Think Like an Improvement Scientist to Develop 21st-Century Skills Through Learning Sprints 💡🔬
Are you struggling to turn big-picture 21st-century skills like self-direction, collaboration, and problem-solving into measurable, actionable outcomes? You're not alone. Many educators face this challenge when trying to integrate these skills into day-to-day learning.
The Coaching Student Agility Protocol is a step-by-step coaching tool designed to support educators in guiding students through Learning Sprints. This protocol uses real-world, concrete methods to help students build and refine essential skills through the five self-directed learning routines of the Learning Sprint: Learning Backlog Refinement, Planning, Check-Ins, Reviews, and Retrospectives.
The Problem
🤔 Teaching and measuring 21st-century skills like self-direction and collaboration often feels abstract.
❗ Many rubrics offer high-level descriptions of skills, but they don’t provide actionable steps for students or teachers to improve.
⛔ Educators need a way to coach students through these essential skills with specific, measurable actions—not just abstract goals.
The Solution
The Fifth Self-Directed Learning Routine in Agile Classrooms
The Coaching Student Agility Protocol offers a research-backed approach that guides students through Learning Sprint . This protocol allows you to develop skills like collaboration and self-direction in real, actionable ways.
💡 Coach students through each of the 5 self-directed learning routines: Learning Backlog Refinement, Sprint Planning, Check-Ins, Reviews, and Retrospectives.
🛠️ Identify where students are in their growth journey using rubrics designed specifically to make 21st-century competencies actionable.
🎯 Set clear, measurable goals and coach students through small, actionable experiments to help them improve.
📊 Track progress and make real-time adjustments, ensuring continuous improvement in every learning routine.
How It Works
🔍 Choose a Learning Sprint Routine: Focus on developing student skills within one of the 5 self-directed routines—Learning Backlog Refinement, Sprint Planning, Check-In, Review, or Retrospective.
🎯 Identify the Current Level & Set a Growth Goal: Use the Agile Classrooms rubric (such as the Check-In rubric) to assess students' current competency and define the next growth goal.
🧪 Run Growth Experiments: Guide students through small, manageable steps within each Learning Sprint routine.
📈 Track Progress: Use the form to document and adjust strategies in real-time as students progress.
🏆 Celebrate Success: Acknowledge improvements and celebrate incremental wins to keep students engaged and motivated.
Grid section
Included is a coaching form to help improve essential skills while practicing the Learning Sprint routines.
An example of how the protocol is used to help students in a 9th-grade science class improve their ability to articulate the progress of their work during the Check-In routine.
With the Coaching Student Agility Protocol, you’ll receive coaching templates and protocols designed to guide students through structured growth experiments. This tool provides actionable steps to turn abstract rubrics into measurable 21st-century skills like self-direction, collaboration, and critical thinking.
📝 Coaching Templates & Protocols to guide students through structured growth experiments.
🎯 Actionable Steps to turn abstract rubrics into measurable 21st-century skills like self-direction, collaboration, and critical thinking.
🔍 Research-Backed Approach: Developed using evidence-based practices like formative and ipsative assessment as well as the Improvement Kata, ensuring data-driven decisions that foster continuous improvement.
💡 Empowerment for Educators & Students: Drive student agency, resilience, and adaptability in any classroom setting.
🚀 Works Seamlessly with Agile Classrooms' Learning Sprint Routines to help students grow through each routine (e.g., Check-Ins, Planning, Reviews).
Why This Works
Drawing from principles like Improvement Kata, ipsative assessment, formative assessment, and metacognition, this protocol empowers teachers to coach students toward continuous improvement. Here’s why it works:
💡 Metacognition: Encourages students to reflect on their own learning process, fostering self-awareness and helping them take ownership of their progress.
🎯 Ipsative Assessment: Measures growth based on students’ own past performance, promoting self-improvement and personalized learning paths.
🔄 Formative Assessment: Provides ongoing feedback and guidance, helping students make real-time adjustments and progress more effectively.
🧪 Improvement Kata: Introduces a scientific, structured process for continuous growth, supporting both students and educators in adapting and iterating as they learn.
As a teacher, by using the Coaching Student Agility Protocol, you are actively modeling the same 21st-century skills you aim to develop in your students. This process encourages you to think like an Improvement Scientist, iterating on teaching practices and guiding students through their own growth journeys.
When students take on more responsibility and become involved in this process, they are developing these critical skills firsthand:
💡 Critical Thinking: They assess their own progress, identify challenges, and brainstorm solutions.
🤝 Collaboration: They engage with peers, hold each other accountable, and work as a team to solve problems.
🎯 Self-Direction: They set their own growth goals, monitor their progress, and take initiative in their learning.
🔄 Adaptability: By participating in growth experiments, students learn to pivot and adapt based on real-time feedback.
🗣 Communication: They develop the ability to articulate progress, challenges, and solutions, improving both peer and teacher communication.
By using this protocol, you’re not only coaching your students in these skills—you’re practicing and modeling them yourself. Together, you and your students engage in a cycle of continuous growth, laying the foundation for lasting success in the classroom and beyond.
Download the Coaching Student Agility Protocol now and start guiding your students to become more self-directed, collaborative, and adaptable through Learning Sprints.
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