A whole-learner approach prioritizes the full scope of a child’s developmental needs to ensure that every child reaches their fullest potential. As the Learning Policy Institute notes, “Decades of research have demonstrated the need for education strategies that recognize the connections between children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development, as well as their physical and mental health.”
A powerful way to expand our view of success is to create and use a Portrait of a Learner. A Portrait of a Learner is a comprehensive and holistic representation of a school system’s (i.e state, district, school) desired outcomes based on their vision and can function as a promise to their community. It aligns practices to a shared vision of success for every learner, expanding beyond narrow academic measures to honor each learner’s unique identity, strengths, goals, and aspirations. A Portrait of a Learner defines the knowledge, skills, and dispositions a community commits to developing in learners throughout their time in the system to ensure their success in school and beyond.
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Learning Model
Clearly defined expectations of teaching and learning to support professional learning, evaluation, curriculum, and resource allocation.
With a clear and aligned vision for success, the focus shifts to implementation. A key component of bringing a learner-centered vision to life is designing the desired learning experiences for learners. In order for educators to ensure that learners have opportunities to develop the outcomes defined by the community in the Portrait of a Learner, they must design learner-centered experiences that are aligned with desired outcomes. At Learner-Centered Collaborative, we have synthesized research on learning sciences, engagement, and agency to identify the elements that create the most impactful learning experiences. These critical elements for developing today’s learners require experiences that are personalized, competency-based, authentic, and inclusive & equitable.
Central to this approach is creating learning experiences for learners of all ages to develop necessary skills, demonstrate competence at their own pace, and work with others to engage in authentic work. This is the lens through which we build our self-paced courses and it guides the professional learning experiences we design with our partners.
Imagine a classroom where learners’ strengths are known and their curiosity is nurtured. They feel they belong, their culture and identity are celebrated and represented, they understand their social-emotional needs, and learn to self-regulate. Learners in this classroom solve real-world problems connected to clear learning outcomes. Feedback comes from educators, community members, and peers, paired with self-reflection and self-assessment. Educators provide authentic choices and support learners in making decisions about their learning, ensuring they receive what they need when they need it to reach their goals. This is a learner-centered environment.
Our educator competencies are designed to support the learning model, outlining what educators need to know and be able to do to design, facilitate, and assess in learner-centered systems. The educator competencies support educators to self-assess, identify strengths and opportunities for growth, charting their unique path for learning. In a competency-based professional learning system, educators could earn micro-credentials, professional learning credits, and even salary increases based on demonstrated impact.
Learning is co-constructed based on each learner’s unique strengths, skills, interests, and needs.
OUTCOME | COMPETENCY |
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Develop learner agency | Empower learners I help learners build their agency, determine priorities, and persist through challenges. |
| Encourage goal-setting and reflection I provide opportunities and supports for learners to set goals, create action plans and regularly reflect on their progress. |
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| Highlight the process of thinking I use metacognitive strategies to model my thinking process and have learners think about and share their thinking. |
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Amplify learner voice | Engage learners as decision makers I provide opportunities for learners to engage in classroom or school-based decision-making. |
| Solicit feedback I solicit learners’ feedback about their classroom experience and use it to improve and iterate. |
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| Promote equity of voice I use protocols and methods to ensure all learner voices are heard. |
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Customize the learning experience | Provide Voice and Choice I design learning experiences that offer flexibility in process, product and/or pace. |
| Leverage technology I use technology to efficiently track progress, engage learners in different ways, and offer academic supports. |
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| Design with, not for I co-create learning experiences with students based on their interests, strengths, and passions. |
Meaningful, relevant learning grounded in real-world challenges and applications for authentic audiences.
