reviewers, has released...
Resources for Creating a School Culture of Empathy, Inclusion, and Kindness
Explore resources available to help educators build a school culture of empathy, inclusion and kindness in their classrooms.
Exhibits: Models of Excellence
This virtual exhibit showcases student projects. It offers video, pictures, interviews, and articles to tell the story of the group...
Learner-Centered Educator and Leadership Competencies โ Interview with Rebecca Wolfe
In this podcast, Rebecca Wolfe, one of the co-authors of the Educator and Leadership Competencies, talks about her work on educator...
Donโt ask which ed tech products work, ask why they work
Editorโs note: This story led off this weekโs Future of Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribersโ inboxes every...
The Learning Portfolio Project
This website documents a pilot program in which Dream Yard Preparatory School in NYC partnered with Parsons School for Design...
12 Educational Apps To Create Digital Portfolios
This article provides a list of apps to help students create digital portfolios. Digital portfolios can support learning by allowing...
Designing Engaging Assignments
This resource aims to help teachers design engaging assignments that can challenge students in innovative ways. Beth Pandolpho shares three...
Top Picks: Student Portfolio Apps and Websites
This list from Common Sense Education highlights 17 tools for creating digital student portfolios. Portfolios allow teachers to assess student...
5 of the Best Rubric Making Tools for Teachers
This blog article provides background on the use of rubrics as well as tips for creation. It gives a quick...
Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative 2018 Convening
Join JFFโs Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island on October 10th and 11th...
Hereโs What Happens When Every Student Gets a Personalized Learning Plan
This article was originally posted in EdSurge on April 19, 2018 High school sophomore Olivia Surdam thought she wanted to have...
6 Steps to Ensuring ILPs Better Support Inclusive Personalized Learning
In this article, authors Ace Parsi and Curtis Richards highlight the importance of individualized learning plans (ILPs) to increase engagement...
From Vision to Reality: Personalized, Competency-Based Learning for All Kids
This report was written to help school districts take steps toward personalized, competency-based learning, and equip leaders with the following...
Authentic Assessments Video Playlist
The videos in this series all focus on formative assessments. They are part of Success at the Core, a free professional...
Kids Need More Personalized Learning to Keep Them in School
This article was originally posted in Youth Today on April 11, 2018 I recently reconnected with two of my best...
10 Reasons Why You Should Implement Digital Student Portfolios
In this article from the ASCD blog, Inservice, a principal outlines many reasons to use digital portfolios in support of student-centered...
Flex Time: Schools Break Out of Scheduling Ruts to Improve Learning for Students, teachers
This resource highlights the importance of tailoring time to studentsโ needs and using flex time as a key component of...
Blended Learning (Re)Defined
This article was originally posted in Education Week on January 30, 2018 Maggie and Daniel, seventh-grade students, participated in a...
The Workshop Model with Learning Community Charter School Middle School
This podcast episode features a conversation with LCCS middle school teachers Erin OโNeil, Domenique Rossi, Cathy Huang and Director Josh...
Performance Assessment Resource Bank
The Performance Assessment Resource Bank works to help states integrate performance assessments into their systems of assessment, develop the capacity...
Tame the Beast: Tips for Designing and Using Rubrics
This article provides advice for designing and using effective rubrics from a fellow educator. It also discusses the importance of...
Comparing Good Jobs to Good Classrooms
Recently, I read an employer profile for the Kentucky-based materials manufacturer Universal Woods, written by Steven Dawson. Universal Woods is a...
Ladder of Feedback for Classroom Observation
Making Learning Visible is a Project Zero initiative that adapted Daniel Wilsonโs โLadder of Feedbackโ for classroom observations. The โLadder...
Character Lab
Character Lab is a nonprofit organization founded to research and create new ways to help all students develop character. While...
Supporting Teacher Leadership in Rhode Island
When I was a 2nd grade teacher at Joseph A. Hardin Elementary School in New Orleans, I had the privilege...
Innovative Assessments: Widening the Horizon
In this blog article, the Innovation Program Manager at The Council of Chief State School Officers explores the opportunities under...
Creating a Welcoming & Inclusive Community For All
This document, created by Magnolia Montessori For All Schools in Austin, TX, is an excellent example of a schoolโs effort...
10 Equity Questions to Ask about Career and Technical Education
Career and technical education (CTE) has become the โnext best thingโ in high school reform. Lately, itโs been on the...
Extended Deadline: 2018 Lawrence W. OโToole Teacher Leadership Awards
The 2018 Lawrence W. OโToole Teacher Leadership Awards nomination period is now open and the deadline has been extended. Applications...
Courageous Conversations About Race in Schools
These short videos are designed to prompt a deeper, more authentic discussion about issues of racial equity in schools. State...
Highlighting Deeper Learning Competencies in New Hampshire
New Hampshire has been focusing on how incredibly important deeper learning competencies can be levers for studentsโ success.
How Closing My Competency-based School Led to Learning What Works
This article was originally posted in Youth Today on March 15, 2018 I closed the doors to Missouriโs first competency-based...
Lawrence OโToole Award Winner 2016: Sunny Pai of Diploma Plus โ Charlestown HS
This post, originally published on June 3, 2016, provides an overview of the wonderful work Sunny Pai does everyday as...
The 5th โCโ of 21st Century Skills? Try Computational Thinking (Not Coding)
In this commentary, the author asserts the importance of computational thinking, the ability to solve problems like a computer scientist....
How to Ease Students Into Independent Inquiry Projects
This post is an excerpt from the book, Inquiry Mindsets: Nurturing the Dreams, Wonders, and Curiosities of Our Youngest Learners. Trevor MacKenzie...
When It Comes to Universal Design for Learning, Donโt Wait to Be an Expert
This article provides a great overview of how to apply Universal Design for Learning principals in the classroom. The author...
Restorative Justice: Resources for Schools
This resource page focuses on restorative justice practices. This student-centered approach to discipline moves away from punitive zero tolerance discipline...
Student-Centered Learning with Kasie Giallombardo
2017 Lawrence W. OโToole Award winner Kasie Giallombardo is a social studies teacher at Nokomis Regional High School in Maine. A...
Frequently Asked Questions About Competency-Based Education
This resource was designed to help district and school leaders communicate effectively about personalized learning with a variety of stake...
Students LEAD
This online course was designed for high school students by the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University to...
Playing Games with Formative Assessment
This article in Education Leadership looks at ways teachers can use games to conduct formative assessment. The article discusses the...
Kettle Moraineโs Approach to Personalized Learning
This series of articles provides an in-depth look at how personalization works in Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin. Articles...
Why Seeking Purpose Matters for Opportunity Youth
This piece, originally posted in September 2016, remains relevant to the conversation about non-IQ competencies such as self-regulation and โgritโ....
ESSA and Personalized Learning: State by State
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides states with significant flexibility to advance personalized learning and improve equitable outcomes for...
Disengagement Problems Disguised as Discipline Problems
In this article, a long-time principal discusses her schoolโs work to decrease behavior incidents by increasing student engagement. The school...
High Tech High Network Profile
Students engage in multi-disciplinary and field-based learning opportunities to build skills like critical thinking, problem solving and communication.
Building a High-Quality System of Assessments to Advance Deeper Learning
Originally posted on February 1, 2018 as a Learning Deeply Blog for Edweek Are todayโs students terribly over-tested, as many...
State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
This issue brief outlines state policy recommendations and action steps to modernize educator preparation and development systems to bring student-centered...
Education Week Spotlight on Formative Assessment
This collection of articles was selected by the Education Week editors to provide a range of insights on Formative Assessment. The articles cover topics...
10 Principles for Building a High-quality System of Assessments
The Ten Principles for Building a High-Quality System of Assessments, a collaborative effort led by Jobs for the Future (JFF),...
Student-centered Learning Reflects Science of Learning for All Youth
Originally posted in Youth Today My 6-year-old is obsessed with baseball stadiums. All summer his attention was captured by stadium...
How Feedback for Teachers and Principals Helped Their Students Do Better in Math
This blog article discusses the results of a research study conducted by American Institutes of Research, on behalf of the...
In Our Connected World, What If Empathy Is Learning?
This article explores new ways of thinking about the science of learning. As the world becomes more connected and knowledge...
Toolkit: Community-Wide Vision for Personalized Learning
In this toolkit youโll find resources to help you begin and sustain the work of implementing personalized learning.
Mindset Research Is Sound, Thatโs Not the Problem
Originally posted on Education Weekโs 10 Big Ideas column on January 10, 2018. My career has been motivated by two...
Universal Design Technology
John F. OโSullivan is a Librarian, an Assistive Technology Specialist at Chelmsford High School, and an author of several books...
10 Game-Changing Ideas in Education
In this article, editors at EdWeek have compiled 10 commentaries that outline exciting ideas in the field of education. For example:...
Student-Centered Learning-in-Action: Students explore โFact and Fictionโ; Inspire a Principal
I am a high school principal. More importantly, I am an educational leader who is a proponent of student-centered learning...
One Family, Five Stories of Anytime, Anywhere Learning
Originally posted on November 8, 2017 for Youth Today So far on our journey through Jobs for the Futureโs student-centered...
Model Schools, Districts, Networks and States for Competency-Based Education
This article catalogues successful competency education models on many scales. It provides links to schools, both district-based and charter; districts;...
Bringing Students Into Professional Development
This article looks at the importance of including student voice in professional development for teachers. The author promotes this approach...
Quality Counts 2018
Every year, Education Week releases a Quality Counts report which examines state-level efforts to improve public education and pulls together a large number...
Civic Preparedness in an Era Characterized by its Discord
Learn more about what adults should prioritize when helping young people increase their civic preparedness and participation in dialogue.
How Metacognition Boosts Learning
This article presents strategies for boosting students metacognitive skills. It covers several studies that show the importance of understandings oneโs...
Teaching with Technology
This report looks at how teachers are integrating new technology and tools into their classroom practice. It identifies common benefits...
Key Teaching and Learning Shifts for Personalized Learning: Preparing for Success
This webinar recording focuses on the key teaching and learning shifts that occur in successful personalized learning settings over time...
Writing Commentaries: The Power of Youth Voice
This video shows a producer from Youth Radio in Oakland, CA working with students to produce their own commentaries. It...
The Six Secrets to More Successful Partnership Between Students and Teachers
Educators work on behalf of their students every day, but some of the richest learning opportunities arise when educators take...
Owning His Learning and His Future: Taliq Tillmanโs Student-Owned Learning Experience
Originally posted on October 18, 2017 for Youth Today I met Arthur 10 years ago at a principalsโ convening. That...
Visible Thinking Resources
This article looks deeply at how to best teach students about metacognition and includes tools teachers can use.
Francis Pina Interview
This podcast features an interview with Francis Pina, a Boston native and math teacher at Charlestown High school. He shares...
Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
This paper explores the issues state policy needs to address to support a transformation of K-12 education toward personalized, competency-based...
Up Close and Personal: Chronicling Learning Practices Across the Nation
This website from EdSurge showcases stories illustrating what personalized learning looks like in practice in schools across the country. The...
Creating a Peer Coaching Program to Grow Student-Centered Learning (Part 2)
In part I of this three-part series, I wrote about how Maineโs Biddeford School District created a peer coaching program...
The Science of Learning
This report summarizes existing research from cognitive science on how students learn and shows its practical implications for teaching and...
The Art of Reflection
Student portfolios can provide an alternative way to assess student work. Yet, they can become simply a catalog of things...
Rethinking Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
Policy recommendations and resources for policymakers who are ready to rethink state accountability systems to support student-centered learning.
How to Build Community Leaders of Todayโand TomorrowโThrough Student Genius Hours
This article describes how a middle school Language Arts teacher in Omaha, Nebraska has used genius hours to extend student...
Waukesha STEM Academy Series
This four-part series featuring Waukesha STEM Academy (WSA) is part of a series on personalized, proficiency-based education in Wisconsin. This...
Want to Set Students Up for Success? Make Room for Vulnerability
This article, written by a student, describes the culture at One Stone school in Boise, Idaho. One Stone is a...
Creating a Peer Coaching Program to Grow Student-Centered Learning (Part 1)
In southern Maine, the little corner of the world where I teach, coach and learn, we are in the midst...
Golden Ticket
This dynamic case study combines narrative, video, data visuals, and photos to tell the story of a vital component of...
6 Ways Administrators Can Prove the Efficacy of Digital Tools
This article, written by a principal, includes thoughtful insights for implementing an effective digital transformation in a school. It discusses...
6 Strategies for Promoting Student Autonomy
This article introduces six concrete strategies teachers can use to foster independence in the classroom. The strategies can be used...
ASCD Citizens in the Making Resources
Two resources from the ASCD Express issue Citizens in the Making highlight ideas and resources for teachers who want to incorporate...
Competency-Based Education: Lessons Learned After a Decade of Transformation
It has been nearly a decade since Sanborn Regional School District in New Hampshire made the decision to shift to...
A Year Of Love And Struggle In A New High School
Too many young, black men struggle in Americaโs education system. Washington D.C. is trying to do something about it with...
Catalyzing Equity Through Culturally Responsive Education and Competency-Based Education
This article introduces a tool and video created by the Mastery Collaborative, a program of the Office of Postsecondary Readiness...
Making Media Literacy Central to Digital Citizenship
While there are many new technologies coming into the classroom, video has been used consistently by students in and out...
Exploring Student-Centered Learning in the ESSA State Plans
Many of us who research or implement student-centered learning approaches read with excitement that states now have the flexibility, under...
What Student Choice and Agency Actually Looks Like
This article features the ways in which schools across the country are building student agency and choice. The article, written...
Learning Acceleratorโs Practices at Work: Blended & Personalized Learning
The Blended and Personalized Learning Practices at Work site, managed by The Learning Accelerator, is a collection of free, practical strategies and...
7 Things Teachers Need to Know About Native American Heritage Month
November is National Native American Heritage Month. The article below was originally posted on Indian Country Today on November 12,...
From Maverick to Mainstream: Takeaways from the 2017 Blended and Personalized Learning Conference
This report synthesizes data gathered from education leaders who attended the 2017 Blended and Personalized Learning Conference. It details 9...
CoSN Empowered Superintendents Resources
Through the Empowered Superintendents initiative, The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) collaborates with superintendents to assess their challenges and increase their...
Student-Centered Learning Course Syllabus
Newsflash: Teachers are learners! Yet, the strategies we use to help teachers innovate their practices often get in the way...
Equity at the Center: A Tool for Assessing Communication about Teaching and Learning
This rubric was designed to help schools, districts, and intermediary organizations examine their digital and web-based communications, for example websites, digital...
Why Relationships Matter for Urban Studentsโ Engagement
This post is a follow-up to โDo I Have a Voice? Student Ownership Drives Engagement Among Urban Youth.โ We all...
Guide for Creating Trusted Learning Environments
The following guidebook was designed to help communities create positive and safe learning environments for students inside and outside of school,...
How one Chicago high school turned the corner using full-time internships
This article highlights the intensive internship program at Chicago Technology Academy. The school, which serves predominantly minority students from low-income...
