The Critical Importance of Youth-Led Research
Youth-led research plays a critical role in advancing student-centered education. It provides the opportunity to elevate student voice and transform an inequitable education system. Research, at its most powerful, combines methodological rigor with the openness to inquire from our lived experiences. Inhabiting this vulnerable place is necessary to provoke us to venture into uncomfortable spaces… Read More ›
Three Lessons From New Hampshire’s Effort to Expand Deeper Learning
In 2019, Aurora Institute released the new definition of competency-based learning. This seven-part definition was developed with extensive support from practitioners, researchers and leaders across the country. Image courtesy of Vander Els and Stack, 2019 This updated definition reflects a deeper understanding of key issues and developments in the field. This is certainly true for… Read More ›
Resource Round Up: Competency-Based Education
Stakeholders throughout the education field are asking how student-centered approaches might address inequities and challenges. Some schools already utilizing a personalized, competency-based approach have found the transition to remote learning less difficult, though the articles below make a case for adopting competency-based approaches during remote learning – and in the future. How to Use Online… Read More ›
A Roadmap for Student Self-Direction: Building Essential Skills for the Future
The BEST Self-Direction Toolkit is a collection of resources for teachers to use in the classroom for instruction and assessment that focuses on self-direction. The toolkit includes the self-direction rubric, self-direction activities and targeted resources for teachers. All tools are designed by teachers and tested in the classroom. Who is the toolkit for? It’s for… Read More ›
Personalized Learning and Tech Equity Under COVID-19
COVID-19 and the shift to remote learning, either full-time or part-time, have made such efforts even more difficult in many places. Too many students still do not have adequate access to Wi-Fi or digital learning devices to engage in meaningful remote or hybrid learning; opportunities to engage in professional development remain insufficient; and building academic… Read More ›
EdPalooza 2020
2020 has sounded an urgent call to action on behalf of students and their future. On December 1-3, 2020, Governor Jeb Bush and ExcelinEd will host EdPalooza, a thought-provoking, action-inducing virtual convening for anyone and everyone who wants to have an impact in education. Our own organization, KnowledgeWorks, will be leading a session on the… Read More ›
What We Don’t Learn in School: How a (Virtual) Road Trip Teaches Civil Rights History
For Lily Grace Fast, a sophomore at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a summer road trip that centered on civil rights history was a privilege she feels called upon to continue to examine. “The importance and the weight of the places we went to felt understated given the fact that they were… Read More ›
Brown v. Board of Education Resources for Educators and Learners
In 1954, as a direct response to Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka combined multiple cases into one. The Supreme Court ruled, “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” thus ending segregation in schools. The first Black children to attend schools were met with extreme hostility. Georgia Public Broadcasting set up an… Read More ›
Red Summer of 1919 and Black Wall Street Resources for Educators
Because textbooks usually leave out the massacres at Elaine, AR, and Tulsa, OK, we’ve provided resources for educators to help direct learners to interactive, immersive experiences if they can’t go in person or if they want to enhance their in-person experience. These resources feature curriculum guides and multimedia to help facilitate student-centered learning. Red Summer… Read More ›
Japanese American Relocation Camp Resources for Educators
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. began making an enemy of its own people—people who looked like those who bombed them. Japanese Americans were consequently rounded up and relocated into camps in remote places, taking only what they could carry. Eleanor Roosevelt continually tried to appeal to her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt to… Read More ›
Exploring the Pandemic-Formed Future for Young Children
This interactive learning and strategy session, facilitated by KnowledgeWorks’ social innovation partner Openfields and forecast partner Capita, will help you to make sense of our uncertain future, and to apply insights from Foundations for Flourishing Futures: A Look Ahead for Young Children and Families during COVID-19 and the rebuilding to come. Register
2020 Aurora Institute Symposium
Positioning Competency-Based Education as an Equity Strategy: Theory, Practice, and Evidence to Push the Field Session Learning Outcomes: Be able to describe how CBE can be a de-tracking/equity strategy, based on research, theory, and implementation stories from KnowledgeWorks partnerships. Leave with a greater understanding of the indicators that may be used to capture whether and… Read More ›