We envision education ecosystems where all learners know who they are, thrive in community and actively engage in the world as their best selves.
“Learner-Centered Collaborative has created a learning environment for site leaders and their teams to plan with intent, focus keenly on how improvement efforts align and support instructional areas of focus, and find common points of interest with other sites to ensure quality collaboration.”
“Having a clear and aligned Framework for the Future has been so positive for our district—and the true payoff is walking through classes and seeing our learning model in action with students and teachers as we reimagine learning.”
“I used to think I had to design all of the instruction, but if it’s learner centered, there’s no reason why students cannot be part of that process as well.”
“Learner-Centered Collaborative has been instrumental in the transformative journey that we are on in Santa Ana Unified School District….We’ve taken a multi-pronged approach to the work, with Learner-Centered Collaborative serving as thought partners for district leadership, supporting and facilitating principals meetings as well as instructional learning walks at school sites across the district.”
“Materials provided were very engaging and relevant, and there were plenty of opportunities given to engage in meaningful ways, both alone and in small groups, to brainstorm and explore how they can be used in our own classroom environments.”
“I am really enjoying our sessions! You do a nice job of breaking things up so it moves quickly enough to keep everyone’s attention. You seem to be genuinely excited about the work, which is infectious.”
District teams will be admitted on a rolling basis. Join this unique opportunity.
Learner-centered is taking hold across the country. See who’s leading the way and how they’re doing it.
From whole-learner outcomes to the learning experiences that support them to the enabling conditions for success.
Our 5-minute diagnostic will help you choose the next chapter that’s right for your education journey.
Episode 48 of The Learner-Centered Collaborative Podcast is LIVE! Learn about what it means to create learning experiences rooted in agency, creativity, and care with Katie Martin and this episode`s guest, Mike Yates, Senior Product Designer, AI for The Reinvention Lab at Teach for America.
Access it on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts via the link in our bio.
Here`s a recap of how our team worked towards a learner-centered future last week:
📘 The Mesa Linda Design Team drafted new Mission and Vision statements to share with the community for feedback. They also began ideating on Big Moves that will help bring their vision to life in the coming years.
📗 Four districts from across the Pittsburgh region came together to launch our third Western PA Innovation Cohort. Teachers from Baldwin-Whitehall School District, Elizabeth Forward School District, Hampton Township School District, and Deer Lakes School District will collaborate throughout the school year to design and implement learner-centered strategies to bring their Learner Portraits to life with students.
📒 The Alamogordo Public Schools Leadership Academy met for session 2 and continued their work to bring the APS Framework to life in their community. They reflected on past plans and identified next steps, listened to learners and explored how mindsets and beliefs impact our journey, and explored Relational Learning and crafted plans to introduce this learning model element to their school community.
📙 South San Francisco Unified School District`s Guiding Coalition met for the second time this year to build relationships, deepen shared understanding, and use data to inform the development of their Portrait of an Educator.
📕 In our Leadership CoP, we celebrated Escondido Union School District Superintendent Dr. Ibarra`s journey leading to high levels of coherence. We had Wiseburn Unified School District (CA), Alamogordo Public Schools (NM), Del Mar USD (CA), and Mamaroneck (NY) leaders in attendance.
📚 Competency-based learning is powerful, but it’s also complex. It takes more than a vision to bring it to life; it takes iteration, community, and courage.
Join us for an engaging, interactive conversation that puts practice at the center. In this one-hour session, you’ll hear authentic stories, creative strategies, and real-life insights from three schools navigating the shift to competency-based learning.
Register at the link in our bio.
Here`s a small dose of info from our webinar on How Districts Are Making Big Moves to Create Learner-Centered Systems, featuring Alison Fieberg of Del Mar USD! To watch the full webinar and hear the whole story of Del Mar`s evolution, see the link in our bio.
The LCC team is busy bringing learner-centered visions to life! Last week, we made strides alongside dedicated educators, school leaders, community members, and learners. Here’s what happened:
1️⃣ Together with the the Center for Love & Justice from High Tech High Graduate School of Education and local education professor Eduardo Lomba, LCC Co-CEO Devin Vodicka listened to learners, engaged with educators and families, and collaborated with school and municipal leaders who are leaning into meaningful change. Through storytelling, dialogue, and design work, learners shared that they thrive when school is relational, participatory, and connected to the world beyond its walls.
