Student centered teaching in hybrid schools

The last blog post ended with this observation:

Too much of public education is clinging to practices that don’t serve students. Instead, we need to create more spaces, for more students, to learn in the ways they learn best.

The examples exist.

Two additions to that final line: 1) the examples are often in schools that are using technology to eliminate time and space barriers, and 2) many mainstream observers are apparently unaware of these online and hybrid schools.

As an example, let’s look at “student centered teaching.” “Student-centered” is a popular and commonly used term. But many descriptions, while useful in some ways, don’t go very far in terms of providing actionable implementation suggestions. In addition, many such characterizations overlook the innovative hybrid schools in which student-centered instruction is not only happening, but is built into the core pedagogical approach of the school.

For example, a Larry Cuban’s recent blog post describes student-centered learning using two photos that he describes as follows:

“The dead-give-aways in these photos, however, are the furniture arrangement (e.g., no rows of desks) and the small group activity (e.g., students talk and work with one another). Those two clues are often sufficient to describe the lesson–at least what is captured in a snapshot–as student-centered.”

Cuban then goes on to describe the history of student-centered teaching:

“As with any set of teaching practices, there is a history to the tradition of student-centered instruction…student-centered lessons go back to the mid-19th century but gained most prominence during the early decades of the 20th century with the progressive education movement…”

(Snip)

“the student-centered tradition of instruction refers to classrooms where students exercise a substantial degree of responsibility for what is taught and how it is learned. Teachers see children as more than brains; they bring to school an array of physical, psychological, emotional, and intellectual needs plus experiences that require both nurturing and prodding.”

Finally, he notes that such schools still exist but are uncommon:

“scattered public and private schools still committed to child-centered instruction exist in public schools such as Prairie Creek Community School in Northfield (MN), Mission Hill K-8 School in Boston (MA), and Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education in Camarillo (CA).”

This is where he, and other mainstream education observers, get it wrong—because they miss all the hybrid schools that are built around this type if instruction.

(Online schools are also often student-centered, but their practices are so different from traditional schools that a direct comparison is difficult within the confines of a blog post.)

How do we know that hybrid schools are built around student-centered teaching? Because we’ve seen such teaching in action. For example, here are three pictures from Elevation, a hybrid school in the Cherry Creek district in Colorado:

These pictures clearly show the two markers that Larry Cuban mentioned: small group activities and “furniture arrangements” that facilitate student-centered teaching, which is a core element of the instructional approach at Elevation.

Elevation is an outlier in the world of public education, but not an outlier in the much smaller niche of hybrid schools. Just in Colorado we have Springs Studio, Poudre Global Academy, The Village High School, and others. Crossroads FLEX serves students in North Carolina, Taos Academy in New Mexico, Oasis in California, Valor Prep in Arizona…the list goes on.

Still, I have to wonder: If a reporter called the districts, county offices, or states that host and/or authorize these schools, asking about the best examples of student-centered teaching and learning, would these schools be offered up? Are they top of mind for people outside of our relatively small world?

I don’t think so. There is lots of work to be done in 2022 and beyond, to share these stories.

Thanks to Elevation and Principal Kristy Hart for hosting a visit, and for providing these pictures!