Student-Centered Learning – Michigan Virtual

Project-Based Learning and Competency-Based Education Work Together at FlexTech: An Interview with an Educator

Christa Green — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:40:07 +0000

The K-12 education landscape is evolving, offering more options for students and their families seeking alternatives to the traditional model. Many desire flexible learning environments that better align with their needs and interests. At the same time, educators and school leaders are rethinking how to make learning more engaging and centered around essential skills or competencies that students must master.

Two instructional models driving this shift are project-based learning (PBL)—where students gain knowledge by tackling real-world and personally meaningful projects—and competency-based education (CBE)—where students advance by demonstrating mastery of competencies or key skills rather than completing a set number of classroom hours.

At FlexTech High School, these two approaches come together in a flexible model that enables students to incorporate their interests as they progress at their own pace toward graduation. To explore how FlexTech blends PBL and CBE, Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute (MVLRI) researchers spoke with Dr. Sarah Pazur, director of school leadership at CS Partners, who oversees the FlexTech High School network in Michigan. The transcript of our conversation was edited for clarity and brevity.

Can you tell us a little bit about FlexTech and why it was important for you to implement competency-based education?

FlexTech is a project-based, competency-based, blended-learning school offering face-to-face instruction Monday through Thursday with optional in-person student support offered on Fridays. All of our courses are accessible online through Google Classroom, allowing students to choose a learning model that works best for them—whether fully in-person, hybrid, or entirely online. Our advisory program, which is really focused on helping students find their purpose and make a plan for post-secondary that suits their passions and strengths, is the cornerstone of FlexTech. Beginning in the ninth grade, every student is paired with an advisor who follows them through their senior year and serves as an advocate for that student.

There are three FlexTech campuses, all located in Michigan: Brighton, Oakland, and Shepherd. Each campus is small by design, with around 175 students at both Brighton and Oakland and 80 at Shepherd. Our small size enables us to offer students many options, flexibility, and one-on-one instructional support. FlexTech was actually designed as a competency-based school from the start. It was born out of a desire to provide options for students to finish high school—whether they weren’t going to finish because they needed to work during the day, life circumstances made school difficult, or they left their previous school because they weren’t successful, we wanted to provide these students with an option. Our flexibility and personalized support are designed to serve a wide range of students, including those who may not have been successful in traditional models.

What challenges did FlexTech face in implementing competency-based education?

One of our biggest challenges has been finding an LMS (learning management system) and a gradebook that work well in a competency-based/project-based learning environment to account for all of the competency-based nuances (e.g., indicating the “rigor rating” of an assignment, coordinating with a student’s transcript). Many learning management systems are designed around the student’s schedule; however, we need one that focuses, instead, on the project. This allows us to more accurately track competencies and allow for flexibility in terms of mastery.

Another challenge has been tracking student progress. Because we’re competency-based, students can progress at their own pace, so we need detailed tracking systems to monitor which competencies each student has mastered and which still need work. Because of seat time (instructional time) requirements and expectations that students finish a course in a semester or in a year, we’ve had to create many of our own internal systems using spreadsheets and Google Docs, which allow teachers to make notes from semester to semester and year to year.

One area where we’ve experienced some pushback is around our grading scale. In our system, a 4.0 indicates a student can apply a skill in a new and novel way. However, the ceiling for an assignment that only requires mastery of a lower-level skill might be a 2.0. We’ve had to work hard to help parents understand that these numbers don’t directly translate to traditional letter grades.

Tell me a little bit about what competency-based education looks like in practice at FlexTech.

At FlexTech, competencies are primarily subject-based. While some competencies are multidisciplinary, most are tied to specific courses to ensure students meet credit requirements. To develop our competencies, we worked with curriculum designers and a consultant to create a crosswalk that aligns our competencies with state standards (e.g., MMC, NextGen, CCSS). This alignment process is crucial because it ensures that our competencies truly reflect the big ideas we want students to take away from each course. We continue to diligently revisit and revise these competencies to ensure they are still reflective of the right big ideas and standards.

PBL and CBE complement each other at FlexTech. Most courses are designed to be project-based; however, some are more authentically project-based than others, as we do offer some off-shoot traditional courses for students who need them (e.g., a basic math class). Typically, students either a) start a project based on a personal interest or current event, and then, with help, competencies are wrapped into the project; or b) teachers create the “frame,” outlining specific competencies for the project, and then students create the “focus” based on their interests. Projects run for 3-10 weeks and typically focus on 1-3 specific competencies. Milestones, formative feedback, and self-reflection are key components of every project. Our project-based approach helps avoid treating CBE as a checklist, keeping the focus on authentic learning experiences. While there is a general class pace, FlexTech offers flexibility through asynchronous learning for students who move faster or slower. Daily project support time and one-on-one appointments on Fridays provide additional individualized assistance to ensure students stay on track.

Grades at FlexTech focus purely on competency mastery, unlike traditional systems where behavior or extra credit might influence grades. Teachers provide ongoing formative feedback to help students gauge their progress. Each campus functions a little differently when it comes to its transcript. When I was the principal at the Oakland campus, we used a conversion scale because parents wanted a more traditional transcript. However, the Brighton and Shepherd campuses offer a fully competency-based transcript, which is accompanied by a one-page explanatory document for universities (and parents).

How do you measure success with regard to competency-based education?

We measure success in multiple ways. Because we’re project-based, students have the flexibility to demonstrate mastery of academic competencies in creative ways, which isn’t restricted by a rigid curriculum. Our smaller size allows us to track student progress very closely. Beyond academic competencies, we focus on students’ personal growth through the competencies outlined in our Portrait of a Graduate (e.g., passionate, problem-solver, growth mindset). Our Senior Chronicle serves as a culminating portfolio where students reflect on how they’ve grown throughout their time with us, including their ability to meet our Portrait of a Graduate competencies.

We also measure success by hearing stories of FlexTech students who are relieved of the traditional school “pressures” (e.g., lack of flexibility, social anxiety, inability to catch up) and are now finding their way. A fundamental part of FlexTech is taking students who are not doing well and helping them, whether that means helping them for five or maybe even six years. However, maintaining our identity and inclusivity within an education system with a strict four-year finish policy is a challenge.

What advice would you give to other school leaders interested in implementing competency-based education?

Start by staying true to your values and beliefs about teaching and learning. Implementing CBE is not just about helping students finish faster—it’s about embracing a philosophy that requires a complete system-wide shift. This means rethinking everything from your instructional framework to your scheduling, course offerings, and even your LMS. Developing a shared vision is crucial, and so is being prepared to make some concessions along the way.

It’s also essential to get everyone on board from the beginning, especially with the “why” behind CBE. We have a very personalized intake process, where we interview every family and explain how FlexTech functions. We also offer sessions during curriculum nights to educate parents and students about competency-based education and what it means for their learning journey.

Lastly, consider piloting the program on a small scale first to see how it fits within your school or district before going full-scale.

Final thoughts

FlexTech’s project-based and competency-based model is designed to give students more autonomy in how they meet academic standards and develop essential skills. While this approach provides opportunities for personalized support, it also presents challenges, such as navigating external expectations for a four-year graduation timeline and finding internal systems that can effectively track student progress in a non-traditional format. FlexTech continues to adapt its model in response to these challenges while maintaining a focus on individualized student growth.

Three surprising benefits of holding structured check-ins with students (plus a free template!)

Anne Perez — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 20:39:41 +0000

Fall is definitely in the air. For me, this time of year means a few things: cooler temperatures, red and orange trees, and pumpkin-spiced treats.

In school, this time of year also means digging deeper into the curriculum.

As a teacher, supporting your students in their educational pursuits takes effort and planning. One strategy that can be helpful here is the use of regular, structured check-ins.

A structured check-in

builds trust
informs thinking
transforms learning

Below are three surprising ways that having structured check-ins will help you cultivate a more student-centered classroom.

#1 — You’ll build deeper relationships with your students.

When I taught high school English, I would often check in with students when they were working on group assignments.

I can remember a handful of times when I seemed to drop into a conversation at the exact right moment to learn something revelatory about a student’s personal interests, worldview, or academic understanding.

I relished those moments, but I have to admit: most of the time, they seemed to happen by chance. This made me wonder:

What if these moments happened not by chance but by design?

Regular, structured check-ins build trust and deepen our relationships. By planning more frequent check-ins, teachers can intentionally and more consistently provide a space for students.

With this approach, those important moments of connection don’t just happen in the “extra” moments of class but are actually baked into your routine.

Having a structure for these check-ins helps. You might try giving students a template of questions to select and prepare, increasing the odds that they’ll share relevant, important information with you.

#2 — Your instructional design will naturally become more student-centered.

There’s a saying I’ve been thinking about recently: “design nothing for us, without us.”

