Entries by The Learner First

Designing Deep Learning

Learning is deepest when it connects to students’ lives – who they are, what they are interested in learning, and how they can use their learning to make a difference in their own lives, the lives of others, and the world. When thinking about how to design “deeper” learning experiences, it helps to keep a […]

We’re Back!

The Learner First have updated our website, and it is more than just a fancy new look – we have added helpful content about what we do and how we do it, including a breakdown of our framework and the tools we use. There is also a page for our videos, flyers and papers. We […]

How to Achieve Whole-System Lift for Struggling Title I Schools

Event: eStudy from the American Evaluation Association Dates:  Monday, June 20th & Wednesday, June 22nd 3:00p.m.-4:30p.m. ET Presenters: Dr. E. Jane Davidson & Joanne McEachen Register: http://www.eval.org/eStudy Want to hit the ground running with ESSA, get measurable lifts for your bottom 5% of Title I Schools? This eStudy, from the American Evaluation Association, reveals a powerful […]

Teacher Appreciation Week

To all our wonderful teachers, Learning is knowing who you are; how you fit into the world; and how you can contribute back. The lives of all students are in our teachers’ hands. You are literally changing the destinies of kids every day. Keep pushing the envelope and doing amazing things. You are so appreciated! The Learner […]

Testing Song 2016 (I Can’t Feel My Face)

Testing season got you down? Ashley Haddox-Williams, a teacher at Hayes Elementary School (one of the schools working with The Learner First in Oklahoma City), and her husband have recorded a little musical relief. Each year, the couple crafts and records a song for Hayes. This year’s tune, a parody of The Weekend’s “Can’t Feel My […]

The Rise of Investing in Humanity (Part 1): Education’s “Wall Street” Crash

At a recent meeting on social impact investing, a Wealth Management Advisor shared the theory of change driving Social Impact Ventures in the wake of the Wall Street crash.  Perhaps it is best explained first as a theory of stagnation. There was a powerful force against change that created unwieldy institutions and a mentality of impersonal conformity in […]

One Size Fits One – a conundrum

In our previous blog we mentioned the significant investment in teacher professional development ($8 billion in just 50 of the largest school districts). This is far larger than most people realized and does not include the approximate 10 percent of teachers’ time in development activities on or off campus. Another conventional way to waste money is the […]

How professional learning solutions implicitly blame teachers

It’s estimated that in 2016 over one trillion of taxpayer and philanthropic dollars will be invested in the US education system of which a large proportion is dedicated to professional learning. To put this into perspective, $18,000 is invested in professional development per teacher each year. A study found of the 50 largest school districts a total […]