OUTCOME | COMPETENCY |
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Design real-world learning experiences | Tackle real-world problems I co-design learning experiences in which learners solve authentic local and global issues while building content-based knowledge and skills such as critical thinking, creativity and collaborative problem-solving. |
| Co-design interdisciplinary projects I co-design collaborative, cross-curricular projects with learners, to develop content area knowledge and skills that apply beyond school. |
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| Embed reflection I embed reflection opportunities throughout the learning experience to support the learning process. |
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Promote anytime / anywhere learning | Create flexible learning environments I develop diverse physical and digital learning environments to honor both in and out-of-school learning. |
| Connect with the community I connect learners with the local and global community through learning experiences that happen both in and outside of the classroom. |
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| Collaborate with the community I create opportunities for real-world learning experiences with community members through mentorships, internships and community-based projects. |
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Spark collaboration | Design for Equitable Collaboration I design collaborative group work that engages and stretches each learner, allowing them to demonstrate desired learning outcomes. |
| Develop collaboration skills I design and facilitate learning experiences that foster learners’ collaboration skills. |
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| Navigate Group Dynamics I support learners to navigate the challenges of collaboration. |
Learning is driven by evidence-based instruction, assessment, and feedback cycles based on progress toward desired knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
OUTCOME | COMPETENCY |
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Plan with a competency-based approach | Design backwards I design backwards, starting from essential questions and desired learning outcomes aligned to appropriate summative assessments. |
| Emphasize the iterative process I maintain a focus on high expectations for achievement while providing feedback and opportunities for practice, revision, and improvement. |
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| Define levels of proficiency I co-create rubrics with learners that clearly define the desired learning outcomes of the learning experience and what "proficiency" looks like. |
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Use assessment as a tool for learning | Assess formatively I frequently use a variety of formative assessment methods, including self-assessment, to monitor progress and guide educators’ and learners’ next steps in the learning process. |
| Promote effective feedback I create opportunities for learners to receive effective feedback from me, their peers and others to support the learning process. |
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| Modify path or pace I use quantitative and qualitative evidence to understand individual strengths and opportunities to co-design personalized learning paths with learners. |
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Design performance- based assessments | Assess skills and content I design performance-based assessments to authentically assess skills and content. |
| Support learners telling their learning story I facilitate the development of a Learner Portfolio: a curated collection of performance assessments from multiple subjects aligned to the Learner Profile, which shows evidence of growth and proficiency in those skills. |
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| Enable authentic demonstrations of learning I provide learners with opportunities to create public products and share their learning with an authentic public audience. |
Learning communities are collaborative and culturally relevant, where every learner feels they belong and can tap into their full academic and social potential, contributing to the collective success of their community.
OUTCOMES | COMPETENCY |
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Nurture a meaningful and engaging learning community | Build relationships I invest time to get to know my learners and for my learners to know me. |
| Plan & design for equitable SEL I design learning experiences that develop social and emotional skills and model my own social-emotional learning for learners. |
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| Build community with learners I build learners' ability to be in community with others, especially those of different backgrounds, identities and strengths. |
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Cultivate a sense of belonging | Honor learner cultures I practice culturally responsive teaching to center learners’ cultural diversity as an asset. |
| Address systemic inequities I co-design a learning community with equitable policies, rituals and routines (ie, homework policy, late work policy, summer reading choices, materials for projects, etc), addressing the historical marginalization of youth due to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, learning differences and/or behaviors. |
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| Curate inclusive curriculum intentionally I audit my curriculum and instructional resources to ensure they represent diverse voices, stories, and perspectives, particularly from marginalized identities. |
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Partner with learners to reach their full potential | Design for equitable access I design learning experiences that remove barriers to equitable access, engagement and sharing of learning for all learners. |
| Prepare learners for their next step in life I provide age-appropriate opportunities for learners to explore a variety of options for college, career and life and support them in navigating those choices. |
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| Create a support network I explicitly teach the value of social capital and support learners in developing their networks needed to achieve their goals. |
School Design
School structures intentionally designed to support learner-centered practices.