The Massachusetts Personalized Learning Edtech Consortium (MAPLE)
The Massachusetts Personalized Learning Edtech Consortium (MAPLE) is an initiative of the LearnLaunch Institute and the Massachusetts Department of of...
Looking Back: The First Year of the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative
The Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative launched last November with over 100 researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and funders coming together to break...
How Can We Abolish the Phrase "I'm Just Not a Math Person"?
As a networked improvement community (NIC) we are exploring ways to create classroom environments that increase student agency.
18 Digital Tools and Strategies That Support Studentsโ Reading and Writing
In this article, the Instructional Technology Specialist from Littleton, CO offers a wealth of education technology resources related to literacy...
The State Innovatorโs Toolkit: A Guide to Successfully Managing Innovation under ESSA
This guide addresses opportunities under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to drive school improvement, challenging states to rethink older, more traditional...
Civics Needs a Makeover NOW. How? Keep It Student-Centered, Stupid!
Originally posted on EdWeekโs Learning Deeply Blog on October 11, 2017. Our current political climate and all it portends about our democracy...
Power Poetry
Power Poetry is a website that features poetry written by youth and provides teachers with resources to support studentsโ writing....
Education Elements Personalized Learning Resources for School Leaders
Education Elements is an organization that works with schools to support adoption of personalized learning and competency-based education. The following white papers can...
2017 State of the States: Connectivity
This report was compiled by EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit focused on upgrading Internet access in every public school classroom in America to...
How Tech Can Help Students with Disabilities Thrive in STEM Education
This article highlights advice from educators on the best ways to support students with disabilities through technology. It focuses on...
How to Engage with School Partners? Tips for Researchers from One Project in Maine
As education researchers, how do we remain responsive to the needs of our partners while maintaining our role as independent...
Reading Apprenticeship
This website includes an overview of the Reading Apprenticeship approach to literacy instruction, information on the research base, and details...
Gateway to Opportunity: Extending Learning into the Summer and into the Workplace
As the school year kicks into gear, it is often a time for reflecting back on summer. I canโt tell...
Getting to Know Students Deeply
This blog explores ways to use student voice as a form of data to help improve culturally responsive teaching practices....
The Role of Advisory in Personalizing the Secondary Experience
This article looks at the role of advisory in personalizing learning experiences in high schools. Through development of strong adult/student...
Personalized Learning for All: Actions for States to Make Aspirations a Reality
This report by the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) looks at the potential of large scale shifts to personalized...
18 Tips for Making Blended Learning More Student-Centered
This article shares 18 tips from leading schools and providers who have added student-centered strategies, such as boosting student agency...
Partnership Strategies for Real-World Projects
This article provides insight from an interview with leaders at Iowa BIG, a public high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa...
Competency-Based Education: Staying Shallow or Going Deep?
This report examines what it means to be competent in the 21st century. It begins with an overview of competency-based education. It...
How to Plan Instruction Using the Video Game Model
In this blog entry, teacher and neurologist, Judy Willis, explores ways to apply the motivation tactics used in video games...
Learner-Centered Culture Includes Educators, Too
What does it mean for educators to have a learner-centered culture? It includes educators, that's for sure, and this article...
Meriden Public Schools
This is the official website of the Meriden, Connecticut, public schools and the City of Meriden Board of Education. Parents,...
State Policy & K-12 Competency-Based Education
This issue brief from iNACOL offers advice for state leaders who want to support policy for K-12 competency-based education. The...
8 Principles to Help You Advance to Flipped Learning 3.0
This short article summarizes tips for school leaders interested in flipped learning provided by pioneer Jon Bergmann at the ISTE...
CBE 360 Survey Toolkit
Competency-based education (CBE) allows students to master skills and knowledge at their own pace. This toolkit, developed by American Institutes...
Student Voice: The Week in Review
In this podcast, students discuss important topics and current events that impact them and their education. The podcast is created...
Comparing Good Jobs to Good Classrooms: Essential Elements for Supporting People to Learn, Persist, and Succeed
Originally posted on September 19 on Jobs for the Future Recently, I read an employer profile for the Kentucky-based materials...
Behavior Management Tools Do Not Work for Student-Centered Learning
What if control is the wrong impulse? Kim Carter writes about how behavior management tools might not work for student-centered...
Inspire Self-Directed Learning
This article, written by an educator, shares ideas for nurturing self-directed learning in the classroom. It lays out four steps,...
Pioneering the New Way of Learning: Learner Agency and Opportunity
This article introduces a framework that explores learner agency and student motivation. The article is written by two students from...
The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Student Success
This short research brief and accompanying video highlights some of the big ideas from their research on noncognitive factors.
The 2017 Lawrence W. OโToole Teacher Leadership Awards Winners
As high schoolers around New England return to class for another exciting year, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation is proud...
Student-Centered Practice & Innovation: Stories from New England
Bringing you examples of student-centered learning from across New England. Explore resources, videos and toolkits to implement personalized learning.
How Maker Mindsets Can Be An Easy Fit For Rural Schools
This article explores how rural schools are adapting to the maker movement in ways that are unique to their rural...
How to Artfully Enroll Parents in Learner-Centered Transformation
This article from the Principal of Red Bank Elementary School in South Carolina, shares successes and failures the school faced while...
Digital Promise Research Map
This database managed by Digital Promise brings together thousands of research articles on key education practices. The database is searchable and...
How to Combine Rigor with Engagement
This article, written by two prominent researchers in the deeper learning world, offers solutions and strategies to the question โHow...
To Engage Students and Teachers, Treat Core Subjects Like Extracurriculars
This article shares varied examples from schools across the country that have implemented a project-based learning model in which core...
Do I Have a Voice? Student Ownership Drives Engagement Among Urban Youth
Student disengagement is a rampant problem in our schools. It can lead to lack of participation and effort, behavioral problems,...
Denver High School's Journey Towards Personalized Learning
This case study provides a peek into the day to day experiences of students in a personalized learning environment.
Five Resources to Help You Learn About Social-Emotional Learning in the Classroom
In this article, Kate Westrich from KnowledgeWorks shares five resources on social-emotional learning. She suggests watching or reading the resources...
Atlanta Educators Reflect on Lessons From Personalized Learning Initiative
This article shares the experiences of educators implementing personalized learning in Fulton County School District in Georgia. It explores the teacherโs...
High-Impact Strategies to Provide Access to All Students
This article offers practical strategies for creating an educational environment that embraces the ideas of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)....
Helping English Language Learners Meet their Full Potential
The United States has always been, and continues to be, a nation of immigrants. These immigrants are not only raising...
Using Needs Assessments to Drive School and District Improvement
This guide describes the core components for developing and administering needs assessments, a critical step to guide any school or...
How to Integrate Growth Mindset Messages Into Every Part of Math Class
This article discusses the research around teaching and learning mathematics conducted by Catherine Good, a professor who studies social psychology and growth...
The Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative: Collaboration, not Isolation
I need to confess something: I never read educational research when I was a middle school teacher. My day-to-day focus...
Fire Up Your Class With Student-Interest Surveys
This practical article gives advice on how to keep content fresh and relevant and nurture student voice in the classroom....
Culturally Responsive Positive Behavioral Support Matters
This report discusses ways to make the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) model more culturally responsive.
Facing History and Ourselves
Facing History and Ourselvesโs shares innovative approaches to civics, social studies, humanities, and language arts education, designed to increase student...
Effective (Teacher-Centered) Coaching
This blog, written by a math teacher and coach, and a member of the Better Math Teaching Network, discusses the importance...
Why โUnlearningโ Old Habits Is An Essential Step For Innovation
This article explores Beaver Country Day School, a private 6-12 school in Massachusettsโ, experience with the idea of โunlearningโโ creating new...
Informing Progress Insights on Personalized Learning Implementation and Effects
This report and accompanying research brief, written by the RAND Corporation and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, synthesizes...
Why School Leaders Must Support and Encourage Student Voice and Activism
Summer 2014. My students from The Met High School in Providence, RI, were getting ready for their sophomore year, enjoying...
New Hampshire Teachers Build New Ways to Measure Deeper Learning
This article explores the successes of a pilot group of New Hampshire districts, as they move from standardized testing to...
Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning
This paper illustrates the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This...
Relationships First: Creating Connections that Help Young People Thrive
This report looks at the importance of building strong relationships to create a thriving student-centered culture. It includes an overview...
Training Teachers for Competency-Based Learning Classrooms
This article, written by the founder of Matchbook Learning, a non-profit charter school operator in Detroit and Newark, shares best practices for...
16 Tips to Put Your 1:1 Technology to Work
Read part one and two of this series. Portsmouth Middle School in Rhode Island is about to embark on year two of the implementation of...
A Practical Guide to Personalization in a Standards-Based World
Often standards in education are seen as a roadblock to personalization. This article offers practical strategies for using essential questions...
View from the Trenches of Implementing A Successful 1:1 Program
Read part one of this series. Technology integration coachesโ responsibilities depend on a districtโs vision, access to technology and teacher comfort levels with...
1:1 Implementation: Practical Tips & Insights from a Tech Integration Coach
People are usually surprised when they hear that I am the technology integration coach at Portsmouth Middle School in Portsmouth,...
Personalized Learning, the Navajo Way
This article, from the perspective of a principal, superintendent and mentor of indigenous schools for over forty years, looks at personalized...
Next Generation Learning Models for English Language Learners: Promising Practices and Considerations for Teaching and Learning
This paper highlights trends to advance learning for English language learner (ELL) students. It outlines promising practices and considerations for...
A Guide for Engaging ELL Families: Twenty Strategies for School Leaders
This guide, developed by Colorรญn Colorado, an organization that supports English language learner (ELL) educators and students, shares useful strategies...
How to Design a School That Prioritizes Kindness and Caring
This article shares the success story of Carrollwood Day School in Florida, chronicling the efforts of school leadership and students...
Welcoming Schools Starter Kit
This brief, Welcoming Schools: An Inclusive Approach to Addressing Family Diversity, Gender Stereotyping and Name-Calling outlines a comprehensive, LGBTQ-inclusive approach...
Supporting Student Self-Motivation In Online Credit Recovery Classrooms (Part 3 of 3)
Due to the self-directed nature of online learning in many credit recovery settings, fostering student motivation is essential. One teacher...
The Seven Principles for Inclusive Education
This framework outlines seven principles that can serve as a foundation for teacher training and professional development focused on equity....
Personalized Learning with Matt and Courtney
This podcast is hosted by Courtney, a K-12 instructional coach in Maine, and Matt, a district administrator and former math...
7 Questions Principals Should Ask When Hiring Future-Ready Teachers
In this article, Alan November, a long time teacher and education consultant, offers advice for principals on ways to hire teachers...
When Personalized Learning Includes Skateboarding: One Suburban Districtโs Dramatic Transformation
This article, a case study of Vista High School in San Diego, highlights the schoolโs move to personalized learning. Vista is...
Supporting Goal-Setting, Time Management, and Self-Regulation in Online Credit Recovery Classrooms (Part 2 of 3)
In addition to traditional study skills, online credit recovery classes require students to develop deeper proficiency in self-directed study skills....
Building Competencies for Careers
This report draws on information from the U.S. Department of Laborโs Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to better understand the value...
Unleashing the Instructional Leadership of Librarians to Foster Future Ready Schools
This framework was created to detail the invaluable role of librarians and outline how schools can better harness their skills...
The Importance of Modeling Student-Centered Professional Learning
Creating student-centered learning environments is no easy task. Teachers often do not receive enough quality professional learning to provide them...
Scaffolding Grit
This article makes the case for rethinking ideas about grit and growth mindsets in the classroom. โGritโ, made popular in...
How One State is Moving Beyond Grade Levels and Graded Assessments
Seven elementary schools are participating are moving away from traditional age-based grouping of students and assessment based on letter grades.
Expanded Roles For Online Credit Recovery Teachers (Part 1 of 3)
As schools and districts have worked to develop online credit recovery programs, key aspects of program development have often fallen...
A School Leaderโs Student-Centered Resources for Next Gen Educators (Part 3 of 3)
This is the third and final installment of our โStudent-Centered Resources for Next Gen Educatorsโ series. Be sure to check...
Levers2Learn
Levers2Learn is a web-based research report which shares findings on barriers to, and enablers of, deeper learning in high schools. The...
Online Courses for Credit Recovery in High Schools
This report, prepared by The University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute for the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) examines promising practices...
Hiring: The Very First Step to a Flourishing School Culture (Part 3 of 3)
Read part one and two of this series. My advice to those seeking to establish a thriving culture in their schools at the...
Student-Focused Learning in Springdale, Arkansas
This four-part blog series from CompetencyWorks, explores the exemplary student-centered work in the Springdale School District, in Arkansas. The articles explore...
Lessons from a Social Studies Teacher: The Power of Interdisciplinary Work in a Competency-Based School
This blog shares tips for getting the most out of the student-centered practice of interdisciplinary projects. The author first shares...
Technology Counts 2017
Technology Counts 2017: Classroom Tech: Where Schools Stand is Education Weekโs 20th annual report on education technology. The reportโs feature...
Creating a School Culture Where Students and Teachers Both Flourish (Part 2 of 3)
Read part one of this series. Encourage and practice being human with all of your staff Simple, right? Maybe not at first,...
The MyWays Initiative
MyWays is an initiative of Next Generation Learning Challenge (NGLC). It is an effort to synthesize a broader, deeper definition...
The Crucial Factor in School Success is School Culture (Part 1 of 3)
Transforming schools: the key ingredient is right in front of us. School reform is more than incorporating tech tools, being...
Skills for Today: What We Know about Teaching and Assessing Collaboration
This literature review from researchers at Pearson and Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) explores existing research on the importance of collaboration skills,...
Risk, Trust, Collaboration: Leadership for Personalized, Learner-Centered Environments
Originally posted on EdWeekโs Learning Deeply blog, April 21, 2017. Imagine an army general leading a tech startup company or...
CCE Culturally-Responsive Teaching Resources
This resource features two tools from the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) which focus on culturally-responsive teaching practices. Both tools...
KQED Teach Online Courses
KQED Teach offers free online courses on a variety of digital products and tools that can be used to enhance...
Rethinking Use of Space and Time for Next Generation Schools
This article shares key tips and examples from Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) and 2Revolutions Reimagining Space, Time and Staffing toolkit which...
How Can We Increase Civic Engagement in the Era of Fake News and Social Media?
Recently, I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at Engaging Citizens: Civics Education and the New Political Landscape, a forum...
Policy, Pilots and the Path to Competency-Based Education
This report, produced by the Foundation for Excellence in Education and EducationCounsel, surveys the existing state laws and policies that...
Competency-Based Education (CBE) Toolkit
This Competency-Based Education (CBE) Toolkit was born out of the work of Digital Promiseโs League of Innovative Schools and features...
Student Voices from Revere High School
Each student discusses the impact a student-centered learning environment has had on their experiences and dreams for the future.
What Happens When Students Design Their Own Assessments?
