Esteemed Colleague,

Last week, we announced an important milestone at Learner-Centered Collaborative: Katie Martin and I are now formally serving as Co-CEOs! This marks an incredible new chapter for our organization and honors our commitment to a distributed leadership model that positions us to grow, adapt, and deepen our impact alongside the educators and communities we serve.

One of the biggest ways we serve our school and district partners during this time of year is in the context of navigating transitions—closing out the school year and shaping what’s to come this summer and next school year. This is a complex time filled with uncertainty.

In my latest blog post, Building Bridges Through Change, I reflect on the importance of honoring what's coming to an end, engaging with the variety of feelings showing up in the present, and co-creating what comes next on our learner-centered journeys. I hope it offers insight and encouragement as you lead your community through this meaningful time of transition.

With anticipation for our shared journey,

How do we know if our school or district system is having the impact we're striving for with students? Traditionally, we might look at test scores, attendance measures, and graduation rates, but if we're aiming to support and develop the whole learner, those metrics can feel lacking.

In reality, the success metrics we measure in education should be as diverse as each individual school and district. Honoring the uniqueness of each local context requires a reimagined approach to assessment and evaluation. That's where Scorecards come into play.

Scorecards provide a one-page overview of desired outcomes (e.g. student engagement), success metrics (e.g. 70% of students participate in school-provided leadership opportunities), data sources (e.g. student surveys), and current status (e.g. 55% of students participated during the first semester).

Keeping Scorecards to one page is intentional. We want to identify the smallest number of outcomes and metrics that will have the biggest impact toward realizing our learner-centered visions. It ensures we measure what matters most to our learners, families, staff, and community.

Learn more about how we partner with schools and districts in developing learner-centered accountability systems, including the creation of systems-level Scorecards, in this article Katie Martin and I wrote for The74.

SoCal LiNK Research Convening (learn more)

May 22, 2025 | San Diego, CA

JOIN US AT OUR NEXT EVENT

"We brought down the house at the Delhi Center, celebrating the 2024-25 SAUSD Learning Walks! Parents highlighted bright spots and elevated opportunities for refinement for 2025-26. There was a lot of joy and a strong sense of community with over 200 parents celebrating their learning after visiting classrooms in 26 schools." ~César Morales

"Adelanto ESD's Guiding Coalition came together to listen to learners and cast a vision defining the Big Moves they'll take to make progress toward their vision over the next five years. The group listened to their VIPs (elementary and middle school learners) in order to ground their thinking around their Learning Model and determine Big Moves and Success Criteria for their defined outcomes. What an energetic and powerful day!" ~Holly Stipe

"At Deeper Learning, in our Breaking up With Grades Deep Dive, participants engaged in conversation about the challenges with traditional grading practices, explored alternative models of assessing and reporting, and unpacked beliefs about assessment. Everyone designed an assessment philosophy explaining why they were breaking up with grades and detailing their assessment beliefs and principles. Some even left with prototypes of new assessment and reporting methods they want to bring to their classroom or site." ~Bryanna Hanson

LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW WE WORK WITH SCHOOL & DISTRICT PARTNERS

We are thrilled to recognize Julie Burton as our Catalyzer of the Month for her visionary leadership at the Encinitas Farm Lab. As Site Administrator, Julie has led the transformation of the 10-acre campus into a dynamic hub for sustainability education and innovation. Learn more about Julie's impact and leadership here.