{"id":1978,"date":"2016-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/the-tenets-of-student-centered-learning\/"},"modified":"2020-01-27T16:29:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T21:29:17","slug":"the-tenets-of-student-centered-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/the-tenets-of-student-centered-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tenets of Student-Centered Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first blog in a series featuring the report Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning<\/a><\/em>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"SCL<\/a>According to the Nellie Mae Education Foundation<\/a>, there are four tenets of student-centered learning<\/a>, based on the mind\/brain sciences, learning theory and research on youth development:<\/p>\n

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  1. Learning is Personalized<\/li>\n
  2. Learning is Competency-based<\/li>\n
  3. Learning Happens Anytime, Anywhere<\/li>\n
  4. Students Take Ownership Over Their Learning<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These four tenets prove essential to students\u2019 full engagement in achieving Deeper Learning outcomes and to enabling all students to achieve what they need to know and master to succeed in college, careers and civic life.<\/p>\n

    Learning is Personalized <\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Personalized learning<\/a> recognizes that students engage in learning in different ways and in different places. Students benefit from individually-paced, targeted learning tasks that start from the student\u2019s current position, formatively assess existing skills and knowledge, provide ample, frequent and actionable feedback from multiple sources and address the student\u2019s needs and interests. Tasks and learning units might be either individual or collective. Learning is deepened and reinforced through participation in collaborative group work, focused on engaging and increasingly complex and authentic problems and projects, as well as through relationships and community structures in the larger learning environment beyond the classroom itself (e.g., advisory groups, mentoring, internships and community support partnerships).<\/p>\n

    Learning is Competency-Based <\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Students move ahead when they have demonstrated mastery of content, not when they\u2019ve reached a certain birthday or met the required hours in a classroom. Competencies are defined by explicit learning objectives that empower students. Students receive timely, differentiated support, and they advance by demonstrating evidence with meaningful assessments via mastery, not seat time.<\/a> Students have multiple means and opportunities to demonstrate mastery through performance-based and other assessments. Each student is assured of the scaffolding and differentiated support needed to keep progressing at a pace appropriate to reaching college, career and civic outcomes, including when additional resources are required to achieve equity.<\/p>\n

    In 2011, Chris Sturgis<\/a>, Co-Founder of CompetencyWorks<\/a>, and Susan Patrick<\/a>, President and CEO of iNACOL, proposed a five-part working definition of competency education<\/a> in partnership with leading practitioners in the field of K-12 competency-based education at the Competency-based Education Summit hosted by iNACOL and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)<\/a>:<\/p>\n