Deeper Learning Resources

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.

LPI hosted leading researchers, policymakers, and practitioners at a September 10, 2019 event which focused on several “positive outlier” school districts achieving extraordinary results with students across racial and socioeconomic groups.

Deeper learning approaches help students develop skills that are necessary for success in college, career, and citizenship and have been in use for decades, but effective ways to sustain and scale them up remain elusive. Watch this LPI and the Alliance for Excellent Education webinar on the challenges and opportunities educators and district leaders face in expanding deeper learning.

Today’s schools must provide powerful learning environments for students that pair challenging academic content with engaging, experiential, and relevant learning experiences—and must do so in ways that reach diverse learners and promote equity. The Educator Preparation Laboratory (EdPrepLab) hosted a webinar to examine the policies and structures needed across pre-k–12 and teacher and leader preparation to foster these deeper learning opportunities for all students across all schools.

A growing number of colleges and universities are expanding the ways in which they evaluate student admissions applications to gain insight into students’ deeper learning skills, such as collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. On May 27, the Reimagining College Access initiative hosted a webinar to look at the outcomes of a pilot program at City University of New York that uses performance assessments to admit qualified applicants with scores below the threshold on college entry exams.

Traditional college admissions measures do not always provide a full picture of what aspiring students know and are able to do, leading some higher education institutions to transition to more holistic approaches. On June 23, Reimagining College Access hosted a webinar to highlight examples from two New England colleges, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wheaton College, which have broadened their approaches to admissions decisions by incorporating performance assessments into their applications.

This webinar addressed why and how to align k-12 performance assessment systems for use in higher education decision-making for college access and success. This alignment is especially critical for students from groups historically underrepresented in institutions of higher education, including students of color and students from low-income families.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly expanded awareness of the deep and long-standing inequities in the U.S. education system. In this webinar, prominent education and civil rights leaders discussed how policymakers, educators, and advocates can seize this moment to reinvent schools around principles of equity, authentic learning, and stronger relationships in order to transform learning experiences and close opportunity and achievement gaps.

Educators need ways to assess student learning that can also support students’ higher-order thinking skills, help improve teachers’ instructional practices, and give young people a chance to demonstrate college and career readiness. In this webinar, three district leaders discussed how they supported the implementation of performance assessments, how they adapted their work in response to COVID-related school closures, and how they are thinking about meaningfully assessing student learning as schools reopen.