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Announcing a Preconference Webinar Series – Building the Evidence Base for Personalized Learning
As we begin the countdown to the 2020 Aurora Institute Virtual Symposium, running October 25-28, we’re delighted to announce our special series focusing on K-12 education research.
Offered as a set of complimentary pre-conference webinars, this series is generously supported by The Leon Lowenstein Foundation and will culminate in a one-day research convening later this fall.
The series is designed to focus on the latest research on personalized learning. You will be introduced to new research, innovative strategies, and thought-provoking questions driving the transformation of K-12 education systems, and you will be exposed to a wide range of cutting-edge science, leading thinkers, and ideas from the field.
These sessions will cover learnings from current research and evaluations. Topics will include equity-based research strategies, social-emotional learning approaches, innovative research tools and methods for personalized learning, and more.
The first one takes place on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, from 2-3 pm ET. Join us for Taking an Equity-Based Approach to Advancing a Research and Learning Agenda. Participants will learn how City Year is managing its portfolio of research projects, designed to highlight effective approaches to personalized learning environments while ensuring practices are equity-based.
Additional webinars include:
- Elevating Student Experience to Build Equitable Learning Environments and Outcomes | September 1, 2020 | 2 pm EST
- Using Research & Development to Redesign: Immediately Implementable Methods and Practices to Accelerate Learning and Results for ALL Kids | September 8, 2020 | 2 pm EST
- Measuring Personalized Professional Learning: A Three-Year Study of What Works Best, For Whom, Under What Conditions, and Why | September 15, 2020 | 2 pm EST
- Assessing Field-level Change: Lessons from the Evaluation of the Assessment for Learning Project | September 17, 2020 | 2 pm EST
- Putting Data to Work: Formative Evaluation and Continuous Improvement in Transformative Education Efforts | September 22, 2020 | 2 pm EST
The schedule is being updated regularly, so watch this space for the full slate of webinars in this series. |
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Moving from One-Size-Fits-All: Changes Needed for Innovative Assessment Pilots in the Wake of COVID-19
In the 2019-2020 school year, all 50 states received permission from the U.S. Department of Education to waive the statewide standardized tests required by federal law for elementary and secondary education. Instead of a void, this should create an opportunity to innovate, build a bridge and construct balanced systems of assessments that honor anytime, anywhere learning, and better pinpoint student proficiency levels on a progression in real-time. How? We need innovative assessments, better data models, and competency-based systems for the future. |
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The Parabola Project: School Reopening Readiness Guide
Decisions about when and how to reopen school need to be based on a strong set of principles, grounded in best available evidence, informed by context, and oriented towards each community’s highest aspirations for student learning and wellbeing. The first version of this guide addresses critical healthcare and educational questions and provides baseline implementation advice and tools informed by healthcare and education experts. The document is not intended to supplant official guidance provided by state or local health departments. Rather, it lays out implementation options for leaders to consider so they may build reopening plans given their local context. It is organized around nine key principles for health and offers concrete recommendations and tools. |
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Aurora Institute in the News
AF Weekly Tip Sheet: Policy and Advocacy – via America Forward
Susan D. Patrick, President and CEO of the Aurora Institute and a co-founder of CompetencyWorks, explores the importance of competency-based education, in this piece from The 74 Million: “When schools fail to support students in addressing critical gaps in knowledge and skills, students and communities become increasingly burdened by learning gaps that accumulate over time. By contrast, competency-based districts and schools proactively challenge these practices and institute alternative systems and structures that promote success for all.”
How to balance in-person and remote instruction – via Education Week
“Learning can happen anywhere,” said Susan Patrick, CEO of the Aurora Institute, a research and advocacy organization. Tutors working with students at local churches or libraries can provide supplemental instruction that accounts for limited capacity in school buildings and gives students a sense that learning doesn’t stop when they’re not physically at school.”
Reality check: What will it take to reopen schools amid the pandemic? 5 experts weigh in on learning loss and students’ needs – via The 74
Parents are asking for competency-based approaches. Competency systems portray student learning with authentic evidence of student work transparently. Parents know all students are held to the same high expectations and that students have voice and choice in performing real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of the essential knowledge and skills required of a given standard. It also means students have access to information about their progress. |
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| Our Center for Policy leads the multi-stage evolution of policy necessary for the growth of effective student-centered learning models toward the goals of high-quality learning and equity. Our policy priorities are designed to ensure the nation’s education system is fit for purpose and help move states forward from their current state of education to future systems. |
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CompetencyWorks
CompetencyWorks is an online resource dedicated to K-12 competency-based education. Drawing on lessons learned by innovators, we share knowledge through a practice-focused blog, research reports on emerging issues, policy advocacy, and resources curated from across the field. |
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| The Aurora Institute hosts a resource library containing more than 200 materials. Working collaboratively with diverse experts in the field, the Aurora Institute produces reports, books, policy briefs, blog posts, webinars, and related resources on key topics and tough issues that equip and empower educators and leaders to catalyze and scale personalized, next-generation learning models. |
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Aurora Institute
The mission of Aurora Institute is to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all.
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