To internalize concepts of student-centered learning, educator preparation and professional learning is learner-centered. Aspiring teachers and education leaders develop mastery of professional knowledge and skills through the kinds of learning activities they will implement in schools and classrooms: active learning, directed by the learner; learning experiences both in and outside of classrooms; and learning is gauged by a variety of assessments. Certification is mastery-based: educators complete their professional credentials when they demonstrate they have mastered the professional standards.

The Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching build on and push beyond the best existing teaching competencies and standards to capture what educators need in order to create and thrive in personalized, learner-centered systems. The competencies are organized into four domains. Cognitive Domain/ need to know: the academic content and knowledge of brain and human development that personalized, learner-centered educators need to know in order to foster students’ cognitive and metacognitive development; Interpersonal Domain/ need to process - the set of “internal” skills and habits of mind that personalized, learner-centered educators need to process, such as a growth mindset, high expectations for students, and inquiry-based approaches to the teaching profession; Interpersonal Domain/ need to relate –the social, personal, and leadership skills educators need to relate with students, colleagues, and the greater community, particularly in multicultural, inclusive, and linguistically diverse classrooms; Instructional Domain/ need to do –the pedagogical techniques that educators use-what they need to do in order to sustain a personalized, learner-centered environment for all students.⁽²³⁾

FOOTNOTES

⁽²³⁾ Jobs for the Future & the Council of Chief State School Officers. 2015. Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching. Boston, MA: Jobs for the Future.

Educators work with colleagues to reflect on their work and improve their professional practice. Learning groups within schools, across schools and districts, and beyond are formed to pursue action research and/or innovative teaching and learning.

Give districts the flexibility with certification to create new roles for teachers and administrators, such as positions to support the development of expertise within the job.

Technology is a powerful tool to organize information and foster communication.

Online portfolios organize work products to document mastery of certification standards and completion of ongoing career goals linked to educator evaluations.

Social networking technologies and platforms support professional learning groups across schools and districts.