As we continue to recover from the aftershocks of a global pandemic, I’ve noticed an interesting trend: Schools are feeling like more serious and less joyful places. I guess this shouldn’t be a huge surprise. After all, we’ve just gone through some very serious times. And the impacts of the pandemic have created some very serious challenges in education that can’t be ignored. But even as we continue to address these challenges, we need to prioritize envisioning and designing the future of education that we want to create. One question we might ask ourselves to guide us in this work is: How do we want the experience of school to be different in the future than it is today (or even prior to the pandemic)? Looking at education through an experience lens is a powerful and underused approach. As educators, we’re very familiar with talking about rigor, requirements, and outcomes, but the quality of the learning experience is not often a lens we apply to the design of learning.
I recently visited a school that perfectly illustrated this point. The school leadership team shared that they were taking a “student-centered” approach to learning. Throughout the day, the idea of being student-centered came up several times as adults explained how they aligned student work to curriculum standards to ensure increased proficiency on assessments. But when I visited classrooms, I saw students silently sitting in desks, facing the front of the room and copying text that was being presented by the teacher on the screen. At the end of the day, as I reflected on what I had seen, I realized that the school had indeed put students at the center of something. But what it had put them at the center of was not a good experience for them. It made me reflect on times when I’ve found myself unwillingly at the center of an experience; a terrible traffic jam, a dentist appointment, going through the security line at an airport. Being at the center of something is only a good thing if we actually want to be there! Despite its admirable intentions, this school had clearly not viewed learning through a student-experience lens.
Looking at education through an experience lens is a powerful approach.
When ASCD and ISTE came together in early 2023, we had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to decide how we were going to focus the energy of our new, combined organization. This focus centers around our core belief that every student deserves to have an amazing learning experience every time they walk into school. To put it more bluntly, both kids’ and teachers’ time in school is too valuable for sucky learning experiences! While our member community and external partners have always rallied around this idea, we realized we had a unique challenge: How do we clearly define the elements that make learning experiences amazing for students?
We began looking for existing definitions and found there wasn’t much out there. There were plenty of frameworks that describe what teachers or leaders should do, but nothing that clearly laid out the recipe for creating amazing learning experiences for students. So our team began an audacious project to identify the most important elements of effective student learning. We knew these principles had to be solidly based in research. But we also knew it wouldn’t be helpful if they became a list of “everything but the kitchen sink.” At the last ASCD Leadership Summit, I spoke with a young principal who shared how overwhelmed she felt with all the things she was supposed to focus on. “If you could just help me know the most important things,” she said, “I will make sure we get them done.”
Her feelings echoed what I’ve heard from many other learning leaders. There are thousands of research-based practices, but not all research-based practices have the same level of impact on student engagement and success. Over the course of a year, our team reviewed seminal research and commentary on impactful learning, sought feedback from learning science experts, and got input from practitioners. Throughout the process, the team continually challenged themselves to identify elements that made an outsized impact in terms of creating effective student learning experiences.
The result is the Transformational Learning Principles, a set of evidence-based practices that highlight the most essential elements of effective learning. Our hope is that they will bring focus and a common language to the work of ensuring all students have access to impactful and joyful learning experiences every day. While centered on instructional interactions and approaches, the principles provide a frame of reference for leaders and school communities for supporting teachers and students in the process of reimagining learning. They are, I believe, a potential antidote to the post-pandemic malaise in education. I’m excited to share the Transformational Learning Principles with readers of Educational Leadership and the broader education community.
We know that identifying the principles alone doesn’t guarantee an amazing learning experience for students. We need to work together as an education community to make sure these elements become the accepted norm in schools. Over the course of the next year, ASCD and ISTE will be aligning all our work around helping educators put the principles into practice. This includes spotlighting schools that are showing what it looks like when learning is designed to nurture, guide, and empower students.
The principles are not only intended for use by ASCD and ISTE, but as a tool to guide the broader education community in creating effective student learning experiences. I’m excited to share that the principles have been formally endorsed by AASA, the School Superintendents Association, and the National Association for Secondary School Principals.
Use [the principles] as a foundation for creating school norms, holding coaching conversations, setting priorities, and modeling what impactful, joyful learning looks like in practice.
This issue of EL is focused on supporting new teachers. As we welcome unprecedented numbers of new educators into our schools this year, we have a tremendous opportunity to design the future of learning. New teachers bring a sense of energy and excitement to our work. They are less encumbered by past practices or inherited conventions. They are willing to try new approaches. When paired with innovative experienced educators, new teachers can be a powerful catalyst for school-wide conversations about designing learning through a student-experience lens. We believe the Transformational Learning Principles can be a touchstone to guide this work. We hope instructional leaders will use them as a foundation for creating school norms, holding coaching conversations, setting priorities, and modeling what impactful, joyful learning looks like in practice.
As we start a new school year, I hope the Transformation Learning Principles will bring focus and inspiration to the work of ensuring every student has an amazing learning experience every day they walk into school. An experience they can’t wait to be at the center of! We look forward to joining you in that work.
