Transforming for Tomorrow: A State Policymaker’s Guide for Supporting Student-Centered Education Systems

KnowledgeWorks has released a state policymaker’s guide for supporting student-centered education systems: A personalized, competency-based approach to learning reimagines our K-12 education systems with the goal of ensuring that each child is empowered with the knowledge and skills they need for the future. This approach to education creates engaging learning experiences customized to each student’s Read more about Transforming for Tomorrow: A State Policymaker’s Guide for Supporting Student-Centered Education Systems[…]

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Agency by Design: Making Learning Engaging

The global COVID-19 pandemic pulled back the curtain on the growing need for greater student agency and student engagement. As we rethink the future of education in a post-pandemic world, learner agency must be at the center of learning designs and learning models so that we can support students anytime, anyplace, and at any pace. Read more about Agency by Design: Making Learning Engaging[…]

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Present Danger: Solving the Deepening Student Absenteeism Crisis

With coronavirus vaccinations rising, Covid cases falling, and schools reopening, education leaders are turning their attention to expanding learning opportunities post-pandemic.  But strikingly high rates of student absenteeism threaten that work. A new FutureEd report on attendance trends in five school districts serving nearly 450,000 students suggests that student absenteeism has been far greater during Read more about Present Danger: Solving the Deepening Student Absenteeism Crisis[…]

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Overcoming Challenges of Concurrent Learning

Many schools are using a simultaneous learning approach, where teachers work with all students, both in person and online, at the same time. However, writes The 74 contributor Beth Rabbitt, despite hard work and good intentions, full-time, simultaneous learning is not a best practice.  Online models are least effective when teachers try to engage learners Read more about Overcoming Challenges of Concurrent Learning[…]

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Mere Engagement: Reflections about the Connections Between Online Learning, Student Agency, and Student Engagement

School leaders mustn’t lose sight of the need for student agency and student engagement as they contend with the myriad challenges posed by COVID-19. In fact, they must reimagine what agency and engagement can look like in cases when students are learning virtually and also when they are unable to connect. Mere Engagement: Reflections about Read more about Mere Engagement: Reflections about the Connections Between Online Learning, Student Agency, and Student Engagement[…]

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The “Silent Epidemic” Finds Its Voice: Demystifying How Students View Engagement in Their Learning

McREL researchers Samantha Holquist and Marisa Crowder collaborated with members of student voice organizations in Oregon and Kentucky to provide us with a deeper level of understanding about what may be shaping students’ engagement in the school community. Their research report is comprehensive, offering many insights from the students’ perspective and proposing a framework for Read more about The “Silent Epidemic” Finds Its Voice: Demystifying How Students View Engagement in Their Learning[…]

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New forms of parent engagement as an education game changer post-COVID-19

Writing for Brookings, Rebecca Winthrop explores the power of parent engagement in the transformation of schools. Excerpts from the piece appear below:  School closures and remote learning have propelled children’s ability to learn independently to the forefront of every busy and stressed out parent’s wish list. This ability, often described by education experts as “student Read more about New forms of parent engagement as an education game changer post-COVID-19[…]

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Beyond reopening schools: How education can emerge stronger than before COVID-19

What may be possible for education on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic? It is hard to imagine there will be another moment in history when the central role of education in the economic, social, and political prosperity and stability of nations is so obvious and well understood by the general population. Now is Read more about Beyond reopening schools: How education can emerge stronger than before COVID-19[…]

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September Issue Brief: Student Engagement

Among high school students who consider dropping out, half cite lack of engagement with school as a primary reason, and 42 percent say that they don’t see value in the schoolwork they are asked to do. During emergency closures due to COVID-19, even students who were previously highly motivated began to disengage from learning. In Read more about September Issue Brief: Student Engagement[…]

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10 Recommendations to Maintain Student Connections

The Aspen Institute has released 10 recommendations states can use to maintain student connections and relationships through the 2020-21 school year.   Healthy relationships and routines undergird the development of resilience, which is needed to engage successfully in academics and in life beyond school. These dimensions of student well-being and readiness-to-learn are under tremendous strain due Read more about 10 Recommendations to Maintain Student Connections[…]

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10 Drivers of Engagement You Can Use Right Now

Writing for KnowledgeWorks, Ted Toshalis provides an overview of 10 ways that teachers can drive student engagement in equitable ways. Excerpts from the piece appear below: What should we do to increase student engagement? Access and opportunity – Open doors, supply tools, broker relationships and explain processes. Take nothing for granted when it comes to Read more about 10 Drivers of Engagement You Can Use Right Now[…]

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