2️⃣ Wiseburn Unified School District educators came together to ideate and prototype report cards that reflect their shared assessment philosophy. Through collaboration, teams reimagined reporting practices and shared assessment strategies that honor learner-centered, district-wide alignment.
3️⃣ The Del Mar Assessment Team shared prototypes aligned with their new draft Assessment Guidance, iterating on student goal setting practices, writing growth oriented report card comments, and incorporating more student voice.
4️⃣ The Salinas Guiding Coalition took Learning Walks to three schools in their district to celebrate the work already happening in classrooms that align with the Portrait Outcomes. From students recording and editing interviews with each other to faculty celebrating colleagues in team meetings, year two continues to be about collaboration, coherence, and community.
5️⃣ Meanwhile, Salinas’ Bell Schedule Design Team began exploring how the district can use time in different ways by first grounding in a common understanding of the Framework for the Future and the Portrait of a Graduate.
6️⃣ West Pk-8’s Redesign Team took inspiring visits to schools across Denver to garner inspiration and learn from the experiences of others in order to pilot their own Redesign journey.
7️⃣ The next day, the team gathered to refine their 5-year Big Move plan. During the session, the team identified ways to pilot early versions of a multi-aged advisory and “Habits of a West Learner.”
Every year, thousands of students graduate high school without stepping foot into a professional work setting. In today’s rapidly changing world, this lack of exposure is not providing students with the experiences and skills they need to thrive beyond graduation. So, what if school was not separate from the “real world,” but an active part of it?
LCC Director of Strategic Partnerships, Allie Wong, provides five tips for leaders looking to implement Work-Based Learning (WBL) programs in their schools in our latest blog. She cites real examples from our partnership with Lynwood Unified School District, which is in the midst of launching their very own WBL program.
👉 Link in bio for the full blog.
Learner-centered education thrives when everyone who cares has a seat at the table: learners, educators, families, and communities. Together, we reimagine what’s possible and co-create learning environments where every learner knows who they are, thrives in community, and actively engages in the world as their best self.
Dr. Terry Walker of Adelanto Elementary School District speaks on the collaborative, learner-centered evolution her district is undergoing with the help of Learner-Centered Collaborative.
#k12education #learner-centered
In this month`s Catalyst blog, Devin Vodicka shares why schools benefit from looking beyond surface-level data and gathering insights that reflect learner experiences, educator conditions, and the growth that aligns with their mission and values. When teams see progress in the areas that matter most, momentum follows.
Read the full blog to explore how thoughtful measurement can help your school or district evolve with purpose.
https://learnercentered.org/blog/measuring-what-matters-to-enable-meaningful-learner-centered-change-in-your-school-or-district/
We are excited to announce Dr. Genevieve Clark as our Catalyzer of the Month for November! Here`s more on Genevieve from Learner-Centered Collaborative`s Co-CEO, Devin Vodicka:
"Genevieve brings a rare blend of technical expertise and deep humanity to her role as Executive Director of PK–12 Educational Excellence & Innovation within @vistaunified.
She is leading important work to strengthen Vista’s ability to identify and support students proactively, drawing on multiple data sources and using inferential statistics to illuminate patterns that often remain unseen.
What makes her leadership so powerful is not just the rigor of her analysis, but the way she ensures every data point remains anchored in student stories. Her approach is intensely personalized and relational, grounded in the belief that every learner deserves to be known, supported, and encouraged to thrive.
Before stepping into her current system-level role, Genevieve helped shape the culture and success of Mission Vista High School as an assistant principal—a place where many of these ideas first took root.
On a personal note, it has been especially rewarding to see her apply the concepts she studied years ago when she was a doctoral student in my statistics course. Today, she is translating that learning into meaningful action for thousands of students.
Her thoughtful, learner-centered leadership continues to catalyze positive change across the district, and we are grateful to recognize her as this month’s Catalyzer."
Here`s what our team got up to last week!
⭐️ An engaged group of Guiding Coalition members came together in Templeton USD for a full day of productive struggle and meaning making. We began by elevating student voice, listening to learner videos to center students in our work. Building on that inspiration, we finalized our Portrait of a Learner after another round of feedback and revisions. To close the day, we designed the first draft of our Learning Model, a major step forward in defining what powerful teaching and learning looks like in Templeton.
