Leading for Learner-centered Education Requires a Particular Set of Competencies

Change is afoot all around us, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the way we choose to educate children and young adults through the formal education system here in the United States.

Just a few years ago, the notion of receiving a middle or high school education 100 percent online was unthinkable. However, today — with more than a dozen nationally-recognized and accredited options available — cohorts of eighth graders who are educated exclusively online are matriculating toward starting high school in the same fashion.

Learner Centered Education

Regardless of options touted as innovations in education, most educational offerings operate on a school-centric paradigm — meaning all components of the system are designed for efficiency of education delivery in the context of standardized schools.

Based on a worldview first established in the industrial age, school-centric education relies more on the lessons learned in factories and on assembly lines than it does on the realities that youth face today, as well as the opportunities that will challenge them tomorrow and beyond.

Standardized age cohorts, linear curricula divided into subjects, and learning experiences designed to impart knowledge in long-established categories, are the basic components of school-centered learning. Contrast that approach against one that Continue reading…

Students Represent Eagle Rock at Learner-Centered SparkHouse Event

Education-Reimagined-Eagle-Rock_SchoolEditor’s Note: In early November of 2017, three of our Eagle Rock School students attended a Washington, D.C.-based event called “SparkHouse” that saw teens from 13 states share learner-centered experiences from their own schools. The event was produced by Education Reimagined — an initiative of Convergence Center for Policy Resolution that promotes a transformational vision for education in the U.S. Marcus attended SparkHouse with fellow Eagle Rock School students Levi Brooks and Spencer Lanier, along with Bea Salazar, our Life After Eagle Rock instructional specialist.

Marcus’ write-up about the experience appears below (for more information on SparkHouse, please visit the SparkHouse webpage):

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By Marcus Wade-Prince

This past November, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to visit Washington, D.C., along with two other classmates and represent Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center as student ambassadors at SparkHouse.

SparkHouse-2017-Eagle-Rock-School

For anyone who isn’t familiar, Eagle Rock School is an alternate form of high school that is dedicated to providing a student-centered education. The SparkHouse conference was about the movement of Continue reading…