DEEPER LEARNING NETWORKS SERIES Deeper Learning Networks Taking Student-Centered Learning and Equity to Scale Laura E. Hernández, Linda Darling-Hammond, Julie Adams, and Kathryn Bradley with DeAnna Duncan Grand, Martens Roc, and Peter Ross OCTOBER 2019 Deeper Learning Networks: Taking Student-Centered Learning and Equity to Scale Laura E. Hernández, Linda Darling-Hammond, Julie Adams, and Kathryn Bradley with DeAnna Duncan Grand, Martens Roc, and Peter Ross Acknowledgments The authors thank the leaders and educators at Big Picture Learning, Internationals Network for Public Schools, and New Tech Network, without whom this case study would not have been possible. We also appreciate the educators at network-affiliated sites who shared their insights and opened their classrooms during site visits. We are especially grateful to the following individuals for graciously sharing their time, resources, and thought partnership through the research and revision process: Andrew Frishman, Lydia Dobyns, Joe Luft, Marguerite Lukes, and Carlos Moreno. We thank our current and former Learning Policy Institute colleagues Barbara Escobar, Sharoon Negrete Gonzalez, and Charmaine Mercer for their editing, review, and thought partnership. In addition, we thank Erin Chase and Aaron Reeves for their editing and design contributions to this project and the entire LPI communications team for their invaluable support in developing and disseminating this report. Without their generosity of time and spirit, this work would not have been possible. This research was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Core operating support for the Learning Policy Institute is also provided by the Sandler Foundation and the Ford Foundation. We are grateful to them for their generous support. The ideas voiced here are those of the authors and not those of our funders. External Reviewers This report benefited from the insights and expertise of two external reviewers: Richard Elmore, Gregory R. Anrig Research Professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education; and Michelle Fine, a Distinguished Professor of Critical Psychology, Women’s Studies, American Studies and Urban Education at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. We thank them for the care and attention they gave the report. The appropriate citation for this report is: Hernández, L. E., Darling-Hammond, L., Adams, J., & Bradley, K. (with Duncan Grand, D., Roc, M., & Ross, P.). (2019). Deeper learning networks: Taking student-centered learning and equity to scale. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. This report can be found online at https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/deeper-learning-networks. Cover photo provided with permission by Big Picture Learning. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Document last revised October 15, 2019 ii LEARNING POLICY INSTITUTE | DEEPER LEARNING NETWORKS Table of Contents Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................. v Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................1 What Equitable Deeper Learning Requires ....................................................................................3 The Challenges of Sustaining and Spreading Deeper Learning Practices ....................................4 This Study ..................................................................................................................................................5 What We Know About Deeper Learning and Scale .............................................................................7 Deeper Learning Outcomes ...........................................................................................................7 Impact of Deeper Learning Practices ............................................................................................8 Creating Deeper Learning Environments .................................................................................... 11 Professional Development for Deeper Learning ......................................................................... 11 Taking Deeper Learning to Scale ................................................................................................ 12 The Networks ......................................................................................................................................... 14 Big Picture Learning .................................................................................................................... 14 Internationals Network for Public Schools .................................................................................. 24 New Tech Network ..................................................................................................................... 29 Systems for Planting and Sustaining Deeper Learning Models .................................................... 37 1. Designing Schools for Deeper Learning ................................................................................ 38 2. Partnering With Districts and Communities to Implement Deeper Learning ......................... 43 3. Implementing Multifaceted and Experiential Supports for Teacher Learning ........................ 49 4. Developing Deeper Learning Leaders .................................................................................... 61 5. Maintaining a Learning Orientation for Continuous Improvement ........................................ 65 Findings and Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 69 Implications ............................................................................................................................................ 72 Considerations for Districts ........................................................................................................ 73 Considerations for Schools ......................................................................................................... 74 Appendix A: Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 76 Appendix B: Competencies Needed for Deeper Learning by Network .......................................... 80 Endnotes ................................................................................................................................................. 83 About the Authors ................................................................................................................................. 92 LEARNING POLICY INSTITUTE | DEEPER LEARNING NETWORKS iii List of Figures and Tables Figure 1 Big Picture Learning Network in the United States ....................................................... 15 Figure 2 Big Picture Learning’s 10 Distinguishers ..................................................................... 16 Figure 3 Big Picture Learning’s Real-World Learning Cycle ........................................................ 17 Figure 4 Big Picture Learning’s Five Learning Goals .................................................................. 19 Figure 5 Map of Internationals Network for Public Schools ....................................................... 25 Figure 6 Map of New Tech Network Schools (2017–18) ........................................................... 30 Figure 7 New Tech Network’s Design Pillars ............................................................................... 32 Figure 8 New Tech Network’s Graduation Rates Over Time ....................................................... 36 Figure 9 New Tech Network’s Learning Organization Framework ............................................... 66 Table 1 New Tech Network’s Learning Outcomes ..................................................................... 33 iv LEARNING POLICY INSTITUTE | DEEPER LEARNING NETWORKS Executive Summary For decades, progressive educators have sought to transform schools and systems in ways that allow more student-centered and inquiry-driven approaches to flourish and that improve learning for the country’s most vulnerable youth. In recent years, schools have sought to develop what have been called “deeper learning” approaches, which are designed to allow students to apply their knowledge to new situations and complex problems of the sort they will experience outside of school. Enacted through project-based learning, work-based learning, and performance assessments, these inquiry-based approaches help students learn to think critically, collaborate, and communicate, within and across the disciplines, using mathematical, scientific, historical, and creative reasoning that enable students to “learn how to learn” and develop mindsets that increase perseverance and productive learning behaviors. Many educators have created successful innovative models but have had difficulty sustaining, re-creating, and scaling these models. Classrooms and schools characterized by student-centered learning practices typically deviate from the norms of transmission teaching and the many structures and procedures that David Tyack and Larry Cuban called the “grammar of schooling.” As a result, these schools have confronted