POLICY IDEAS
PHOTO BY
N EW CLASSR OOM I N N OVATI ON PA R T N ERS New Classrooms’ first-of-its-kind technology draws from high-quality lessons to help students achieve academic gains at higher rates than the national average.
happens inside and outside the classroom. Federal policy should support innovative community pilots that: fundamentally redefine student success to include skills beyond reading and math academic achievement; redesign systems to focus on mastery rather than seat time; and harness technology and build teacher capacity to personalize learning to meet the needs of all students. These communities should then receive incentive funding and waivers of federal requirements that serve as barriers to their work so that they can serve as essential proof points for other schools to follow.
UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF LEARNING THROUGH NEUROSCIENCE Over the course of the last decade, research on neuroscience has provided new insights into how students learn, and has revealed inadequacies in an education system designed for the average learner. Neuroscientific research has established that children’s brains continue to develop through adolescence and are shaped by environment and relationships. This presents an opportunity to transform how school, classroom, and community environments catalyze growth in achievement for all students. To unlock the secrets of learning,
52
MOVING AMERICA FORWARD
research should be prioritized that will enable significant progress in brain science and unlock the full potential of all students.
TAKE LESSONS FROM HIGH-PERFORMING CHARTER SCHOOLS TO SCALE High-performing charter schools across the nation have revealed that students thrive when school leaders and teachers are given the freedom and flexibility to make decisions and design programs that work best for their students and communities. But too often, federal, state, and local bureaucracy stands in the way of this flexibility. The federal government should provide incentives to states to create clusters of schools with the autonomy and accountability that have helped high-performing charter schools flourish. Within these school clusters, states and high-performing schools should provide supports to build the skills and capabilities of school leaders and teachers to develop the great schools all children and parents deserve.