In Episode 28, we spoke with Dr. Pam Moran, superintendent in Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia and Keaton Wadzinski, a consultant working with Albemarle learners. We discussed what learner-centered learning looks like in Albermarle County Public Schools along with the importance of honoring all individuals as learners.
Key Competency
Learner-centered leaders hold learner agency and students voice at the core of their work. They create conditions for learners to develop a sense of agency in their own learning in school and in life. This developed sense of agency and self-awareness helps learners understand they have influence, seeing change happen in the classroom, school, nation and world as a result of who they are and what they do.
Takeaways
Albemarle started their transformation over a decade ago with the question: What are the kinds of competencies and skill sets learners need to be successful at home and in life?
Classrooms in Albemarle County focus on many models of learning where students not only explore what to learn but how to learn: project-based learning, maker culture, using technology in interactive/connected ways, opportunities to orient within the learning space. Still, some classrooms represent a more traditional model. The new models represent a shift in pedagogy, assessment and curriculum.
There has been a focus on different kinds of assessments beyond the multiple-choice test: portfolios, performance-based assessments, task and skill-based learning.
Project-based learning has helped change the relationship between teacher and learner. Both bring an expertise to the work – instruction, background and interest. In one Albemarle high school, learners complete a passion project. Learners take learning into their own hands with these projects, and that often times result in significant increases in learner engagement.
Power shifts from the teachers to the learners in learner-centered environments. Traditional teacher controls are given up – teacher is in control, compliance is valued. If we want to educate our learners well for this century, we have to shift the power from the teacher to the learner.
Passion is an “educator” word. Learners don’t necessarily connect with this word.
One of the most critical factors influencing learner-centered leadership is to honor the fact that everyone in the organization is moving at a different pace of change. Some teachers are significant risk takers and explorers. Some are waiting to see what happens with the risk takers. Learner-centered leaders provide teachers and leaders with the space to understand change in their own time.
Learner-centered leaders understand relationships and focus on the developmental nature of learning. A focus on learning is a non-negotiable for effective leadership for transformation. Leaders need to listen to those who are challenging the direction of change.
Superintendents shift power from the superintendent’s office to the people that are served – teachers, principals and parent community. There are lots of leaders in the system!
Structure is not the same thing as control. Innovative learning can feel like chaos. How do we design structures to elicit agency and ownership? Structure can be scaffolding that allows leaders and learners in the system to experience agency.
Transformation takes time! And in Albemarle, they are in this for the long haul – well over 10 years of supporting teachers at the edges of educational innovation!
When we feel we have “arrived” in the transformation process, we realize we haven’t. There is always more to achieve!
School boards are essential to achieving a transformation. Learner-centered superintendents provide the school board with professional learning. Boards need to understand the work as well as those within the schools.
Connections to Practice
- As we shift mindsets, we focus on shifting the power in the classroom – from teacher to learner.
- Our Profile of a Graduate and Learning Beliefs are filled with educational jargon. How do we make that language accessible?
- Our board is supportive of this work because we provide them opportunities to deepen their own understanding of what is happening in the district.
- Transformation does take time! And it’s messy. Stakeholders will move towards this vision at different paces.
Questions Based on Our Practice
- What new models of learning do we see in the Salisbury environment? How can we promote more of the models with our teachers on the edges?
- How are our assessments shifting as we move toward a more learner-centered environment?
- How can we influence teachers to share control in the classroom?
- How can learners help us explore this idea that “passion” is an “educator” word? What words would learners use to describe their passions?
- How can we create conditions for learners to be engaged in more real-world projects providing impact on a greater scale beyond the school walls?
- When is it time to stop waiting to see what happens with change?
- How are we scaffolding agency in our leaders and learners? What structures do we put in place?
Next Steps for Us
- Implement the new walkthrough tool to gather data on learning in Salisbury. What does our data say? How learner-centered are we? How can we grow more learner-centered models?
- Engage learners across the district in a conversation about the vocabulary we use as we transform our learning environment. How much of the terminology is not connecting with stakeholders? How do we brand the message?
- Identify structures that create the conditions for greater agency among leaders and learners in the organization. How can we better share leadership?