This article discusses the work of the Roanoke County Public Schools to implement student-led assessment, alongside 10 other Virginia districts that...
Innovative Engagement Strategies for ELA and Humanities
This resource pulls together the work of John Hardison, an interactive facilitator of learning and blended learning specialist at East Hall...
Better Lesson
This website, developed by BetterLesson, is a personalized professional development platform dedicated to preparing and supporting teachers, through access to...
Student-Centered Learning: Building Agency and Engagement
This video from the Edutopia Schools That Work series shows student-centered learning at work at Maloney High School in Meriden...
A Challenge to Our Community: Make Connections Across Disciplines
This post is a follow-up to โBreaking Down Silos with the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative.โ The Importance of Agency Agency...
Targeting Competency: Using Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) & Differentiated Rubrics to Teach
This article shares strategies and rubrics teachers can use for targeted Writing and English Language Arts instruction and assessment in an...
Blended Learning and Expanded Learning Time at Morton Middle School
Features interviews with students and teachers from Morton Middle School discussing blended learning and an extended learning day.
Digital Literacy Resource Platform
This website, designed by Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, hosts tools that explore four main...
A School Leaderโs Student-Centered Resources for Next Gen Educators (Part 2 of 3)
Part one of our โStudent-Centered Resources for Next Gen Educatorsโ series was posted on April 14, 2017. Be sure to...
Making Equity a First Principle of Personalized Learning
This article by Julia Freeland Fisher, the Director of Education Research at the Clayton Christensen Institute, discusses the importance of working...
Deeper Learning Website
This website created by the Alliance for Excellent Education is an in-depth exploration of deeper learning. Deeper learning is defined as...
Technology in Education: An Overview
This brief from Education Week provides an overview of the big trends, opportunities, and concerns associated with classroom technology. As technology...
Making Equity a First Principle of Personalized Learning
This was originally posted on the Christensen Institute on April 12, 2017 . โRacism and inequity are products of design. They...
Using Exhibitions to Demonstrate Mastery: Lessons from The MET School
This was adapted from a post by Michelle Portilla published on the Center for Collaborative Education blog. Imagine a student walking...
Socratic Seminars: Building a Culture of Student-Led Discussion
This resource focuses on increasing student-led discussions in the classroom, using the Socratic seminar style. Student-led discussions can be a...
What We Talk About When We Talk About Student Voice
This podcast features Vermont students discussing the importance of personalized learning and partnering with adults in school redesign.
A Guidebook for Success: Strategies for Implementing Personalized Learning in Rural Schools
This guidebook highlights how leaders in rural districts can use the research-based framework and free planning resources developed by Future...
What Four Skill Domains Do Educators Need for Learner-Centered Teaching?
Gone is the default image of a teacherโan adult lecturing to students seated neatly in rows, assigning the same textbook...
Student Agency: Creating An Integrated and Authentic K-12 Approach
This article explores authentic student agency, using Californiaโs Aveson Charter Schools, where the author is founder, to show it in action....
Notes From the Field: Starting With the โWhyโ in Personalized Learning
This is the fifth installment in the Notes from the Field blog series, originally posted on April 12, 2017 by The...
Growing Into The Framework: A Districtโs CBE Implementation Strategy
This article shares five phases of implementation of competency-based education, using the Mesa County Valley School District 51โs (D51) first year of implementation...
Examining Cultural Relevance
This one page tool provides a set of questions to determine the cultural relevance of a given unit, learning task,...
Models of Excellence
Models of Excellence is an open resource featuring exemplary pre-K to 12th-grade student work. The collection is curated by EL...
Background on Equity Resource Bundle
To help shape the future direction of our work and ensure that equity is always at the forefront, SATC had...
We Donโt Give Students Voices, They Have Voices
โWeโre the ones in the classrooms, why not ask us?โโ A common refrain, we at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation,...
Equity Snapshot: The Intersection of Mastery & Culturally Responsive Education
This working brief looks at the intersection between culturally responsive education (CRE) and competency education. It was developed by the Mastery...
The โMinecraft Effectโ? Educators Hope to Move Students From VR Consumption to Creation
This short article shares ideas about where the future of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) might be heading. Using his observations...
3 Ways to Implement Blended Learning In The Classroom
This article, written by a classroom teacher, explores different ways to use technology to โblendโ learning. The technology tools she shares...
A School Leaderโs Student-Centered Resources for Next Gen Educators (Part 1 of 3)
This is the first installment of a three-part series. Be sure to check out part 2 and part 3, available...
Next Gen Tools: Personalized Learning Plans and Learner Profiles
This innovation brief describes the use of Learner Profiles and Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs) at three schools and outlines the...
Proficiency-Based Learning Simplified
This toolkit provides support for schools looking to transition to a proficiency-based system. It focuses on the development of efficient...
Personalized Learning in New York
This report looks at early results from Education Elementโs work in NY state, since 2013, to design, implement, and support...
Materiales en Espaรฑol/ Spanish Language Resources
The Great Schools Partnership, a nonprofit school-support organization working to redesign public education, has developed a toolkit for school and...
Empowering Advocates for Educational Transformation
This was originally posted by Nellie Mae Education Foundation on Medium on April 4, 2017 . Introducing the 2017 Nellie...
Relationships Bloom When Students Are Seen and Heard
This article, written by educators in Cherry Hill Public Schools in New Jersey, makes a case for the importance of student...
How Baltimore CPS Used Communications Strategies to Create Personalized Learning Buy-In
This article explores how Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS), prioritized and designed a communications strategy to bring together students, teachers, and...
Unconscious Bias in the Classroom: Evidence and Opportunities
This report looks at the contribution of unconscious bias (UB) to the troubling achievement gap for women and minority students,...
Letโs Celebrate Personalization: But Not Too Fast
This article, from Educational Leadership Magazine, is an illuminating probe to reassesses what personalized learning truly means. It discusses what a shift...
SโCool Tools
Each week, EdSurge features 2-3 of the latest education technology tools developed for schools and learning. Many of the tools...
Next Gen Tools: Hiring for Mindset
Hiring for Mindset describes a strategy used by Da Vinci Schools, a Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) breakthrough model school, to hire teachers...
The Student-Centered Learning Fact Sheet Series
These four Student-Centered Learning Fact Sheets discuss RI state policies that support and/or limit the spread of student-centered learning practices, highlight...
Communications Planning for Innovation in Education
This guide was designed to help districts build support for personalized learning through the development of a communications plan to...
Why Engaging Parents Matters: Maloney High School
Research suggests that when schools partner with and engage parents to understand and stay involved in their childโs learning experiences,...
SXSWedu Resource RoundUp
Last week, some of us from the Students at the Center team traveled to SXSWedu, an annual conference that draws...
Dealing with a โCulture of FearโโAdministrators on PD in the Age of Blended Learning
EdSurge-On-Air staff spoke with school leaders at the EdSurge Tech for Schools Summit about the best approach to teacher PD...
Engaging Students in Work that Matters
This video, a part of the Deeper Learning video series, features instructors and students from High Tech Middle and High Tech...
RI Personalized Learning Initiative
The Rhode Island (RI) Personalized Learning Initiative was launched in September 2016 by the Rhode Island Office of Innovation with the...
Leading for Equity: Opportunities for State Education Chiefs
This report from The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and The Aspen Education & Society Program outlines concrete...
Maine: Making the Most of High-Leverage Strategies
This article provides an overview of the progress the state of Maine has made towards competency education. It outlines the...
Community Learning Walks
This short 2-minute video documents a community learning walk at a high school in Meriden, CT that is implementing many...
Mom, Can You Pleeeease Record Me?
This opinion blog by Lisa Westman, an instructional coach specializing in differentiation for Skokie School District 73.5 in suburban Chicago, discusses ways to...
Womenโs History Month Lessons, Activities, Background Reading, and More
The National Education Association (NEA) has assembled a list of lessons and other resources for grades 9-12 to celebrate March...
Maker Ed
The mission of Maker Ed is to provide educators and institutions with the training, resources, and community of support they...
How to Create Higher Performing, Happier Classrooms in 7 Moves: A Playbook for Teachers
This guide, written by Heather Staker, Adjunct Fellow at the Christensen Institute, draws on findings from a pilot study of 7...
How to Address Executive Function Skills in the Classroomโand Why You Should
This article, written from a teacherโs perspective, explores the idea that increasing student achievement may lie in teachers awareness of...
If Youโre Serious About Designing Edtech Solutions, Start with the Learners
This article, written from the perspective of a Learning, Design, and Technology graduate student, details a five-step human-centered design process for classroom...
Making Students Partners Rather Than Pawns in the Change Process
What if we had a window into the thoughts and beliefs of students experiencing the transition to a student-centered model? ...
Deeper Learningโfor Teachers
This article discusses project-based learning for teacher professional development. It details the PD project conducted by teachers and coaching teams at...
7 Tips for Planning a Makerspace
This article offers seven practical tips for creating a makerspace using examples from experts who share insights on planning and execution....
What Learning to Code Means for Students
โCoding is the new literacy. To thrive in tomorrowโs society, young people must learn to design, create and express themselves...
Personalized Learning in Practice: How a Risk-Taker Tailored Learning in Her District
This in-depth article, from EdWeekโs Leaders to Learn from series, features Patricia Deklotz, superintendent of the Kettle Moraine School District in Wales,...
Black History Month Resources for the Classroom
This compilation brings together 20 lesson plans and resources created by PBS NewsHour Extra to help teachers quickly find high-quality...
An Overview of Personalized Learning for Schools, Families & Communities
This report provides an overview of student-centered learning for families and community members, using parent-friendly language, short explanations, and many...
Student Voice in Practice: Burlington High School Help Desk
Students wrote resources for others to help with tech support for google, iPads, education apps, dropbox, and digital storytelling.
Research Collaborative: Where the Journey Goes from Here
In my previous post, I wrote about the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative and its goal to break down silos so...
How Lesson Imaging Brings Math and Science Instruction Into Focus
This article, written by an associate professor of mathematics instruction, details the student-centered lesson planning strategy called โlesson imagingโ. The author...
Can Micro-credentials Create More Meaningful Professional Development For Teachers?
This article shares anecdotes and research to support the move towards micro-credentials for educators, a way to personalize professional development....
How Do We Ensure Personalized Learning is a True Equity Initiative?
This article discusses the importance of addressing equity as schools embrace personalization. The authors assert that while personalized learning has great potential,...
Can Blended Learning Improve Equity in One of Nationโs Most Diverse Districts?
This article details the shift of New Jerseyโs Morris School District (MSD) to a blended-learning model in an effort to meet diverse student...
Evaluating News and Other Sources
This resource combines the short online course, Evaluating News and Other Sources, designed to help older high school and college...
Leading Change: The Emerging Human Capital Landscape in Personalized Learning Initiatives
This report describes findings from a study of the human capital landscape in the 21 districts participating in the U.S....
Making Learning Personal for All: The Growing Diversity in Todayโs Classroom
The report makes the case for the need to shift to personalized learning to serve growing numbers of diverse learners....
How Personalized Learning Starts with Less Teacher Talk, More Student Voice
This was originally posted on Edsurge on January 25, 2017 as part of the EdSurge Fifty States Project. Two of my students...
Designing for Equity in Next Generation Learning
This toolkit was created to provide support and inspiration to educators and community members who wish to have more meaningful,...
Guide to the Competency-based Learning Survey for Students
This guide includes the โCompetency-based Learning Survey for Studentsโ and additional instructions to support its implementation. The survey was designed...
Can Administrators Lead Innovation Without Blended Learning Experience?
This podcast, part of the Edsurge on Air series, is an interview with Stepan Mekhitarian, the Blended Learning Coordinator for the Los...
Bronx Arena High School Multimedia Monograph
This multimedia monograph features an innovative, competency-based school serving historically marginalized youth in New York City.
A Model For Student Voice
โWhen students are encouraged to think and learn outside the box, not only do they become more involved in their...
See How States Plan to Approach Equity
This article summarizes recommendations from the report โLeading For Equity: Opportunities for State Education Chiefsโ, released by The Council of Chief...
Research Collaborative Seminar: Encouraging and Sustaining Competency-Based Learning Environments
The January installment of the Research Collaborative Seminar series features Paul Leather, former New Hampshire Deputy Commissioner of Education, Research...
What is Unique About the Researcherโs Role in Measuring Blended Learning Success
In this blog post, Saro Mohammed challenges researchers to go beyond simply gathering evidence. She argues that education researchers, especially...
Education Reimagined Website
Education Reimagined is an initiative of The Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, a nonprofit focused on solving social challenges through...
Ensuring Rhode Island Teachers and Students Thrive
We know from research that investing in the development of teacher leadership results in gains in student learning, increases in...
Three Ways Student Voice Can Elevate Motivation and Engagement
If you spend enough time in middle school or high school classrooms, you know teachers work hard to keep students...
Whatโs the Deal with Proficiency Based Learning?
This whiteboard presentation gives an excellent overview of proficiency-based learning for students, narrated by students. It outlines key reasons students...
Flexible Pathways to Graduation: Six Vermont High School Students
This video, created by UP for Learning as part of their Communicating School Redesign efforts (partnering with Ned), features six Vermont high...
CTE in High School: Does It Improve Student Outcomes?
In this article, researchers Shaun Dougherty and Dara Zeehandelaar describe results from their study showing positive outcomes for students who...
Students at the Center: Personalized Learning with Habits of Mind
This archived webinar from the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) discusses the book Students at the Center: Personalized...
Defining Student-Centered Learning
This two-page overview provides short descriptions of the main tenets of student-centered learning, including student ownership.
Case Stories From One Middle Schoolโs Efforts for Partnership
This article is written by Students at the Center Distinguished Fellow Dr. Frank LaBanca, principal of Westside Middle School Academy Magnet,...
A Close-Up Look at How a Workshop Framework Can Enhance Personalized Learning
Originally posted on CompetencyWorks, January 19, 2017. When I started teaching first grade over twenty-five years ago, I quickly realized...
Helping Struggling Students Build a Growth Mindset
This article, written by two veteran researchers of brain and education science, presents five strategies to help struggling students develop positive...
EdSurge on Air
These podcasts by EdSurge are curated on topics related to education technology. The podcast episodes feature news updates, interviews, and...
States Capacity a Nagging Issue as ESSA Gears Up
This article discusses whether state lawmakers are ready for implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The article raises...
How Design Thinking Became a Buzzword at School
This article discusses the lack of clarity around the concept of design thinking. Confusion around the topic is not surprising...
Designing New School Models: A Practical Guide
This school design guide, written by Springpoint, a group of school design experts, outlines a student-centered approach to designing innovative...
Coding in the Classroom: Six Tips to Get Even Reluctant Teachersโand StudentsโStarted
This article shares actionable approaches to getting started with coding in the classroom. It identifies why coding is important on...
Breaking Down Silos with the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative
Hereโs an alarming thought: What if our educational research questions, policies, and practices sometimes arise as much from ignorance as...
