The Learning Accelerator Blended Learning Educator Competencies As part of our work to support district implementation of blended learning programs, The Learning Accelerator (TLA) has developed a framework to help leaders and teachers better understand the competencies educators need to be e ective in blended teaching and learning environments. This “version 1.0” framework was created through reviewing and compiling research as well as talking with many existing and developing human capital partners across the ecosystem, including school districts, charter management organizations, foundations, and professional development and training partners. Our framework identifies four essential categories of educator competency: Mindset, Qualities, Adaptive Skills, and Technical Skills. Within each of these categories we found that the competencies essential to making blended learning work in schools very much overlap (~80-90%) with those that make educators successful in traditional environments (e.g. student management, data practice, content knowledge, etc.).

However, certain competencies take on more importance because they: •

Enable a transition to mastery-based progression, personalization, and e ective use of technology

•

Create and cultivate a culture of ongoing learning and innovation over time

TLA Blended Learning Educator Competency Framework

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ADAPTIVE TECHNICAL

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What

MINDSET

Core values or beliefs that guide thinking, behaviors and actions that align with goals of educational change and mission

How

Similar regardless of system role (teacher, leader, non-instructional)

Understood, adopted and committed to

What

QUALITIES

Personal characteristics and patterns of behavior that help an educator make the transition to new ways of teaching and learning

How Coached, encouraged and reinforced

Mechanisms for building necessarily blended; some possible online components but also degree of ongoing, highertouch support and customization

What

ADAPTIVE SKILLS

Higher complexity that are generalized across domain/jobs. Help people tackle problems and tasks where the solution might be unknown or that require organizational learning and innovation

How Developed through modeling, coaching and reflective practice

What

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Skills that are known and specific to task and domain. Observable “know-how” and basic mechanics and expertise helpful for execution and implementation of day-to-day job (for teachers, instruction)

How Acquired and mastered through instfuction, training and practice

Role dependent, though some roles may share skillsets. Mechanisms likely more scalable, online and modular.

Additional findings about these blended learning competencies: 1. Mechanisms for developing capacity (i.e. training and PD) in each of the competency areas will differ. Some will require more hands-on coaching and support, while others, like building technical skill with specific technologies, can likely be tackled through more modular, scalable online solutions. 2. Competencies become less visible the more student-centric the blended learning approach gets: “off stage” c