Measuring Human Return: Understand and Assess What Really Matters for Deeper Learning

Measure what matters for deeper learning

Getting at the heart of what matters for students is key to deeper learning that connects with their lives, but what good is knowing what matters without also understanding how to bring it to life? What does it really take to know who students are, what they are truly learning, and why? 

Measuring Human Return solves this dilemma with a comprehensive, systematic process for measuring deeper learning outcomes. Educators will learn to assess students’ self-understanding, knowledge, competencies, and connections through vignettes, case studies, learning experiences and tools. The book helps readers:

• Develop key system capabilities to build the foundation for sustainable engagement, measurement, and change
• Discover five comprehensive “frames” for measuring deeper learning
• Engage in the process of collaborative inquiry 
• Commit to the central, active role of learners by engaging them as partners in every aspect of their learning 

Discover how to take an authentic, formative, and inquiry-driven approach to measuring the outcomes that drive deeper learning.

Joanne McEachen is founder and CEO of The Learner First (thelearnerfirst.com), an international education consultancy based in Seattle, Washington. She leads a team of dedicated education and evaluation specialists who support school systems through the processes of assessment, measurement, and whole-system change. Her methodology interrogates systems through the eyes of their least-served learners, supporting them to embrace and celebrate students’ cultural identities and individual interests and needs. Joanne also serves as the Global New Measures Director for New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL), an international partnership focused on measuring and developing six global competencies of deep learning (the “6Cs”), where she works alongside and in partnership with Michael Fullan, Joanne Quinn, and other educators and system leaders worldwide. With her NPDL cofounders, Joanne coauthored Deep Learning: Engage the World, Change the World, which shares and celebrates the learning emerging from throughout NPDL.

Joanne’s expertise spans every level of the educational system. She has been a teacher, principal, superintendent, and national-school-system leader in her home country of New Zealand and around the world, and she has worked with multiple large and diverse school districts in the US to bring deeper learning to life. Drawing from rich and varied experiences tackling the issues faced by schools, districts, education departments, and the individuals within them, Joanne shares measures, tools, approaches, and insights that deepen learning for every learner.

Matthew Kane is the Director of Research and Writing at The Learner First, where he focuses on the role and experiences of school systems in developing the learning outcomes that contribute to lifelong success, connect us with one another, and make a difference in our communities. He has partnered with diverse schools and school systems globally to develop deeper learning tools, language, and practices, and he works as a senior project manager with the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) global partnership. Matthew graduated from the University of Notre Dame and lives in Seattle, Washington.