The EdSurge Guide to Becoming a Future Ready Leader
This guide from EdSurge is designed to help superintendents and district leaders plan for and implement personalized learning. It is...
Will Blended Learning Fulfill its Disruptive Potential?
In this opinion piece, Thomas Arenett explores blended learning and the concept of disruptive innovation, a theory of change and...
If You Do Any of These Four Activities in Your Classroom, Youโre Already Personalizing Learning
In this article, a fourth-grade teacher discusses four teaching strategies that can personalize learning experiences for elementary students: passion projects,...
What Should I Buy for My New Makerspace? A Five-Step Framework for Making the Right Purchases
In this article, Laura Flemming, teacher and media specialist, discusses how to order equipment and materials for a makerspace in...
The Role of Performance Monitoring in Competency-Based Education
This blog post is the seventh in a blog series by Getting Smart on strategies to encourage students to reflect on...
Teachers at the Center: Honing the Craft of Student-Centered Math Instruction
Student-centered teaching is complex, demanding work. It requires teachers who are curious and have an unwavering commitment to helping all...
Our Top 16 from 2016
As the excitement of the ball dropping and the yearโs end fades into a cold and dreary January (at least...
10 Trends of Personalized Learning in 2017
This article shares predictions for 10 trends in personalized learning in 2017, based on research, reoccurring or most talked about...
Under the Hood of Personalized Learning: A New Hampshire Teacher of the Year Explains
In this opinion piece, Kim Carter, a Students at the Center Distinguished Fellow, and 1996 New Hampshire Media Educator of the...
Five Things You Need to Know About New Hampshireโs Completion-Based Funding Model
This article describes five key findings from a Center for Innovation in Education report on a New Hampshire completion-based funding...
21 Tips for Connecting Learners to Their Community
This blog explores the importance of place and community-based approaches to learning and offers tips on implementation from the authorโs experiences...
XQ Expert Series: Technology and Learning for an Interconnected World
This video podcast series, created by XQ America, a national movement to rethink high school, and hosted by Michelle Cahill,...
LEAP Personalized Learning Framework
This tool, created by LEAP Innovations, is an interactive framework for personalized learning geared towards educators ready to embrace new teaching methods....
The Shifting Paradigm of Teaching: Personalized Teaching According to Teachers
This report, based on interviews with teachers, instructional coaches and principals from KnowledgeWorks and the National Commission on Teaching and...
Winooski Middle/High School Tackles Equity in Personalization
As one of the schools participating in The Growing Equity Together Project, inspired by Sarah Bertucciโs Deeper Learning and Equity...
Understanding Blended Learning Through Innovative Professional Development
This short article identifies common pitfalls in professional development (PD) around blended learning and suggests concrete steps to improve PD...
A Learner-Centered System Student Experience
This graphic presents a story of a typical day in the life of a fictional student, Katrina, at the age...
Beginning Your Journey to a More Learner-Centered Classroom
In this article on pages 7-10 in Issue 17 of Pioneer, Dr. Jim Rickabaugh, the Senior Advisor to the Institute...
CBAM: Stages of Concern About Personalized Learning
This article introduces the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) which provides a structure for understanding and addressing the concerns of...
Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance, A Critical Literature Review
This frequently-cited report from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research provides a comprehensive review of the connection between...
Starting Small and other Takeaways for Advancing Student-Centered Learning
Last week, I attended the Advancing Student-Centered Learning Forum in Devens, MA. This forum was hosted by the Rennie Center...
Discipline Through a Personalized Learning Lens
This article, written by a former secondary school teacher, shares strategies for harnessing the fundamental principles of personalized learning to...
Internships Arenโt All About Careers
This blog post by Tristen Gamboa, a junior at High Tech High North County presents a studentโs view of the internship...
VR, PBL, and OERs: Four High Hopes for Learning with Edtech in the New School Year
This article highlights four strategies for using technology to improve learning and empower students which the author, Kerry Gallagher, a...
Powerful Leaders: Reflections on Student Voice
I have always been interested in public policy and government. I grew up watching the news on Sunday mornings and...
Research Collaborative Seminar: Rehumanizing Mathematics Education
This Research Collaborative Seminar questions: How can educators rehumanize mathematics learning and establish assessments that serve as both a window and...
The Student-Centered Learning Podcast
Created by Students at the Center Distinguished Fellow Arthur Eduardo Baraf, this podcast explores the many facets of student-centered learning. In...
Why Growth Mindset Isnโt Working in SchoolsโฆYet
In this opinion piece, Rupa Chandra Gupta former Redesign administrator at a California middle school, and a founder of the...
What the Savviest School Administrators Know About Education Technology
This article discusses the challenge administrators face as they choose between a large array of ed technology for their schools....
Glossary of Instructional Strategies
This glossary defines over 1,000 instructional strategies, including many used in student-centered environments. The short entries use simple, clear language....
Ensuring โAnytime Anywhereโ Access in a High-Poverty District
This transcript of an interview with Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services for the Santa Ana Unified School District, David Haglund,...
Why a Schoolโs Master Schedule Is a Powerful Enabler of Change
This KQED MindShift blog article follows the school-wide improvement led by Principal Jerry Smith at Luella High School outside Atlanta,...
Digital Accessibility Toolkit
This toolkit was produced by the Center on Technology and Disability at American Institutes for Research (AIR), in partnership with...
Competency Education and Personalized Learning
This short video produced by KnowledgeWorks provides an introduction to the concepts and need for competency-based learning. The video discusses...
How Lobsters are Keeping Students in School
This article explores the move to a personalized learning program in one small rural community in Maine. Deer Isle-Stonington High...
Civic Engagement in the Digital Age
This video introduces Educating for Democracy in the Digital Age, a partnership between Civic Engagement Research Group, the National Writing...
High Schools Create Career Connections
This article explores a modern approach to career and technical education. Using school examples from all over the country, the...
RadicalMath
This is a resource for educators interested in integrating issues of social and economic justice into their math classes and curriculum....
Launching the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative
Originally Posted on Competency Works, November 11, 2016 There is increasing evidence supporting the growth of student-centered learning (competency-based learning...
EdNews Round-up: Education under a New Administration (Plus Civic Education Resources)
America woke up on Wednesday morning to a new President-elect, and an acknowledgement of a deeply divided country. During the...
The Promise of Personalized Learning in Rural America
This paper explores the application of personalized learning in rural schools, discusses and proposes solutions to the practical and policy...
Can Personalized Learning Work in Rural America?
In this article, the author asserts that personalized learning can help resolve some of the unique challenges that rural schools and...
Goodbye, Long Nights of Lesson Planning: The Secrets to Successful Virtual Co-Teaching
In this article two teachers from different states discuss how they are co-teaching virtually. After meeting at a summer professional...
3 Tips For Introducing Competency-Based Learning Into K-12
This article shares three ways, based on feedback and interviews from teachers and researchers of competency-based learning (CBL), to introduce competency-based learning...
8 Tech Tips for Differentiating in an Inclusion Classroom
In this article, an educator who has worked for ten years with students with disabilities shares eight tips for differentiating in...
Personalized Learning: How Kids are Getting into College by Mastering Their Skills
In this article, Brian Stack, a Principal from New Hampshire, explores parentsโ fears that because colleges do not understand competency...
3 Words to Bring Equity Into Science
This article urges science teachers to look beyond standards to develop engaging, culturally relevant curriculum. Rather than starting with the...
Introducing the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative
Jobs for the Future (JFF), in partnership with the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, announced today the launch of the Student-Centered...
Catalyzing Mastery-Based Learning: NYCโs Mastery Collaborative
This article describes the Mastery Collaborative created by the New York City Department of Education. The Collaborative consists of 40 schools,...
What Happens to Maine Students Who Donโt Meet Proficiency Standards?
This article explores possible impacts of the new Maine state laws that require proficiency-based diplomas for graduation. It discusses the...
Career Academies and Small Learning Communities
This page of the CTE Research Clearinghouse, managed by the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), focuses on career...
Three Videos About The Future of Learning Youโll Want to Watch Now
So much has changed over the past hundred years. Technology has transformed the way we communicate and do business. Weโve...
Desperately Seeking: Culturally Relevant Ideas and Innovation in Education
This article discusses Startup Weekend Education in Providence (SWeduPVD), a design event hosted by the Highlander Institute in collaboration with...
Most Likely To Succeed Videos and Prompts
The film Most Likely To Succeed (MLTS) has been used by many communities as a catalyst for discussion about the...
Going Back to School with the 2016 EdSurge Fifty States Project
This tool, an EdSurge initiative, features articles written by educators and to showcase how they support learning by using technology....
District Conditions for Scale: A Practical Guide for Scaling Personalized Learning
In this toolkit by KnowledgeWorks the authors begin to explore how to move from isolated school models of student-centered learning...
Creating a Buzz with the New Hampshire Manufacturing Partnership
Industry-driven, work-based learning is an important element of an education system that truly prepares students for the real world and...
Putting Students at the Center: Research Shows Student-Centered Approaches Result in Achievement and Engagement
This article, written by President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF), Nicholas C. Donohue, discusses the positive...
Blended Learning Magnifies a Teacherโs Power
In this article, Cindy Elsberry, the former superintendent of Horry County Schools in South Carolina, a high-poverty district which won...
The Conditions Necessary to Move from a Traditional School District to a True Learning Community
This article suggests the key to effective personalized learning is creation of learning communities for both students and adults in...
Pocket Connector: How Texting Helps One High School Teacher Break Barriers and Forge New Bonds with Families
This article describes a unique way one teacher is connecting with parents. ELL teacher, Jessica Lander, uses the free texting...
How One District Improved Its Personalized Learning by Failing Forward
In this article, a professional development provider working with teachers at the Ben Davis Extended Day (BDED) blended learning program...
Place-Based Education: Communities as Learning Environments
This was originally posted on Getting Smart on May 9, 2016 as part of their Place-Based Education blog series. As...
Do Teacher Expectations Matter?
In this discussion paper, researchers from the Brookings Institute examine the causal impact of teacher expectations on student outcomes. The...
Reaching the Tipping Point: Insights on Advancing Competency Education in New England
This paper explores K-12 competency-based education policy and practice across six New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode...
Online Learning Day: 8 Trends Improving Student Options
This article begins with a brief overview of the types of online learning available in states across the country as...
How Kids Learn Resilience
In this article, author Paul Tough asserts that non-cognitive traits or skills like grit, self regulation, optimism, and resilience cannot...
Maine Voices: Casco Bay High Shines as Joyful Example of Learningโs Expedition
In this post, Derek Pierce, Principal of Casco Bay High School in Portland, Maine writes about his schoolโs student-centered program...
A Qualitative Study of Student-Centered Learning Practices in New England High Schools
This report offers a comprehensive analysis of student-centered learning (SCL) approaches in 12 schools across the New England region, highlighting...
Investing in Shared Leadership
This post is part of a series of posts related to the 2015 report, Implementing Competency Education in K-12 Systems: Insights...
America After 3 PM
The hours after school offer opportunities for academic and personal growth outside of the classroom, but many students lack access...
Cracking the Code: Giving More Students Access to Computer Science
This post was originally published on American Youth Policy, July 11, 2016 Long, long ago, on a continent far, far away,...
Stanford Experiments with Virtual Reality, Social-Emotional Learning and Oculus Rift
This article describes the experiments conducted by Stanford graduate students at two California schools to harness new virtual reality technology...
Beware the Iconography Trap of Personalized Learning: Rigor Matters
In this thought-provoking article, Betheny Gross, Senior Analyst and Research Director at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), shares...
Personalized Learning, Maine Style
This article in Education Leadership discusses Maineโs move to proficiency-based graduation requirements and the consequent move to increase personalized learning...
Student-Centered Learning Can Modernize Schools
In this commentary, Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) President and CEO, Nicholas Donohue, begins by stating that our education system...
How Can Schools Prioritize For The Best Ways Kids Learn?
This video and corresponding article from the former English teacher Will Richardsonโs presentation at the 2016 International Society for Technology in...
Can Students Click Their Way to a Better World?
In this article, Chris Berdik, science journalist and author, explores why technology could be the key to better civics education...
Election 2016: Lesson Plans and Digital Resources for Educators
As the campaign for President of the United States enters the homestretch, the Students at the Center Hub team is...
College, Career & Technology Academy Toolkit
This toolkit was designed as a resource for practitioners seeking to prepare off-track, out-of-school youth for postsecondary success. Located in...
Deeper Learning Micro-Credentials
This website allows teachers and educators to earn micro-credentials through submission of their competence. Micro-credentials, an emerging professional development strategy,...
Try: A Little Word Becomes a Big Gift
In this article, a school administrator discusses a simple strategy to encourage personal and professional growth. Recent research indicates the...
Teaching the Whole Child: Instructional Practices That Support Social-Emotional Learning in Three Teacher Evaluation Frameworks
This research-to-practice brief explores teaching practices that promote social-emotional learning (SEL) and positive learning environments.
New Haven Board of Education Reflects on Perceived Success of โStudent Voiceโ
This article in the New Haven Register, discusses the impact that Kimberly Sullivan, inaugural student board member, has had on...
Constant Learning and Creative Response: Charting the Course in Personalized Learning
In this article, guest bloggers Janice Vargo and Mike Wolking from Education Elements discuss the ways their organization is helping...
How Teacher-Created Free Online Resources Are Changing the Classroom
In this blog post, Katrina Schwartz, a San Francisco-based journalist, explores why some teachers are putting down the textbooks and...
Messages Made Simple: Communications Toolkit for Expanded Learning
This messaging toolkit is for organizations that use expanded learning to improve opportunities and outcomes for youth. It builds on...
The Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators
This toolkit, Design Thinking for Educators, introduces the concept of design thinking to help educators, school, and district leaders create...
How to Help Principals Do a Better Job? Train Their Bosses
This article discusses the changing role and new demands on principals. Districts nationwide are trying to figure out how to...
Career And Technical Education: Boom Or Bust?
This article discusses the history of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and the current debates around it through an interview with Anthony...
Will Eliminating the โFโ Eliminate Bad School Design?
In this article, Julia Freeland Fisher, Director of education research at the Clayton Christensen Institute discusses the possible effects of...
Personalizing 21st Century Education: A Framework for Student Success
This book, Personalizing 21st Century Education: A Framework for Student Success, begins with a manifesto for change, emphasizing the significance...
Connecting Ed and Tech: Partnering to Drive Student Outcomes
This case study describes the solution one charter school found to help scale up their personalized learning model through a...
Five Time-Saving Strategies for the Flipped Classroom
In this article, education professor and owner of FLIP It Consulting, Barbi Honeycutt, addresses a major concern of many educators...
Notes from the Field: Personalized Learning
This blog series was originally posted on August 31, 2016 by The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE). Students at...
Making Blended Work
This paper captures conversations on blended learning and presents actionable suggestions for districts to follow on their own paths to...
Rhode Island's Young Voices for Education Reform
My passion for a good quality education started in middle school. I went to the Gordon School, a small private...
A Space to Be Heard
A student Salim Salim reflects on his experience and participation at the Big Picture Learning conference and what he learned.
