Restorative Assessment: Strength-Based Practices That Support All Learners

Abstract

Students at the Center explores the role that student-centered approaches can play to deepen learning and prepare young people to meet the demands and engage the opportunities of the 21st century. Students at the Center synthesizes existing research on key components of student-centered approaches to learning. The papers that launch this project renew attention to the importance of engaging each student in acquiring the skills, knowledge, and expertise needed for success in college and a career. Student-centered approaches to learning, while recognizing that learning is a social activity, pay particular attention to the importance of customizing education to respond to each student's needs and interests, making use of new tools for doing so. The broad application of student-centered approaches to learning has much in common with other education reform movements including closing the achievement gaps and providing equitable access to a high-quality education, especially for underserved youth. Student-centered approaches also align with emerging work to attain the promise and meet the demands of the Common Core State Standards. However, critical and distinct elements of student-centered approaches to learning challenge the current schooling and education paradigm: > Embracing the student's experience and learning theory as the starting point of education; > Harnessing the full range of learning experiences at all times of the day, week, and year; > Expanding and reshaping the role of the educator; and > Determining progression based upon mastery. Despite growing interest in student-centered approaches to learning, educators have few places to which they can turn for a comprehensive accounting of the key components of this emerging field. With funding from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Jobs for the Future asked nine noted research teams to synthesize existing research in order to build the knowledge base for student-centered approaches to learning and make the findings more widely available. The topic of this paper, as with each in the series, was selected to foster a deeper, more cohesive, research-based understanding of one or more core elements of student-centered approaches to learning. The authors in this series: synthesize and analyze existing research in their areas; identify what is known and where gaps remain related to student-centered approaches to learning; and discuss implications, opportunities, and challenges for education stakeholders who put students at the center. The authors were asked to consider the above definition of student-centered approaches, but were also encouraged to add, subtract, or critique it as they wished. The authors were not asked explicitly to address the Common Core State Standards. Nevertheless, the research proceeded as discussions of the Common Core were unfolding, and several papers draw connections with that work. The thinking, learning, and teaching required for all students to reach the promised outcomes of the Common Core provide a backdrop for this project. The ...