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 delivery of rich core content to students in innovative ways that allow them to learn and effectively apply what they have learned. It includes many approaches that support student-centered learning including personalized, project-based, work-based, and… Read More ›
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 is used more and more to support learning, the list of trends to follows continues to grow. Topics covered include: Personal and blended learning The evolution of online testing Open education resources Digital resources in… Read More ›
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 into your classroom and telling you they had found a way to turn their binge watching of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation into a project that could meet the national Career and Technical Education (CTE) standards.… Read More ›
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 critical tool to improve reflection, critical thinking, and classroom community. The article details: How to plan a seminar How to implement your seminar The follow-up and assessment process With easy clear steps to follow, this article… Read More ›
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 Ready Schools (FRS), a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education, to transform teaching and create a personalized learning experience for their students. It explores ways in which personalized learning approaches can capitalize on community… Read More ›
Student Agency: Creating An Integrated and Authentic K-12 Approach
This article explores authentic student agency, using California’s Aveson Charter Schools, where the author is founder, to show it in action. It emphasizes the critical role of student agency in a competency-based learning model. The author discusses a number of research-backed practices used at Aveson: The development of foundational or noncognitive skills such as relationship building and self-regulation.… Read More ›
Growing Into The Framework: A District’s CBE Implementation Strategy
This article shares five phases of implementation of competency-based education, using the Mesa County Valley School District 51‘s (D51) first year of implementation to illustrate the process. The phases include: Laying the foundation Supporting effective practices Building performance-based system Beginning personalized learning Refining our system Information tables include detailed steps to achieve the phase and outline what needs… Read More ›
Examining Cultural Relevance
This one page tool provides a set of questions to determine the cultural relevance of a given unit, learning task, or project. Many of the strategies for infusing cultural relevance focus on student-centered practices such as inclusion of choice in topics, sources for information, and ways of displaying knowledge learned as well as connection to… Read More ›
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 Education, a collaboration between The Harvard Graduate School of Education and Outward Bound USA, whose mission is to support teachers. The website showcases interdisciplinary projects produced by students around the country. Projects can be searched… Read More ›
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 Collaborative (MC), a group of over 40 New York City schools committed to mastery-based education. In their second year, the community of practitioners focused on the development of equity and CRE as core values. Read more about… Read More ›
The ‘Minecraft Effect’? 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 from presentations and exhibitions at SXSWedu, the author makes the claim that new AR/VR technologies may become more immersive for students, creating classrooms and lessons where students take the lead rather than just “consuming the… Read More ›
3 Ways to Implement Blended Learning In The Classroom
This article, written by a classroom teacher, explores different ways to use technology to “blend” learning. The technology tools she shares can be used to create innovative learning experiences beyond the school day and open up time and space for deeper learning in the classroom. Topics include game-based learning and technology-based alternatives to homework. She provides tips to… Read More ›