Five Lessons the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Student Engagement
The original design of the YARI Project aimed to support a cohort of youth researchers at the intersection — those who are from historically marginalized groups and who also possess learning differences — as they interrogate the education system from the perspective of their lived experiences. By supporting youth with principles of Universal Design for… Read More ›
Guidance on Culturally Responsive Remote Education
As millions of students across the United States transition into remote learning, now is the time to critically engage the systems we’ve set up to implement these online educational opportunities. Given how this pandemic is exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities in our communities, it’s critical that we establish systems capable of reducing rather than widening educational inequities. To… Read More ›
Researchers of Color Make All the Difference
Educators across the nation have noticed the success of youth mentoring programs that emphasize the need for mentors who share similar stories as the youth they work with. We at the Center for Youth and Community Leadership in Education (CYCLE) experienced it first-hand this year at the different Youth Action Researchers at the Intersection (YARI)… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Exploring the Impact of Student-Centered Learning on Mathematics
What happens when a networked improvement community focuses on student-centered math instruction and the struggle for equity as they try to become students of their students’ thinking? The High Tech High Graduate School of Education research team presented their findings from a field-leading 2-year study in which teachers engaged in to test, refine and spread… Read More ›
Now More Than Ever: Structured Collaborative Inquiry for Today’s Hybrid Learning Environments
As remote learning becomes part of our new reality, it is critical that schools set up rich opportunities for both educators and students to address the challenges and inequities that inevitably occur with online education. To do this now, more than ever, we need systems that support teachers to become students of their students’ thinking.… Read More ›
Lesson Study: Exploring the Impact of Student-Centered Learning on Mathematics
As remote learning becomes part of our new reality due to COVID-19, it is critical that schools set up structures to address the challenges and inequities that occur with online education. Now, more than ever, we need systems that support collaborative inquiry so teachers can test and refine practices that center student thinking, support deeper learning and build students’… Read More ›