Recommendations

Recommendations for Teachers
• Permit and promote collaborative student projects in conjunction with individual measures of achievement.
• Include meaningful feedback on challenge-based learning experiences as part of the assessment and accountability system.
• Engage students as active directors of learning, guided by the teacher, and utilizing the vast array of reference materials and social networking opportunities to answer essential questions and solve real problems.

Recommendations for Site Leaders
• Provide resources and training to assist teachers in implementing and facilitating challenge-based learning experiences for all students.
• Provide resources and training to accelerate the shift to customized learning experiences to promote flow learning and develop adaptive expertise.
• Support key site-based initiatives and promote exemplars which integrate technology applications into the standards-based curricula.

Recommendations for District Leaders
• Revisit the concept of age-based grouping and deploy several alternatives to this approach to guide schools in optimal grouping arrangements.
• Permit and promote new tools for communication and service such as blogs, wikis, webinars, SMS, RSS feeds, etc.
• Expand instructional resources and support to ensure that all students have access to online digital tools at school and in their homes.
• Include meaningful feedback on challenge-based learning experiences as part of the assessment and accountability system.
• Promote a full range of online learning experiences for students and teachers, including teacher-supported, hybrid, and independent activities to meet the varied needs of learners and to provide a platform for technology integration.

Recommendations for State Leaders
• Revise content standards in all curricular areas to better reflect the necessary learning outcomes for digital-age learners.
• Revise standardized assessment methods to better represent the learning outcomes for digital-age learners, including meaningful feedback on challenge-based learning experiences as a component of the accountability system.
• Immediately allow flexibility with respect to the requirements of “seat time” as a driver for school attendance, financing, and reporting. Replace this with models that support various modes of online participation in schools.
• Expand instructional materials to include the use of mobile platforms and online information resources. This would establish a new model that would transform California and district adoptions to include online curricular series that integrate web-based, media-rich, adaptive materials aligned to state standards and 21st century literacy skills.