Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching
Author: Wolfe, Rebecca E.
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Competencies,Individualized Instruction,Student Centered Learning,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Interpersonal Competence

Learner-centered approaches have captured the imagination and loyalty of educators since the time of Dewey and the Progressive Movement, yet they have never been implemented at scale. What marks this era as different is the renewed interest in personalized, learner-centered education of today. It builds from a powerful combination of economic, scientific, egalitarian, and technological forces: there exists a better understanding of what truly constitutes college and career readiness for an ever-changing, global marketplace. Cognitive neuroscience and learning theory research reveal close connections among motivation, agency, and learning. For the first time in our history, the nation is committed to preparing all students for success in postsecondary education and careers. The rapid expansion of technological advances and availability makes a level of personalization possible at a scale that has never before been available. Given the pace and scope of these changes, many educators find themselves tackling challenges for which they are not fully prepared and devoting immeasurable energy to learning &quot;on the fly&quot; and on their own. Some noteworthy online and in-person professional development opportunities have emerged to support personalized, student-centered approaches. State and local teacher preparation and professional development systems across the country still do relatively little to advance abilities to deliver these approaches-nor have such competencies been defined in ways that system leaders can act upon them. The development of &quot;Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching&quot; (&quot;the Competencies&quot;) serves as a first step in identifying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that educators need in order to create and thrive in effective personalized, learner-centered environments. The Competencies are organized into four domains--Cognitive, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Instructional. For each domain, both high-level competencies and detailed &quot;indicators&quot; that describe specific ways that educators can meet each competency in a personalized, learner-centered manner have been identified. A personalized, learner-centered education approach does not throw out previously gained knowledge and evidence of good teaching and learning. Far from it. Instead, this framework deliberately builds a bridge from those foundations toward a vision of how the teaching profession can evolve to meet the changing needs of learners. Presented here are key principles identified to guide and inform the work and perspective of this report. The intent is for this framework to serve as a &quot;living&quot; tool to guide educator development, so that a growing number of teachers are able to help scale the transformation to personalized, student-centered learning. Appended are: (1) Glossary of Terms; (2) Methodology; (3) Source Frameworks; (4) Crosswalk of InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards to Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching; and (5) Selected Resources from Students at the Center.