Aurora Digest | March 2023

March 17, 2023

We are seeking feedback on issues and policy barriers you are facing in your work on education innovations and new student-centered learning designs. Your insight is critical to us in developing recommendations for K-12 education policy to advance future-focused new learning designs.

Please take a moment to fill out the survey by March 31st, 2023. By completing the survey, you will be entered into a raffle to win a free registration to the Aurora Institute Symposium 2023.

As Schools Embrace Mastery Learning, and Confront Challenges of GPAs and College Admissions, Consortium Creates New ‘Bridge’ Transcript – The Mastery Transcript Consortium is now piloting a ‘Learning Record’ that lets a broader view of students accompany standard grades in applications. How Educators Transformed Their Tennessee School by Listening to Students – Students at Elizabethton High School wanted more counselors to help them prepare for college and careers. Learn how educators transformed their Tennessee school by listening to students.

Great Teachers Make Innovative Solutions Possible – “We instead committed to personalized, competency-based learning which eliminated percentage grades, honored student interests, and put the focus of learning on what we call the Portrait of a Learner, which is to say we are uncompromisingly student-centered,” writes Dr. Cory Steiner, Superintendent of Northern Cass School District 97.

Aurora Institute’s Federal Policy Priorities

Federal policymakers can play a key role in transforming public education to ensure all learners are able to build the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve lifelong success. Our Federal Policy Priorities are a set of nine recommendations designed to ensure education systems move from the current state to future-focused systems.

We’re Presenting at School Redesign in Action: A Conference for Educators
Join our CompetencyWorks Program Director Laurie Gagnon and Academic Support Member and Alumni Jay Jay Pina of Chelsea Opportunity Academy at SRIA for their session on March 27th–Mastery, Not Time: Engage Around the Latest Trends and Practice of Competency-Based Education. Add the session to your calendar.

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Aurora Institute Symposium 2023
Save the date for the annual Aurora Institute Symposium: hosted on October 15-17, 2023 in Palm Springs, California. Stay tuned for an announcement soon on registration and submitting a proposal to present at this year’s Symposium.

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We are seeking a Sponsor and Exhibitor Sales Specialist consultant to secure sponsors and exhibitors for the Aurora Institute Symposium 2023.

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CBE Starter Pack 7: Establish Rigorous, Common Expectations with Meaningful Competencies
The seventh and final part of the CBE Starter Pack Series is now live–learn ways to establish rigorous common expectations with meaningful competencies.

READ POST 7

Microschools give students an opportunity to actively participate in their education. In this podcast, Tiffany Dudley, educator and co-founder of an Arizona microschool, shares the importance of guiding students through their learning process, and how student autonomy increases focus.

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For more news and updates in K-12 competency-based education, sign up for our monthly newsletters and follow the Aurora Institute on Twitter: @Aurora_Inst.

About the Aurora Institute

The Aurora Institute’s mission is to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all. Aurora is shaping the future of teaching and learning through its work in policy advocacy, research, field-building, and convening. With a national and global view of education innovation, we work on systems change in K-12 education, promote best practices, examine policy barriers, and make recommendations for change to yield improved outcomes for students. Aurora envisions a world in which all people are empowered to attain the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to achieve success, contribute to their communities, and advance society.