Anytime, Anywhere: Student-Centered Learning for Schools and Tea

Anytime, Anywhere synthesizes existing research and practices in the emerging field of student-centered learning, and includes profiles of schools that have embraced this approach.

Educators have argued that students should be at the center of learning, constructing new knowledge based on what is interesting to them, and receiving guidance in classrooms—or anywhere they may happen to be— from adults with whom they have positive relationships. Now, with the advent of new technologies, researchers are confirming the value of this approach by showing how the human brain and memory work in response to different environments, and how digital tools give students powerful new ways to express what they’ve learned."

Rebecca E. Wolfe, PhD, the Students at the Center project director, is a senior program manager on Jobs for the Future’s Pathways Through Postsecondary team, focused on improving the educational options of young people who have disengaged or disconnected altogether from the educational system. She works with local and state leaders to improve graduation rates and create and scale up high-quality pathways that lead to college and career success. She is the author or coauthor of Developing Rigorous Competencies for Off-track Youth and Back on Track to College: A Texas School District Leverages State Policy to Put Dropouts on the Path to Success.

Adria Steinberg, EdM, vice president at Jobs for the Future, leads its program and policy efforts to improve educational options of young people who have disengaged or disconnected altogether from the educational system. Ms. Steinberg and her Pathways Through Postsecondary team work with state and federal policymakers to improve graduation rates and create and scale up high-quality pathways that lead to college and career success. She is the author or coauthor of Pathway to Recovery: Implementing a Back on Track Through College Model; and Reinventing Alternative Education: An Assessment of Current State Policy and How to Improve It.

Nancy Hoffman, PhD, vice president and senior adviser at Jobs for the Future, works on state policy, higher education, and transitions to postsecondary education. She has coedited two JFF books: Double the Numbers: Increasing Postsecondary Credentials for Underrepresented Youth; and Minding the Gap: Why Integrating High School with College Makes Sense and How to Do It. Dr. Hoffman has worked as a consultant for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Her most recent book, Schooling in the Workplace: How Six of the World’s Best Vocational Education Systems Prepare Young People for Jobs and Life, is based on that work. She serves on the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. (All three books are published by Harvard Education Press.)