Bright Spots Newsletter

Bright Spots is a weekly newsletter from Katie Martin featuring learner-centered inspiration and examples from the field. Each week, subscribers can expect to receive:

A bright spot. Change can be challenging, but it gets easier when we look to one another to see what’s working and what’s possible. Each week, Katie shares a proven practice or example from the field in an effort to make learner-centered practices both visible and actionable.
A resource roundup. Katie features a small selection of articles, blog posts, and other resources that have inspired her and pushed her thinking about learner-centered education, in the hopes that they do the same for you!

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BlogWebinars

Webinar Recording: Bridging Systems to Transform Student Learning: Lessons From SoCal LiNK

In this webinar, five education leaders share lessons from their experience with SoCal LiNK, a Southern California regional network focused on advancing learner-centered education through collaboration, research, and community building. The webinar panel includes representatives from K–12 schools, higher education, and learner-centered organizations, specifically: Devin Vodicka (LCC Co-CEO), Dr. Alan J. Daly and David…

Blog

Building Bridges Through Change: Leadership Lessons for Summer and Beyond

In education, the rhythm of the year is deeply cyclical. Each year forms a distinct cohort experience for learners, educators, and families alike. When the cohort concludes, there is a natural transition into the unknown. Students move to new grade levels, teachers adapt to new assignments or even new campuses, and leadership teams lay…

BlogWebinars

Webinar Recording: Learner-Centered Bright Spots: Making Learning Public and Closing the Year Strong

In this webinar, three members of the Learner-Centered Collaborative team—Katie Martin, Kate Weisberg, and Danny Scuderi—highlight practical strategies for closing the school year by celebrating learning and cultivating learner-centered mindsets. Drawing from their work in classrooms and systems nationwide, they offer tangible examples of how schools and educators can use reflection, celebration, and community-building…

Big Moves

Redesign Educator Growth Plans & Evaluations

Once a system has clarity and coherence on leader and educator roles in service of their learner-centered vision, other structures require rethinking. Evaluation models in a school-centered paradigm focus on compliance and accountability. As we shift our focus to empowering learners, we must also empower educators and leaders by focusing on feedback and development. …

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Blog

Building Brighter Futures Together: Insights from the SoCal LiNK Regional Partnership

A fresh model of collaboration is emerging in Southern California; one that unites K–12 education, higher education institutions, and local communities with a shared focus on supporting the whole learner. SoCal LiNK, Southern California Learning in Networked Knowledge, is a research-practice partnership between the Department of Education Studies at UC San Diego, Learner-Centered Collaborative…

Blog

What is the Purpose of School? A Call for Whole-Learner Outcomes.

What is the purpose of school? For the past four decades, the prevailing national answer—shaped largely by the 1983 report “A Nation at Risk” and documented by historian Patricia Graham—has been singular: Achievement. This focus helped usher in an era of standardization, compliance, and testing. It was designed to respond to global economic anxieties…

Tools

A Learner-Centered Ecosystem

It’s time for a shift from the school-centered education system—where efficiency, standardization, compliance, ranking, sorting, and task completion are top priorities—to a learner-centered paradigm, where we focus on supporting each learner to know who they are, thrive in community, and actively engaged in the world as their best selves. “A Learner-Centered Ecosystem” dives deep…