What did you do in school today?

Supporting the success of all students starts with understanding how they learn.

In Canada, too many students are disengaged from learning in school; gaps in student achievement levels persist; and there is growing concern about whether the current models of schooling prepare all young people for success in contemporary society. CEA believes students have an important part to play in shaping how we tackle these issues, think about learning environments, and consider the purposes of schooling.

Beginning with Imagine a School and Design for Learning, students helped to shape CEA's perspectives on ideas about youth and their learning. Through What did you do in school today? CEA - in partnership with 17 school districts and in collaboration with the Galileo Educational Network and The Learning Bar - brings life to new ideas about student engagement and explores important relationships among engagement, achievement and teaching.

What did you do in school today? captures, assesses, and mobilizes ideas for enhancing the learning experiences of students in classrooms and schools through a multidimensional framework of student engagement. A unique set of measures allows schools to understand students' experiences of learning through the newer concepts of intellectual engagement and instructional challenge. CEA works with schools and districts to better understand organizational and classroom practices that harness students' hearts, hands and minds in the cause of their learning. By sharing ideas and innovative practices CEA supports educational improvement to benefit all students.

CEA works with school districts and schools providing on-site and Canada-wide workshops; consultancy and brokering services; and tools and resources to reinforce the core ideas of What did you do in school today? CEA uses a network model to create three levels of involvement to engage with educators in work that advances local and national goals:

Interest Network - teachers, students, principals, parents, school district leadership and anyone with an interest in learning more about the ideas behind the What did you do in school today? are welcome to join this "virtual network" to connect, ask questions, exchange information, and express opinions with others through this website.
Engagement Network - educators, leaders and students in school districts that are working on embedding the initiative's key ideas in daily practice and who stay connected and collaborate with each other in the evolving ideas and research. Members in this network are districts and schools that have used The Learning Bar's Tell Them From Me (TTFM 2.0) for at least one year and are using the data on engagement to inform their practice. School districts in this network are members of the CEA.
Practice Network - a small number of schools and their districts from the Engagement Network who are committed to transforming schools by actively pursuing disciplined innovation in partnership with CEA to create new approaches to schooling and adolescent learning. These schools and districts demonstrate the commitment and capacity to work out new ideas in practice and have the support at the school and district levels to examine policy and structural constraints that impede innovative practice.

School districts from Canada and internationally can find out how to get their schools involved in an interest, engagement or practice network by contacting Jodene Dunleavy, National Coordinator (jdunleavy@cea-ace.ca)

Full Report and Supporting Documents

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