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Ellen Perconti is the Superintendent of Goldendale School District in Washington State. For an introduction to Goldendale, see the first post in this series here. “You can’t give what you don’t have.” I’ve heard this quote multiple times in many different contexts. And, over time, I’ve come to realize how true it is. As […]
Goldendale School District is a district of three schools (one primary, one middle, and one high school) and 920 students located in Washington State. To help kick off the 2019-20 school year, teachers and other school- and district-level staff engaged in The Learner First’s Wellbeing First Workshop, designed to promote professional wellbeing in ways that […]
While traveling across the globe for a recent event and meeting with diverse groups of education leaders, I was struck with the long-reoccurring awareness that we, as adults in education systems globally, have been incredibly arrogant in our approach to student learning. We define learning and academic success, we measure students on a narrow range […]
“While the previous industrial era demanded that nations provide one-size-fits-all mass education, the current digital revolution demands personalized, holistic education that will prepare humans to identify and develop their own talent, competencies and emotions . . .” – From “Education for Tomorrow’s World, Today” by Manjula Dissanayake and Dominic Regester Executive Team members Louka Parry […]
What do we mean when we talk about “equity”? In an academic context, discussions on equity generally center on providing each student with an equal opportunity to succeed across classes and content areas. The idea is that school should be fair for its students, that race, socioeconomic status, and similar factors should not play a […]
As a developer of tools that measure traditionally “hard-to-measure” learning outcomes, I’m frequently asked the same question by educators: “Why don’t you compare students’ new measures data with their standardized test results?” If you did, they continue . . . “Then you could prove what you’re doing is working.” This line of reasoning carries the […]
When working with teachers and school-level leadership through the question of what matters most at their school, I like to tell them a tale of two students. Meet Lucas and Jasmine – two students whose stories are partially described in the following table of data, which includes Learning Progression ratings for Self-Understanding, Creativity, and Connection. […]
Communities across the United States share a common and worthy concern: how can our community improve its schools? The value we place on individuals’ education stems from the long-standing promise of the American school system that receiving an education leads to better-paying jobs, reduced inequality, and lifelong success. But despite being more highly educated than […]
“12 years of doing what we’re told, as opposed to what we need, is detrimental to personal development, to the Mind, and, most importantly, to the Soul.” This is the message I hope stuck the most out of my speech at the Education Reimagined Symposium in Washington, D.C. in early 2019, because it still drives […]
From April 16-17, 2019, The Learner First will host the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) USA Cluster Deep Learning Lab in Redmond, Washington. The event will gather teachers and other education leaders from California, Michigan, Utah, Washington, Canada, and elsewhere around the sharing of learning and best practices, so that all students can learn […]