Past Initiative
Welcome to a year-long blog series that looked at the potential of student-centered learning to better serve students in the pandemic—and beyond.
Read on to explore learning practices, strategies for measuring success, and overall ideas and evidence as we embrace a more student-centered future. More context on the series is in the kick-off post.
Other ways to catch key ideas and evidence from the series:
Part 1: School Profiles
Acknowledging and celebrating our shared humanity matters just as much as attending to individual differences—especially in a global pandemic.
For a program already built around students mastering learning outcomes at their own pace, the pandemic was a bump in the road—not a seismic shift.
A culture of care, trust, and persistent checking-in means students stay plugged in—whether in-person or over distance.
For a school that centers hands-on learning among sharks and coral, the pandemic required reimagining the spaces and schedules of learning
In a district used to exploring different ways of personalizing learning, Covid-19 accelerated new approaches to keeping students at the center
Relationships of grace and trust carried this student-centered high school community through a most difficult year
Part 2: Analysis
Why schools see engagement as a critical ingredient for student-centered learning—and how they measure it with integrity
How student-centered schools made wellness a priority—both before and during the pandemic
How student-centered schools looked to narrative data to document student learning during the pandemic.
Picture a mirror, not a hammer—helping answer objectively: How are we doing? Where can we improve?
Part 3: Conclusion and Key Lessons
Being student-centered isn’t a static “thing you do”, but an approach of continually adjusting—both for each student and school-wide