The School Leader's Guide to Learner-Centered Education: From Complexity to Simplicity »

Barbara L. McCombs is a senior research scientist at the University of Denver Research Institute in Colorado, where she directs the Human Motivation, Learning and Development Center. Her current research is directed at new models of teaching and learning, including transformational teacher development approaches. McCombs is the primary author of Learner-Centered Psychological Principles (LCPs), disseminated by the American Psychological Association. Learner-centered models of teaching and learning-based research validated LCPs and Assessment of Learner-Centered Practices (ALCP) teacher and student surveys that have been validated with over 35,000 students and their teachers in Grades K-3, 4-8, 9-12, and at college level are being used in numerous national and international schools and colleges. McCombs and coauthor Lynda Miller's book for teachers, Learner-Centered Classroom Practices and Assessments: Maximizing Student Motivation, Learning, and Achievement, was published with Corwin Press in 2007.
Lynda Miller began her professional career as a junior high school English teacher in Westminster, Colorado. Her interest in language and cognitive development led her to graduate studies, which culminated in a PhD in language development and disorders and learning disabilities. She has held teaching positions at the University of Colorado, the University of Montana, and the University of Texas at Austin, where she pursued her research on cognition, learning styles, and intelligence. Her research and teaching focused on identifying and describing students' learning strengths and abilities, and on translating that information intoinstructional strategies designed to support students' developing skills as motivated, self-responsible learners. Miller is the author of numerous publications on a variety of topics, the majority of which focus on the learner and learning as the essential features of successful instruction.

In the context of the current accountability and testing era, many school leaders have become fearful and feel disenfranchised. Their knowledge and experience are not being validated, and often they are forced to engage in practices that go contrary to what they know will provide a positive school climate and culture for their staff and students. This book will introduce a model of leadership as part of a transformation process arising from a learner-centered system. Among the issues considered by educational leaders as the most pressing are:the relationship between moral leadership and school change (based on an ethic of responsibility for preparing all learners to function in a global worlddiversity: the role of school leaders to promote success for all marginalized groups of studentspersonalizing learning and authentically engaging students to make school more effective for all learnersincorporating learning standards and high expectations without sacrificing the personal and authentic engagement with studentsThis book addresses each of these concerns from the perspective of learner-centered systems, in which leaders distribute leadership among key constituents in the educational systemùstudents, teachers, other school staff, parents, community membersùand empower them to engage in a lifelong learning process of continuous growth and improvement.áIt also provides a detailed and comprehensive treatment of LCP, as well as helpful exercises and tools that can be applied to practice.

1 Why this is a time for change 1

2 What we know about learning and leading 12

3 What the learner-centered model means for practice 41

4 The tools needed for the journey 83

5 What the learner-centered assessment tools can accomplish 131

6 How we can move toward new student and system outcomes 172

7 How we develop leadership qualities from within 195

8 Summary of major points in each chapter 224

Appendix 236

Resources 240

Glossary of learner-centered terms 242

References 245

Index 259