Despite growing interest in student-centered approaches to learning, educators have few places to which they can turn for a comprehensive accounting of the key components of this emerging field. With funding from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Jobs for the Future asked nine noted research teams to synthesize existing research in order to build the knowledge base for student-centered approaches to learning and make the findings more widely available. With these papers, Jobs for the Future launched a multi-year effort called Students at the Center.

WKCD's Barbara Cervone and Kathleen Cushman formed one of these nine research teams. Their inquiry focused on teacher practice in schools that cherish student-centered learning.

Teachers at Work: Six Exemplars of Everyday Practice by Barbara Cervone and Kathleen Cushman, The Students at the Center Series, Jobs for the Future and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (PDF)

Core Elements of Teaching Practice in Student-Centered Learning

Student-Centered Learning and the Roles Teachers Play

“You’re Constantly Revising Yourself” The Dispositions of a Student-Centered Teacher (Winter 2013) (PDF))

Students at the Center has since commissioned its second set of white papers, analyzing research and describing policy strategies that promise to support deeper learning in the nation’s schools.