We’re 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 holidays, it’s never quiet. Recognizing this reality makes the team at KnowledgeWorks’ Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative especially grateful for our inspiring Distinguished Fellows, researchers and funders who came out to New York City to ask and answer some of the biggest questions about student-centered learning. We were lucky… Read More ›
Asking Big Questions
Driving home from grocery shopping the other day, my seven-year-old released a long, dramatic sigh and proceeded to tell me that, “Sometimes my head is just so tired by the end of the day because it’s spent all day thinking and asking questions. Like…What is a dream when you dream it? Can you stand flat in space?… Read More ›
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 and pedagogical knowledge, and centers on deeply understanding student thinking? If so, we invite you to explore Lesson Study – a collaborative inquiry structure that can transform professional learning communities (PLCs) or discipline meetings into… Read More ›
iNACOL Symposium 2019: Shining a Light on the Future of Learning
The iNACOL national conference this year will be held on October 28-31, 2019, at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. At this event, experts, practitioners, educators, policymakers and researchers gather and work to transform education. This year’s theme is “Shining a Light on the Future of Learning” and we’ll be presenting alongside many… Read More ›
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 has gained early admission to Stanford University. She is a regular contributor to the school newspaper and a member of the varsity tennis team. She has also won two state championships in speech and debate.… Read More ›
Transforming Research by Having Students Lead the Investigations
In the education world, well-intentioned adults often gather to discuss evidence-based instructional techniques they intend to implement to improve student outcomes. Educators, administrators, non-profit leaders, and policy officials huddle—sometimes together, sometimes separately—to consider best practices and greatest impact. They ask questions like “How can we reach all students? How can we prepare for them for… Read More ›
Critical Civic Inquiry: Students Master Academic Content through Action Research Projects
When I was starting out as a youth worker in San Francisco’s Mission District in the 1990s, I saw powerful examples of multiracial youth organizing: young people, often working with young adults, investigate damaging or unjust education policies, develop promising solutions, and press for policy change in their schools and communities. These groups are not… Read More ›
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 thought of as academics squirreled away at universities or research centers, teachers should also take on research as part of their responsibility to advance equity in schools. Research can often be most impactful when it… Read More ›
Awareness, Knowledge, Action: One Middle-School Classroom’s Journey to Empowerment
College pennants hang on the walls of a charter middle school and shout the names of academic institutions far from this western US city. “HARVARD,” one reads in big, block letters. “MICHIGAN,” “TEXAS,” “WILLIAM & MARY.* The charter school has gone all-in on college. Students start the day by gathering in a large room the… Read More ›
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 we’ll investigate, what data we’ll gather, and how we’ll make meaning of our observations? And whose voices are represented when we interpret findings and translate them for a variety of audiences? The team at the… Read More ›
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 students. In efforts to transform educational experiences for students of color, students with disabilities and linguistically diverse students, innovative approaches are imagined (or more often, reimagined) in an effort to address the challenges that these… Read More ›
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, and researchers to develop a set of criteria that detail the characteristics of high-quality, student-centered learning in classrooms, schools, and districts — a Student-Centered Learning Continuum (SCL Continuum). This continuum represents a research-based definition of… Read More ›