Exhibition Night at Pittsfield Middle High School: Where Students Take Ownership of Learning
On the evening of June 9th, anyone looking for a student in Pittsfield, New Hampshire would have found all of them together in one place – at school. It was Pittsfield Middle-High School’s annual Exhibition Night, where every student in the district gathers to share something that they have learned that year. The event offers… Read More ›
5 Big Ways Education Will Change By 2020
This article asks the world’s most innovative companies in education about the future of the classroom, and shares their predictions for the next five years. Some of the predictions include schools and classrooms in which students interact remotely with others, utilize more individualized learning, have a greater voice with opportunities for feedback, and feel respected. This article could be a… Read More ›
Advocating for Opportunity Youth in the Election Year
The Opportunity Youth Network (OYN) will be leading a webinar on Tuesday, July 12th (12:30-2PM EST), to support organizations advocating for Opportunity Youth in this election year and sharing strategies for educating and engaging candidates about issues pertaining to OY. This webinar will be relevant to community-based organizations, schools, programs, and networks interested in advocacy… Read More ›
Common Instructional Framework
The Common Instructional Framework, developed by Jobs for the Future, identifies six strategies for powerful teaching and learning. Forming the basis of a coherent college-preparatory curriculum, these instructional strategies succeed because they engage all students in learning and require them to take an active role in their education. The six strategies to build college readiness… Read More ›
Digital Badging and Micro-Credentialing
This paper explores what badging really represents for PK-12 educators dedicated to student-centered learning with the help of voices directly involved in badging and micro-credentialing and educators thoughtfully watching it. It reflects on the potential of using badging with students and with educators, as a strategy to transform professional development. The perspectives included in this… Read More ›
‘Making’ as a (Student-Centered) Approach to Learning
The White House will celebrate the National Week of Making beginning today through the end of next week (June 17-23), inviting formal and informal learning spaces to host events showcasing the power “making” has had in their communities. Makerspaces celebrate do-it-yourself interactions, creative thinking, and idea-sharing. The maker movement was first introduced by Maker Media. Maker projects… Read More ›
What a Blended Learning Classroom Really Looks Like: An Urban Teacher’s Reboot
This opinion piece was originally written for The Hechinger Report, June 2, 2016 Can we teach all students? In an increasingly diverse nation, I want you to consider the question. If you are not sure, it’s o.k. Now I want you to imagine a world where you would not have to do this —… Read More ›
#21STEDCHAT – Twitter Chat
We hope you can join #21stedchat (21st education chat) this Sunday, June 12, 8:00 PM EST to talk about student-centered learning. You can join the chat simply by following and using the hashtag #21stedchat. Revere High School history teacher Charles Willis (@flippedwillis) will be co-moderating the chat – tweeting questions with the hashtag and looking… Read More ›
Students Take Charge
This article takes a look at two models of assessment in student-centered classrooms to find out what’s working. There are now hundreds of schools, dozens of districts, and at least 15 states actively striving for a student-centered learning system, but if kids are in charge, how do you know they’re learning? Since assessments can factor in… Read More ›
Seizing the Moment: Realizing the Promise of Student-Centered Learning
This policy brief presents a series of recommendations for building public will in support of student-centered learning, including policy priorities that can help to expand its practices more broadly at the local, state, and federal level. It incorporates profiles of schools and programs which illustrate the power of student-centered learning in action. A growing body… Read More ›
How to Plan and Create True Flexible Learning Spaces
This article is part of a series on flexible learning spaces. Teachers who are moving to a blended learning paradigm soon realize that their traditional physical “classrooms” need modification. In most cases, traditional furniture in a traditional room with a whiteboard at the front doesn’t support any of the blended learning models. Thus, an organization that… Read More ›
When Kids Lead Their Parent-Teacher Conferences
This article is on the student-led parent-teacher conferences at Pittsfield Middle High School.Student-led parent-teacher conferences happen twice a year and have replaced the old format of parent-teacher conferences at Pittsfield Middle High School, a rural New Hampshire campus that takes a “student-centered learning” approach to schooling. With this model, students are given more freedom to… Read More ›