This phrase reminds me of what it means to create student-centered learning experiences. The only tried-and-true way to design for students is to design with students.

One of my favorite assessment strategies — staggered due dates for longer assignments — came to fruition when a student made a comment about being stressed out with the amount of work due in one day. This comment sparked a class discussion which led me to implement this practice.

My students loved staggered due dates, and I know it’s because they were at the center of its design.

All students have thoughts, challenges, and knowledge that can transform your classroom practice. They just might not know how or when to share them.

Using structured check-ins can unlock these ideas and facilitate conversations like the one that inspired me.

Gathering this student feedback, in turn, will allow you to design or redesign learning to support all of your students.

#3 — You’ll boost student autonomy.

In my classes, I always found that there were a few students who just naturally felt a sense of ownership of their learning without any support or guidance from me.

These students came to class on the very first day with a list of questions, ready to talk to me about their strengths and weaknesses, and excited to formulate a game plan for their growth over the course of the year.

Of course, these proactive students were not in the majority, and that makes sense.

Most of my students walked into my classroom feeling like school was something that was being “done” to them — that they had no real control and that their main objective was just to do as well as they could on assignments.

They were great students. They just didn’t feel any sense of autonomy.

Check-ins are what helped me encourage autonomy in all of my students.

Giving students questions to prepare and guide each check-in actively encourages them to take ownership of their learning. It allows them to look for evidence in their work or to reflect on what support might look like.

Inviting students to sit alongside you for a more prepared conversation gives them the ability and the time to make sense of their progress. It shows them that their learning has a purpose and that there is power in their knowledge and competency.

Try it in your classroom with this free template!

If you’re wondering how you can help students prepare for check-ins and have the best conversations possible, you’re in the right place. Our free template provides a step-by-step guide to help you build a structured check-in that will work for your classroom. Fill out the form below, and you’ll receive a copy of this template sent to your email address!

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Simulations, Visualizations, and Interactives: When to use them, why you should use them, and where to find them

Nikolas McGehee — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 13:03:47 +0000

Simulations, Visualizations, Interactive Applications and their place in education.

Learning in the year 2022 looks vastly different than it did in the early days of education theory development. Education has evolved from the traditional one-room schoolhouse to the application of constructivist theories in classrooms, student-centered learning, flexible learning models, and the advent of improvements in personalized learning.

The shift away from drill, practice, memorization, and other more “traditional” approaches to learning has given way to an emphasis on 21st Century Skills education, and frequently employs more inquiry, experiences, and problem-solving than ever before. Using simulations and visualizations in the classroom can help address these skills, and give students experiences they might not have otherwise.

The use of simulations, visualizations, and interactive applications in education has advanced from the medical procedure and flight simulation trainers that were reserved for the armed forces or medical school students, to full replication of legitimate scientific experiments and procedures designed and differentiated for elementary, middle, and high schoolers—and it’s usually all available for free or at a highly discounted rate.

There are so many uses for these tools and they are more widely available than ever before. As a result, educators should be able to more easily learn to leverage technology and take advantage of them, especially when physical or financial resources are limited (free is always good right?).

Using these tools in the classroom can decrease prep time for lessons, lower materials costs, and help increase engagement, giving students a ‘hands-on’ experience to help them grasp concepts that are less concrete or more difficult to immerse them in physically due to lack of resources (trust me, we ALL know THAT struggle).

Next, we will present a list of resources and tools, separated by subject, that are beneficial for teachers to organize, plan, and supplement their existing lessons with digital interactives and simulations.

Resources and tools for teachers

Below are several FREE resources and sites with descriptions of what they are and some ways in which to use them. Many of these resources also have areas within their websites to which teachers have contributed greatly, including lesson plans, tips, lesson extensions, and additional resources to go alongside the content featured.

PHET

Created and supported by the University of Colorado Boulder, this website has a massive amount of resources for teachers and students of all ages. It contains over 159 simulations translated into 104 languages alongside 3,128 teacher-submitted lessons to accompany the activities and simulations. PHET makes an effort to modify and create activities and simulations for learners with special needs as well.

Searchable database of all activities – user-friendly and searchable by simulation name, type, subject, grade level, and language.
Teacher guide for using PHET, how to navigate the site, view resources, and contribute resources.

Physics	Chemistry	Math	Earth Science	Biology
● Motion ● Sound, & Waves ● Work, Energy, & Power ● Heat & Thermo ● Quantum Phenomena ● Light & Radiation Electricity, Magnets, & Circuits	● General Chemistry – Atoms, Molecules, Atomic Structure – Gasses – Laws – Density – pH, Acids, & Bases – Waves – Chemical Equations – Concentration and Molarity ● Quantum Chemistry	● Math Concepts – Number Lines, Ratios, & Proportions – Vectors – Fractions – Quadratics – Equality – Area Models – Algebra & Expressions – Slope – Unit Rates – Functions – Probability ● Math Applications	● Gasses ● Diffusion ● Density ● Greenhouse Effect ● Gravity ● Orbits ● Waves ● Pressure ● Blackbody Spectrum	● Natural Selection ● Gene Expression ● Polarity ● Neurons ● Color Vision

Nobel Prize Educational Games and Simulations

This website contains content centered around Nobel Prize laureates and their work. Lessons, activities, and interactives are featured here, specifically focused on high-impact projects from previous awards. Each simulation and application comes with useful teaching materials to go alongside the experience.

Simulators and Applications
- Science
- Human Rights
  - Prisoners of War
- Psychology
  - Pavlov’s Dog
2021 Nobel Prize Lessons – Each lesson comes with slides, a manual, and materials for teachers to teach a lesson on each prize from 2021. There are also lessons dating back to 2018 prize winners and a searchable database of all prize winners.

Arthur Lakes Library OER Compilation

This library keeps an up-to-date list of many different educational simulations, visualizations, and applications that have great applications for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. Each category listed below has a vast array of different types of simulations.

The library also has a compilation of other resources for teachers, organized by subject area, which is a wonderful tool as well.

WOLFRAM Demonstrations Project

This site has 12,000+ interactive notebooks, simulations, visualizations, and applications selected and curated by Wolfram Research. Each category has several subcategories, and is easily searchable and user-friendly to find what you are looking for.

Much of the content is visualizations and simulations of events, rather than fully interactive applications, but there are still many interactive elements in each of the subject areas. This is an excellent site for supplementary materials for almost any subject.

Multi-Disciplinary Multimedia Resource Sites

These sites are filled with free resources and materials for teachers, including simulations, applications, and visualizations, but also including lesson plans and other teaching materials.

CK-12 – open-source content and technology tools for teachers that are separated by subject, grade level, and language. Includes free customizable digital textbooks.
edu-Media – open source content focused on interactive resources in math and science
LabXchange – digital science labs, videos, and activities
Molecular Workbench – visual interactive simulations with lessons and embedded assessments. Includes model and lesson plan creation tools for teachers.

When do I use these in my classroom?

Research indicates that many simulation and interactive tools, when used to supplement a teacher’s existing curriculum, can enhance learning. This means that teachers should look for areas in their lessons or courses where there is a lack of interactivity for the students or an area where students traditionally struggle in understanding and use simulations and visualizations as another way for students to see and interact with the content.

The ability to personalize learning with these tools is also highly suggested, as this can help teachers differentiate instruction when using flexible learning models, and help make sure that each student gets what they need to succeed. Lastly, many of these interactive tools come with their own assessment tools, so they can be used as formative assessments for teachers to check understanding of a lesson, in order to see if students have mastered a concept.

Final thoughts

Simulations, visualizations, and other similar interactive tools can have great benefits for student learning when used as tools to supplement learning. Take the time to navigate through some of these resources that were discussed here, and bring them into the classroom to help reduce some of the workloads, allow students time to explore concepts on their own, and integrate the use of technology into a variety of lesson topics!

How School Leaders Can Support Teachers in Making the Shift Toward Student-Centered Learning

Christa Green — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 16:15:00 +0000

In June of 2021, we published the report Student-Centered Learning in Michigan K-12 Schools: Factors That Impact Successful Implementation. This study aimed to capture the ways in which Michigan schools are implementing student-centered learning practices along with the factors that impact the successful implementation of such practices.

To inform the report, we interviewed teachers and both building- and district-level administrators from five Michigan school districts: Berrien Springs Public Schools, Hamilton Community Schools, Oxford Community Schools, Portland Public Schools, and the Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium, & Keweenaw. These school districts belong to a larger network of districts that are early adopters of student-centered learning called the Michigan CoOp (MiCoOp), which is led by Lisa Sitkins.

In addition, the mini-series celebrates these schools as well as other K-12 schools throughout the state of Michigan who continue to work toward implementing student-centered learning models that include elements of digital learning, personalization, and competency-based learning progressions.

