The following is a news release from the Maine State Board of Education.
AUGUSTA –Steve Pound, vice chair of the Maine State Board of Education, and associate director for workforce development at Cianbro, has been chosen to serve with a national panel of experts on a group that will examine how students learn and demonstrate their knowledge.
Public education in America is undergoing radical transformation. Schools today are implementing new, more rigorous and sophisticated academic standards overhauling public education. Responding to the changing face of K-12 education and the future implications of new teaching delivery methods will require the active involvement of state policymakers and local school officials.
To foster that involvement, the Council of State Governments has created the Deeper Learning Focus Group, a diverse national panel of experts, for a series of meetings targeting what students learn, how they learn it and how they demonstrate their knowledge. Deeper Learning is a teaching method that involves a more rigorous and student-focused curriculum than under traditional teaching strategies. It also involves learning that is research-driven rather than textbook-driven, critical thinking and problem-solving activities, effective communication, collaboration, and students monitoring and directing their own work.
The Deeper Learning Focus Group comprises state legislators, high ranking officials from state education departments, members of state boards of education, local school district administrators, education advisers to mayors and governors, and representatives from national education agencies and corporate partners. The group held its inaugural meeting March 8-10 to begin developing a comprehensive list of state and local policies and practices that will ensure Deeper Learning are strategies are embedded in classrooms across the country.
Through Deeper Learning the role of the teacher is changing from a dispenser of information to a guide who helps students turn information into knowledge and understanding. The mission of the Deeper Learning Focus Group is to provide a road map to help policymakers navigate the best course to achieve these outcomes and overcome barriers they may encounter along the way.
“Reaching that point where deeper learning can occur will not happen in a vacuum,” Council of State Governments Education Policy Director Pam Goins said. “Deeper learning is the foundation to help ensure all students are college- and career-ready. State and local policies and practices must come together to make sure every student, regardless of where he or she lives, benefits from this high-quality redesign of public education.”
Members of the Deeper Learning Focus Group will also meet April 26-28. After that meeting, CSG will issue a report that will provide a framework for actions that can be taken by state policymakers to incorporate the principles of Deeper Learning in public education.
The Deeper Learning Focus Group is funded through a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation with additional support from CSG’s 21st Century Foundation.
For more information visit the State Board of Education.
Mary Becker | Maine State Board of Education | 207-624-6616