Deeper Learning Resources

On Friday, November 6, 2015, in Washington, DC, the Learning Policy Institute and Jobs for the Future held a timely discussion of how U.S. schools can provide a more equitable and empowering education for all young people. The event featured a discussion of two reports recently released by Jobs for the Future.

The Alliance for Excellent Education and the Learning Policy Institute held a webinar on using the Every Student Succeeds Act and its accompanying regulations to advance equity and educational opportunity. Designed for state policymakers and education stakeholders, the webinar focused on how states can effectively design multiple-measure accountability systems to assess overall school performance and progress—including gaps in student performance—and drive evidence-based interventions and continuous improvement across all schools and for all students.

On February 15, LPI held the first webinar in a series that explores why deeper learning is crucial for students in today’s innovation economy and how we can achieve greater equity in access to deeper learning. This webinar addressed ways schools and school districts can improve academic achievement—particularly among students who are farthest from opportunity—through engaging students in learning that focuses on meaningful mastery of subjects, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and other skills necessary for college, career, and civic participation in the 21st Century.

As states, districts, and schools are expanding instruction to include the competencies associated with college, career, and civic readiness, they are also developing ways to measure mastery of higher-order thinking skills. These measures include performance assessments that show what students know and can do through demonstrations of their thinking, writing, research, and products. During this briefing, speakers shared information on how performance assessments can inform teaching and learning, advance educational equity, and be used to inform the postsecondary admission, placement, and advisement process in ways that increase access.

The third webinar in LPI’s series, Achieving Equity Through Deeper Learning, explored how states are using and sharing information on deeper learning assessments. Specific projects, like the 4 State Performance Assessment Project and the State Performance Assessment Learning Community (SPA-LC), were discussed along with two major efforts underway in Washington that incorporate performance assessments in ways that engage students in three-dimensional science learning.

Over the last year, the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) and EducationCounsel have convened leaders in k-12 and higher education to explore how both systems might benefit greatly from more authentic and holistic ways of assessing students’ competencies and mastery of 21st-century skills. In this webinar, we explored the emerging recommendations from the Reimagining College Access initiative and engaged participants in a discussion of where the work is heading.