We’ve explored why schools are making learning student-centered as well as how—by providing voice and choice, by taking a competency-based approach, and by monitoring student needs and progress. We’ve also described challenges and opportunities schools may encounter along the way.

In this final post, we share and discuss ways that school leaders can support teachers as they make the shift towards student-centered learning.

Create a vision for the district

In order for any school district initiative to be successful, a well-thought-out vision developed over time with input from all relevant stakeholders should be clearly communicated to staff.

While our School Leader Insights blog series provides guidance and advice focused on developing and supporting digital learning programs, the advice pertains to developing any vision—technology-related or not. The authors stress the importance of starting with the “why,” developing a shared vision, and ensuring there is motivation for those making the change.

Starting with the end in mind or the “why” by creating a Portrait of a Graduate can help school leaders consider what their vision is for learning when it is truly student-centered.

With teacher and community input, many school districts have begun developing their own Portrait of a Graduate, a vision for the district that visually explains the knowledge, skills, and qualities a graduate will need to demonstrate mastery throughout their education.

It’s a statement of ambition for all students.

A clear focus or vision from district administration can help to support teachers and other administrators move forward with student-centered learning as it helps to communicate the bigger picture.

Starting with the end in mind or the “why” by creating a Portrait of a Graduate can help school leaders consider what their vision is for learning when it is truly student-centered.

Deliver intentional professional development

When we asked teachers and school leaders about the structures that are in place to assist them in making the transition to student-centered learning, almost each and every conversation and survey response mentioned professional development in some respect.

What seemed most important to teachers is that professional development is relevant, engaging, and provided consistently over time. When professional development is delivered, discussed, and then revisited throughout the year or years, it has a much greater likelihood of being impactful.

Several administrators shared how well-received and empowering some of their professional development is when it is delivered by their own teachers, providing them with an opportunity to showcase and share the skills that are their strengths.

Some school districts are taking professional development a step further and personalizing it.

“How we’re guiding teachers in this process is very much the same as how we want teachers to guide students in their own learning process,” explained Berrien Springs curriculum director Angela Cramer. She acknowledged that we learn from how things are modeled for us, and hopes that by having the opportunity to personalize their own professional development, teachers will be inspired to try these same personalized learning models for students in their own classrooms.

Ensure professional development aligns with your school district’s values and vision for student-centered learning. Professional development should be ongoing, engaging, collaborative, and personalized.

“How we’re guiding teachers in this process is very much the same as how we want teachers to guide students in their own learning process.”

Provide internal and/or external coaching

In the same spirit as personalizing professional development, some school districts are working on personalizing coaching for teachers and staff.

Portland Public Schools’ curriculum director Simone Margraf explained that they provide coaching both internally from their own instructional coaches as well as from local Intermediate School District instructional coaches. Portland strives to ensure coaching is personalized to the particular group of teachers they are working with.

“These coaches are working with pods of content area teachers not at the assessment-level so much, but on the delivery of instruction…on meeting the individual needs of students. So it’s not about ‘spray and pray’ in that they all get the same thing, but making it about how this group needs this and this group needs that,” described Margraf.

Coaching, either from internal staff or from consultants outside the district, can help support both teachers and school leaders as they make the shift to student-centered learning.

Design opportunities for collaboration

As a teacher, I never had enough time to collaborate with my peers. They had so many good ideas and creative lessons, but there just wasn’t usually enough time built into the day to share, discuss, and develop them beyond a surface-level understanding.

Intentionally designing opportunities for collaboration can give teachers time to work together to design creative student-centered learning opportunities.

Oxford Virtual Academy principal Janet Schell emphasized the importance of providing opportunities for teachers to work together in vertical alignment among various grade levels—learning from each other; ensuring there is continuity as to what student-centered practices are implemented; and bridging gaps between elementary, middle, and high school.

“It’s really being a community of teachers and sharing what you know,” added Tracey Hurford, Oxford Virtual Academy lead elementary teacher.

Whether it is through the establishment of Professional Learning Communities, Communities of Practice, and/or designing formal processes for making curriculum decisions based on student data, give teachers time to learn from each other and to collaborate.

Utilize technology to facilitate individual learning

Technology can help enable student-centered learning opportunities, and allow teachers to spend more time working with students both individually and in small groups. Students can be physically together but working on individual learning activities at their own pace.

Berrien Springs superintendent Dave Eichberg explained: “Our one-to-one technology allows teachers to provide direct instruction and support to a group of students who have the same gap on a particular learning target without worrying about the rest of the class being disruptive or becoming disengaged.”

Technology gives teachers the capacity to create a variety of learning activities for students of many different abilities.

“A teacher can’t teach 30 different lessons to 30 different kids every single hour. It becomes necessary to lean on technology to give students access to content and content knowledge,” stressed Oxford Virtual Academy hybrid learning coordinator Jordan Dennis.

Technology can help teachers bring student-centered learning to fruition in their own classrooms, freeing them up to facilitate individual learning experiences, and providing a plethora of pathway options for students as they work at their own pace.

“A teacher can’t teach 30 different lessons to 30 different kids every single hour. It becomes necessary to lean on technology to give students access to content and content knowledge.”

Empower and support teachers

As indicated in our survey data by both teachers and administrators, empowering teachers to take risks was the biggest support districts have put in place to support teachers in making the shift towards student-centered learning.

It can be difficult for teachers to give up tried and true routines to incorporate new pedagogy into the way they are used to teaching, but it’s been the constant push and encouragement from administration that has made Hamilton Community Schools teachers feel so supported.

According to Andi Steaban, the support and professional trust that Oxford Virtual Academy’s administrative team has in their staff results in teachers who are less hesitant to take risks and more likely to look for opportunities to try new things, such as implementing student-centered learning strategies.

Not every student-centered strategy will work the first time, and it won’t necessarily work for every student. That’s okay, and that’s the point of student-centered learning—giving each individual student what they need and allowing them to progress at their own pace.

Keep in mind that the same flexibility should be afforded to teachers. Some will latch on and adapt quickly, and others will need more time and more support. Entrust teachers to make some instructional decisions for their students as they navigate the transition.

Provide time, support, and encouragement to teachers who are willing to take risks and try new things.

Listen, tap into their expertise, and empower them to drive some of the work.

Student-centered learning blog series

In our Student-Centered Learning blog series, we lead a discussion about student-centered learning: what it is, how it can help students and schools, and how to make it a reality. Our hope with this series is to provide practical insights to school leaders, teachers, and parents on how to make education more meaningful to students. Stay up to date on future blogs in this series by signing up for email notifications!

Challenges (and Opportunities) When Implementing Student-Centered Learning Models

Christa Green — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 14:00:00 +0000

In our discussions with teachers and school leaders as part of this study, it was clear that the work required to make learning student-centered is not necessarily easily done. There are many challenges that teachers and school leaders may face which complicate the process.

Change is never easy.

However, as they say: “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Without trying a different approach, we won’t see any changes—we can’t keep doing the same thing expecting a different result.

There are too many students for whom the traditional education system is not working. Too many students are falling through the cracks, being pushed onto the next unit or grade level before they are ready. Too many students have gaps in their learning that aren’t being filled in.

Making the shift to student-centered learning will come with challenges, there’s no doubt. But with these challenges come opportunities.

Opportunities to create different learning experiences and increase student engagement.

Opportunities to put students in the driver’s seat, allowing them to direct and design some aspects of their learning.

Opportunities to innovate—to change the mold of what we believed learning had to be—to create what learning could be.

In a blog written by the Christensen Institute, Thomas Arnett argues that the disruption to the traditional education system caused by COVID-19 has actually created the conditions that lead to change.

And teachers are the ones holding the key.

Opportunities to innovate—to change the mold of what we believed learning had to be—to create what learning could be.

Earning teacher buy-in

Teachers are tired.

They’ve been overworked and stretched too thin over the past year and a half while working through the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve been told they had to move their materials online and teach remotely, then told they had to teach some students remotely while also teaching some students face-to-face.

Teachers have seen district initiatives come and go. Sometimes the initiative that’s so important one year seems to disappear the following year.

So it’s hard to blame them if they don’t jump in with both feet when a new district initiative is presented. Earning teacher buy-in can be a challenge when school leaders want to implement a student-centered learning model that requires a different style of teaching than the more traditional teacher-centered approach.

In a student-centered learning model, teachers help guide and support students on their own individual paths. They may consider multiple and different ways to assess learning as opposed to a traditional exam that all students take.

For many teachers, moving towards a student-centered learning model requires a shift in their mindset. It may be difficult for teachers to imagine how it is realistically possible to implement this sort of a model in their own classroom.

