Rachel Mohl Abrahams’s piece, "Enabling Student Agency," was recently published in The Lookstein Center's Jewish Educational Leadership.
In the article, she highlights a few day schools that created opportunities for student independence during the pandemic. She calls on schools to continue to find ways to give students agency over their learning as we move forward.
“Students develop agency when given the capacity to act independently and to further their own growth, take ownership of their learning, and make decisions along the way to create a meaningful experience,” she wrote. “Self-pacing (or asynchronous learning) increases student ownership while project-based learning provides motivation and opportunities for engagement, both enabling student agency. The learner becomes empowered to develop perseverance, resiliency, and self-efficacy that will stay with them long after their school days have passed.”