Creativity is the competence to leverage self-interests, motivation, imagination, and prior knowledge in flexible ways1 to generate, evaluate, or improve ideas; imagine new ways of solving problems;2 forge new connections — across content and people;3 create new understanding; or communicate thinking through writing, drawing, voice, music, or any other means of expression.4 At The Learning […]
This article originally appeared in the Learner-Centered Collaborative’s Blog. Conversations in the education sector have converged in the past several weeks around three seemingly unrelated topics: pandemic recovery, educator shortages, and ChatGPT. Evidence suggests that schools continue to exist in a state of pandemic recovery, with students struggling academically and social-emotionally. At the same time, […]
Since the start of the pandemic, educators, leaders, and policymakers have undertaken substantial efforts to increase student access to devices and high-speed internet in an attempt to close the digital divide. However, improved digital access cannot be conflated with greater digital equity — the notion that students not only have access to and ownership of […]
Given our lack of unified language, conversations about virtual learning often feel confusing. Is my district’s “hybrid” learning your school’s “simultaneous” instruction? Has one state codified policy for “blended learning” in a way that looks a whole lot different from what its schools and districts have been implementing in classrooms for the last decade? Lack […]
In August 2021, our team published Launching Forward, the culmination of our six-monthlong Hop, Skip, Leapfrog project. Hop, Skip, Leapfrog aimed to identify, codify, and make sense of new school system strategies and capabilities that emerged during the pandemic as well as understand how these shifts could benefit learners and schools in the future. Drawing […]
Burned out, demoralized, anxious, and exhausted – these are just a few terms that have been used to describe both teachers and leaders as they head into a new school year. At The Learning Accelerator (TLA), we saw this issue emerging over a year ago. To surface potential strategies and solutions, we conducted a review […]
For the last three years, I led my school’s pandemic response — from drafting and rolling out COVID protocols to implementing building health and safety measures — all while leading a community of 600 students and educators through a full return to in-person learning. It was the honor of my professional career but came at […]
The never-ending cycle of growth and change in schools often elicits mixed reactions. Some see these new trends as much-needed progress, while others “see déjà vu all over again.” Evolving science and research, alongside increased complexity that spurs new trends, bring advancement to the field – but also challenges that can affect the whole community. […]
Referring to all aspects of life as a marathon has become something of a cliche. While the metaphor may feel harmless in many ways, this perspective is problematic for a few reasons. For starters, Pheidippides – the soldier who ran about 25 miles to Athens in 490 BC to announce a victory at the battle […]
In March 2022, The Learning Accelerator (TLA) launched the first of three Strategy Lab: Virtual & Hybrid cohorts to tackle the challenge of developing more effective, engaging, and equitable virtual or hybrid learning environments. Working through our Real-Time Redesign process, district teams started to conduct needs assessments to understand and identify a problem of practice […]
