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Our research partnerships aren’t just strategic. They’re based in the our belief in that relationships are fundamental to building what’s possible for learners.
We collaborated with our friends at AERDF on this blog that explore how collaborative innovation hubs are bringing together school systems, nonprofits, researchers, and community leaders to build something bigger than any one district can do alone. These hubs, rooted in relationships, shared values, and learner-centered purpose, are emerging as powerful engines of sustainable change.
🧭 Read it at the link in our bio.
🚀 Real Classrooms. Real AI. Real Shifts.
In this new tool, we explore how Escondido Union School District and Lamont Elementary School District are using AI programs including Playlab AI and Inkwire to:
✔️ Personalize learning
✔️ Expand access and belonging
✔️ Support educators` daily practice
🔍 Access the case studies at the link in our bio!
️⚡️ New Free Tool for Educators! ⚡️
Looking to bring durable skills like collaboration, communication, and problem-solving into your classroom?
The Durable Skills Learning Experience Accelerator (LEA) App was built for you. Developed by Learner-Centered Collaborative and America Succeeds, this AI-powered tool helps you integrate durable skills into your lessons, units, and projects with ease.
With just a few prompts, the tool helps you:
⭐ Identify the most relevant durable skills for what you’re already teaching
⭐ Define clear success criteria by grade level
⭐ Plan opportunities for learners to practice, demonstrate, and reflect
⭐ Embed learner-centered strategies to support real-world skill development
Get started at the link in our bio!
Three years ago, High School Teacher and Instructional Coach Shannon Roos faced an overwhelming challenge presented to her by her school`s administration: make sense of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and put together a lunch and learn session that we would present to our teachers.
That initial AI teacher training was very simple. Their goal was to ease teachers’ fears and help them identify when students use AI to "cheat."
Three years later, her understanding of AI has grown exponentially, and she has grown to embrace the use of AI in her classroom to support personalized learning and immediate, formative feedback for my students.
"I strongly believe that learning should be individualized and meaningful for learners, and when used purposefully, AI can help meet that goal," she says.
Here are Shannon`s top tips for teachers getting started with AI:
⚡️ Practice Rapid Iteration: Treat AI prompting like human-centered design—small tweaks can significantly improve results. Let learners interact with AI drafts, test limitations, and refine prompts in real time for better outcomes.
⚡️ Think of AI as a Teaching Assistant: Use AI not only to create materials, but also to support planning, differentiation, feedback, and small-group instruction. Tools like ChatGPT, CoPilot, and Diffit can help personalize learning in and out of the classroom.
⚡️ Teach Students About AI: Equip learners with AI literacy and decision-making skills to prepare them for a technologically advanced world. Classroom-ready resources from Common Sense Media, http://Code.org, and MIT can support teaching responsible and meaningful AI use.
⚡️ Check Your District Policy: Always ensure the ones you use are FERPA and COPPA compliant and aligned with local policies. Even trusted tools should be vetted for privacy and compliance.
Read her full blog for more about her experience and tons of tips at the link in bio.
Laguna Beach USD’s Unit Design isn’t your typical PD workshop. It’s a hands-on, high-impact learning experience where educators redesign real units to align with their learner profile—and ultimately reimagine the way classrooms operate.
Read the blog to see how this model fuels educator creativity and supports deeper, more connected learning for every learner. Link in bio.
Feeling unsure about AI in the classroom?
So was Shannon Roos, until curiosity, collaboration, and a few key tools transformed uncertainty into purpose. What began as a simple teacher training evolved into a deeper shift toward personalized, inquiry-driven learning.
If you`re wondering where to begin or how AI can support (not replace) meaningful learning, this blog offers an honest, helpful entry point.
📖 Read how one educator made AI approachable, intentional, and learner-centered at the link in our bio.
📖 What happens when local communities lead the way in reimagining education together?
We’re seeing real promise in regional innovation hubs: place-based partnerships where school systems, universities, nonprofits, and communities come together to co-create meaningful learning experiences for every learner.
This blog, co-authored by five education organizations, explores why these hubs are powerful incubators for change—big enough to influence systems, yet grounded enough to build trust, adapt to context, and align around shared values.
👉See link in bio.
🎉 We`re so proud to continue working with @alamogordopublicschools this year!
Building on their work from last year, in the 2025-2026 school year, LCC will help district leadership bring the Framework for the Future to life by facilitating:
— A Leadership Academy for school and district leaders
— Innovation Cohorts for classroom educators collaboration
— A virtual Leadership Community of Practice to build a national community of learner-centered district leaders
Thank you to Alamogordo leaders, educators, and learners for their commitment and dedication to their mission of fostering engagement, exploration, and discovery through exceptional educational experiences for all.
Want to make change in your district too? Let`s chat! See link in bio.
💡“We’ll pay you to redesign it.”
That was the invitation to educators in @lagunabeachusd —and the start of a shift in how professional learning is done.
Through Unit Design Professional Development, teachers are redesigning learning experiences around curiosity, community impact, and the LBUSD Learner Profile, with over 200 units already reimagined.
In this blog, Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services at LBUSD, Chad Mabery, gives an in depth review of their new, innovative PD design.