“It’s the pedagogy piece,” Portland’s Simone Margraf explains. “It’s understanding the difference between what they [teachers] have lived and breathed for so long and understanding the shift we want them to make and what it looks like.”

Making learning more student-centered rather than teacher-centered may challenge some teachers’ thinking.

Teachers might be hesitant to change what they are doing instructionally to take a more student-centered approach to learning because they feel that what they have been doing works. And it probably does for many students, but it’s not working for all students.

This is where a student-centered learning approach could help—as an opportunity to give each student what they need when they need it.

Gaining support from parents and the community

For some students, the traditional model of learning works well. Parents tend to understand this more traditional model, too, and because it worked for them, some don’t see a need for it to change.

Change can be difficult, especially when parents and/or the community don’t understand why a particular change is being made or if the change initially makes learning more challenging for their child.

Portland teacher Chandra Polasek admitted that some students may actually find learning in a student-centered classroom to be more challenging than in a regular class.

“We’ve put them in a box of ‘get the right answer’ by having them choose ‘which one of these four is correct.’ We’ve trained them in that manner so much so that the creative thinking and problem solving is completely gone,” said Polasek. “The independence in their thinking is gone and we have to find a way to reinsert that into the learning process so that learning is individualized, and owned, and intuitive, and curious, and fun again. I think we’ve lost the fun because we’ve told them that they need to be right when the learning is in the wrong.”

When students are challenged to think critically, to be more responsible for their own learning, some struggle at first because this student-centered style of learning is unfamiliar. Because this initial struggle may be a source of frustration for both students and parents, communicating changes and providing clear expectations should help to ensure parents understand any new processes and procedures.

Typically, parents want to be involved in their children’s education—and in a student-centered learning environment, getting parents involved will give them a better understanding as to how to provide their child with needed support.

When a school district makes the shift towards student-centered learning, it’s an opportunity to involve parents and the community—and having their support is critical.

“The independence in their thinking is gone and we have to find a way to reinsert that into the learning process so that learning is individualized, and owned, and intuitive, and curious, and fun again. I think we’ve lost the fun because we’ve told them that they need to be right when the learning is in the wrong.”

Maintaining teachers’ trust

Having credibility in the eyes of teachers and maintaining the trust of staff are instrumental for any administrator’s success.

Having credibility and trust are especially important when an administrator asks their staff to consider different pedagogical approaches such as student-centered learning.

Anita Qonja-Collins, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education at Oxford Community Schools, admitted that there can be a perception that administrators don’t know what’s happening in the classroom because they are not in the trenches, actually doing the work. “It’s really hard to have credibility in the work that you’re driving forward without getting some pushback of ‘you don’t understand,’” said Qonja-Collins.

She added that listening to teachers—ensuring that teachers know you are aware of and understand their challenges—is key to maintaining their trust and being able to implement new ideas and strategies with their support.

Including teachers in the conversation right from the beginning is another opportunity to earn and maintain teachers’ trust.

As Chris Davidson, Superintendent of the Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium, and Keweenaw, set in motion steps to establish and implement a student-centered mindset within his district, he established small teacher teams to begin designing competency-based models.

Davidson is using a student-centered approach with his teachers, putting them in the ‘driver’s seat’ in terms of this process, but guiding them and providing them with resources.

“The teachers will be driving this process. They will be building out these structures, building out these competencies, figuring out what it will look like in our buildings, and determining what spaces we are going to utilize.”

Including teachers in the conversation, asking for their feedback, involving teachers in the decision-making process, and giving them some leadership opportunities can result in increased trust in administration.

Logistics

When a school district or building wants to be truly student-centered, it requires changes beyond just the classroom. Logistical changes will need to be made in terms of scheduling, staffing, and how to measure students’ academic progress and achievement.

When we make these changes, they must be based on what each individual student needs and not necessarily what is and has been convenient for adults.

Technology can also pose challenges for districts in terms of coordinating their current LMS capabilities with tracking mastery of competencies. Different LMSs track mastery differently (some don’t work well in a standards-based system either), so it’s important to consider grading implications.

It can be challenging and will take time to get all buildings within a school district to be on the same page with regards to implementation and the degree to which they are willing to do so.

“I think the biggest barrier is when schools see something [like competency-based education or student-centered learning], but all the aspects and facets of it aren’t understood,” disclosed Oxford Virtual Academy’s Hybrid Learning Coordinator Jordan Dennis.

“Those need to be layered and built before you move in that direction and before you apply it.” You can’t just decide you want to implement competency-based education or student-centered learning and then start right away; it’s a structural overhaul. Dennis further emphasized, “Consider your curriculum, your goals, your philosophy—your organization has to understand what competency-based education is. It has to want it and want to move in that direction.”

The process of moving towards student-centered learning can be lengthy and involved. You’ll need to design your competencies, train your teachers, talk with your community members, and talk with students.

Dennis feels it is very important for students to know what they are working towards because in a competency-based environment, the students are the drivers: “You really have to phase them into competency-based education. Start by giving kids more opportunities for goal setting or flexible pacing and then layer on top of that.”

Designing learning that is student-centered can be an opportunity for students to learn how to drive their own learning, a skill that will benefit them long after they leave high school.

“Consider your curriculum, your goals, your philosophy—your organization has to understand what competency-based education is. It has to want it and want to move in that direction.”

Final thoughts

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented the field of education with many challenges. While we’ve heard some school leaders say that the pandemic has resulted in slowing their work towards making learning student-centered, others feel that the pandemic has only fueled it.

It’s easy to get in a groove and continue comfortable routines. However, sometimes it takes a disruption to seriously consider deviating from conventional practices. The pandemic could quite possibly be the unexpected disruption that has been needed in education.

In the more traditional model of education, too many students have slipped through the cracks, pushed on before they were ready. Too many students have had their progress hindered, prevented from moving forward to stay on pace with the rest of the class.

While the more traditional model of education does work for some students, it has not worked for all students.

When learning is student-centered, it happens at a pace and in a place that works best for each individual student. Decisions are made based on what is best for students—specifically, what is best for individual students.

“Our focus as educators for so long has been on the teaching part of education,” admitted Dave Eichberg. “In order for us to really embrace voice and choice, our focus has to shift. The lens through which we look at education has to be through the eyes of the learner.”

Shifting to a more student-centered learning model can and will present many challenges, but it’s also an opportunity to design learning differently.

Our next and final blog in this mini-series will discuss how school leaders can support teachers in making the shift toward student-centered learning.

“Our focus as educators for so long has been on the teaching part of education. In order for us to really embrace voice and choice, our focus has to shift. The lens through which we look at education has to be through the eyes of the learner.”

Student-centered learning blog series

Monitoring Student Needs and Progress in a Student-Centered Classroom

Christa Green — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 15:00:00 +0000

In our discussions with teachers and school leaders as part of this study, we learned about many different ways in which teachers are monitoring student needs and progress. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting trauma it has caused, this has never been more relevant or more important.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the surface many issues students face: Lack of reliable WiFi, lack of access to technology, food insecurities, and the lack of parental support at home to name a few.

As schools shut their doors and students logged onto Zoom with their cameras on (at least that was the goal) to continue learning remotely, teachers got a glimpse into students’ home lives—a glimpse that they never had before.

Some teachers may never have realized the issues students were facing outside of their classroom. When students’ basic needs aren’t being met or they are experiencing trauma, it often results in academic struggles.

Joel Asiala, a principal with the Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium, and Keweenaw, stressed: “If you don’t know what is going on with kids behind the scenes, you won’t be successful in teaching them. We need to understand kids and what they are dealing with personally in order to reach them academically.”

Monitoring students’ non-academic needs in addition to their academic needs can help us truly consider the whole child.

“If you don’t know what is going on with kids behind the scenes, you won’t be successful in teaching them. We need to understand kids and what they are dealing with personally in order to reach them academically.”

Monitoring both academic and non-academic student needs

One of the four core tenets of a student-centered learning environment is the continuous monitoring of student needs—both academic and non-academic.

Monitoring students’ academic needs based on their performance data can help teachers determine where students are excelling and where they have gaps in their learning.

Based on performance data from formative and summative assessments, learning experiences should be adjusted to appropriately shape students’ learning pathways. Some students may be ready to move on while others may need extra time and more individual or small group instruction.

However, in a student-centered learning environment, putting students at the center means really getting to know them beyond just academics—it means understanding their interests, their passions, and what truly matters to them. These are considered non-academic needs.

Understanding a student’s non-academic needs can help teachers connect the academic curricular pieces together in ways that work best for each individual learner.

Learning can be geared towards their interests or passions. For example, if a student is interested in a particular career path or subject area, their schedule can be designed to include specific courses that are related to that field of study.

When learning is geared towards students’ interests or passions, learning becomes more meaningful and can result in increased student engagement.

