Learning Model: Instruction and Facilitation

How: Learning Model

Getting Smart Resources

Personalized Learning

Getting Smart’s Personalized Learning resource examines instructional and facilitation models that shift education away from one-size-fits-all teaching toward approaches tailored to individual student needs, strengths, pace, and interests. It provides practitioners and school leaders with frameworks, real-world examples, and practical strategies for redesigning how instruction is delivered, how students move through content, and how teachers transition into facilitative roles that support greater learner agency. The resource draws on school case studies and research to illustrate what personalized learning looks like in practice across different grade levels and contexts, making it relevant for both classroom teachers and system-level leaders. For those driving education transformation, it offers a grounded starting point for rethinking traditional instructional structures and building school cultures where learning is more responsive, flexible, and student-centered.

Why High-Quality Learning Opportunities Must Be Personalized to Each Learner

This Getting Smart resource examines the case for personalized learning as a foundational instructional model, arguing that high-quality learning opportunities cannot be one-size-fits-all but must be tailored to individual learners’ needs, strengths, and contexts. It explores how educators and school designers can move beyond standardized delivery toward approaches that account for each student’s pace, interests, and readiness, offering frameworks and perspectives to inform instructional and facilitation decisions. The resource is particularly relevant for practitioners and school leaders rethinking how teaching and learning are structured, as it directly challenges traditional classroom models and provides conceptual grounding for redesigning instruction. For those leading or implementing learning innovation, it offers a rationale and entry point for shifting culture and practice toward more responsive, learner-centered approaches.

Strategies for Building Agency through Student Dialogue

Digital Promise
Digital Promise’s “Strategies for Building Agency through Student Dialogue” is a practitioner-focused resource that examines how structured dialogue can serve as a mechanism for developing student agency in the classroom. It offers concrete instructional and facilitation strategies designed to shift classroom dynamics so that students take greater ownership of their learning through purposeful conversation, questioning, and peer exchange. The resource sits within a broader framework of learner-centered instruction, making it relevant for school leaders working to move away from passive, teacher-directed models toward environments where students co-construct meaning and direct their own intellectual engagement. For educators navigating the practical challenges of implementing student-centered approaches, this resource provides actionable entry points that connect dialogue as a pedagogical tool directly to outcomes like self-direction, critical thinking, and deeper learning.

CBE Starter Pack: Empowering Students

Aurora Institute
The Aurora Institute’s *CBE Starter Pack: Empowering Students* is a practical resource designed to help educators and school leaders implement competency-based education (CBE) with a focus on shifting agency and ownership to students. It provides concrete strategies, frameworks, and tools for redesigning instructional and facilitation practices so that learning is personalized, student-driven, and tied to demonstrated mastery rather than seat time. The resource addresses one of the most critical levers in CBE implementation — how teachers move from delivering content to facilitating learning — making it directly relevant for schools in the early stages of transitioning away from traditional instructional models. For practitioners and leaders navigating learning innovation, this starter pack offers actionable entry points into a model that has strong evidence for improving equity and student outcomes, particularly for learners who have been underserved by conventional approaches.

Building 21’s Teacher Competencies to Facilitate Competency-Based Learning

Aurora Institute
Building 21’s Teacher Competencies to Facilitate Competency-Based Learning, published by the Aurora Institute, is a practitioner-facing framework that defines the specific skills, dispositions, and practices teachers need to effectively facilitate competency-based education (CBE). The resource breaks down facilitation into concrete, observable competencies—spanning areas such as personalized learning design, formative assessment, and learner agency—giving schools a structured lens for both professional development and instructional coaching. Rather than offering abstract principles, it grounds CBE implementation in the day-to-day work of teaching, making it directly applicable for school leaders redesigning instructional models or evaluating educator readiness for personalized learning environments. For systems moving away from traditional, time-based instruction, this framework provides a practical starting point for aligning teacher growth with the demands of competency-based transformation.

Student-Centered Environments Foster Independent Learners

The Learning Accelerator
This resource from The Learning Accelerator examines how student-centered learning environments can cultivate independent, self-directed learners through intentional instructional and facilitation approaches. It explores the practical design of classroom models where teachers shift from direct instruction toward facilitation, giving students greater agency over their learning pathways, pace, and process. The resource likely addresses concrete strategies, structures, and conditions that practitioners need to make this shift effectively and sustainably. For school leaders and educators pursuing meaningful learning transformation, it offers grounded insight into how instructional design choices directly shape students’ capacity to take ownership of their education—a critical competency for long-term academic and life success.

Learner-centered Instruction

Ontario Tech
Ontario Tech’s Learner-Centered Instruction resource examines pedagogical approaches that shift the focus from teacher-led delivery to active student engagement, positioning learners as central participants in the construction of knowledge. It offers practitioners frameworks and strategies for redesigning instruction and facilitation practices, including how to structure learning experiences that promote inquiry, collaboration, and student agency. The resource addresses the practical dimensions of transitioning from traditional transmission models to environments where students take greater ownership of their learning process. For school leaders and educators pursuing instructional innovation, this resource provides grounding in a model that has strong alignment with contemporary evidence on deep learning, student motivation, and equitable outcomes across diverse learner populations.

Instructional Transformation Matrix

Center for Educational Leadership University of Washington
The Instructional Transformation Matrix, developed by the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington, is a research-grounded framework that helps educators and school leaders assess and shift the quality of classroom instruction across a continuum of practice. The tool maps instructional approaches from teacher-centered, low-rigor delivery toward student-centered, high-rigor facilitation, giving practitioners a concrete way to visualize and name where current practice sits and where it needs to move. It offers specific descriptors across multiple dimensions of instruction, making it practical for coaching conversations, classroom observations, and professional learning communities. For leaders pursuing meaningful learning transformation, the matrix provides a shared language and diagnostic lens that moves improvement efforts beyond vague expectations and into actionable, observable instructional shifts.

	Beginning	Piloting	Implementing
From Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery	BeginningFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Beginning	PilotingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Piloting	ImplementingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Implementing
From One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning	BeginningFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Implementing
From Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry	BeginningFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Beginning	PilotingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Piloting	ImplementingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Implementing
From Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning	BeginningFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Implementing
From Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities	BeginningFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Beginning	PilotingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Piloting	ImplementingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Implementing
From Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment	BeginningFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Beginning	PilotingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Piloting	ImplementingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Implementing
From Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets	BeginningFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Beginning	PilotingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Piloting	ImplementingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Implementing

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Learning Model: Instruction and Facilitation

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