Community Asset Map Tool

Community PartnershipsReal-World Learning

The Community Asset Map is a tool that helps educators identify and leverage local resources, skills, and networks to enhance their teaching practice. By mapping out community assets – from businesses to cultural organizations – educators can create more meaningful learning experiences that connect classroom content with the real-world.

Through a step-by-step process, this tool helps you determine your mapping goals, identify key community connections, and create action plans. Want to explore more? Visit our Learner-Centered Ecosystem page to dive deeper.

Deepen your understanding of community partnerships through our blogs on Community Connections and Prioritizing Community & Relationships.

Blog

Making Learning Feel Real With Community Engagement in the Classroom

Written by Kim Landry, 3rd-Grade Teacher, Alamogordo Public Schools We’ve all been there: you’re deep into a unit, the students are engaged, but there’s a lingering sense of “so what?” You want your students to see that what they learn at their desks actually breathes and moves in the real world. One of the…

Blog

What an 8th-Grade Defense Taught Me About Competency-Based Learning

Written by Maysa Dadmun Have you ever watched a student light up when they get to learn about something they truly love? That spark is what shaped my entire 8th-grade defense project, and now, as a freshman in high school, it’s shaping the way I approach learning every day. I attended Sussex School, a…

Blog

5 Tips for Launching Internships and Apprenticeships in Your District

Every year, thousands of students graduate high school without stepping foot into a professional work setting. In today’s rapidly changing world, this lack of exposure is not providing students with the experiences and skills they need to thrive beyond graduation. So, what if school was not separate from the “real world,” but an active…

Publications

School Redesign Playbook

For more than a century, schools have been shaped by an industrial-era model built for efficiency, standardization, and compliance. While that design achieved many of its original aims, it has not met the needs of all learners, and it no longer prepares young people for a rapidly changing world. In addition to content…

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Blog

Moving From the Why to the How of Learner-Centered Change

Over the last decade, a meaningful portion of the “school change” conversation has been dedicated to the potential value and creation of graduate portraits (at the district and state levels), and I have been encouraged by how much energy that work has generated. As Katie Martin has said previously, Learner-Centered Collaborative specifically uses…

Tools

Learner-Centered Ecosystem Self-Reflection

Which learner-centered experiences you are ready to prioritize? Personalized, Authentic, Competency-based, and/or Inclusive & Equitable?

Blog

Why Community Schools and Secondary Redesign Belong Together

California has made an unprecedented investment in community schools, which often include four evidence-informed programmatic features that are aligned and integrated into high-quality, rigorous teaching and learning practices and environments: Integrated support services; Family and community engagement; Collaborative leadership and practices for educators and administrators; and Extended learning time and opportunities. Since 2021, the…