Understanding a student’s non-academic needs can help teachers connect the academic curricular pieces together in ways that work best for each individual learner.

What does it look like in Michigan K-12 schools?

Teachers and school leaders in Michigan are monitoring their students’ needs in many different ways.

Learner profiles are one of the ways in which teachers are getting to know students and their individual needs as learners. Oxford’s Anita Qonja-Collins shared that through learner profiles, they are “helping students understand themselves and the choices they have in their education.”

Beyond the obvious benefit of a teacher understanding their individual students’ academic and non-academic needs, learner profiles can also help students to know themselves as learners.

Advisory periods are another way for teachers to track both the academic and non-academic needs of their students. At Portland High School, each day begins with a 25-minute advisory period called “cadre.” Cadre teachers are responsible for monitoring a group of approximately 20–25 students’ progress.

“Those are the kids that you take care of,” explained Portland High School principal Jamie DeWitt. “You check in on them, find out how they are doing. You make sure that they’re okay.” It’s a time for conversations, a time for teachers to connect with the students they are most worried about, and a time to build and maintain relationships.

“Those are the kids that you take care of. You check in on them, find out how they are doing. You make sure that they’re okay.”

Tracking student achievement or performance data with a student information system (SIS) and/or a learning management system (LMS) is a way that many districts monitor and track student needs and progress.

Executive director of Link Learning for Berrien Springs Public Schools Kristi Teall described the “Pulse” data dashboard that they use throughout the district to track student progress and identify trends of student engagement.

“This was probably our first step in becoming student-centered,” said Teall. “It is about looking at data to see what is going on with kids, trying to find out why some are or are not successful, and determining what might we do to address some of those challenges that our students are facing.”

When we can effectively monitor students’ individual academic needs, we can also teach students to monitor their own needs.

By tracking their own academic progress, students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning, which helps them to develop the skills needed for learner agency—knowledge of oneself as a learner. It is the learner’s ability to articulate, create, or ask for the conditions necessary to meet one’s learning needs.

Monitoring their own academic progress is an important life skill for students. It fosters metacognition (awareness of one’s own thought processes), which has been associated with higher levels of achievement.

It is important to remember that while students should have opportunities to track their own progress, we can’t assume that students know how to do this themselves. Monitoring student data should be a collaborative process with both students and teachers looking at the same data and discussing it together.

Portland teacher Chandra Polasek shared how, in her high school English Language Arts and Communications classes, she has quarterly grade conferences with her students. She described the conferences as collaborative conversations in which students articulate how they have met specific standards.

“I got tired of grades being assigned simply based on what I’ve recorded, whereas students might have evidence that shows they’re really proficient in the standard…it might have been that I just didn’t see it or wasn’t grading a particular assignment for it at the time,” Polasek admitted.

There’s also a self-reflection aspect to these grade conferences. She encourages her students to determine where they excelled in each unit and what they want to and need to work on next. The conversations that take place during these quarterly grade conferences help students to develop learner agency as they monitor their own progress and learning needs.

Learning that is student-centered in this way can help students develop both academic and non-academic skills transferable beyond the classroom.

Final thoughts

Part of being a teacher is monitoring the needs of students, whether a classroom is student-centered or not. Every teacher does it in some way or another—exit tickets, thumbs up/thumbs down checks, individual student conferences, analyzing student assessment data, or listening to students explain something in their own words.

In a face-to-face classroom, teachers can visually scan the class using social cues and students’ facial expressions to get a general idea as to how many students seem confused, frustrated, or lost.

In a virtual classroom, those visual cues don’t exist. Many teachers found it to be more challenging to monitor the needs of their students during the pandemic when they were forced to teach remotely and may not have had much, if any, experience teaching online.

During this time, we were reminded of the importance of paying attention to more than just how students are doing academically by focusing on students’ social and emotional needs.

In classrooms that are student-centered (virtual or face-to-face), teachers monitor student needs more intentionally—and it’s more than just data. It is about understanding the whole child—what they need both academically and non-academically—and giving students the skills they need for success within and beyond the classroom.

Student-centered learning blog series

A Competency-Based Approach to Student-Centered Learning

Christa Green — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 15:14:00 +0000

This mini-series Student-Centered Learning in Michigan K-12 Schools—which is part of our larger student-centered learning blog series—is meant to accompany the report and further explore the practical implications of the research. In addition, the mini-series celebrates these schools as well as other K-12 schools throughout the state of Michigan who continue to work toward implementing student-centered learning models that include elements of digital learning, personalization, and competency-based learning progressions.

In our conversations with teachers and school leaders about what student-centered learning looks like within their school and/or district, we inevitably discussed competency-based education.

This post will explore competency-based education, its relationship to student-centered learning, as well as the student-centered work Michigan schools are doing in terms of moving towards becoming competency-based.

Competency-based education: Key components and big ideas

Some schools are making learning student-centered by developing learning competencies. In a competency-based classroom, progress is measured based on demonstrating mastery of standards or competencies, and students don’t move on to the next topic until they’ve demonstrated mastery of the previous one.

The Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL) defines competency-based education by seven core elements:

Students are empowered to make decisions about their learning
Assessment is meaningful and yields timely, relevant, and actionable evidence
Students receive support based on their learning needs
Students progress based on mastery, not seat time
Students advance along different pathways and at their own pace
Strategies to ensure equity for all students are embedded into the educational system
Rigorous, common expectations for learning are established

The Aurora Institute emphasizes that in a truly competency-based environment, all seven elements should be implemented and that strong implementation requires “policies, pedagogy, structures, and culture that support every student in developing essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions.”

Rather than moving through lessons and units together as a class and measuring progress based on seat time or time spent on a topic, in a competency-based classroom, learning experiences are designed so that students progress on their own pathway and at their own pace.

It is about designing learning in a way that allows students to move forward when they are ready while providing extra time and support to those who are not.

In a competency-based classroom, progress is measured based on demonstrating mastery of standards or competencies, and students don’t move on to the next topic until they’ve demonstrated mastery of the previous one.

The connection between competency-based education and student-centered learning

Student-centered learning is a philosophy or an approach to education that is focused on meeting the needs of each student individually.

In a student-centered learning environment, students and teachers work together collaboratively to design learning plans or pathways that meet the needs of each learner.

So what exactly is the relationship between student-centered learning and competency-based education?

One of the four core tenets of a student-centered learning environment is establishing competency-based learning progressions—the academic progression of students based on the demonstration of mastery or competence of predetermined standards.

CBE is a component of student-centered learning; it is a specific and deeper change rooted in a system designed to support student mastery and success.

CBE is a means to make learning student-centered.

Competency-based education in Michigan K-12 classrooms

In our discussions with teachers and school leaders, many acknowledge that of the four tenets of student-centered learning—voice, choice, competency-based learning progressions, and the continuous monitoring of student needs—making learning competency-based is the most challenging.

Being truly competency-based likely requires changes in scheduling, staffing, grading, assessments, curriculum, etc.

However, despite the challenges associated with making learning competency-based, many schools are working towards establishing competencies.

Within Oxford Community Schools, a K-12 International Baccalaureate (IB) district, Oxford Virtual Academy (OVA) offers a unique pathway for students that fuses homeschooling with the best parts of traditional education. By working in partnership with families, OVA provides rigorous academic preparation that is teacher mentored, parent-directed, and customized to meet the needs of students from all academic backgrounds.

Jordan Dennis, Oxford Virtual Academy Hybrid Learning Coordinator, admitted that while Oxford is very interested in competency-based education, in terms of implementation, they are not quite there.

“It has to be driven by the teachers and by the community. And in order to do that, they need to understand its benefits and why it’s something that is necessary,” posed Dennis. “Not just that it’s better than the current model, that it’s something that needs to be done in order to address the holes and the gaps in the current model.”

Without an understanding of the gaps in the current, traditional model and the students for whom it isn’t working, it may not seem like there is enough of a reason to make the change and move towards student-centered learning and/or competency-based education.

The Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium, & Keweenaw (CLK) is a small, rural school district in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With the help of Lisa Sitkins from MiCoOp, who has provided tools and resources, Chris Davidson started CLK on a path toward CBE about two years ago.

Davidson has established some small teacher teams to begin thinking about and designing competency-based models. He shared that their goal is to have as many CBE components in place for the start of the 2021–22 school year as possible.

“We’re actually looking at maybe starting with a school within a school-type model, which would allow for family choice,” Davidson said. “This would allow those who want to stick to a more traditional model to have that choice. And for those who are interested in moving in this direction with us right out of the gate, they can move right with us.”

While many teachers and school leaders recognize that the traditional model of education isn’t working for all students, truly moving towards a competency-based or student-centered model requires change beyond the classroom…and may commence with smaller steps forward.

