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Reflecting on social identity: Examining and sharing about group belonging

In this activity, you will create and share with your educator team a visual representing your social identity. Social identity is the story others tell about you and where you fit into society or the groups to which you belong (e.g., your race, ethnicity, gender identity).

Reflecting on personal identity: Examining and sharing what makes you unique

In this activity, you will create and share with your educator team a visual representing your personal identity. Personal identity is the story you tell about yourself that creates your self-concept and makes you unique (e.g., your skills, your hobbies, adjectives that describe you).

Educator team constructivist listening protocol: Reflecting, releasing emotion and constructing new meaning

In this activity, you will engage in an adaptation of the National Equity Project’s constructivist listening protocol. Together, with one or more members of your educator team, you will practice deep listening and construct new meaning about your identity and your lived experiences.

Identifying your equity imperative: Naming what you stand for and why

In this activity, you will reflect on a possible definition of equity, identify your equity imperative and share with your educator team. An equity imperative is a call to action representing an urgent and deeply felt need to address inequity. An equity imperative empowers you to answer the question, “What do I stand for and why?”

Student-selected support

In an effort to shift the ownership of learning from educator to student, SPARK School at Kyrene de las Manitas has implemented a system for students to reflect on their learning and progress, identify the academic support they need and schedule time to meet with the appropriate educator(s). This resource guides educator teams through steps to implementing student-selected support.

10 Tips for planning team-based deeper learning

The educator team at Kyrene de las Manitas Innovation Academy co-plans project-based units that support deeper learning. The 10 tips appearing in this document are drawn from their approach to planning. To get started, consider how your team might implement these tips.

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Community educator asset map

An asset map is a visual way to identify resources within your community. The act of creating a map of expertise can help you discover connections you already have, organizations you’d love to know about, and talents and resources near your school or available virtually.

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Six tips for engaging a community educator

Explore this resource to learn six tips for engaging a community educator in schools, community-based organizations and anywhere that learning happens.

The Creighton Academy: Learning space layout

The Creighton Academy in Phoenix, Arizona serves about 300 students in grades K–6. Every student is a member of a covey: a multi-age group of 55–60 students. Students work with educators specific to their coveys and educators who work across coveys. In this resource, you’ll see the layout of their learning space.

The Creighton Academy: Spotlight on the schedule

The Creighton Academy in Phoenix, Arizona serves about 300 students in grades K–6. Every student is a member of a covey: a multi-age group of 55–60 students. Students work with educators specific to their coveys and educators who work across coveys. In this resource, you’ll explore their schedule.

The Creighton Academy: School profile

The Creighton Academy in Phoenix, Arizona serves about 300 students in grades K–6. Every student is a member of a covey: a multi-age group of 55–60 students. Students work with educators specific to their coveys and educators who work across coveys. Here, you’ll learn how they’re implementing a team-based model.

Sousa Elementary School: Multi-age team learning space layout

At Sousa Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona, an educator team consisting of one lead teacher, three certified teachers, one special educator and three MLFTC residents supports a multi-age group of 104 first and second graders. In this resource, you’ll see the layout of their learning space.

Sousa Elementary School: Spotlight on the schedule

At Sousa Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona, an educator team consisting of one lead teacher, three certified teachers, one special educator and three MLFTC residents supports a multi-age group of 104 first and second graders. In this resource, you’ll explore their schedule.

Riverview High School: Learning space layout

Riverview High School serves 90–120 students in grades 7–12. Many of these students have left their assigned district schools due to disciplinary reasons or are transitioning out of juvenile detention or residential treatment centers. In this resource, you’ll see the layout of their learning space.

Stevenson Elementary: Learning space layout

At Stevenson Elementary School, 75 third graders work with a core team of educators that includes a lead teacher, certified teachers and MLFTC residents. In this resource, you’ll see the layout of their learning space.

Whittier Elementary: Learning space layout

At Whittier, approximately 170 students in grades 4–6 will be part of multi-age learning communities called “houses.” Each house includes about 85 students and is guided by an educator team. In this resource, you’ll see the layout of their learning space.

Westwood High School’s Academy Teams: Learning space layout

Approximately 900 ninth grade students at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona are distributed across six Academy Teams. In this resource, you’ll see the layout of their learning space.

Financially sustainable staffing models

In this document, you’ll read about how two school leaders and one district-level leader make strategic shifts in funding and time to cover the costs of their new staffing models.

Quarterly team reflection protocol

This resource, created in collaboration with MLFTC’s Principled Innovation Team, proposes a quarterly, one-hour protocol intended to help teams reflect together and build the “muscles” of empathy, awareness and resiliency. The protocol guides the team through sharing quarterly wins, reflecting on an intentional set of questions, debriefing and identifying next steps.

Co-creating school design principles

Design principles are four to seven ideas that align with the school’s mission and vision and act as a guiding light for the school-level team implementing change. This tool suggests steps a team might take to prepare for a design session on co-creating design principles, offers a protocol for facilitating the session and proposes next steps for taking design principles from draft form to final state.

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Elementary instructional blueprint: Lessons with industry experts

Elementary instructional blueprints suggest ways teams of educators with distributed expertise might deploy themselves to better deepen and personalize student learning.