Why Student Voices Matter
Originally posted on ewa.org on August 11, 2016 Hereโs why I attended this yearโs Education Writers Association National Seminar: As...
International Institute for Restorative Practices and SaferSanerSchools
The International Institute for Restorative Practices is a graduate school that offers professional development opportunities and resources related to restorative...
Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: Summary Findings from Interviews with Experts
This report provides an overview of the rise and reasons for the use of restorative justice in schools and a...
Center for Restorative Justice and the Institute for Restorative Schools
This website offers programming in restorative practices for all members of the school community โ teachers, administrators, support staff, SROs,...
Student Success Skills
This tool is designed to teach students cognitive, social, and self-management skills. The program, from Student Success Skills, can be led...
Social Emotional Learning in High School: How Three Urban High Schools Engage, Educate, and Empower Youth
This research series from the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education documents practices at three small urban high schools...
โRestorative Justiceโ A New Approach to Discipline at School
This radio report is the second of a two-part series on restorative justice, aired on NPRโs All Things Considered radio...
Implementing Restorative Justice: A Guide for Schools
This guide was created by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for schools in the state of Illinois. It was...
Teaching Restorative Practices with Classroom Circles
This guide was produced by the San Francisco Unified School Districtโs Student, Family, and Community Department, which works to achieve...
American Association of School Librarians Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
The American Association of School Librariansโ (AASL) learning standards offer a vision for teaching and learning to guide the school...
Educatorsโ Social and Emotional Skills Vital to Learning
This article focuses on teachersโ own social and emotional learning. It asserts the importance of social and emotional skills within...
Social and Emotional Learning in Schools From Programs to Strategies
This report explores a more integrated approach to teaching social and emotional skills in schools. While well-implemented SEL programs have...
Why is Student Voice Important in Education? (Video)
This short video produced by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation discusses the importance of including student voice in all aspects...
Putting Students in Charge of Their Own Learning
This post can be originally found on the Education Writers Association website, as part of their Educated Reporter series led by Emily...
Community Engagement and Student-Centered Learning
This video, which is a part of the Community Engagement series by Nellie Mae Education Foundation, discusses the many reasons...
Goodbye, Linear Factory Model of Schooling: Why Learning is Irregular
This article explores three key points to consider as the country is challenged to meet the needs of Generation Z....
Digital Portfolios Position Students for Success in the Workforce
This op-ed, by Heather Hiles founder of Pathbrite, an e-portfolio platform, and someone who has spent her entire professional life committed...
Connecting Learning to Careers
In this article, Hamutal Bernstein, research associate at the Urban Institute, explores the many ways that Connected Learning is a...
Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education
American Institutes for Research (AIR) recently released Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices...
Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education
This study by the American Institutes for Research rigorously examined the relationship between competency-based education (CBE) practices and changes in...
Recognizing the Importance of Support Staff in a Student-Centered School
Student support staff (school counselors, case managers, mentors, social workers etc.) are rarely central to education reform conversations, but in...
Popularity of Ed Tech Not Necessarily Linked to Productsโ Impact
This article explores the different methods of using technology and whether those methods are improving our schools or hindering them....
National Youth Leadership Council
This organization works to promote service learning in schools across the country. Through service-learning projects, students apply academic skills and knowledge...
Generator School Network
The online community, managed by the National Youth Leadership Council, is for educators and youth interested in service-learning experiences that...
Restorative Justice: A Different Approach to Discipline
This article, from a teacherโs perspective, provides an overview of the rise of restorative practices in schools. It then discusses...
The Impact of Enhancing Studentsโ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions
This research report, published in 2011, is a frequently cited document in the field of social-emotional learning (SEL). The study...
School Counselors Embrace Social Emotional Learning
This article asserts that social emotional learning can provide a unifying vision, structure, processes, and assessment tools to assist school...
Social-Emotional Learning Assessment Measures for Middle School Youth
This 2011 research review was designed to assist middle school educators with choosing appropriate measures of social and emotional skills...
โPaying attention?โ an App Asks โ Helping Kids Monitor Their Own Classroom Behavior
This article describes an app called I-Connect designed to help students monitor their motivation and attention to tasks. The article...
Six Seconds: Emotional Intelligence Network
This organization is committed to helping people improve emotional intelligence (EQ), the ability to tune in, connect, and respond. The...
School-Family Partnership Strategies to Enhance Childrenโs Social, Emotional, and Academic Growth
This article provides an overview of five essential social emotional (SEL) competencies. The authors assert the importance of family-school partnerships...
American School Counselors Association
This organization, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), represents professional school counselors in all school settings from elementary to college campuses....
Education World Counseling Corner
This section of the Education World website is designed for counselors. The Counselors Corner includes links to articles and additional...
ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success: K-12 College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Every Student
This set of standards from the American School Counselors Association describes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students need to achieve...
The Librarians Active Learning Institute at Dartmouth College
The Librarians Active Learning Institute (LALI) is a two-day institute held yearly at Dartmouth College. The institute works to help...
Instructional Strategies for Library and Information Professionals
This online course was designed as a graduate course offered at Indiana University-Indianapolis, but all of the online videos and...
American Association of School Librarians
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) is the only national professional membership organization focused on school librarians and the school library...
21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons
This article describes the shift in the role of libraries in the 21st century and the shift in the design...
Engaging Students: What I Learned Along the Way
In this article a veteran educator shares insights about the importance of creating a positive classroom culture.
6 Things to Look For in Districts Ripe for Community Engagement
Instead of selecting districts through a traditional request-for-proposals process, we conducted a series of conversations with a cross-section of leaders.
Smithsonian Learning Lab
The Learning Lab invites users to explore interests, discover new ideas and knowledge, and create personalized collections and resources.
Teachers Still Struggling to Use Tech to Transform Instruction
The results of the survey suggested that teachers still face systemic challenges in adapting their instruction to new technologies in transformative...
Measures that Matter Most
Next Generation Learning Challenges represents some of the nation's most innovative school models in both the charter and district sectors.
Competency-Based Education at Work: An In-Depth Look
This brief provides an in-depth look at the ins and outs of competency-based education as well as stories from competency-based...
Project-Based Learning at Harmony Public Schools
This brief provides an overview of Harmony Public School's project-based learning vision, design, and approach.
Exhibition Night: Where Students Take Ownership of Learning
Exhibition Night gives the community a chance to witness a variety of student-centered experiences in Pittsfieldโs schools.
5 Big Ways Education Will Change By 2020
This article asks innovative companies in education about the future of the classroom, and shares their predictions for the next five years.
Common Instructional Framework
These 6 instructional strategies succeed because they engage all students in learning and require them to take an active role...
Digital Badging and Micro-Credentialing
This paper explores what badging represents for educators dedicated to student-centered learning with the help of voices involved.
'Making' as a (Student-Centered) Approach to Learning
Maker projects combine arts with technology in non-traditional ways. As new technologies are becoming increasingly accessible, the movement has, too.
8 Ways Blended Districts Can Implement a Competency-Based Structure
This blog post discusses how districts implementing blended learning can go further to become truly competency-based.
Misconceptions About Competency Education Could Undermine Equity
This article explores implications of the misunderstanding and misuse of terms within competency-based and blended learning.
Whatโs Next for Maker Education
This guide shares tips for existing maker programs, and information on how to get started designing and implementing your own...
What a Blended Learning Classroom Really Looks Like
In education, personalization has been overlooked and undervalued. Education is the only market that forces its consumer to consume a...
Students Take Charge
This article takes a look at two models of assessment in student-centered classrooms to find out whatโs working.
College, Career, and Civic Readiness: The Case of the Missing โCโ
This article discusses his observation of the neglect of the idea of "civic readiness" in conversations about preparing students to...
Seizing the Moment: Realizing the Promise of Student-Centered Learning
This policy brief presents recommendations for building public will in support of student-centered learning.
Defining and Visioning Blended Learning %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%
This article by The Learning Accelerator (TLA), is an expansive, experience-informed vision for blended learning.
How to Plan and Create True Flexible Learning Spaces
Teachers who are moving to a blended learning paradigm soon realize that their traditional physical โclassroomsโ need modification.
Authorโs Purpose: Analyzing & Adapting Texts
Analyzing, Composing, and Performing literatureโa method used in the classroom when assigning students a paper or book to read.
Supporting Language & Content Learning in Math
Patricia Segura walks viewers through the importance of supporting student learning through language and mathematics.
When Kids Lead Their Parent-Teacher Conferences
Student-led parent-teacher conferences gice students more freedom to connect their individual interests to their academic learning and future goals.
Let Teachers Design Better Ways to Use School Time
Merely adding instructional time to do the usual learning activities leads to student and teacher fatigue.
Redesigning School Accountability and Support %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%
Redesigning accountability systems create educational environments that produce equitable learning opportunities.
Getting Creative About Credit %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%
An innovative expanded learning opportunity program helps Woonsocket high school students work toward positive futures.
The Culture of Data Use Workshop Toolkit
The Culture of Data Use Workshop Toolkit helps school and district teams apply research to practice as they establish data...
Five Things for Big Districts to Think About
Much of the districts making the transition to competency-based education have been small districts. But what about bigger districts?
Massachusetts Personalized Learning Network
As the student population grows more diverse, a one-size-fits-all educational model can no longer prepare students for life in the...
Breaking Ground for Personalized Learning in Big Districts
This district's teachers and partners are advancing our understanding of how we can introduce personalized, competency-based education to large districts.
Social Learning Vs. Informal Learning: Can You Tell The Difference?
In this article, Christopher Pappas delves into the differences between social learning and informal learning.
The Benefits and Challenges of Student-Designed Learning
Science Leadership Academy students have many opportunities to choose how and what they investigate in their classes.
#RealTalk: Providence Students Raise Their Voices
The Providence Youth Caucus gathered to develop solutions to improve education in their public schools, which they would share to...
An Open Letter from the Providence Youth Caucus
The Providence Youth Caucus unites youth leaders from of strong youth organizations to push for changes in schools.
Making the Shift from Community Engagement to Community Collaboration
This article explores how leaders are helping to pilot a new way of working with the community that embraces collaboration...
The Importance of High-School Mentors
Education experts and nonprofits are embracing the idea that a broad web of formal and informal role models is key.
Matching Edtech Products With Neurological Learning Goals
Edtech refers to educational technology. It includes online learning activities like games, websites, computer-assisted instruction, etc.
Call for Shift to Personalized Learning in Public Policy Agenda
There are three themes to advocate in 2016: equity, excellence, and innovation, with an emphasis on seeing a shift to...
Developing a Sense of Agency
Studentsโ desire to help solve meaningful problems is too often hidden by the assumption that the teacher needs always to...
The Difference Between Blended Learning and Personalized Learning, and Why it Matters
Personalized learning is focused on, paced for, and led with the learner. It's designed around the individual learnerโs needs, strengths,...
Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning
This report provides state policymakers with an overview of the policies that support student-centered personalized learning.
Driving Personalized Learning in Rhode Island
At the Highlander Institute in Rhode Island, we help schools and districts make these transformations and provide learners with support.
When Celebrating Learning Differences is at the Heart of School Culture
Individualized Education Programs make personalization on a large scale easier and more accessible to all students.
Blended, Project-Based, and Social Emotional Learning
This article explores how Thrive Public Schools in San Diego is creating a student-centered learning environment for its students.
Can an Increase in Empathy Lead to a Drop in Suspensions?
Increasing teachersโ sense of empathy for their students, may lead to a drop in suspensions without any formal changes in...
How do students learn best? -- Reflections from Deeper Learning 2016
High Tech High is a charter school centered around personalization, adult world connection, common intellectual mission, and teachers as designers.
Scholars: Better Gauges Needed for โMindset,โ โGritโ
This article explores the concepts of "growth mindset" and 'grit," the reasons why these concepts are vital to modern education.
Deeper Learning Under ESSA: Seven Priorities
My colleagues and I have engaged in conversation to come up with guiding principles for school improvement in the years...
Nellie Mae Education Foundation Speakers Bureau on Education Innovation
Student-centered learning requires the collaboration of educators, communities, and students to prepare young people for successful futures.
Opportunities for Adolescent English Learners in Flipped Classrooms
Flipped learning can be utilized to improve the language and content acquisition of adolescent English language learners.
How Effective Are โCareer Academiesโ?
While schools blend traditional and technical courses to smooth the transition from high school to working life, they may be...
How Tech Sector Principles Can Revolutionize Education Workplaces
This opinion piece by Barnett Berry examines three key ways the technology sector can help schools maximize teacher expertise.
Nurturing Growth Mindsets: Six Tips From Carol Dweck
One of the biggest misconceptions is thinking that boosting studentsโ mindsets is simply a matter of praising effort rather than...
Signature Experiences: The Moments We Fall in Love With Learning
Signature experiences contain a vital set of insights for those who are designing โschoolsโ and learning environments.
The College and Career Readiness of U.S. High School Graduates
Policy alone is insufficient to ensure that students graduate academically prepared for college and careers.
The Difference Between Being Eligible for College and Ready for College
Many educators are increasingly grappling with how to address social and emotional skills like collaboration and a sense of belonging.
How Do We Measure Social and Emotional Learning?
Right now, there is no practical way for all schools to assess childrenโs social-emotional skills and character development. Or is...
What Can We Learn From First-Generation Adopters?
Those interested in implementing these models need to think hard about how to use scarce dollars so that personalized learning...
Designing and Implementing a Student-Centered ELO Program
The students and staff at the ELO program at Highlander Charter School explore the logistical side of anytime/anywhere learning.
Speeding up High School Reform in New England
While high school graduation rates are high in New England Nicholas Donohue notes that college readiness is not.
Preliminary Implications of Maineโs Proficiency-based Diploma Program
This report was written by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute. It provides commentary and conclusions upon reading the report.
Integrating Individualized Tutorials into an Extended Day
This study showed that two-hour individual tutorials taught by recent college grads increased achievement on 10th grade English exams.
Pittsfield School District Logic Model
The logic model develops civic responsibility, study skills, social-emotional learning, and systems support for student centered learning.
A Guide To Understanding The Pittsfield School District Redesign
This article outlines the plans of the Pittsfield School District to redesign teaching and learning to become more student centered.
District Redesign Centered around Student Learning
This video introduces the ideas involved in a district-wide shift to student centered learning and explores the efforts undertaken.
What is Flipped Learning
This video discusses the four pillars of an effective flipped classroom and the schedule of activities in this type of...
Our Schools Our Future
Our Schools Our Future is a community group in Sanford, Maine with the mission to partner with parents, students and...
Deeper Learning Equity Fellows
This website provides information about the Deeper Learning Equity Fellowship leadership program. The program was founded to increase access to...
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This two page overview gives an excellent definition of flipped learning, suitable for introducing the concept to any audience.
Flipped Learning Toolkit: Getting Everyone on Board
This tool features a short video that provides teachers with tips to help educate about the flipped classroom teaching approach...
Four Steps to Transforming a School
This article looks at four practices that create a transformational school environment where students exhibit agency by taking ownership of...
