For many students, school is a place where they have learned to comply rather than engage. In these environments, learners are expected to passively absorb the knowledge, skills, and behaviors modeled and taught by adults and to follow rules made without their input. Motivation is shaped by extrinsic rewards and punishments, not personal meaning or ownership over learning. Questioning, creating, and choosing one’s own path are often discouraged or, at a minimum, provided only once students have proven themselves. This tight control over students’ actions and decisions has especially impacted those from less privileged backgrounds, deepening disparities in how school is experienced and how much students feel empowered, capable, and motivated to learn.
But being compliant will not prepare young people to be thinkers, creators, and contributors in our society now or in the future. That takes curious, self-directed, and lifelong learners. To build those capacities, young people must be trusted to make meaningful, developmentally appropriate choices about how, when, where, and what they learn. This gives students a sense of control and enables them to shape their learning to be more meaningful and valuable to them, fueling motivation. This active participation can also make learning more memorable and build skills like goal setting, time management, and self-advocacy, which are essential for navigating college, careers, and civic life. When students are trusted to make decisions and act with purpose, they not only take ownership of their learning, but they also begin to see themselves as people who can use their voices and actions to positively influence their lives and the world.
When there is agency, learners experience…
- Meaningful chances to direct their own learning in developmentally appropriate ways.
- Space to share their ideas, experiences, and perspectives in ways that shape their learning experience and the larger school.
- Opportunities to take individual and collective action to improve their world.
Examples
Living in Beta from One Stone (Grades 9–12)
Living in Beta is One Stone’s innovative wayfinding program designed to empower high-school students to explore their passions and discover their purpose, while helping them develop the tools and mindsets they need to live and learn with intention. The model entails a four-phase, iterative experience—Exploration, Discovery, Purpose, and Self-Actualization—that culminates in a performative project and enables young people to learn and stretch in ways that feel right for them.
Ownership is the Future (Grades 11–12)
Ownership is the Future empowers high school students to develop an ownership mindset, financial freedom, and wealth-generating enterprises—as investments in themselves and their futures. Students progress from self-reflection and early-stage business ideation to launching and scaling ventures, developing financial literacy, leadership, and resilience and empowering students to become designers and directors of their futures.
RevX (Grades K–12)
The RevX model develops learners’ confidence to address real-world challenges using core academic, non-academic, and professional skills and, in turn, supports learners in building positive mindsets and dismantling the self-doubt that may stand in their way. Through RevX’s project-based modules focused on community challenges, young people are empowered to work toward a better world.
Self-Directed Learning Model from The Forest School (Grades PK–12)
The Forest School’s Self-Directed Learning model empowers learners to take ownership of their learning. It supports them to set meaningful goals, uphold community agreements, exercise their voice and choice in the learning process, and engage in real-world work. The model’s key components—Socratic Launches, Running Partners, Core Skills, Contracts & Town Halls, and Quests—are largely learner-led, providing young people with meaningful voice and choice in the decisions about how and what they learn.
