Student-centered teaching and learning benchmarks
Student-Centered Teaching and Learning focuses on the needs, abilities, interests, and learning styles
of the students and has many implications for the assessment of curriculum, course content, and
interactivity of courses. Accordingly, a prominent pedagogy will be teacher-as-coach, to provoke
students to learn how to learn and thus to teach themselves, rather than the more traditional teachercentered learning with teacher-as-deliverer-of-instructional-services, which places the teacher at its
center in an active role and students in a passive, receptive role. This pedagogy acknowledges student
voice as central to the learning experience for every learner and requires students to be active,
responsible participants in their own learning. To capitalize on this, teaching and learning should be
personalized to the maximum feasible extent. Decisions about the details of the course of study, the
use of learners’ and teachers’ time, and the choice of teaching materials and specific pedagogies must
be unreservedly placed in the hands of the staff and learners.
Benchmark Descriptors
Practice is reflected in learner outcomes
Assessment matrix
Benchmark
Pupils take leadership in classroom, present their
work, and facilitate groups
Pupils take ownership of their reading, writing, and
learning to develop, test, and refine their thinking
Pupils engage in talk that is accountable to the text
or task, the learning community, and standards of
reasoning. Learning is negotiated and directed by
learners
The content and delivery of instruction is culturally
responsive and respects and builds on the diverse
resources and experiences of learners in the
classroom
The school community uses best practices in
language acquisition to support academic
development and support in both English and native
languages
Pupils work in flexible, cooperative groupings to
solve problems and analyze texts to demonstrate
understanding of a task or concept through multiple
perspectives
The school supports the inclusion of all learners
Learners consistently develop their own reasoning
around concepts and ideas and can articulate the
processes and thinking they engaged in while
grappling with a task or idea
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Learner centered Benchmarks Peter Merckx May 2015
Learners listen to one another as well as to their
teachers, and they exchange different ideas to build
upon and apply new learning and approaches to
their own understanding of a concept or idea that
increase in complexity
Pupils apply the habits of mind for reading, writing,
and thinking in various genres and disciplines
Learners make connections, pose questions, and
explore solutions as a means to engage in real-world
scenarios and application transfer. They apply
knowledge to different contexts and scenarios. Talk
and focus in all groupings use multiple strategies.
Learners use physical environment and discussions
about group roles to explore various concepts and
apply them to different scenarios or problems
Teachers plan the types of questions and prompts at
multiple entry points throughout a lesson, which
build students’ understanding of, and engagement
toward, concepts and ideas and their application to
real-world scenarios. Each teacher has clear and
measurable objectives for what students will know
and be able to do as a result of a lesson
The arts and vocational interests are included in
academic curriculum, increasing learners’
engagement, motivating learners with a variety of
learning styles to succeed in high school and pursue
higher education, and developing learners’
academic and intellectual growth
Schools value the health of all learners, teaching
them positive ways to bring balance to life’s
challenges and a proactive, positive approach to
wellness
Learner work is collected in a portfolio representing
a selection of performance. A portfolio may include
a learner’s best pieces and the pupil’s evaluation of
the strengths and weaknesses of the pieces. It may
also contain one or more works-in-progress that
illustrate the creation of a product such as an essay
evolving through various stages of conception,
drafting, and revision
Learners are assessed for process, group work, and
product
Learner voices are connected with adult allies
(teachers, families, communities) toward the goal of
improving pupils’ life, school culture, learner
communities, and learners’ overall development
Examples of learner-centered teaching and learning
practices include advisory, service learning,
internships, and project-based learning
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Learner centered Benchmarks Peter Merckx May 2015
Practice is reflected in teacher planning and instruction
Assessment matrix
Benchmarks
Thinking and discourse are thoughtful and extend
ideas or develop new understanding
All learners are challenged and supported in
learning at their own level
Thinking and work is learning-based, not task-based
Teachers have clear and consistent expectations and
supports for learner learning, and learners are clear
as to what proficient work entails
Work is mostly rigorous. Learners can articulate the
how and why of their learning
Early: Learning about and planning for the practice
has become important to the teaching staff
Staff development has occurred or been planned
around student-centered teaching and learning
strategies
Teachers have begun to increase their expectations
for student learning and engagement
Teachers have begun to recognize that they must
connect learning outcomes to learners’ needs
There is recognition that learners need more support
that they are receiving in the current practice and
structure of the school
Work is still all task- or product-driven
Assessment is limited to work habits and does not
address learning
Planning revolves around content, not student
engagement and understanding
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Learner centered Benchmarks Peter Merckx May 2015