BEST Self-Direction Toolkit for Grades K-12 is LIVE!
Check out our newly released Self-Direction Toolkit to support instruction and assessment in K-12 classrooms. A Roadmap to the toolkit can be found at the Students at the Center Hub.
The rubrics and tools in this toolkit are designed to support teachers in K-12 classrooms, with particular focus on grades 6-12, who are interested in instructing and assessing self-direction as a developmental progression. Used as a whole, the rubrics and accompanying tools should create a strong body of evidence to support student learning and growth in self-direction. These are the first versions of the tools and we acknowledge that they need to be piloted in a range of settings with a broader group of students. We welcome feedback and input from colleagues in the field and ask that you share that with us at info@best-future.org.
The versions presented here are the result of a three-year research-practice partnership between teachers and researchers in New Hampshire. The partnership worked through multiple, continuous improvement rounds to ensure all elements could easily be taken up by students and teachers in grades 6-12. The process ensured strong alignment with the Essential Skills and Dispositions Framework: Developmental Frameworks for Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Self-Direction co-developed by the National Center for Innovation in Education and the Educational Policy Improvement Center (now known as Inflexion). Without the dynamic exchange between practice and research expertise, this toolkit would not have been possible.