While individual teachers can make learner-centered shifts, scaling this model requires schools to use systems and structures as critical levers for change. Although the district can create governing policies and support resource allocation, there is a great deal of autonomy and flexibility at the school level that can impact what happens in the classroom. From our visits to over 100 diverse schools – ranging from micro-schools in island communities to rural schools that serve sprawling communities to large urban schools – we’ve identified six key structures that enable learner-centered practices.
While some new school models are built from the ground up with learner-centered designs – where space, building, staff, and culture are intentionally designed to serve a fresh, modern vision – these “lighthouse” schools are not the only path to learner-centered education.
Enabling Conditions
The conditions necessary to support the development of whole learner outcomes.
As we reimagine our ecosystems, we must consider the conditions in which we teach and learn. Research shows that learner-centered practices thrive when teachers have time, support, and trust to do what is best for learners in their classrooms and throughout the school. With increasing demands on educators, burnout and turnover negatively impact schools and learners. Not surprisingly, teachers leave schools where they are not supported or valued or feel ill-equipped or unable to meet students’ needs. We can prevent this by creating conditions that empower all learners and inspire leaders rather than demand followers.
Over a century after industrial-era education systems were created, a learner-centered era is on the horizon. It is incumbent on all of us to leverage the lessons from the past and build on what has worked, while leaving behind systems that do not serve learners and learning to create new and better systems to meet the needs of our learners in a modern era. Attending to the enabling conditions in our ecosystem is critical for creating the learner-centered ecosystems we envision.
Culture
The beliefs and interactions energize individuals and teams to contribute to a thriving community.
A cross-cutting element that underpins each level of this ecosystem is culture. This includes the mindsets you hold about learners and learning, the ability to trust the people you engage with—from the youngest learners to the adults you collaborate with—and, finally, the belief in your collective ability to make an impact in the lives of young people by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to thrive in school and life.
Evolution in education requires adults to examine their commitment and foster learner-centered mindsets and beliefs, which are essential for creating a learner-centered educational environment. By prioritizing relational trust among educators, students, and the community, a strong foundation is built that encourages open communication and mutual respect. Furthermore, the emphasis on collective efficacy ensures that all members of the educational community believe in their shared ability to achieve positive outcomes and have the resources to do so. Together, these elements create a cohesive and empowering atmosphere that promotes the success and well-being of every learner.
Scaling innovation requires spreading a mindset, not just a footprint, as noted by Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao, Stanford professors and authors of “Scaling Up Excellence.” They found that across diverse organizations, “scaling depends on believing and living a shared mindset throughout your group, division, or organization.” Spreading and updating a mindset requires relentless vigilance, repeatedly stating beliefs and living behaviors. Innovation flourishes when teachers collaborate on best practices, are provided opportunities to question, learn, and explore new methods, and are guided by a common vision and support.
Day-to-day interactions within the ecosystem impact what educators believe, how they learn, and how they design opportunities and experiences for their students. Professional learning must be embedded in an ecosystem redefining success measures, prioritizing learning at all levels, and evolving to meet community needs. Change in education is about creating better ecosystems for learning and innovation, not just better programs or tools.
Yes, You Can Shift to a Learner-Centered Model
While some new school models are built from the ground up with learner-centered designs – where space, building, staff, and culture are intentionally designed to serve a fresh, modern vision – these “lighthouse” schools are not the only path to learner-centered education.
Schools that exist in current systems can and are transitioning to learner-centered paradigms. At Learner-Centered Collaborative we are committed to not leaving existing schools and their learners behind. It’s critical that we evolve systems to support public schools in this shift. We all have a responsibility to consider how we can support existing systems to serve today’s and tomorrow’s learners. Each of us has an important role to play in this process.
The good news is that humans designed our current system, and we can redesign it too. Nothing stands in the way of doing this again. It starts with clarity as a community about our desired educational outcomes, articulating the vision, and designing the plans and enabling conditions to achieve it.
We believe in starting from your strengths and interests to find your ideal entry point into this work. While the process is not linear and can be messy, our learners are worth it. The future of education is ours to create.