Re-Energize Your Classroom in the New Year
This article is a composite of great ideas that you can use to change things up for the second part...
A Vision for Education in Massachusetts in the Next 20 Years
This report is a call to revamp the education system in Massachusetts in order to lead the world in preparing...
Coalition of Essential Schools
This organization is a diverse network of schools committed to creating and sustaining personalized, equitable, and intellectually challenging schools.
New England Secondary School Consortium
The New England Secondary School Consortium is a regional partnership that promotes innovations in the design of secondary education across...
A State Policy Agenda for Transformational Change
The report argues that campuses must do more than establish metrics for success, change transfer policies, provide better academic advising, and...
Using Real-Time Labor Market Information to Build Better STEM Pathways
This report encourages states to support their colleges as they use high-quality, real-time labor market information to align the creation...
Capacities Required for Scaled Developmental Education Reform
This brief draws on the experience of four states that are among a very small number of states engaged in...
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The nation cannot allow college placement policies, processes, and instruments to undermine promising efforts to increase student success in mathematics...
Innovations in Developmental Education Redesign
This report highlights the processes colleges consider when implementing developmental education reform at scale, and captures lessons learned throughout the...
ConnectED: Learning Powered by Technology
This website outlines former President Obamaโs 5-year effort called ConnectED, with the goal of providing high-speed broadband and wireless to...
What You Need to Know When Developing Micro-Credentials
The Friday Institute set out to develop micro-credentials as a way to help teachers utilize what they learn to improve...
Why Shouldn't Americans Try to Fix Their Own Teacher Training Issues?
It costs up to $18 billion a year for workshops for teachers, but no matter how much we spend, there's...
What's The Secret to Building the Next Gen High School?
Blackstone Valley Prep High School received a grant from Next Generation Learning Challenges and adopted Summit Basecamp software, a new...
Keeping Pace with K-12 Digital Learning %%sep%% %%sitename%%
The report follows the shift towards more school control of online learning with more emphasis on the users and developers...
Students Help Design Measures of Social-Emotional Skills
Skills like responsible decision making, empathy, and responding to emotions lead to greater engagement in the classroom and improved academic outcomes.
Rigorous Career and Technical Education in Henry County, Georgia
In Henry County, Georgia, career and technical education isnโt easy at all: itโs all about challenging students academically.
High School Dropout Prevention and Reengagement of Youth
The Every Student Succeeds Act includes provisions that support state and district efforts to prevent students from dropping out of...
The Fantastic Ways to Teach Math that Most Schools Arenโt Even Using
This article discusses a list of teaching practices that will support how students learn math, and why it is important for...
Advancing Deeper Learning Under ESSA: Seven Priorities
This report suggests seven ways for supporters of deeper learning to take advantage of the changing education policy landscape.
5 Ways to Partner With Your School Counselor on the Common Core
This article provides five ways for teachers to build productive relationships with school counselors in an effort to enhance progress towards...
Teachers Know Best
This research project's goal is to bring the perspectives of teachers to developers who are creating digital tools for the...
An Exercise in Empathy: When Principals Shadow Students
The Shadow a Student Challenge is an initiative from IDEO, the Stanford d.School and the Hewlett Foundation that hopes to...
5 Best Practices for Building a Competency-Based Education Program
Competency-based education continues to gain credit and momentum in both sectors. Itโs becoming more clear that competencies are key to...
The Overwhelming Act of Assessing Writing in a CBE School
This article explores a writing workshop style that enhances a student's writing experience and can help them go through revisions.
Getting Smart Podcast | The Future of Blended Learning
This podcast looks at the future of blended learning, from the current issue of its multiple definitions, to schools leading...
Student Generated Discussion Spawns Meaningful Learning
This article explores why teachers must show students that they can be trusted by allowing them to take control of their...
Digital Learning DayโBaltimore County Public Schools (Video)
Baltimore County Schools have an initiative which aims to provide 100,000 students with a personal digital learning device by 2018.
Iโm a Teacher Who Hates TechnologyโSo Let Me Design the Products
Ashley Lamb-Sinclair is a teacher who believes that educational technology is more than just something teachers have to juggle.
After Common Core, States Set Rigorous Standards
Despite widespread skepticism, the campaign to implement Common Core State Standards has achieved phenomenal success in state houses across the...
A 50-State Review of Policies on New Educator Induction and Mentoring
This report examines state induction and mentoring program requirements for new teachers and principals, and their mentors.
How Technology Helped a Struggling Newark School
Over 80 percent of Quitman's third and fourth graders were struggling readers. They knew they needed to focus on early...
Learner-Centered Vision Will Frame Next Generation Learning
This article is on the next 20 years of education, framed not by legislation, but by an emerging vision of learner-centered...
Pittsfield Listens!
This organization brings community members together in an authentic way to share ideas to help make Pittsfield, New Hampshire a great...
Parents and Youth for Change
Parents and Youth for Change helps people make change in education by building the power of students and parents to...
Maine Youth Action Network
The Opportunity Alliance provides advocacy, leadership, and support to identify the goals and address the needs of individuals, families, and...
Hartford Public Schools
Hartford Public Schools have established specific goals to see how well each student is progressing so that resources can be put...
The Connecticut YOUTH Forum
This forum is a community outreach program that has been providing opportunities for diverse teenagers to engage with each other...
Getting Smart
Read, watch, and listen to thought-leading perspectives as The Getting Smart Blog features articles on K-12, higher education, and lifelong...
Spotlight on the National Council of Young Leaders
Young people have some of the most valuable input when it comes to education, postsecondary success, and issues that affect...
Incorporating 21st Century Skills in the Classroom
Students at the Center Hub Video Tool Suite explores how teachers incorporate 21st-century skills into core subject classes.
Can a Truly Student-Centered Education Be Available to All?
The majority of the U.S.-based schools are public schools and about 25 percent are public charter schools. Many are in...
Personalized Learning is Not a Product
This article argues the possible down-sides to personalized learning. Plenty of skeptics worry that it could do more harm than...
How Da Vinci Schools Built an Instructional Model Around "Failure"
Giving students the freedom to fail urges them to take ownership of their own learning by centering a curriculum around...
School Counselor Advocacy Letter
The goal of the letter is to talk about the areas in which counselors can be valuable team members in...
Reflection Tool For 21st Century Learning
The Reflection Tool For 21st Century Learning was developed to support deeper learning and computational thinking in C-Town Techโs college-level computer...
Students at the Center Dissemination Guide
The Students at the Center Hub team has produced a Hub user guide to support tech assistance providers and intermediaries...
Innovating Pedagogy 2015
This fourth report proposes 10 innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education.
5 Ways to Build Student Agency in the Digital Age
This article explores the idea that youth today may feel external social forces are controlling their lives much more than...
Instructional Coaching for Secondary School Transformation
Superintendent of Marion, Ohio launched a series of community conversations that led to reforms seeking improved academic performance and workforce...
Implementation Guide: Starting Student Consulting at Your Site
Providing new teachers with feedback from the students helps foster positive classroom relationships which serve as the foundation for deeper learning.
5 Key Ways to Engage Young People in Your Next Organizing Campaign
Chiara Wegener, External Affairs Manager for the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, shares tips for fostering youth engagement online.
Future Ready Learning: Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education
This report sets a national vision for learning enabled by technology through building on the work of leading education researchers;...
Continuum of Voice: What it Means for the Learner
This infographic adapts Students at the Center's Continuum of Voice chart by adding ideas that illustrate each level to support...
Classroom Technology Gets Everyone Out from Behind the Desk
In this article, Steve Zurier explains how Springfield Public Schools in Missouri are using innovative technologies in the classroom.
Education Foundations Push to Expand โCompetency-basedโ Learning
Former Gov. Jeb Bushโs education reform foundations advocates for policies that would allow students to advance academically based on whether...
How the School Library Helps Build Strong Blended Classes
This article describes 10 ways White Bear Lake High School teachers and the school library are working together to enhance...
Online Learning in Public Schools: Data from States and Districts
This blog post looks at the data on public schools from several states and districts.
Emerging Trends, Policy Considerations, and Questions for the Future
This article explores the intersection and relationship between afterschool and competency-based learning and highlights future trends.
10 Trends to Personalized Learning in 2016
Personalized learning is happening now, yet there are still different definitions for it and some have concerns about what it...
Teaching Differently in Competency-Based Schools
This book explores learning to become a competency-based educator and the challenges most teachers will face.
When Restorative Justice in Schools Works
This article outlines an alternative discipline program- restorative justice which is gaining popularity in public schools.
How do I Design Relevant and Engaging Learning Experiences?
Suzie Boss explains how real-world projects motivate students while teaching relevant content that puts students on the path to citizenship.
Breaking Free from Myths About Teaching and Learning
This bookpromptly dispels harmful untruths that have inhibited student learning for decades and offers a wealth of ideas for combating...
School Spotlight: Portland Arts & Technology High School
"What makes us different is that we are a student-centered learning environment driven by our students and their choices and...
Four Myths About Learning Styles Debunked
This article debunks learning style myths and includes suggestions for how multiple learning styles can be accepted and celebrated.
"Are We Teaching STEM Wrong?" Highlights from Solve Talks at Google
As many of these panels do, the conversation moved past STEM as the main topic to a more general discussion...
Celebrating School Counselors
Learn about the various ways counselors, and other student support staff, add tremendous value to a learning community.
Center on Reinventing Public Education
This organization is a research and policy analysis center developing system-wide solutions for Kโ12 public education.
Reach Higher Initiative
This initiative is the former First Lady Michelle Obamaโs effort to inspire every student in America to take charge of...
JumpRope
This organization helps educators implement standards-based grading in every classroom through innovative assessment and feedback.
Smarter Schools Project
The Smarter Schools Project hopes to spark a conversation among parents, educators, and innovators about their tech goals in education.
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
This organization is committed to developing networks of ideas, individuals, and institutions to advance teaching and learning.
Games And Learning (Dot Org)
This organization increases the amount of information available for those interested in creating new educational games for children and young...
Future Ready Schools
This organization maximizes digital learning opportunities and helps schools move quickly toward preparing students for college, a career, and citizenship.
A Visit to YouthBuild Bostonโs Designery
The Designery program provides a space for high school students from the Boston area to learn about urban architecture while...
Individual Learning Plans For College And Career Readiness
This report highlights promising state- and school-level practices using individual learning plans to prepare students for success beyond high school.
Diploma Plus
Personalized learning is a systematic strategy to create equitable education conditions, access, and outcomes that enable underserved youth to complete...
Learn About BDEA From Our Students
Boston Day and Evening Academy was designed to serve students that are over age, have previously dropped out, or have...
BPS Family Learning Guides
These guides provide detailed descriptions of what children should know by the end of the school year in language arts,...
What is Competency-Based Education?
This one-page overview of โcompetency-based educationโ explains the differences between this and a more traditional approach to student assessment and...
National Equity Project
This organization strives help educators, administrators, and community leaders build the culture, conditions, and competencies needed to increase equity and excellence...
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center addresses the challenges of educating children in the face of the changing media landscape.
Education Commission of the States
Education Commission of the States (ECS) provides state policy makers advice on policy plans and proposed legislation and more.
Our Path to Personalized Learning
Our Piece of the Pie (O.P.P.)โs Path Academy in Windam, Connecticut gives the community an inside view of blended learning...
Learn About Deeper Learning in American Secondary Schools
Research into the deeper learning movement in historical context and research into schools that are embracing deeper learning for students.
Students at the Center: TEDx Talk by Nick Donahue
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to education, schools need student-centered strategies to help learners reach their highest potential.
Reflections on Student-Centered Learning
The classroom is intentionally not 1:1, and as a result the 25 must determine how to divide into productive collaborative...
Understanding Technology for Student-Centered Learning
Educators and leaders have adopted and implemented a range of technology supports to help deepen student-centered learning opportunities.
Nellie Mae Education Foundation Statement on ESSA
The new law holds great promise for advancing public education, as one of its explicit aims is to grow, spread...
Effective Schools for Deeper Learning: An Exploratory Study
This report proposes one strategy by which to strengthen the nascent research base on deeper learningโs implications for high school...
Teaching Decisions That Enable Students to Learn Deeply
Deeper teaching refers to the kinds of instructional strategies and moment-by-moment teaching decisions that enable students to learn deeply.
Deeper Learning for Young Immigrants and English Language Learners
The strengths that "English language learners" (EELs) and immigrants bring with them to school tend to be well aligned with...
Robotics, Coding, & Student-Centered Learning: A Studentโs Perspective
Computer Science Education Week begins next week (December 7-13). Tens of millions of students will participate in the Hour of...
Virtual Viewpoints: Roberto Gonzalez, STEAM Box
This episode is the fourth in our series documenting the Fuse Architect Project, a collaboration between the Nellie Mae Education...
The challenge of โthinking outside of the boxโ while existing inside the box
In education as in other sectors, there exists this buzz phrase โ โthinking outside the box.โ While so commonly...
Reflections on Student-Centered Learning Part 1- Student Perspective
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) hosted their annual Symposium in Orlando, FL. last week. I attendedโalong with...
Casco Bay High School: The What and HOW of Learning
Originally posted on CompetencyWorks on November 23, 2015 This post is part of the series Road Trip to Maine. This...
Video Gaining as Key Tool in Teacher-Learning Plans
This article discusses the increase of video as a tool for improving and refining classroom practice for educators. Included in...
Watch Lectures at Home, do Homework in Class
This article highlights blended learning classrooms at Revere High School in Revere, Massachusetts. According to the Revere High principal Mr....
Making Learning Whole: How Seven Principles of Teaching Can Transform Education
This book focuses on how teaching any subject at any level can be made more effective if students are introduced...
Partnership for Student Success: Providing Youth with Quality Programs Through the FY2013 Quality Enhancements in After School and Out of School Grant
This report documents the After School and Out of School Time (ASOST) Quality Enhancement Grant (line item 7061-9611) that provides...
The Afterschool and Out-of-School Time Coordinating Council: A Report to the Governor, House and Senate Comittee on Ways and Means, and Joint Committee on Education
This report details the need for more coordination of state and federal funding streams and the implementation of comprehensive policies...
Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning
This report examines achievement in 62 public charter and district schools that are pursuing a variety of personalized learning practices,...
What Are Teachersโ and School Leadersโ Major Concerns About New Kโ12 State Tests?
This report shares U.S. principalsโ and teachersโ main concerns about testing, drawing upon new survey tools for understanding educatorsโ perspectives...
Competency-Based Education in Three Pilot Programs
This research brief summarizes findings of the RAND evaluation of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundationโs Project Mastery grant program, which...
Measuring Hard-to-Measure Student Competencies
This report provides guidelines to promote thoughtful development of practical, high-quality measures of interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies that practitioners and policymakers...
The iNACOL State Policy Frameworks 2015: 5 Critical Issues to Transform K-12 Education
This policy brief from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) provides concrete, actionable recommendations for state policymakers seeking...
