Elements of Learner-Centered Environments

The National Equity Project develops leaders who create the organizational conditions that enable learner-centered innovations and help youth thrive. Our approach is built on a leadership framework that connects organizational transformation with student success. When leaders create the right conditions, every young person can succeed and flourish.

Organizational conditions

  • Trusting Relationships: Every young person is known well and systematically connected to support their development.

  • Voice and Choice: Places for youth to shape, contribute and choose; civic participation opportunities that matter.

  • Meaningful Work: Assignments that are rigorous, purposeful, interdisciplinary and relevant to students' lives.

  • Personalization: Every young person's unique talents, gifts and interests are seen and nurtured, while their needs and challenges are addressed and supported.

  • Safety, Belonging and Well-being: Physical, emotional, and identity safety; students feel seen, welcomed and connected while we interrupt and transform experiences of othering.

  • Community Connected Learning: Learning environments designed to nurture community, responsive to and integrated with the wider community.

  • Coherent Instructional Program: All aspects of instruction—curriculum, experiences, interventions, assessments—work together toward shared priorities.

These organizational conditions create learning environments where every young person

  • Feels seen, respected, and cared for by adults and peers

  • Feels connected to their community and understands their place within it

  • Understands and respects their own and others' multiple identities, cultural histories and contributions

  • Maintains intellectual curiosity and develops strong academic skills

  • Achieves the competencies, agency, mindsets and heartsets needed to pursue their goals, contribute to their communities, and thrive

These evidence-based learning conditions are adapted from Pittman & Irby (2023). “Too Essential To Fail: Why Our Big Bet on Public Education Needs A Bold National Response”, SOLD Alliance. The Opportunity Makers, TNTP.