The Center is co-hosting a second Cross-State Learner-Centered Collaborative this fall with partners at the Michigan Department of Education. The Collaborative is a 12-week facilitated professional learning and design experience focused on getting clear about the next right steps for teams as they explore learner-centered pathways. Participants include administrators, teacher leaders, teachers, counselors, AEA staff, and other partners who support school transformation.
Over 60 educators from Iowa and Michigan are engaged in a 12-Week Year, which is a 12-week frame where teams set a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal), divided into 12 1-week sprints with specific learning/doing outcomes. Areas of focus for educator teams include:
- Developing personalized, learner-centered approaches
- Creating more authentic, hands-on alternative programming
- Designing cross-curricular approaches to learning and earning credit
- Increasing access to career and technical education
- Boosting teacher apprenticeships and/or externships
- Implementing competency-based pathways
Throughout this process, teams not only have internal weekly accountability meetings (WAMs), they also connect with cross-district and cross-state peers, sharing feedback and feedforward for continuous improvement. Most teams are also planning site visits within and beyond our state to see some of their aspirations in action.
We are learning so much with and from our participants and can't wait to see their presentations of learning in December!