Project aims to help instill a sense of purpose in students as they prepare for their futures
Years of emphasizing high-stakes tests may have dampened the joy of learning and, some argue, insufficiently prepared students to thrive in a modern workforce that values innovation and creativity. Some schools have implemented practices like capstone projects, ePortfolios and work-based learning programs designed to give students a sense of purpose in their learning and equip them to succeed in their future careers or college pursuits.
Do these promising programs have the intended effect? And what can schools learn from others who’ve tried them?
Researchers from the School of Education at University of California, Irvine will try to answer these questions through a collaborative research project with Anaheim Union High School District. The partnership will be funded by a $1.1 million grant over three years from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
“The School of Education is honored to partner with Anaheim Union High School District to build on its stellar programs and forward-thinking efforts to improve the student learning experience for the school district and beyond. This partnership exemplifies how a collaboration works to co-design and apply cutting-edge research to practice to transform educational efforts to benefit students,” says Frances Contreras, UCI School of Education dean and professor, and the research project’s co-principal investigator.
“Major questions remain about how to best implement these programs and what kinds of impacts one might expect from successfully enacting these kinds of practices,” says June Ahn, UCI associate professor of education and one of the lead researchers on the project. “Our partnership will work from what AUHSD is already doing, to help provide an evidence base that other districts can build from as a model.”
You can read more about the partnership here
