In environments where teachers and students prioritize learner agency, students actively engage in and take ownership of their learning. How does student agency manifest in the classroom? What are the schoolwide conditions that need to be in place to foster student agency?

In this recorded webinar, WestEd experts explore the relationship among learner agency, formative classroom instructional routines, and student learning experiences. When teachers and students work collaboratively to develop agency through formative assessment practice, the classroom culture shifts. Teaching students these skills has significant benefits, including greater student participation, increased attendance, increased motivation, and improved achievement.  

Session Discussion Topics

  • Topic 1: Formative Assessment—Formative assessment is the process used by teachers and students during learning to notice, recognize, and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning. Explore how the formative assessment process promotes a shared responsibility of teachers and students for using evidence of learning as it develops during daily lessons.
  • Topic 2: Learner Agency—Discover the underlying concepts of agency that are enlivened through daily formative assessment practice.
  • Topic 3: School Leadership Role—To develop learner agency for students, teachers must have opportunities to build their own learner agency. Leaders help bring that about by supporting new models of how teachers engage in learning, get feedback, and have space to explore new instructional practices.

Read the Transcript

Resources From the Webinar

Featured Speakers

Cali Kaminsky

Cali Kaminsky  

Cali Kaminsky provides national leadership in student-centered learning and formative assessment. She leads work focused on how formative assessment strengthens the student role in learning by engaging teachers, leaders, and students in using evidence of learning to develop ecosystems that support the conditions for continuous improvement across school systems.


Yesenia Ayala  

Yesenia (Yesi) Ayala collaborates with schools, districts, states, and researchers to empower educators and leaders in fostering effective change through the implementation of formative assessment and by creating conditions for student agency at all levels of the system. As part of WestEd’s Formative Insights team, she partners with various interest holders to bridge the gap between research and practice, advancing educational initiatives to transform student-centered systems.