Learner Agency

Research Supporting the Development of Learner Agency as a Keystone of Deeper Learning for All

Maximizing Student Agency: Implementing and Measuring Student-Centered Learning Practices (American Institutes for Research)

FINAL REPORT (October 2018)

Kristina Zeiser, Carrie Scholz, and Victoria Cirks

According to AIR's findings, "Student agency, or the ability to manage one’s learning, can have significant effects on academic achievement as students take an active role in seeking and internalizing new knowledge. Encouraging student agency is important because:

Students who believe that knowledge can grow over time perform better on IQ tests than students who believe intelligence is invariable.
Students with a growth mindset are more likely to set academic goals focused on mastering content, rather than setting goals focused on achieving a particular test score or course grade.
Students who set mastery-oriented goals tend to process information in a deeper and more organized fashion than those who set performance-oriented goals.
The skills and behaviors associated with student agency are positively related to college and career outcomes because students are able to direct their own learning and transfer the knowledge they learned in the classroom to new settings."

Resources for Understanding and Developing Learner Agency

Introduction to Exemplar Resources

Click on any of the links below to visit these resources on their home sites so you can explore in more detail!

Developing Student Voice Is Critical. TED-Ed Clubs Can Help. - EdSurge NewsAs John stood on the stage discussing the importance of equity so eloquently, I wondered how he had gotten to that point. He was 11 years old, but his ...

Continuum of Voice: What it Means for the Learner Examples and ideas that illustrate the Continuum of Voice moving to agency through the Stages of Personalized Learning Environments.

Continuum of Self-Efficacy: Path to PerseveranceThe Continuum of Self-Efficacy is about building self-esteem, becoming self-confident and persevering to achieve any goal set.

Continuum of Ownership: Developing AutonomyThe Continuum of Ownership demonstrates how learners move from compliance to autonomy as they become responsible and drive their learning.

Continuum of Engagement: From Compliant to FlowThe Continuum of Engagement is the next in the series of the learner moving to Agency: moving from compliant to flow created by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey. Graphic designed by Sylvia Duckworth

Continuum of Purpose: Fostering a Meaningful LifeThe Continuum of Purpose guides the learner from conformity to self-awareness to discovering their purpose. Purpose helps foster a meaningful life.

Continuum of Motivation: Moving from Extrinsic to IntrinsicMotivation affects how we learn. The Continuum of Motivation walks you up the mountain from Instrumental to Self-Actualization where learners are intrinsically motivated to learn.

Motivation Engagement Student Voice.pdf

Learner Choice

Introduction to an Exemplar Resource

Check out T.E.A.M. EduACTION's sample Digital Media Design Student Choice Board. They set up their Google doc to allow you to make a copy of your own but be sure to check out their website for more ideas and hyperlinks to additional tools for compiling and using digital media.

Copy of Digital Media Choice Board

Introduction to More Learner Choice Exemplar Resources

Choice is More than a Menu of Options Choice can be confusing for educators. This post explains the continuum of building voice so learners self-regulate their learning for a purpose to build agency.

Learner Co-design

Co-creating Quality Criteria

What is quality?

One step in learner co-design is co-creating quality criteria. Students are more likely to own their learning when they have a role in determining what it will look like when it is "done."

Click on the document to the left to see a protocol for co-determining quality criteria with learners.