Frequently Asked Questions

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What is Learner-Centered Education?

Learner-centered education is about an entirely new way of seeing, thinking about, and acting on education. It focuses on three key aspects about the learner. First, each learner is seen as being unique in meaningful ways. They have unique backgrounds, circumstances, and starting points with unique strengths, challenges, interests, and aspirations. All of these unique attributes call for unique responses from their learning system. Second, each learner is seen as having unbounded potential—potential that will unfold at its own pace and in its own way. Every single learner is a wonder to behold. And, finally, each learner is seen as having an innate desire to learn. The job of the education system is to unleash that desire.

Why does a community-based approach have a better chance of delivering on the promise of learner-centered education?

A community-based approach leverages the multitude of assets already present in a community. In our current system incredible community assets go unrecognized and unable to make it through the doors of our schools. They are seen as extras or enrichments for those who can access them. And what is offered does not “count” as credentialed learning.

Another benefit to consider, because out of school/after school organizations and efforts have to provide lively engaging programming in order to attract an audience they are better situated than conventional schools to deliver learner-centered, meaningful experiences for young people. If they do not, no one shows up. Pair this with the incredible breadth of online efforts and experiences and you can see how we might begin to create and deliver to each and every child personalized, relevant, and contextualized learning experiences.

What is a Home Base?

A Home Base provides safe spaces for young people to build stable, years-long relationships with a cohort of peers and one or two adults called learning advisors. Here, they connect with their advisor(s) with whom they partner to set learning goals, create learning pathways, find support, and manage their health and well-being. Depending on a learner’s age, capacity for independence, and their learning pursuits they may spend more or less time at their Home Base. Home bases could be located just about anywhere in the community, and different ones might cater to specific learner interests, needs, and/or circumstances. A home base might also be co-located with Learning Hubs.

What is a Learning Hub?

A Learning Hub serves as a space of deep learning and inquiry, where learning facilitators and learning specialists support young people to develop and demonstrate competencies, pursue topics and issues of interest, get learning support where they are struggling, and engage in virtual opportunities—all in support of fulfilling the child’s learning goals and plans they’ve set with their learning advisors. Libraries, office buildings, YMCAs, museums, converted school buildings, colleges, community gardens, theaters, churches, and more could all serve as learning hubs—and a child might spend time in various learning hubs throughout the day or week depending on what interest, competency, or pathways they are pursuing at any given time.

What is a Field Site?

A Field Site is a space where learners meet and work with community mentors through such opportunities as internships (virtual and onsite), jobs, field projects, and service-learning. The list of possible field sites is nearly endless—banks, pharmacies, retirement homes, nonprofits, graphic design studios, sewage treatment facilities, pet stores, food pantries, to name a few.

Is this exclusively about a child’s interests? What about foundational skills?

Interests are the gateway to developing foundational skills. For our youngest learners foundational skills (reading, writing, math) will be present in their learning in appropriate ways. The role of Learning Advisors who will have years long relationships with young people and will know them and their families in ways that naturally lead to the co-creation of learning journeys. As a young person moves up through the system more and more responsibility falls to the young person and in order to reach a personally desired goal or contribution to a project specific knowledge will be needed, sourced, and built together with Learning Advisors, Learning Specialists, and Mentors.

Would ecosystems be inclusive of learners with special needs?

Yes, an education designed for each, unique child will provide the support and services and team of specialists necessary for a child to thrive. This is a nonnegotiable, foundational function of a new system. With a community-based approach identification of needs and access to social services and other specialists should be more transparent and easily obtained. Appropriate learning experiences within a community will be co-created with the child and their family and then sourced. Where services and specialists are located will vary depending on the community.

Are higher ed institutions involved in these ecosystems?

We see an important role for higher ed to take in and make access available to learners when they are ready and a particular interest leads them to the need for what is available.

How is learning and credentialing captured?

Learner-centered environments have been advancing young people and capturing their learning in ways that are not “test based” for decades. Though much needs to be invented we are not starting from scratch. A new system would actually capture real learnings and be competency-based. In this system, empowered young people would be well aware of what they are learning and what they want and need to learn in order to get where they want to go.

From a practical point of view, technology dedicated to capturing, credentialing, and tracking a learner’s progress would be a necessary tool for a new education system.

How realistic is this?

We invented the system we now have and we can invent something entirely different if we choose to. We are not naive and know that this will take a lot of effort by many, many people and institutions across the country, but if we truly want every child to thrive and move through an education system with purpose and be prepared for a life of their own choosing then we must begin to invent a new education system.

How do you keep track of learners who are in the community? (ie. safety, travel and transportation, well-roundedness, goals, needs, enough exposure to variety kinds of experiences, etc)?

How are decisions made in ecosystems?

How do you track when a learner needs help?

Learning Advisors who will have intimate knowledge and years long relationships with the young people in their Home Bases will be prepared to see and address needs. And young people who know they are being heard and have a voice will ask for the help they need.

How practical is this ecosystem? It sounds nice but how do you do it? Are there any examples?

Pieces of the ecosystem are present in many communities and currently are not connected nor allowed by the constraints of the current system, which is why we need the freedom and commitment to invent a new system.

How universal is this ecosystem? Does it completely replace the current K-12 system? Is it an alternative system that people opt into?

Initially we see the need for a parallel opt-in system. Remaking and inventing an entirely new system is not something done overnight and all at once. What is needed in the immediate future is the recognition of learner centered education as a distinct field and the development of pilot communities committed to embracing a community-based approach. Once these sites are developed and deliver on a different purpose of education.

Once more and more learners are in ecosystems, are there enough quality opportunities in every community to individualize the learning for every single child?

If we adopt a posture of abundance—versus scarcity which our current system is built on—we believe every person, nonprofit organization, and business within a community will see ways to contribute and will be enlivened to do so. Add to that countless online, virtual options and a whole new world of opportunity comes into view.