⭐️ Adelanto Elementary School District educators spent their third Project Based Learning session refining projects they’ll soon launch in classrooms. Teachers left feeling inspired by the possibilities and hope that come from creating meaningful learning experiences for their students.
⭐️ In their Learning Centered Community of Practice, Mentor Teachers in Lindsay Unified focused on growing their own capacity to coach Residents to become both thriving professionals and skilled, standards-based educators ready to contribute to their current and future teams.
Meaningful School Redesign doesn’t happen overnight. It happens through intentional collaboration and iteration.
Our School Redesign Playbook outlines the key phases of successful School Redesign, from forming a design team to implementing and iterating on your plan. It provides tools, frameworks, and real-world examples from schools and districts across the country that are evolving to meet the needs of every learner.
Whether you`re just starting to consider School Redesign or you`re three years into the process, this guide has everything you need to ensure your learners know who they are, thrive in community, and actively engage in the world as their best selves.
Take a look: http://learnercentered.org/tools/school-redesign-playbook
Last month, California educators joined Learner-Centered Collaborative and Scaling Student Success for a tour of Encinitas Union School District`s schools and their Farm Lab to learn about their Portrait of a Graduate.
EUSD`s Farm Lab is a unique,10-acre property that houses multiple components and supports health, wellness, enviro-literacy, and elements of the EUSD Portrait of a Graduate for students and the community.
It was amazing to see the Encinitas team shine and feel pride in their work. They shared the highs and lows of their journey and helped the other participants really reflect on what it means to move from Portrait to practice.
While visiting the elementary schools in EUSD, we saw lots of happy kids, happy teachers, and authentic, meaningful learning. Kudos to Julie Burton, the Farm Lab`s site administrator, and the rest of the Encinitas team for a meaningful and inspirational learner-centered day!
Evolving education isn’t just about adopting new strategies or tools—it’s about creating the conditions for learning to flourish at every level of the system. That means building Professional Learning ecosystems where educators feel seen, supported, and empowered to grow.
Our newest blog by Katie Martin outlines the key shifts school leaders can implement to evolve the way their educators learn, and build a collaborative, growth-based culture.
💡Full blog available at the link in our bio.
🛠️ NEW TOOL FOR EDUCATION LEADERS: Forming a Strong School (Re)Design Team - find it at the link in our bio.
Every successful school redesign starts with the right team. This tool helps leaders intentionally build a group that represents the full school community, from leaders, educators, and learners, to families, and staff, who will guide the redesign process together.
We recommend using this tool as a supplementary resource with our School Redesign Playbook linked in bio.
Use this tool to:
➡️ Identify who will serve on your Design Team.
➡️ Develop messaging that clearly communicates the purpose of redesign to educators, students, and families.
➡️ Plan for collaboration, engagement, and shared ownership across the team.
Last week was a busy week for learner-centered work in action! Communities of Practice, spaces where educators, leaders, and other stakeholders come together to exchange ideas, solve problems, and build knowledge through shared experiences, took center stage. These communities create a safe, collaborative environment to tackle the challenges that arise when shifting towards learner-centered models, and we`ve found them to be supportive and effective elements of education evolutions.
1️⃣ The Mesa Linda Design Team began their Redesign journey by looking at data and feedback from their community. Taking inspiration from other schools and design elements in our new Redesign Playbook, the team of students, faculty, staff, and administrators began ideating on what the future can look like. Check out the Redesign Playbook referenced: https://learnercentered.org/publications/school-redesign-playbook/
2️⃣ Educators at The Innovative School of Temple Beth Sholom gathered for their first virtual Competency-Based Deep Dive Community of Practice. The team reflected on their learner-centered orientation, created stories of their collective "why" for their adopted assessment philosophy, and wrote individual intentions for how they want to grow their competencies.
3️⃣ CTE educators from across Arkansas virtually came together to celebrate ways they`re bringing Durable Skills to life with their learners with the help of AI as a learning experience co-designer through our Learning-Experience Accelerator app. "I used to think I gave my students enough guided practice, but now I think I need more--it would help me avoid re-answering questions," said one participant. You can use the app too: https://learnercentered.org/tools/durable-skills-lea-app/
4️⃣ During the second Scorecard Community of Practice offered in partnership with Scaling Student Success, teams collaborated across districts to identify outcomes and success metrics to track implementation of their graduate profiles and district strategic plans.
