Personalized, competency-based learning needs student-centered classroom management. Here’s why.

Nine components of student-centered classroom management

Curious about how seasoned competency-based innovators make sense of this need for aligned behavioral approaches, we interviewed education leaders about the relationship between school discipline, classroom management and personalized, competency-based learning. We then compared what they said with published research. The result is nine essential features of student-centered classroom management, summarized below.

Each of the leaders we interviewed recommended implementing some or all of these features to ensure cohesion rather than tension between competency-based forms of instruction and assessment and the classroom management strategies needed to co-build and co-sustain vibrant learning communities with students. We envision using these nine components as a checklist or discussion starter in your classroom, school or district to see whether the management practices you’re using are consistent with what scholarship and field leaders recommend.

1. Student Empowerment: Students are actively involved in decision-making processes, including co-creating classroom rules/norm and routines, evaluating learning conditions and teacher facilitations, contributing ideas for improvement, monitoring the classroom culture to ensure it works for everyone, holding each other accountable to agreed-upon standards of behavior and productive routines, co-leading class meetings or circles when they are needed and taking ownership of their collective and individual learning experience.
2. Collaborative Learning Environment: Students have multiple opportunities to engage in teamwork, peer learning and group activities that facilitate mutual respect, cultural affirmation, status mitigation, problem-solving and high levels of achievement. Students are engaged in responding to classroom issues and participate productively if not proactively in solving problems.
3. Non-Punitive, Restorative, Humanizing Practices: Teachers respond to behaviors first to understand the roots of the students’ decision-making, whether harm has occurred and what in the learning environment may need to shift to better promote pro-social behaviors by that student. If repair is needed, the teacher helps to facilitate that. If academic work is unlikely to be successful in that moment, students are offered face-saving options. Reprimands, threats, punishments, detentions, suspensions, external rewards and other manipulations are not used, or used only in rare cases.
4. Relationship-Focused Approach: The teacher prioritizes connection, curiosity, engagement, mutuality, cultural responsiveness, authenticity, compassion, humor, affirmation and negotiation in relating to students. Multiple informal and formal opportunities are provided on a weekly basis for teachers and students to connect meaningfully about the content being explored and its relevance and application in students’ lives, community and world. Teachers and students praise one another regularly and express interest in getting to know one another better. 
5. Flexible Classroom Setup: The teacher works with students to establish and frequently adjust a physical classroom layout to ensure it supports various learning activities, the bulk of which are student-centered and allow for movement, collaboration, project/problem-based work and independent inquiry and practice. Students know how to “use the room” to advance their academic and social development, and they do so productively and creatively.
6. Clear Expectations, Modeling and Consistency: Teachers use co-constructed class agreements/norms to remind students of expectations for behavior and how best to take care of one another, so the classroom becomes a place that is safe for exploration, mistakes and epiphany. Teachers consistently hold students accountable to norms and model expected behaviors—including the need for repair after a transgression—sometimes explicitly teaching what members of the learning community should be doing. Teachers dedicate necessary class time to help students modify such norms when circumstances make revision necessary.
7. De-Escalation, Conflict Resolution and Problem-Solving: When students are activated and struggling to self-regulate, the teacher does whatever is possible to de-escalate, remain peaceful and get the student’s needs met. When disagreements or arguments ensue between the teacher and student or between students, the teacher takes a conflict-resolution approach ensuring that space is held to communicate and understand impact before intentions and resolutions are sought. And when harm has occurred, the teacher works with students to repair relationships using field-proven restorative practices.
8. Recognition of Status Differences and Forms of Systemic Oppression: Teachers encourage students to raise and discuss issues and events that influence how the class interacts with one another. Such issues and events may be internal to the classroom or school, or may reflect larger trends in the community, region, nation or world. Teachers monitor the classroom for how status differences may lead to microaggressions and/or abuse and addresses them directly if/when they occur. Students are asked routinely to name how race, class, gender, sexual orientation, linguistic heritage, indigeneity, immigration status and (dis)ability may shape interactions and expectations in the classroom and to actively participate in analysis and resolution if needed.
9. Regular Feedback Loops: Teachers actively seek and integrate feedback from students regarding the quality of the learning environment, the methods used to facilitate community and accountability and adherence to co-created behavioral norms. Class meetings, circles, exit tickets, one-on-ones and student-led family conferences are used regularly to gather and apply student guidance about how best to co-build and co-maintain a classroom culture conducive to everyone’s growth and well-being.