Partnership Strategies for Real-World Projects
This article provides insight from an interview with leaders at Iowa BIG, a public high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where students learn across disciplines through community-based projects. Based on lessons learned, school leaders share tips for establishing and nurturing local partnerships with organizations, businesses, and government agencies which are critical to the success of… Read More ›
Meriden Public Schools
This is the official website of the Meriden, Connecticut, public schools and the City of Meriden Board of Education. Parents, family members, students, staff, and the public can use this site as an informative online resource for information on all schools, specific departments of the BOE, and other valuable resources. Several schools within this district… Read More ›
Pioneering the New Way of Learning: Learner Agency and Opportunity
This article introduces a framework that explores learner agency and student motivation. The article is written by two students from the Leadership Board of GripTape, a youth-led organization that works to build a network and share the message that all youth have the potential and capacity to learn anything they want. The framework discusses the factors… Read More ›
How Maker Mindsets Can Be An Easy Fit For Rural Schools
This article explores how rural schools are adapting to the maker movement in ways that are unique to their rural environments. The blog highlights maker projects – like building air sensors to help assess and ultimately alleviate air pollution in a town in rural Montana–that can be adapted in other schools, or used to spark… Read More ›
How to Artfully Enroll Parents in Learner-Centered Transformation
This article from the Principal of Red Bank Elementary School in South Carolina, shares successes and failures the school faced while building family support for student-centered changes. The author asserts that for successful school transformation, parents must be “artfully enrolled” in the process. This began with challenging parents to grapple with tough questions about traditional schooling.… Read More ›
New Hampshire Teachers Build New Ways to Measure Deeper Learning
This article explores the successes of a pilot group of New Hampshire districts, as they move from standardized testing to a more performance-based assessment system. New Hampshire is at the forefront of moving schools to a competency-based model, and the article highlights the advantages for students and educators. The author shares classroom examples of project-based… Read More ›
Relationships First: Creating Connections that Help Young People Thrive
This report looks at the importance of building strong relationships to create a thriving student-centered culture. It includes an overview of the Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework which defines the elements of an effective relationship, as well as the actions and dispositions adults should display, written from the student perspective. It examines results from a 2016… Read More ›
A Guide for Engaging ELL Families: Twenty Strategies for School Leaders
This guide, developed by Colorín Colorado, an organization that supports English language learner (ELL) educators and students, shares useful strategies schools can employ to engage bilingual students and their families. The guide includes six sections: Connection with ELL families Communicating Important Information Parent Participation Parents as Leaders Community Partnerships Creating a Plan Each section offers… Read More ›
Welcoming Schools Starter Kit
This brief, Welcoming Schools: An Inclusive Approach to Addressing Family Diversity, Gender Stereotyping and Name-Calling outlines a comprehensive, LGBTQ-inclusive approach to creating respectful and supportive elementary schools for all students and their families. Developed by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, it includes many resources, tips, and strategies such as: A checklist for a welcoming and inclusive… Read More ›
Building Competencies for Careers
This report draws on information from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to better understand the value of deeper learning competencies in the labor market. O*NET compiles surveys of employees and occupational experts to determine key characteristics and requirements of more than 900 occupations. Using this database, researchers from the Center on Education Policy (CEP)… Read More ›
Online Courses for Credit Recovery in High Schools
This report, prepared by The University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute for the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) examines promising practices for online credit recovery programs. These programs help underserved students achieve a diploma through a more personalized approach with the flexibility to work anytime and anywhere and progress based on mastery. This report draws on a study of… Read More ›
Student-Focused Learning in Springdale, Arkansas
This four-part blog series from CompetencyWorks, explores the exemplary student-centered work in the Springdale School District, in Arkansas. The articles explore innovations happening in the district, and many lessons, challenges, and learnings that might inspire other district and school leaders and educators. The final blog of the series provides a student perspective. Using student’s own words,… Read More ›