When I worked in the traditional K-12 public school world, we were constantly frustrated with our inability to do what we already know works. In other words, pay attention to research and then apply that research to classroom practice. We were never able to attain the organizational discipline to execute this goal. Very few traditional school districts did.
Recently, my fear was that the learner-centered movement – microschools, learning pods, homeschools, and other innovative practices – was not going to be able to “do what we know works” because there weren’t enough organizations out there interested in doing what it takes to build a solid research base for this type of learning model.
But now, Education Reimagined, a Washington D.C.-based learner-centered advocacy group, has laid out a five-year research plan to address some of the questions related to these new models of learning. In a research agenda outline released earlier this year, ER had this to say about the project:
“By incorporating research, Education Reimagined is positioning itself to have a stronger impact as a catalyst for K-12 education transformation in the United States. At Education Reimagined, research is understood as a systematic approach to gathering and analyzing information to generate learning, wherein a series of scientific principles and procedures are followed to increase the reliability and validity of insight.”
“Education Reimagined aims to advance thinking about learner-centered education and ecosystems by curating, producing, and leveraging evidence-based research and resources to catalyze the invention of a new system for public education. Research is conducted internally, with partners, or through commissioned work to curate secondary research (i.e. drawing from existing literature and studies) and to produce primary research (i.e. generating new data). In addition, outputs from these research activities are leveraged to advance learner-centered efforts.”
“The purpose of this agenda is to guide the direction of Education Reimagined’s research work. It serves as a tool that directs the organization’s research endeavors, projects, collaborations, and more. Education Reimagined’s research is grounded in two primary themes:
- The field of learner-centered education, and
- Learner-centered, community-based ecosystems”
“Field research is aimed at better understanding and documenting the efficacy and impact of learner-centered education as an approach. Whereas, ecosystems research is aimed at investigating and illuminating the systemic conditions that enable learner-centered ecosystems to emerge and their broader impact.”
ER has broken down their two themes into a collection of research questions.
When thinking about the field of learner-centered education, ER asks the following:
What theoretical, empirical, and practical evidence contributes to the conceptualization of learner-centered education?
How does learner-centered education manifest in practice?
How does learner-centered education influence holistic outcomes for learners, adults who contribute to their learning, and their communities?
When thinking about learner-centered, community-based ecosystems, ER poses the following:
How do components and functions of learner-centered ecosystems vary across the country?
How do learner-centered ecosystems emerge, how are they implemented, and how do they sustain themselves across communities?
How do learner-centered ecosystems influence holistic outcomes for learners, adults who contribute to their learning, and their communities?
And this is just the beginning. Most researchers will tell you that from original research questions come many, many more questions as the research goes deeper and wider.
It’s good to see Education Reimagined including research into their work. Honestly, I was worried about their organization when they were trying to transform the school-centered world and all of its baggage into a learner-centered one. Thankfully, a few years ago, ER decided to distance themselves from the traditional school system so that they could focus on community-based (and out of school) learning. Now, their move into research can only help as they attempt to prove what many of us think we know already:
That our traditional public school system is broken for so many kids, so it need to go away – at least for those kids, and
It’s time to find out if young learners, already struggling in the traditional K-12 system, can become smarter and stronger inside a new system of learning – a system focused on the learner.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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