Design Thinking in Schools: โYou canโt make school better without student voice.โ
Have you thought about bringing design thinking to your school or district? One of the major foundations for the...
Putting โCareerโ in โCollege and Career Readinessโโ Anytime, Anywhere Learning and the Value of Apprenticeships
The United States is investing in apprenticeship, as well as expanding the scope of careers covered under the registered apprenticeship...
Student-Centered Classrooms Foster Civic and Career Readiness
The skills employers want in their employees align with the skills learners practice in a student-centered learning environment.
STEM in Afterschool and Summer Learning: Issue Brief
This issue brief explores the role of after school and summer programs in building skills and interest in STEM fields....
Advancing Competency-Based Pathways to College and Career Readiness
This state policy framework, focused on graduation requirements, assessment, and accountability, is designed to assist states in building a policy...
Performance Assessments: How State Policy Can Advance Assessments for 21st Century Learning
This report is intended to familiarize state boards of education with performance assessments and help state board members and other...
Accountability for College and Career Readiness Developing a New Paradigm
This reportโdue to preparation for new standards under the Common Core and states moving toward creating more aligned systems of...
Smart Parents Want Powerful Learning
This iNACOL presentation by Tom Vander Ark, Carri Schneider, Mary Ryerse, and Bonnie Lathram provides tips and action steps (from...
Measuring What Really Matters
This article proposes the improvement of state accountability systems through the use of performance assessments. They conclude that unlike multiple choice...
Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education
This report focuses on the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators in a select, but varied group of schools that...
Supporting Students: Investing in Innovation and Quality
This report describes the approach of the College Ready group at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It outlines five key design principles...
Necessary for Success: Building Mastery of World-Class Skills โ A State Policymakers Guide to Competency Education
This report by Susan Patrick and Chris Sturgis describes competency-based systems and reforms in districts and schools from Maine to...
An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad
This report by Susan Patrick and Sara Frank Bristow highlights components of competency education in international practice, to inform U.S. policymakers...
A K-12 Federal Policy Framework for Competency Education: Building Capacity for Systems Change
This report provides federal policymakers with a comprehensive vision for supporting state and local efforts to implement student-centered learning. The...
Student-Centered Learning: It Starts With the Teacher
This blog post explores the role of teachers in creating a student-centered classroom. The author discusses the shift from a...
Education Indicators for Maine 2015
In this report from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Educate Maine examines 10 indicators around education access, achievement, and participation...
Integrated STEM Education through Project-Based Learning
This paper outlines the research underlying successful project-based STEM education and refers educators to a unique curriculum that supports teachers...
Talk to Teachers: Students Share How and Why Theyโd Change Education
This article describes a lesson in persuasive writing for high school juniors developed by an Oakland, California teacher. After studying...
To Reform a Struggling High School, try this Rhode Islanderโs Approach
This article describes the work of Principal Alan Tenreiro to turn around Cumberland High School in Cumberland, Rhode Island, improving...
Educate Maine
This organization is a business-led education advocacy organization. Its mission is to champion college and career readiness and increased education attainment....
Expanded Learning Time Innovation in Massachusetts Schools
This video highlights the successes of schools in Massachusetts implementing an expanded day, adding up to 300 hours to the...
Keeping the Focus on Learning in a Tech-Rich Classroom
This article provides concrete steps to keep learning at the center such as dressing learning goals first, scaffolding learning, and assessing...
Searching for Clarity on Formative Assessment
This article explores the various definitions of formative assessment in the field and the impact of differing understanding of the...
Massachusettsโ Plan for Excellence in STEM Education 2.0: Expanding the Pipeline for All
This plan, published in 2013 by Massachusettsโ Governor Deval Patrickโs STEM Advisory Council builds on the first strategic plan written in...
Pittsfield Summer Academies Embrace Learning Outside of the Classroom
Ross Morse, the Community Liaison for Pittsfield School District, shares his involvement as a member of the Design Team...
Students at the Center Hub Recommends: Smart Parents
The Students at the Center Hub team occasionally finds something that makes our lives much easier: a fantastic resource aligned...
Learning While Working: Building 21st Century Competency-Based Apprenticeships
This framework document outlines a set of key steps the National Network of Business and Industry Associations (the National Network) developed to...
Developing Excellent School Principals to Advance Teaching and Learning: Considerations for State Policy
This report emphasizes that every state faces a unique blend of educational, political, and financial circumstances and that, therefore, each...
Making Time for Instructional Leadership
This three-volume report describes the โSAM process,โ an approach that about 700 schools around the nation are using to direct...
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools โ Woonsocket High School and the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center
The only high school in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Woonsocket High School is led by principal Carnell Henderson with a...
Deeper Learning and Equity: Two New Resources
Originally posted on Education Weekโs blog on November 6, 2015 A year and a half ago, in a post to...
Teen Summit & the Clubhouse Network: An Educatorโs Perspective
Since 2002, The Clubhouse Network hosts a Teen Summit where youth from over 90 member Clubhouses in 19 countries around...
Voices on Policy to Promote College and Career Readiness
Originally posted on Education Weekโs blog on November 4, 2015. In October, Jobs for the Futureโs Students at the Center...
Youth Lead the Change โ Participatory Budgeting Boston: A Studentโs Perspective
In January 2014, the City of Boston launched the first youth participatory budgeting process in the United States called Youth...
The Influence of Teaching Beyond Standardized Test Scores
This report is in response to a โneed for more research on the role of school and classroom context in...
Student Voice Professional Development Module
This professional development module was created as part of a partnership between Students at the Center, a Jobs for the Future...
Continuous Improvement in Education
This white paper by Sandra Park, Penny Carver, Lee Nordstrum, and Stephanie Hironaka, provides examples that illustrate how continuous quality improvement methodology is...
Leading the Way Towards a Stronger New England
An announcement from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation The Nellie Mae Education Foundation is embarking on an ambitious new agenda, one...
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This video is performed by a group of second graders at the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Dorchester, Massachusetts after researching...
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This video provides an overview of how a 9th grade biology provided civic service while using the scientific method and problem-solving...
The Eye of the Storm Learning Expedition: Illuminating Standards (Video)
This five minute video documents the class of 2015 at Casco Bay High School for Expeditionary Learning in Portland, Maine who...
13 Tips on Using Social Media for Youth Organizing
This listicle is a part of our growing efforts to increase youth voice on the Hub. Stay tuned for more student-centered...
Using a โGrowth Mindsetโ to help Youth Succeed
Originally posted on Jobs for the Future Failing and under-resourced schools, neighborhoods beset by street violence, lack of job opportunity,...
Extended Learning Opportunities at Pittsfield Middle High School (Video)
This 15 minute video, with support from Nellie Mae Education Foundation and Julie Mallozzi , showcases Pittsfield Middle High School putting...
Inquiry-Based Learning at Pittsfield Middle High School (Video)
In this video, with support from Nellie Mae Education Foundation and Julie Mallozzi, High School English teacher Jenny Wellington and her...
C-Town Summer Bridge Program: A Studentโs Perspective
Andrea Thompson, a freshman at Charlestown High School, shares her involvement as a participant in the C-Town Tech Summer Bridge...
Equal Opportunity for Deeper Learning
Access to a more rigorous curriculum for underserved students can bridge gaps by equipping students with the deeper learning skills.
How School Districts can Support Deeper Learning
This report addresses how district central office can help in school efforts to implement student-centered practices in classrooms.
C-Town Summer Bridge Program: A Teacherโs Perspective
Leah Jaffe, a Charlestown High School teacher, shares her involvement as the coordinator for the C-Town Tech Summer Bridge Program. Be...
Incorporating 21st Century Skills in the Classroom (Video)
This Students at the Center Hub video explores how teachers incorporate 21st century skills into core subject classes. What does...
Building Your Roadmap For 21st Century Learning Environments
Using the Roadmap, educational leaders can determine where their system is and where they need to go in each of...
4 Things Innovative Districts Do To Improve Graduation Rates
This article looks at practices from Digital Promiseโs League of Innovative Schools, a coalition of forward-thinking districts and leaders across the...
6 Strategies to Truly Personalize Project-Based Learning
This article looks at ways project-based learning and personalized learning engage students through authentic work while developing skills for success.
Virtual Video Tours of Next Gen Learning Schools
This set of videos released by Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) tours several innovative schools to see Next Generation Learning...
Empowering Students Through Multimedia Storytelling
This article shares programs and strategies that use multimedia storytelling as outlets for student-voice. Author Michael Hernandez argues that by...
C-Town Summer Bridge Program: A Professorโs Perspective
Jaime Mahoney, an associate professor at Bunker Hill Community College, shares her involvement as an instructor for the C-Town Tech...
Carol Dweck Revisits the โGrowth Mindsetโ
Originally posted on Education Week on September 22, 2015 For many years, I secretly worked on my research. I say...
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools โ Newport Area Career and Technical Center
Led by Director Rob Young, the Newport Area Career and Technical Centerโs (NACTC) program has pockets of student centered...
Preparing Leaders for Deeper Learning
This paper focuses on program design and development for school and district leaders surrounding the creation of sustainable deeper learning...
Six Next-Gen Learning Hubs: Assets, Partners and Challenges
This article highlights six regions (including New England) in the nation that are experimenting with innovative approaches to education reform....
New Blog Series: Students at the Center Everyday
The Students at the Center Hub curates and documents the best student-centered practices online and off to provide the field...
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools โ Central Falls High School
Led by assistant principal Amy Burns and principal Troy Silvia, Central Falls High School (CFHS) is dedicated to helping...
A State Policy Framework for Scaling Personalized Learning
This report identifies strategies to support scaling personalized learning for districts. Developed by KnowledgeWorks, the report focuses on curriculum, assessment,...
4 Ways to Scale Personalized Learning
This article focuses on opportunities to scale personalized learning. The author identifies design elements that support national, district and regional...
District Guide to Blended Learning Measurement
This guide, developed by the Learning Accelerator, helps educators understand and deepen blended learning practice in their schools. Included with...
Three Tips to Pump Up Student Voice in Your Classroom
This article highlights strategies to improve student engagement through developing student voice. The author offers three approaches for supporting youth...
The Learning Policy Institute
This organization is a national education think tank focused on K-12 learning. The Learning Policy Institute conducts, commissions, and communicates...
The Role of Learning Progressions in Competency-Based Pathways
This report focuses on defining learning progressions and learning progressions research, with a particular focus on how state and district...
Voting begins today! 2015 Lawrence W. OโToole Leadership Award
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation is pleased to announce the nominees for the Foundationโs 2015 Lawrence W. OโToole Leadership Award....
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools โ Narragansett High School
Narragansett High School, led by Principal Daniel Warner, is a high performing school located in Narragansett, RI. Principal Warner believes...
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools: 360 High School
A Providence Public School, 360 High School (360) opened its doors in 2015 with 80 students entering 9th grade....
Launching a 100-Year-Old โFadโ: Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-centered Teaching, Part 1
As part of a two-post series, this article overviews a recent gathering of national, state and local leaders from nine...
Virtual Viewpoints Podcast: Pegah Rahmanian, Youth in Action
This episode is the fifth in our series documenting the Fuse Architect Project, a collaboration between the Nellie Mae Education...
Equitable Access to Deeper Learning: A Focus on Students With Disabilities
This article highlights a recent report commissioned by Jobs for the Future (authored by Sharon Vaughn, director of the Meadows Center...
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools โ Central High School
Central High School (Central) is the second school from the Providence Public School District selected for the Fuse Architect...
Introducing the Fuse Architect Schools โ Barrington High School
The only high school within the district of Barrington Public Schools, the school population information for the 2016-17 school...
Virtual Viewpoints Podcast: Emily Zilly and Students, Rogers High School
This episode is the fifth in our series documenting the Fuse Architect Project, a collaboration between the Nellie Mae Education...
State Approaches to Competency-Based Education to Support College and Career Readiness for All Students
This brief provides an overview of competency-based education (CBE). Free from the restraints of a one-size-fits-all approach, CBE provides strategies...
Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-centered Teaching
Gone is the default image of a teacherโan adult lecturing to students seated neatly in rows, assigning the same textbook...
Competency-Based Learning: Definitions, Policies, and Factors Related to Implementation
This report reviews state legislation and education policies related to competency-based learning and graduation requirements.
Students at the Center Research Series
Engaging each student in acquiring the skills, knowledge and expertise needed for success in college and a career.
Fuse Architects Take Off in 2017
What if the best way to make decisions about education technology starts off with not thinking about technology at...
Partner Collaboration Key to Highlander Instituteโs Vision for Fuse Architect Success
As the Highlander Institute embarks on its Fuse Architect initiative with NMEF, six LEAs and seven high schools, collaborations...
Q&A with Rebecca Wolfe, personalized learningโs biggest advocate
What would schools look like if they were designed around the needs of students? Thatโs the question that drives the...
Why Kids Need to Move, Touch and Experience to Learn
This paper is about the effect physical movement can have on the learning process in children. Schwartz stresses how critical it is...
The Underutilized Potential of Teacher to Parent Communication: Evidence from a Field Experiment
This paper documents the findings of a study performed in which teachers and school administrators in a summer high school credit-recovery...
New School Climate Tool Facilitates Early Intervention On Social-Emotional Issues: Bullying And Suicide Prevention
This article discusses a need to develop a more preventative approach, foster pro-social attitudes and a positive school climate, in order...
Highlander Institute Seeks Systems Change through Fuse Architect Initiative
How do you move from a vision for integrated learning systems to classrooms where multiple education technology (edtech) tools...
Virtual Viewpoints Podcast: Paula Dillon, Barrington Public Schools
This episode is the third in our series documenting the Integrated Learning Systems project, a collaboration between the Nellie Mae...
Virtual Viewpoints Podcast: Stephen Osborn, RIDE and Daniela Fairchild, Office of Innovation
Stephen Osborn of the Rhode Island Department of Education and Daniela Fairchild of Rhode Islandโs Office of Innovation provide some...
Getting Started in Education Organizing: Resources and Strategies
This guide provides strategies and resources to support community organizing for education reform. It is designed for community organizations that...
Virtual Viewpoints Podcast: Interview with Lucas Orwig, Nellie Mae Education Foundation
This is the first episode in a series documenting the Integrated Learning Systems project, a collaboration between the Nellie Mae...
Integrated Learning Systems Grant Initiative Webinar Series: Episode One
In the introductory episode of the Integrated Learning Systems Grant Initiative Webinar series, Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, Highlander Institute, and...
Integrated Learning Systems to Support Student-Centered Learning
At the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, weโre committed to creating more equitable and effective education systems โ so that...
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (Aurora Institute)
This organization works to improve student access to personalized, mastery-based educational opportunities through quality online, blended, and competency learning programs....
New York Cityโs School of the Future from Edutopiaโs Schools That Work Series
This group of tools documents the assessment work at School for the Future, a 6-12 grade school in Manhattan. The...
Assessment in 21st-Century Classrooms
This free online learning course is designed for teachers to learn more about assessing 21st century skills. The course follows...