“It has to be driven by the teachers and by the community. And in order to do that, they need to understand its benefits and why it’s something that is necessary.”

Standards-based grading and instruction: A step in the right direction

While being standards-based or using standards-based grading, a topic that came up in many of our conversations with school leaders, is not the same as being competency-based, it could be considered a precursor or a “first step” that districts may take.

In standards-based classrooms at Berrien Springs’ Sylvester Elementary and Berrien Springs Middle School, rather than using a traditional A-F letter grading system, teachers use a scale of 0–4. This reporting method and scale help them measure how well an individual student is doing in relation to specific grade-level standards.

Students have the opportunity to re-do assignments and are encouraged to track their own progress related to the standards-based learning targets.

Portland Public Schools teacher Chandra Polasek explained that her personal journey towards becoming more student-centered really began when she started reflecting more intently on the work she was doing as a teacher.

She realized that her instruction wasn’t driven by competencies or any kind of proficiency with the standards: “So I started looking at how I can revise what I’m doing to really give meaning to the standards and to what students take away.”

During the 2019-20 school year, she moved to fully utilizing standards-based grading and having conversations about proficiency. “It was a process of really looking at my rubrics, looking at my instruction, and changing my curriculum,” said Polasek. “It took about six years of completely revising things.”

She admits that while it was a lot of work, it was more of a personal challenge in looking closely at content and curriculum, giving up some of what she personally wanted to do in the process.

While schools are taking steps towards creating competencies and being competency-based, most are not quite there yet. However, a focus on standards, on mastery of those standards, and altering the grading system to reflect that could be considered a step in the direction of competency-based learning.

“It was a process of really looking at my rubrics, looking at my instruction, and changing my curriculum.”

Final thoughts

Creating learning competencies and designing flexible learning opportunities that allow students to demonstrate mastery of these competencies on their own pathway and at their own pace is a piece of designing a learning environment that is student-centered.

However, CBE is about more than just flexible pacing—it is about designing learning to generate student success.

The following resources may be helpful as you consider taking a competency-based approach to make learning student-centered:

4 Strategies for Schools Shifting From Grades to Standards-Based Learning: When the teachers and administrators at a middle school determined that A-F grades didn’t align with their goals, they began a years-long shift in how they assess student learning.
What’s New in K-12 Competency-Based Education (CBE)?: The CompetencyWorks blog provides brief reviews of new resources and research, including:
- a new CBE school-design rubric;
- video examples of CBE educator competencies;
- a crosswalk between CBE principles and 20 EdTech tools, proficiency-based summative assessment resources;
- a new book on shifting to a learner-centered paradigm; and
- upcoming professional learning opportunities.
Transforming Learning through Competency-Based Education: In this article, Susan Patrick of the Aurora Institute explains how some states are adopting a range of policies to personalize student learning and move away from seat-time rules.
Competency-Based Education in Harrisburg, South Dakota: Travis Lape, Innovative Programs Director for the Harrisburg School District in South Dakota, was a presenter for the Introduction to Competency-Based Education breakout session at the Aurora Institute Symposium 2020. This blog post shares his remarks and selected slides.
Finding Your Path: A Navigation Tool for Scaling Personalized, Competency-Based Learning: This resource is designed to help learning communities understand the conditions for sustainable systems change and to develop and advance a strategic plan for district-wide transformation to personalized, CBE.
Five Big Ideas for Learner-Centered Competency Framework Design: Competency frameworks are a critical feature of learner-centered schools and education systems. They define a set of important capabilities (e.g., reading critically, designing solutions, sustaining wellness) for college and career, civic engagement, and lifelong learning.
What is Personalized Learning? What is Personalized Competency-Based Learning?: In this blog, KnowledgeWorks provides a definition for personalized, competency-based learning as well as why school districts should choose personalized learning.
Empowering Students Through the Lens of Adaptive Competencies: CBE in Chicago Public Schools

The next blog in this series will explore how teachers continuously monitor student needs and progress in student-centered classrooms.

Student-centered learning blog series

Making Learning Student-Centered: Providing Voice and Choice

Christa Green — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 14:20:33 +0000

In our conversations with teachers and school leaders about how they are making learning student-centered, talking about voice and choice is where the conversation typically begins.

Although voice and choice are related and often discussed together, they are not interchangeable. Choice is when students choose, from a set of predetermined options provided for them, the path or process that works best for them. Voice is when students are actually responsible for and included in designing the learning options.

However, voice and choice are both ways in which students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning.

Providing voice and choice for families: Learning options

Now, maybe more than ever before, students and their families have choices when it comes to learning.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools offered—and are likely to continue to offer—virtual learning options and hybrid options (a mix of both virtual and in-person instruction) for students and their families to choose from in addition to the more traditional face-to-face learning option.

Taking choice for families a step further, some school districts actually include parents and community members in the design of learning options, allowing them to have a voice in the process.

Within the community of Oxford, Michigan, there is a large homeschool population made up of parents who want their children to have different learning options, to have voice and choice, and to have more support. In listening to the voice of the community, learning options were designed to fit families’ needs, namely Oxford Virtual Academy (OVA) and their hybrid learning pathway.

“They [homeschool families] wanted a flexible schedule. They didn’t want to be in a traditional public school classroom and fully online education wasn’t cutting it for them,” Jordan Dennis, OVA’s hybrid learning coordinator said. “They wanted more support. They wanted some classroom experience, some hands-on things. So the hybrid program was that blend between a public school setting in a physical classroom with a more structured day, but with the flexibility in the pacing that is afforded to online students.”

Just as teachers strive to incorporate voice and choice for students into student-centered learning environments, OVA school leaders listened to their community to understand what parents wanted and needed, designing learning options specifically to meet those needs.

A traditional school model and schedule may not work well for students and/or their families for many reasons such as involvement in traveling sports team, student work schedules, anxiety, bullying, a desire for more flexibility, or health issues that make in-school attendance difficult.

Allowing parents and the community to have a voice and giving them choices in terms of their children’s education may help to bridge the gap between school and home—resulting in stronger communication, collaboration, and support—and may give students a chance to learn in a way that will allow them to succeed.

“They [homeschool families] wanted a flexible schedule. They didn’t want to be in a traditional public school classroom and fully online education wasn’t cutting it for them.”

Providing voice and choice for students: Personalized learning pathways

We know that not all students learn in the same way.

Some students need more or less time to master a skill. Some students need more small group or individual instruction to understand a new concept while others may be able to master it on their own. Students have different interests, strengths, weaknesses, learning styles, background knowledge, and learning needs.

Why is it then that in the traditional model of education, we expect students to learn in the same way at the same time?

Is it because it’s more convenient to design learning with a single plan? Is it because it’s easier in terms of lesson planning and pacing through a unit to try and keep all students on the same page at the same pace? Or is it because it’s easier to design and grade a single type of assessment?

Coming from the perspective of a former teacher, I’ll admit that it is. But it’s not what is best for kids.

However, this is how education was designed when I went to school, it was how I was taught to teach, and how I saw teaching modeled for me.

I was taught to come up with detailed lesson plans, stay on pace within each unit, make sure to cover the standards I was responsible for teaching, and maybe incorporate some differentiation here and there.

I was ill-prepared for the reality of a classroom of 20–30 students who learned at different paces, many who needed more individual attention and guidance than I could provide during the whole class, teacher-led instruction.

However, instead of trying to make students learn along the same pathway at the same time, what if we provide opportunities for students to work at their own pace, allowing them to move forward when they are ready and giving them extra time and instruction when needed? What if we allow students to tap into their interests and use their strengths as it relates to the topics or standards being taught?

Providing choice can increase student engagement, student performance, and students’ perceived value of their learning.

When students have choices related to the format or content of their learning, the manner in which their learning is assessed, and/or have a voice and some degree of control in the learning process, they are more likely to be active participants in their education, to take responsibility for their learning, and to be engaged in their own learning. This is evident in the Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium, and Keweenaw (CLK):

“Two of our classes are project-based—one English and one social studies,” explained Joel Asiala, principal at Horizons, an alternative high school within CLK. Students are able to come up with their own individual projects or “choose from a variety of projects in order to portray their understanding and demonstrate their learning.”

Allowing students to choose their own learning pathway, to learn at their own pace, to have a voice in some aspects of their education, and/or providing them with project-based learning opportunities are just some of the ways in which teachers are implementing voice and choice in Michigan K-12 classrooms.

Giving students a voice through leadership opportunities

At the classroom-level, encouraging student voice and leadership by co-creating classroom rules or policies, rather than having teacher-created behavior expectations that are simply explained to them, can give students a sense of ownership and help to make them feel comfortable using their voice in other ways in the classroom.

