1.

Create a program in your school where students’ ‘Conditions of Success’ are expanded:
consider the areas of the Filipino Whole Learner

The concept of academic success has generally been associated with the attainment of summative
assessments, as stipulated by learning outcomes. Indeed, while academic success can be attributed to the
attainment of knowledge demonstrated through high assessment grades, it can also refer to the graduates’
capacity to secure a professional role related to their degree.

A well-rounded education is defined by a broader set of outcomes than traditionally outlined in

academic standards and standardized tests. Educators and other stakeholders alike are increasingly interested in
the so-called soft skills related to social and emotional learning, creativity and innovation, and citizenship. But
how do we ensure that all students, especially disadvantaged students, have sufficient time and opportunity to
attain all the skills needed for college, career, and the global innovation economy beyond?

In that, expanded learning has become a catchphrase for a variety of different models that aim to expand
learning time and experiences for students. A variety of models focus on leveraging technology through blended
learning, flipped classroom, and “anywhere, anytime” opportunities that extend and expand learning beyond the
school classroom and calendar. Still, others focus on providing credit for learning that takes place outside the
school day and beyond the school building, whether formal or informal course credit. And despite being driven
by the need to graduate students who are proficient across a broader set of outcomes than those currently
defined in the standards and assessed through standardized tests, few of the emerging expanded learning models
are operating in the context of an established mastery-based or competency-based system. And yet, to ensure
expanded learning programs are successful, one must be able to recognize learning reliably and authentically
based on students’ demonstrated mastery of a defined set of competencies. This presents significant
opportunities as well as challenges. On the one hand, expanded learning models represent an opportunity to
consider education reform from the context of the student, rather than the system. Expanded learning is creating
new approaches to organizing education around student needs and interests, regardless of when, where, how, or
with whom learning happens. However, expanded learning cannot be successful without an established system
for defining what criteria constitute accomplishment of learning, and how those criteria will be measured in a
way that is valid and reliable. Otherwise, expanded learning may eventually be seen as a more relevant but
ultimately less rigorous way to earn credit.

Expanded learning programs need to:

3. Commit to focusing
learning around
2. Collaborate with
specific outcomes 1. Provide high-quality
schools and districts to
shared across the project-based learning
support performance-
school and experiences that are
based assessments that
community that are aligned to
measure to what
“Common Core and competencies and
extent students can
more,” addressing the engage students in the
apply the knowledge
knowledge, skills, meaningful work of
and skills contained in
and dispositions that professionals in the
the competencies and
students will need to real world.
standards.
succeed in the world
beyondthree
These school.
(3) expanded learning programs are fundamental to a competency-based system, they are
also just good practice and can strengthen expanded learning programs, while at the same time preparing them
to be strong partners to schools in a competency-based system.