Keeping Pace with K-12 Digital Learning: An Annual Reivew of Policy and Practice (2014)
This report documents the state of digital learning across the country. First the authors report on the types and prevalence...
Students Give Thumbs Up for Brain Based Teaching
This article in The Edmond Sun describes the efforts of a local teacher to make metacognition come alive in her...
โThe Boss of My Brainโ: Explicit Instruction in Metacognition Puts Students in Charge of Their Learning
This article in Educational Leadership, highlights the importance of teaching students of all ages metacognition strategies. It discusses setting the...
Expanding Opportunity: The Potential of Anywhere, Anytime Learning
This issue of the Family Involvement Network of Educators newsletter explores the importance of engaging families in anytime, anywhere learning....
Seeing is Believing: Promising Practices for How School Districts Promote Family Engagement
This report explores the role of districts in promoting family involvement. The report looked at six districts that are working to...
Five Professional Development Resources that Promote Family Engagement
This article provides advice and resources to help schools and community organizations provide high quality professional development around family engagement....
Harvard Family Research Project
This organization seeks to promote family and community involvement in childrenโs education anywhere and anytime they learn, be that in...
A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement
This often-cited report synthesizes over 50 research studies on the impact of family and community involvement on academic outcomes conducted...
Deeper Learning for Students with Disabilities
Educators can implement effective practices for providing deeper learning opportunities for students with disabilities.
SoundOut
This organization works with schools to build student voice through meaningful student involvement. Its website offers many resources for students, teachers,...
PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships: An Implementation Guide
This guide introduces the six standards for family-school partnerships developed by the National Parent Teacher Association. The standards, welcoming all...
Reimagining Parent Engagement in California: Moving from 1.0 to 2.0
This report explores the characteristics of family-friendly schools. It presents clear indicators in key areas: welcoming environment, effective family-school communication, meaningful...
Parents SEE
This 12-week leadership program is for parents in Connecticut. Participants learn how to become partners with schools in developing policies and...
Parent School Partnership Program (MALDEF)
This program established in 1989 by the MALDEF trains parents to become leaders and change agents in their community. The 12-session training...
ASPIRA Parents for Educational Excellence
Since 1961 ASPIRA has been dedicated to improving the education and leadership opportunities for Puerto Rican and Latino youth. ASPIRA...
Building Local Leadership for Change: A National Scan of Parent Leadership Training Programs
This report, while written to inform the development of parent training centers in NYC, provides an excellent overview of four...
A Guide for Parents: Helping Your Child Succeed in School
This short guide, developed in 2006, provides parents with tips to support their childrenโs learning. It addresses relationships, routine, and...
A Parents Guide to 21st Century Learning
This short guide introduces parents to 21st century learning in all grade levels. Through short vignettes it provides examples of...
Know Your Rights/ Derechos Educativos Federales Folleto
Resource from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund so parents know what rights their rights and the rights...
Boston Student Advisory Council Facebook Page
Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) is a student-led organization to empower youth in Boston to have a voice in decision-making....
Student Voice Collaborative
This organization works in NYC to support student involvement in school change. Students from 16 schools come together to support...
Student Voice Matters
This national campaign, launched by Youth on Board, encourages schools to give students opportunities to provide feedback on teacher practice...
Student Experiences with Student Centered Learning
This video series highlights the experiences of students in Meriden Public Schools in Connecticut. The first video provides an overview...
Adobe Youth Voices
Adobe Youth Voices works to engage and inspire youth, aged 13-19, to get involved in their communities and build creative...
Meaningful Student Involvement: Guide to Students as Partners in School Change
From Sound Out, this resource can help educators improve the ways they partner with students to make meaningful changes to...
EdSurge EdTech Index
This index includes hundreds of education technology products. Users can search products by filtering a number of categories including โaudience,โ...
How to Get Your Students to Help You Teach Them Better - For Educators
This short guide features advice on how teachers can listen to students to enhance their teaching, including tips on how...
Youth Involvement in Evaluation Research in Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluations
This article examines what current youth as researchers projects really look like. It describes the findings from focus groups and...
Turn Up the Volume: The Students Speak Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to help any school or district conduct focus group research with students to learn their opinions...
Student Voice Twitter Conversations
This Twitter feed created by a group of students in 2012: Student Voice (#stuvoice) hosts weekly conversations for students, teachers, policymakers, and...
Youth Adult Partnership Rubric
This detailed rubric assesses the implementation level of several aspects of effective youth-adult partnerships. It can be used as a...
Education Change and Youth Engagement: Strategies for Success
This clear, concise guide provides an overview of five strategies for engaging youth in education reform. It makes the case...
Why Change Schools: Section One, Module B
This module was designed to promote discussion and build support for student-centered education reform. It explores topics that can help...
Guide to Protocols that Support Dialogue
This guide catalogues protocols developed by the School Reform Initiative that can be used to stimulate productive public conversations. This...
Experiencing โCurricular Opportunities in the Digital Ageโ
In โCurricular Opportunities in the Digital Age,โ a paper for the Students at the Center project, David Rose and I...
Public Engagement: A Primer from Public Agenda
This short guide provides an overview of public engagement. It describes the differences and advantages of a capacity-building versus an...
Resource Guide on Public Engagement
This guide outlines key practices of effective public engagement. It provides an overview of the National Coalition for Dialogue and...
Resources for Building Public Understanding of School Redesign in Vermont
This collection of resources provides examples to help schools, districts, or states increase public support for student-centered learning. It includes...
Highlander Institute Awarded NMEFโs Integrated Learning Systems Grant
What is the formula for designing a statewide initiative to leverage technology for student-centered learning? Highlander Institute is testing...
Making Student-Centered Learning A Reality? Nellie Maeโs Integrated Learning Systems Grant Program
How will the vision of student-centered learning become a reality? The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) sought to address...
Implementing Competency Education in K-12 Systems: Insights from Local Leaders
This report describes effective district implementation strategies to convert traditional, one-size-fits-all models of education into more personalized, competency-based learning environments to...
Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning
This paper illustrates the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive...
Putting it Back Together Again: Reframing Education Using a Core Story Approach
This memo describes the research conducted on current public understanding of education and lays out a new storyline that can...
The Brainwaves Video Anthology
This video anthology is produced and filmed by Bob Greenberg. The Brainwaves series contains short videos (5-10 minutes long) on...
Centered on Results: Assessing the Impact of Student-centered Learning
This report, a series of studies recently commissioned by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to address the empirical research on...
How Can Your School District Start a Podcast?
This podcast episode is dedicated to school districts across the world who are searching for ways to promote their teachers and...
Self-Regulation Professional Development Module
This professional development module was created as part of a partnership between Students at the Center, a Jobs for the Future...
Frequently Asked Questions and Definitions from Students at the Center
This summary unpacks some of the myths and terms in student-centered learning. Isnโt student-centered just a generic, overused term that...
Building Consensus and Momentum: A Policy and Political Landscape for K-12 Competency Education
This report by KnowledgeWorksโ, with support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, addresses three policy areas to focus on in...
Maximizing Competency Education and Blended Learning
This brief is based on a two-day conversation with twenty-three incredibly insightful people who work in competency education, personalized learning, and...
Transformation
This three minute video discusses reshaping the classroom and system so that learning is personalized, and students have a true...
Telling Stories Out of School: Reframing the Education Conversation Through a Core Story Approach
This toolkit is designed to help leading voices in the education sector to build support and cultivate demand for an...
Revere High School Success Story: Flipped Learning Transforms School Into a Student-centered Environment
This case study tells the story of Revere High Schoolโs ambitious multi-year reform plan, resulting in a school-wide flipped learning...
Letโs Get Real: Deeper Learning at Work
While policymakers often use the phrase โcollege and career readinessโ to describe the goals of K-12 education, the truth is...
An Up Close Look at Student-Centered Math Teaching
Students in high-quality, student-centered classrooms are more engaged and demonstrate higher performance on problem-solving assessments.
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In a period when very few teens have access to jobs, high school experience must incorporate gradual exposure to the...
Civic Education and Deeper Learning
Civic education exemplifies deeper learning, in that it provides students with challenging, collaborative and engaging experiences.
The Deeper Learning Planning Guide
This tool offers practical guidance on the conditions that have to be established for schools to truly change their practices...
Supporting Student Success Through Time and Technology
This report details the current blended learning approaches at six expanded learning time schools across the country, and highlights their...
Partnership for Change
This website, established in 2012, brings together local nonprofit and education organizations, government, and businesses within the school districts of...
Proficiency-Based Learning and the Growth Mindset: A Classroom Example
This article describes the approach taken by a physics teacher at Prospect Hill Academy in Boston to support all students...
Proficiency Based Learning at Burlington High School
Physics teacher documents her introduction of a proficiency-based learning approach in the last unit of her course
What Should School Be? A Student-centered Road Trip
This six minute video follows a group of Vermont high school students visiting a model school in Providence, Rhode Island...
Competency Education: Frequently Asked Parent Questions
In this short article, the principal of a school that has been using competency-based education and assessment for five years...
Student Voice Rubric
From Student Voice Collaborative, this rubric provides schools the ability to measure how much they include student voice in six...
College and Career Academy Support Network
This site brings together resources for career and college high school academies. The site includes links to curriculum and other...
Metacognition: The Gift That Keeps Giving
This short article discusses the benefits of teaching metacognition explicitly in the classroom. The author suggests several tips to help...
Young Voices
This website works to empower low-income urban youth to become leaders in communities across Rhode Island, advocating for policy changes....
Youth On Board
This website, a program of YouthBuild USA, facilitates/co-facilitates a number of groups to develop young leaders and give them a...
Parent Leadership Training Institute
This website trains parents in the greater Hartford, CT area to become change agents and advocates for their children. It...
STEM Connection: From Classroom to Workplace
This case study, part of the Schools that Work series on Edutopia, showcases MC2 STEM High School in Cleveland, Ohio....
OER Commons
This website, Open Education Resource (OER) Commons, is a database of over 50,000 open educational resources and free digital content...
Teaching ELA: Evidence & Arguments Series
This video series highlights a student-centered approach to teaching the ELA core standard โEvidence and Arguments.โ Three videos follow the...
Leadership Teams Pursue Powerful Instruction
This six minute video features the story of a high-poverty school using leadership teams to transform teaching to become more...
Clipboards: A Tool for Informal Assessment
In this short video, an experienced teacher and math coach shares an informal strategy for formative assessment and lesson planning:...
New Teacher Survival Guide: Differentiating Instruction
A teacher works with an expert in differentiated instruction to create inclusive lessons in a chemistry classroom.
The Basics of Differentiated Instruction
This presentation, presented as the 2003 Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Summer Conference on Differentiated Instruction, Chicago Illinois, gives...
Achieve Hartford! Website
This organization works to reduce the achievement gap in Hartford. They provide data on current reform progress and school performance...
Itโs About Time: Lessons from Expanded Learning Time in Meriden, Conn.
This handbook was created for unions and districts who are interested in, or working towards, putting an expanded learning model into place...
CBHS Principal Named 2014 Lawrence OโToole Award Recipient
This article provides information on the 2014 Larry OโToole Award winner. Casco Bay High School Principal Derek Pierce was awarded...
Three Levels of Text Protocol
The purpose of this protocol is to support text-based discussion. This tool creates an environment that deepens understanding of a...
Spotlight: The Changing State of Assessments
This article addresses how formative assessments support teaching and learning as well as how testing is changing in the common-core...
Education Technology Implementation Practice Guide
This guide offers a road map for district- and school-wide education technology implementation for leadership teams. It draws on research-based implementation...
Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance: Critical Factors for Success in the 21st Century
This paper addresses non-cognitive skills necessary to thrive int the 21st century. According to the authors, these non-cognitive skills are...
The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment
This reportdelves into one of the elements of competency education: Students receive differentiated support based on their learning needs.
The Rise of K-12 Blended Learning: Profiles of Emerging Models
This report provides an overview of emerging blended and online learning models and includes profiles of forty K-12 schools using...
TIPS For Administrators, Teachers, and Families: How to Share Data Effectively
This document provides strategies for how school leaders & teachers can use data to inform and support student-centered approaches to...
Designing Motivation into Student-Centered Learning
Teachers, students, and learning scientists describe howโand whyโhigh motivation and academic mastery develop in the classroom.
Student Ownership through Transparency
This powerpoint presentation provides an example of how educations at Boston Day and Evening Academy are using an assessment system....
Students as Allies in Improving Their Schools: Student and Teacher Surveys
What Kids Can Do worked with schools in 5 cities to support student involvement in reform as part of theโStudents...
The College Pathways Tools Series
The complete tool set provides all the Beating-the-Odds study tools in one publication: a framework and rubric, a student survey, a focus...
Building and Sustaining Education Reform Through Relational Power
This commentary talks about how relational power โ power developed collaboratively with others โ is crucial to the success of...
Mean What You Say: Defining and Integrating Personalized, Blended and Competency Education
This paper is intended to provide a scan of the literature and expand the knowledge base for the field to...
Even Geniuses Work Hard
In this paper, Carol Dweck brings to attention how research has shown that when students have a fixed mindset, they...
Classroom Assessments that Informs Instruction
This paper introduces educators to the concept of assessments that informs classroom instruction. It offers representative formative assessments that elementary, middle,...
Blended Instruction: Exploring Student-Centered Pedagogical Strategies to Promote a Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment
This project provides a road map for creating a learning environment that supports instructional strategies that live at the intersection...
ELO: Beyond Classroom
This website is written for New Hampshire educators who are ready to explore student learning outside the traditional classroom. Here...
A Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Learning
This report offers a six step approach on how to create a classroom environment that gives each learner a voice...
If I Could Lead A School: A Student-Driven Participatory Design Studio to Re-imagine Education
This Student Experience Lab explores how good design can improve the quality of learning experiences for students by not only...
Teacher Design for Education
Using hands-on activities and project-based challenges, Teacher Design for Education (TD4Ed) harnesses the creativity and problem-solving skills educators use everyday...
My Voice National Student Report, 2014 Grades 6-12
The mission of My Voice, a Pearson Foundation initiative, is to help measure the perceptions of everyone at school, elevate...
Taking Democracy In Hand: Youth Action For Educational Change in the San Francisco Bay Area
More than field notes but less than a case study, this informal paper draws upon site interviews and conversations with...
Documenting Stories of Immigration in Your Community
This resource provides information on how to empower students to become more engaged with the issue of immigration and provides...
The Power of Combining Youth Development Principles, Culture and Arts: Findings of a Study of the Culture & Arts Youth Development Initiative
This study from the Skillman Foundation features the results of an evaluation of its Culture and Arts Youth Development Initiative,...
National Evaluation of Learn and Serve America, Summary Report
In 1993, the National and Community Service Trust Act (P.L. 103-82) established the Learn and Serve America School and Community-Based...
The Glossary of Education Reform
The Glossary of Education Reform (edglossary.org) is a public, online resource that defines and describes major terms, concepts, and strategies...
Global Best Practices
This tool is a practical, action-oriented self-assessment for secondary schools. It was developed for the New England Secondary School Consortium....