Another way to incorporate student voice in terms of leadership at the classroom level is to provide opportunities for students who have mastered a concept to explain it in their own words to a peer who may be struggling and may simply need to hear it explained another way, in a student’s voice. Students benefit from hearing a concept explained in a peer’s voice, and in turn, it benefits the student leader’s learning as they think more deeply about the concept by explaining it to others.

During our interview, Will Heath, superintendent of Portland Public Schools, shared that he believes that there needs to be some intentionality behind creating leadership opportunities for students at the building and district levels.

Heath elaborated: “We have to actually set up avenues in which students feel that they have a voice—more than just student council.”

While the chance for students to have a voice when it comes to building and district leadership may indeed not be as common, there are many ways to include student voice in education policymaking at the school, district, and state level.

“We have to actually set up avenues in which students feel that they have a voice—more than just student council.”

Final thoughts

When learning is student-centered, teachers design learning that is flexible and includes voice and choice. The learning pathway that each student takes doesn’t have to look the same.

This may require teachers to completely shift the way they think about and approach teaching.

As Dave Eichberg, superintendent of Berrien Springs Public School explained: “Our focus, as educators, for so long has been on the teaching part of education. In order for us to really embrace voice and choice, our focus has to shift. The lens through which we look at education has to be through the eyes of the learner.”

I couldn’t agree more.

“Our focus, as educators, for so long has been on the teaching part of education. In order for us to really embrace voice and choice, our focus has to shift. The lens through which we look at education has to be through the eyes of the learner.”

Student-centered learning blog series

Why are schools making learning student-centered?

Christa Green — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 14:27:32 +0000

Introduction

In June of 2021, we published the report Student-centered learning in Michigan K-12 schools: Factors that impact successful implementation. This study aimed to capture the ways in which Michigan schools are implementing student-centered learning practices along with the factors that impact the successful implementation of such practices.

These school districts belong to a larger network of districts that are early adopters of student-centered learning called the Michigan CoOp (MiCoOp). Led by Lisa Sitkins, these districts are redesigning public school through the collaborative sharing of ideas and resources. Districts leverage each other’s strengths to create a culture of learning that empowers educators to personalize learning for every student. Professional development and networking opportunities within the MiCoOp inspire educators to take action in implementing successful, efficient, and effective learning models.

This mini-series Student-centered learning in Michigan K-12 schools—which is part of our larger student-centered learning blog series—is meant to accompany the report, further explore the practical implications of the research, and celebrate these schools as well as other K-12 schools throughout the state of Michigan who continue to work toward implementing student-centered learning models that include elements of digital learning, personalization, and competency-based learning progressions.

It is our hope that the effective practices, guidance, and advice gleaned from the many innovative educators who so generously gave their time to participate in this study will help other school and district personnel overcome their own barriers to successful implementation of a more student-centered approach to learning.

So, why are schools making learning student-centered? Through our research, several common themes emerged.

While there are many reasons for the “why” behind this work—building student relationships, increasing learner agency, meeting students where they are, opportunities for deeper learning, filling in learning gaps—we found that one reason was consistent: schools aren’t making learning student-centered because it’s easy, they are doing it because in our current model of education, we are not reaching all students.

Equity: Meeting the learning needs of all students

Now—maybe more than ever—teachers are going to find that their classes are made up of students who have very different learning needs. Because of the pandemic and the resulting upheaval to the more traditional model of education that we were used to, learning was disrupted in some way or another for almost every student.

Standards and content had to be prioritized…and reprioritized. Students learned remotely from home, in person at school, or in a hybrid format. And some flexed back and forth between different learning models throughout the past year.

It will be crucial for teachers to determine where students have gaps in their learning. Those students will need time to revisit content and master skills that they may have missed. At the same time, other students will be ready to advance to the next topic, skill, or competency.

However, the idea of students within the same classroom working at different paces, having different learning needs, and/or mastering content at different times isn’t new.

We just haven’t created conditions for learning that accommodate the different learning needs of all students.

Oxford Virtual Academy (OVA) hybrid learning coordinator Jordan Dennis believes that becoming more student-centered will allow them to provide equitable learning experiences to meet students where they are and fill in learning gaps.

Dennis explained, “If we design the educational experience around the student, we can provide more pathways and opportunities for them [students] to overcome those gaps.” When learning is student-centered, educators are targeted and strategic about meeting the learning needs of students.

Every student gets what they need, not just the students who are falling behind.

“If we design the educational experience around the student, we can provide more pathways and opportunities for them [students] to overcome those gaps.”

Increasing student engagement & making learning more meaningful

Think about a project you were involved in at work that you were personally interested in, passionate about, or that you developed and designed yourself.

Was your level of excitement, engagement, and passion for that project more or less than for a project that someone else just handed to you, explaining your involvement? My guess is more.

It’s the same for students.

When learning is student-centered, students have voice and choice. They are:

…choosing to learn in a way that works best for them.

…designing projects that best demonstrate their mastery of content.

…taking more ownership of and engagement in their learning because they are personally invested in it.

Assistant superintendent of elementary education for Oxford Community Schools Anita Qonja-Collins feels that increased student engagement as a result of student-centered learning leads to deep learning: “To me, it’s all about engagement. When we are student-centered, there’s going to be authentic engagement, and when there is authentic engagement, there’s going to be deep learning.”

By tapping into students’ curiosities, relevance is created which results not only in deeper learning but in higher levels of student engagement.

Learning becomes more meaningful when students not only know what they are learning, but why they are learning it.

“When we are student-centered, there’s going to be authentic engagement, and when there is authentic engagement, there’s going to be deep learning.”

Responding to a need for change

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we view education.

We realized that learning doesn’t have to happen within the walls of a school building; learning can happen anywhere.

Virtual learning was not new, but it was a new way of learning and a new way of teaching for many. It opened our eyes to offering more options to both students and parents. It forced us to really focus on what is most important in education: increasing student engagement, building relationships with students, and student mental health.

It forced us to be more flexible. What works for one student does not necessarily work for all students.

That mentality is at the core of student-centered learning. When learning is student-centered, it happens at a pace and in a place that works best for each individual student.

In our discussion with Angela Cramer, director of curriculum for Berrien Springs Public Schools, she suggested that maybe it’s time that we stop trying to make education fit the traditional mold that we have used for so long.

It seems that the pandemic has brought to light the fact that we need to change our current approach to education in order to do what is best for all kids, not just most.

Final thoughts

There are many reasons why schools are moving towards student-centered learning. However, the reality is that in doing so, a lot has to change.

It may require giving up projects or revising units to better fit standards or learning competencies. It may require redesigning assessments to build in more options and more creativity. It may require building more flexibility into lesson plans.

Students aren’t necessarily ready to move onto what’s next when the unit ends.

We may have to shift our whole mentality of what teaching is and focus on what it could be.

Why? Because it’s what’s best for our students.

Maybe it’s time that we shift the focus in education from teaching to learning—and in doing so, focus on making learning more student-centered.

Student-Centered Learning Blog Series

Looking Ahead: How to Thrive in (and Beyond) the 2020-21 School Year

Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 20:27:03 +0000

We began our student-centered learning blog series by exploring what student-centered learning is in a theoretical sense, defining the relationship between student-centered learning and blended learning, and taking an inside look at what student-centered learning looks like in practice.

We discussed the motivating factors behind why some schools make the shift towards student-centered learning as well as the catalysts that may facilitate change and give student-centered learning momentum.

In our Stories from the Field: Student-Centered Learning mini-series, we celebrated and highlighted the successes of three different Michigan schools that are embracing student-centered learning: Hamilton Community Schools, FlexTech Schools, and Fraser Public Schools.

And in our Engage and Empower Learners mini-series, we have revisited the core tenets of student-centered learning—voice and choice, competency-based progression, and continuous monitoring of student needs—to explain how student-centered learning supports learning continuity.

Last spring, as schools closed their doors due to the pandemic, as teachers (some for the first time) were asked to move their instruction online, and as students (some for the first time) were asked to learn online, schools were given some grace and forgiveness as we were all adjusting to our “new normal.”

While the transition to remote teaching and learning was easier for some, it is safe to say that many struggled.

However, as we begin another school year, failure is not an option.

This school year, we have two choices: survive or thrive.

We conclude this series by looking ahead—looking ahead with the intent of exploring what changes can we make now to better prepare our schools, our teachers, and our students for success not only this year, but in the years to come.

As we begin another school year, failure is not an option.

This school year, we have two choices: survive or thrive.

Survival mode

For those school administrators who are trying to survive this year by sustaining their pre-covid model of education, we understand. It’s understandable to want to mimic how education occurred prior to the pandemic but in a remote learning environment.

Some school administrators are reporting that even parents want “school” to return to the way it was, insisting that their children aren’t disciplined enough to complete their work on their own when they aren’t provided with the structures of synchronous instruction.

