Life on the LearningEdge

The blog, Life on the LearningEdge, shares insights about how schools and districts are using learning science to create lasting improvements.

Our schools juggle competing goals, a million rules, fast-changing leadership, and a chorus of voices. It’s messy, and that’s exactly why we need to talk—and learn—together.

Much of my focus is on those schools that are seeking systemic changes with competency-based education. I aim to include multiple perspectives from educators, policymakers, students, and families—the deepest understandings come when many voices work together.

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Power to the Learners: Introducing Wired for Brilliance

Chris Sturgis February 8, 2026 No Comments

Last week I shared that I’ve been yanked out of retirement by the extraordinary Sydney Schaef. Together we’ve written Wired for Brilliance: The Power of Learning About Learning—For Students, Schools,…

What Will Students Experience in a Competency-Based School?

Chris Sturgis June 27, 2020 No Comments

What will students experience in a competency-based school? Below are a set of examples of experiences that every student should have in a well-developed personalized, competency-based system that was developed…

Supporting Teachers at D51: A Conversation with the Professional Learning Facilitators

Chris Sturgis June 23, 2020 No Comments

This article is the seventh in the Designing Performance-Based Learning at D51 series. A reminder: D51 uses the phrase performance-based learning or P-BL. Leigh Grasso, Director of Academic Achievement &…

Making Sense of the Research on Learning

Chris Sturgis June 21, 2020 No Comments

A colleague scoffed the other day when I mentioned science of learning. It was the word ‘science” that drew the reaction as science had been used to harm people of…

Key Findings: Science of Learning and Development

Chris Sturgis June 21, 2020 No Comments

Although the high level findings of the science of learning often seem like common sense, the interplay between the different domains of research isn’t as simple. And we know that…

Laying the Foundation with Culture and Climate

Chris Sturgis June 21, 2020 No Comments

This article is the sixth in the Designing Performance-Based Learning at D51 series. A reminder: D51 uses the phrase performance-based learning or P-BL. The first of District 51’s five phases…

Noble High School: Creating Timely, Differentiated Supports

Chris Sturgis June 2, 2020 No Comments

If we gave out awards at CompetencyWorks, I’d give Noble High School an award for the fourth element of the CompetencyWorks definition of competency education: Students receive timely, differentiated support…

Steps Toward Maturity: Introducing the Concept of Student Autonomy (Part 2)

Chris Sturgis June 1, 2020 No Comments

In the first part of this series, I call for us to be strategic in how we communicate the concepts related to student agency to the general public while also…

Waukesha STEM Academy: Personalizing Instruction and Learning Experiences (Part 2)

Chris Sturgis June 1, 2020 1 Comment

This article, originally posted at CompetencyWorks is based on site visits in 2017 on personalized, proficiency-based education in Wisconsin. Many people describe WSA as a STEM school or as a…

Waukesha STEM Academy: Rethinking Space, Time, and Reporting (Part 3)

Chris Sturgis June 1, 2020 1 Comment

This article, originally posted at CompetencyWorks is based on site visits in 2017 on personalized, proficiency-based education in Wisconsin. “Once you get a new iPhone, you can’t go back to…

Steps Toward Maturity: Making Meaning of the Mindsets and Skills for Student Agency (Part 1)

Chris Sturgis June 1, 2020 No Comments

Student agency is a phrase that is nearly impossible to use in everyday language and is certainly not a phrase that parents use to describe their children. “Look at the…

How the Research on Learning Can Drive Change

Chris Sturgis April 10, 2020 1 Comment

The closure of schools and colleges across the nation in response to the CORAVID-19 pandemic has shed a spotlight on one of America’s dirty secrets: many institutions of education and…

Casco Bay High School: Tips and Takeaways

Chris Sturgis February 4, 2020 No Comments

This post is part of the series Road Trip to Maine. This is the first of a four-part look at Casco Bay High School. Read Tips and Takeaways (Part 1), Learning as…

Casco Bay High School: We Will Shape our School by our Learning

Chris Sturgis February 4, 2020 No Comments

This post is part of the series Road Trip to Maine. This is the fourth of a four-part look at Casco Bay High School. Read Tips and Takeaways (Part 1), Learning as…

Casco Bay High School: Learning as Exploration

Chris Sturgis February 4, 2020 No Comments

This post is part of the series Road Trip to Maine. This is the second of a four-part look at Casco Bay High School. Read Tips and Takeaways (Part 1), Learning as…

Casco Bay High School: The What and HOW of Learning

Chris Sturgis February 4, 2020 No Comments

This post is part of the series Road Trip to Maine. This is the third of a four-part look at Casco Bay High School. Read Tips and Takeaways (Part 1), Learning as…

Finding and Fixing the Missing Skills at Greenhurst Elementary School

Chris Sturgis February 3, 2020 No Comments

This is the fifth article in the series on Mastery Education in Idaho. Links to the other articles can be found below. Greenhurst Elementary School in Nampa School District a…

Gathering Insights on Mastery-Based Learning from Columbia High School

Chris Sturgis February 3, 2020 No Comments

This is the seventh post in a series on Mastery Education in Idaho. Links to the other articles in the series can be found below. Throughout the conversations during the…

Slaying the Dragon: A Conversation with Cory Woolstenhulme on Mastery-Based Learning

Chris Sturgis February 3, 2020 No Comments

This is the eighth post in a series on Mastery Education in Idaho. Links to the other articles in the series can be found below. The conversation with Cory Woolstenhulme,…

Mastery-Based Learning in Idaho

Chris Sturgis February 3, 2020 No Comments

This is the first post in a series on Mastery Education in Idaho. In April 2018, I went on a whirlwind tour of seven schools in four districts in Idaho…