This isn’t just PD. It’s a model for what happens when we see educators as designers and center the whole learner in every unit.
🔗 Read how LBUSD is evolving learning, one unit at a time: http://learnercentered.org/blog/how-unit-design-pd-brings-our-learner-profile-to-life
⚡️️BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! For school and district leadership teams that are ready to build learner-centered ecosystems in their communities.
We`re hosting FREE one-of-a-kind professional learning webinars in partnership with Learning Policy Institute and education leaders.
Starting July 21, you and your team (we recommend 3-7 team members) will embark on one of two learning paths:
1. School Design for Learner-Centered Ecosystems
🕑 Mondays, 9:00–10:30am PT | July 21–August 11
✏️ By the end of this four-part series, your team will have:
A documented vision of redesign priorities
An inventory of assets and strengths
Identified next steps for its redesign journey
🌟 Register at link in bio!
2. Distributed Leadership for Transformational Change
🕑 Mondays, 11:00am–12:30pm PT | July 21–August 11
✏️ By the end of this four-part series, your team will have:
A documented vision of redesign priorities
A list of key contributors
Concrete next steps to activate distributed leadership
🌟 Register at link in bio!
Register for one of the two paths above (or both if you`re wanting a full deep dive!) and send the link to your team members!
Questions? Reach out to collaborate@learnercentered.org
We can`t wait to see you there!
🌐 What happens when school districts, universities, and community partners come together to support the whole learner?
SoCal LiNK is a research-practice partnership that brings together K–12 school systems, universities, and nonprofits to co-create learning ecosystems that reflect shared values and center belonging.
Over the last year, SoCal LiNK partners have collaborated through convenings, empathy interviews, and shared problem-solving with the intention of aligning learner-centered education research and values with on-the-ground practices.
The result? A vibrant network of educators and leaders building conditions that support every learner’s growth.
It’s about “learning in community" with trust, reflection, and partnership at the heart.
📖 Read the recap of our first year at the link in our bio.
📩 Interested in joining the next SoCal LiNK cohort in the 2025-2026 school year? Let`s chat! collaborate@learnercentered.org
☀️ Sure, it`s summer break, but educators across the country are still hard at work transforming their schools for learners!
1.San Diego North County schools and district leaders collaborated with representatives from Cal State San Marcos at Vista Film Hub for their "Designing the Future of the High School Transcript" session.
2. The Mamaroneck USD team engaged in high levels of collaboration and pushed each other’s thinking on how to operationalize the vision in the MAMAROnext Framework via a co-constructed scorecard.
Wanna collaborate with us too? Reach out here!
Last weekend, Katie Martin and Devin Vodicka of LCC spoke at the "Uncovering the Hidden Gems: A State and Regional Deep Dive into R&D" session at ISTELive + ASCD Annual 2025 Conference in San Antonio.
This session wasn`t just a talk; it was an invitation to join a movement. A movement to break down silos, prioritize real-world problems, and build an education system where research and development are deeply intertwined with the expertise and lived experiences of students and teachers.
"It was an honor to highlight bright spots in district-level R&D—from report card redesign to local accountability and school redesign efforts in districts like Encinitas, Logan County, and Escondido—and to invite leaders to consider how we can evolve from hierarchical systems to learner-centered ecosystems," said Devin.
As an organization, we look forward to continuing to work alongside Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF), LeanLab Education, Alliance for Learning Innovation, and InnovateEDU to continue to evolve education systems.
🎓 What is school for, really?
In his latest Catalyst blog, LCC Co-Ceo Devin Vodicka explores why it`s time to rethink the purpose of school—not as a place to prepare learners for tests or college, but to support the development of whole humans.
Academic growth matters, but so does purpose, agency, and belonging. It’s time to align our systems with outcomes that reflect the full potential of every learner.
📖 Read the full blog and start your community`s shift toward whole-learner outcomes at the link in our bio.
This month, we are proud to recognize Javier Guzman, CEO @4PowerfulEdOrg, as our Catalyzer of the Month for July.
Javier exemplifies learner-centered leadership through his deep commitment to elevating the voices and experiences of students who are often overlooked—particularly those in California’s continuation high schools.
His work reflects a steadfast belief in the power of empathy, storytelling, and systems change to create more just and responsive learning environments.
Our recent collaboration with Javier and the Center has centered on an impactful listening project with continuation high school students across the state.
Through structured empathy interviews and reflection, students are sharing what they need to thrive—and their insights will shape how school systems define success and design support structures.
Javier’s leadership in this work is catalytic: he creates space for young people to be heard, for educators to reflect, and for systems to evolve. We’re grateful for his partnership and honored to learn alongside him.
🏫 The traditional education system emphasizes efficiency, standardization, compliance, ranking, sorting, and task completion.
For over a century, it has achieved its intended goals by prioritizing operational and logistical efficiency through teacher-directed learning, fixed course offerings, set curricula, predetermined schedules, and seat time as a prerequisite for grade advancement.
This model, rooted in the needs of a bygone era, is outdated. Today’s society demands a learner-centered approach that works for all learners.
Let`s design education in a way that works for ALL learners. Download our newest resource, "A Learner-Centered Ecosystem," for FREE to create a learner-centered environment at the link in our bio.