However, implementing and enforcing strict rules like requiring that students always have video on, that they follow along from home with classroom instruction on hybrid learning days, prohibiting the use of virtual backgrounds, making a virtual learning day just as long as an in-person learning day, and forbidding snacking during class are not necessarily the answer.

However, could the lack of self-discipline and initiative on the part of students simply exist because students have never been given the opportunity to learn these skills before now?

We can’t expect students to have the capacity for learner agency when they have never been provided with opportunities to practice.

The way to thrive is to innovate

Rather than trying to survive by sustaining a pre-covid model while teaching in a remote or hybrid learning environment, some innovative schools are looking for opportunities to advance their vision and consider new possibilities.

We have come to learn that some of the pre-covid structures that have existed in our schools but limited our ability to implement change such as bell schedules, seat time, and the physical limitation of teachers solely delivering instruction in-person, are no longer a necessity for learning.

How can we institutionalize a different kind of practice—one that is not dependent on the physical presence of teachers and students together, one that meets the unique needs of every individual student, one that keeps in mind the stress that teachers, students, and families are already under—and deliver instruction otherwise?

Innovative schools are looking to structure what has traditionally been done in the past in ways that are better, easier, and/or faster—not only for teachers and administrators, but for students and families as well—so that when the previous practices are pulled away, people don’t revert back to their old ways.

There are schools that are ready to take advantage of this opportunity and to dream about what’s possible.

So what can we do between now and life post-pandemic to create an improved learning model and to help students thrive?

Design opportunities for student-centered learning

As you contemplate the possibilities that the future of learning holds, we encourage you to consider incorporating the components of student-centered learning at appropriate levels, wherever it is possible. And if you already implement some student-centered practices, continue to nurture them. It will help both you and your students grow not only now, but also into the future.

In our discussions with school leaders, many have indicated that those school districts that implemented some student-centered learning principles prior to the pandemic made the transition to remote learning and teaching more easily.

“For us to shift to fully remote learning, we only had to shift slightly, modifying content somewhat as we already had the infrastructure and protocols in place to support remote learning,” said Carrie Wozniak, superintendent of Fraser Public Schools. “Being student-centered already, we simply stayed focused on student learning instead of figuring out how to teach remotely. This allowed our teachers to focus more on learning, rather than emergency remote teaching. They didn’t need to entirely shift their focus.”

Student-centered learning means focusing more on student learning than on creating content and structuring lessons.

“Being student-centered already, we simply stayed focused on student learning instead of figuring out how to teach remotely. This allowed our teachers to focus more on learning, rather than emergency remote teaching. They didn’t need to entirely shift their focus.”

Let them choose. Let them show what they know.

Another way we can help our students thrive both now and in the future is to find opportunities to give students choice. Building choice into instruction and assessments gives students an element of control.

Rather than trying to keep the lesson content, delivery, and assessments the same whether students are learning face-to-face, in a hybrid environment, or remote, building choice into instruction and assessments has the potential to create greater levels of student motivation and engagement.

Here are some additional resources that explain how to create opportunities for student choice and what it looks like in the classroom:

Building choice into instruction and assessment can give teachers a more accurate picture of what students really know as students have the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in a way that makes the most sense to them, not the single option offered.

In the remote learning environment that many teachers and students are finding themselves in, teachers may not be able to be as dependent on summative assessments because of the increased concerns of academic integrity. As a result, teachers may want to rely more on formative assessments to more closely and frequently monitor student needs and assess student learning.

If you can create assessments and design learning opportunities now—to whatever extent that you can—that incorporate voice and choice, that give students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding in a way that highlights their strengths, it will help students thrive and gives them a chance to develop skills needed for learner agency.

“Schools that have created the conditions for student agency are going to have an easier time with rapid or extended closures because students aren’t waiting on the adults or the system to tell them what to do,” says Dr. Sarah Pazur, director of school leadership at FlexTech High School. “They [students] are inspired by the work they’re doing because they had a voice in shaping and designing it—they created it and it doesn’t live in the school building. When the student drives the learning, the arbitrary structures like class periods and teacher-driven lessons in the form of worksheets or rote learning tasks become obsolete.”

When schools and teachers can create these student-centered learning environments, the responsibility to move forward is really on the students. They have the resources they need, they know the learning path they are on, and they are engaged and motivated to advance.

“They [students] are inspired by the work they’re doing because they had a voice in shaping and designing it—they created it and it doesn’t live in the school building.”

Provide ongoing professional development

While some teachers will naturally thrive in a situation like the one we are currently in, where things are new and challenging and unpredictable, others will really struggle. Neither teachers nor administrators necessarily know how to make student-centered learning work, especially when many are teaching and learning remotely.

It is crucial that ongoing professional development is put in place to help these teachers. As you consider what to incorporate into your professional development plan, make sure to keep in mind the following considerations:

District level vs. building level needs: There will be varying professional development needs within your district. It may be appropriate to have district-level professional development with some autonomy and flexibility for differences at the building level.
Teacher needs: Satisfying the needs of your teachers should be your first priority. Help them be effective and functional whether they are teaching in a virtual or a hybrid model. Help them understand what good instruction looks like and how to slowly filter in voice and choice. *Remember to be sensitive to the fact that some of your teachers may be struggling with home obligations, especially those with little ones, in addition to their teaching obligations.
Focus on assessment: As we discussed above, assessment strategies will need to change. Teachers may need to focus more on formative assessments rather than summative assessments. Also, keep in mind that assessment may look very different at the high school compared to the middle school or elementary levels. Make sure to incorporate the building-level flexibility that we mentioned earlier.
Parents: Make sure to work with parents and keep their needs in mind. Remember that in a remote learning environment, teachers are delivering instruction in students’ homes. This has given teachers a glimpse of what home life is like for some students. *Remember to be sensitive to the fact that some of these parents are trying to work a full-time job while helping their children with their school work.
Social-emotional component: Recognize that many students and their families may be feeling isolated and experiencing added stress. Are there ways you can embed social-emotional components into communications with families? Newsletters with suggestions probably won’t be enough. Families’ needs are shifting, and developing relationships with them is essential.

While the ideas above do not form an exhaustive list, incorporating these components into the professional development you design for your teachers should help. In addition, it is crucial that professional development is ongoing for it to be successful long-term.

One of the best ways to incorporate ongoing professional development is to build time into teachers’ schedules dedicated specifically for collaboration. Teachers need more time to collaborate—to share information about students, to share best practices in instruction, and to help each other grow.

Give teachers the opportunity to learn from each other.

Shape the building blocks of a new model now

This virtual or hybrid model that many educators are now working in out of necessity is actually being recognized by some families and students as a better way to learn and to receive their education.

Once the pandemic is under control and some schools move back to their traditional model of only offering face-to-face instruction, that may not be acceptable to some families. This need for remote learning may actually force some schools into offering a hybrid model…and force them to play catch up to those schools who were early adopters and already have it figured out.

Rather than being behind the curve, perhaps we can take advantage of the current situation and the removal of some constraints that have been barriers to student-centered learning to try some new strategies.

We should begin to pay particular attention to what is currently working for students and families through a student-centered lens, grab onto those things, and consider how we can keep them in place even after the pandemic subsides.

Can you build upon and enhance your current model by adding in some student-centered learning principles?

“It’s not about throwing out what was done before, it’s about determining what we are going to bring with us to a new model. It’s about adding and enhancing,” says Dave Tebo of Hamilton Community Schools.

Will you spend this school year in survival mode or will you look for opportunities to innovate and allow your students to thrive?

What will you bring with you to a new model?

“It’s not about throwing out what was done before, it’s about determining what we are going to bring with us to a new model. It’s about adding and enhancing.”

Student-Centered Learning Blog Series

In our Student-Centered Learning blog series, we lead a discussion each month about student-centered learning: what it is, how it can help students and schools, and how to make it a reality. Our hope with this series is to provide practical insights to school leaders, teachers, and parents on how to make education more meaningful to students. Stay up to date on future blogs in this series by signing up for email notifications!

About the Authors

Christa Green

Christa received her master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Kent State University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She taught middle school language arts and social studies for seven years before coming to work for Michigan Virtual in 2018. As a research specialist with the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, Christa enjoys using her passion for education, curriculum, research, and writing to share and shape best practices in online and blended learning with other educators within and beyond Michigan.

Christopher Harrington

Dr. Christopher Harrington has served public education as a teacher, an administrator, a researcher, and a consultant for more than 25 years and has experience assisting dozens of school districts across the nation in the design and implementation of blended, online, and personalized learning programs. He has worked on local, regional, and national committees with the Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL) and various other education-based organizations aimed at transforming education through the use of technology.