Open Way Learning

10/15/2026

For generations, preserving and fermenting food have been part of life here in the mountains. Want to know what a little cabbage, salt, patience and a whole lot of possibility have to do with our upcoming WNCRP Fall Convening?

Come find out by joining us this November 5th for our 2nd annual Western North Carolina Resilience Project (WNCRP) Fall Convening, where we'll be exploring what happens when we connect learning to the people, places, and traditions that make our region unique.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd0T-llUy6Tp5G7TrjWvRFBUGKddkXJ65MGy_rSBAY-I9p-dw/viewform?usp=header

10/02/2026

OWL is at the National Alternative Education Association-NAEA conference in Baltimore next week, October 5-7! What if we designed alternative education with learners, rather than around them?

On Monday, October 5, Jeff Petty and Open Way Learning's Ben Pendarvis will lead a preconference design session at the National Alternative Education Association gathering exploring that question.

We'll work with educators and system leaders to redesign an entire learner experience (before, during, and after), starting with a specific student profile, the learner's strengths and aspirations, and the assets already present in their community.

The goal: imagine practical experiences that create more deep learning, agency, and belonging for young people, and conditions in which their educators can thrive, too.

NAEA's Exemplary Practices give us an important foundation. We'll put learner-centered design thinking to work to ask: What could those conditions actually look and feel like from a student's point of view?

And we'd love to start the conversation before the session: Where have you seen an alternative school create real agency, belonging, or deep learning for students? What made it work?

We'll bring some of the ideas and examples we're gathering into the design work in Baltimore and share what participants create afterward.

North Carolina Association of Alternative Educators

10/01/2026

The NC DPI Competency-Based Education Innovation Grant opportunity is open!

Applications are due October 18, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

If competency-based learning and mastery assessment are part of your school’s improvement plans, Open Way Learning is ready to support you!

Interested in exploring how OWL could support your school through this opportunity? Reach out to start a conversation with us.https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/classroom-resources/office-teaching-and-learning -BasedEducationInnovationGrantProgram-9125

The primary purpose of the Office of Teaching and Learning is to serve as the authoritative source for the review,

09/16/2026

We’re headed to Baltimore!

On October 5, Jeff Petty and Open Way Learning’s Ben Pendarvis will lead a preconference design session at the National Alternative Education Association gathering, focused on reimagining what alternative and reengagement schools can be.
Young people arrive at these schools with strengths, interests, aspirations, relationships, and resilience. They deserve learning environments where they experience belonging and ownership, find learning that feels relevant, and build toward futures they help define.

That’s the work behind Together We Learn, a collaboration between School Foundry and Open Way Learning. Together, we work alongside students, families, educators, and community partners to redesign alternative schools around belonging, relevant learning, and real opportunity, while connecting schools through communities of practice that can learn from and strengthen one another.

If you’ll be at NAEA, join Jeff and Ben on October 5 to dig into this work and design alongside us.
Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gtKaSqhf



Education NC North Carolina Association of Alternative Educators National Alternative Education Association-NAEA Halifax County School District

09/04/2026

How might we make the community part of the curriculum?

That’s a question our partners at CommunityShare have been putting into practice for more than a decade, connecting educators and students with the knowledge, skills, and lived experiences already present in their communities.

This article from Getting Smart highlights CommunityShare’s “human library” approach and the idea behind it: meaningful learning doesn’t have to stop at the classroom door. Community members can become mentors, experts, collaborators, and partners in creating real world learning experiences.

And the impact is significant. CommunityShare has connected more than 85,000 students and educators with community partners across 12 states, with educators reporting increased student engagement and students building skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration.

We’re grateful to partner with CommunityShare through the WNC Resilience Project as we work to strengthen these kinds of connections across Western North Carolina. When we expand who gets to be an educator and where learning gets to happen, we expand what’s possible for young people.

Read the full story from Getting Smart: https://www.gettingsmart.com/2026/08/11/steward-stories-communityshare-proves-that-the-community-is-the-curriculum/

CommunityShare has connected 85,000 students to real-world learning across 12 states. Here is how one ecosystem steward built a human library.

08/27/2026

We envision middle school as a time when young people find their voice, build confidence, discover what they care about, feel a strong sense of belonging, and begin to see themselves as capable of shaping their own learning and future.

For many middle schoolers, that vision can still feel pretty far away. But in Muskegon, Michigan, it’s getting closer.

Through the Third Coast Learning Collaborative , educators are working together to strengthen student agency, interdisciplinary PBL, portfolio-based assessment, and the relationships and systems that help this work last.

Open Way Learning is grateful to partner with the Human Restoration Project in supporting this work and learning alongside the educators making it happen.

Read Ben Pendarvis’ latest field update on the OWL blog:
https://www.openwaylearning.org/post/third-coast-learning-collaborative-student-agency-michigan-middle-school

Open Way Learning and the Human Restoration Project are helping Michigan middle schools build student agency through interdisciplinary PBL, portfolio-based assessment, teacher collaboration, and sustained coaching. Early results point to stronger engagement, belonging, and student well-being as the....

08/13/2026

How might we ensure every student leaves high school with meaningful options for what comes next?

As fewer young people choose a traditional four-year college path, schools are rethinking how they prepare students for life after graduation. This story from The Hechinger Report explores how one district is expanding career pathways and helping students connect learning to real opportunities.

The goal isn’t to steer students toward one path, it’s to make sure they have the experiences, skills, and knowledge to choose the path that’s right for them.

Read more via The Hechinger Report : https://hechingerreport.org/as-fewer-young-people-choose-college-this-district-wants-to-ensure-they-have-career-options/

In Niagara Falls, New York, a town with shrinking job options, students are encouraged to consider their careers in ninth grade

08/12/2026

Mountain music, big ideas, and learning together.

The WNC Resilience Project Summer Convening brought educators and partners from across Western North Carolina together to connect, create, and keep building what’s possible for students.

We opened with mountain music and movement with Heidi Kulas, a reminder of how social interaction, shared experiences, and traditions like dancing can help build belonging.

Through a World Café, we explored educator practices connected to the essential conditions that help learner-centered ideas take root and grow.

Then teams used the Pathway to Resilience framework to make their thinking visible—mapping student-centered goals, current realities, barriers, milestones, and locally developed Change Ideas they can carry back into their schools and communities.



The convening may be over, but the learning isn’t.

WNC teachers: keep going with us through the WNC Resilience Project Learning Lab. Bring an idea, test it in your context, learn alongside other educators, and help build a more resilient, learner-centered Western North Carolina.

Join the Learning Lab: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VImKPsBUIvNNQrSVfR9cq58D_Nx8ZO6HMGLe8Vxsvo4/edit?usp=sharing

07/24/2026

How might we move beyond surveys and truly listen to students?

Our partners at the Human Restoration Project are exploring that question through empathy interviews and creating space for students to share authentic experiences that can shape more learner-centered schools. Their new conversation with Getting Smart highlights how listening deeply can strengthen belonging, build trust, and turn student voice into meaningful action.
It's a powerful reminder that lasting change begins by understanding the people we serve.

Listen here: https://www.gettingsmart.com/podcast/chris-mcnutt-on-the-power-of-empathy-interviews/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Explore Getting Smart podcasts featuring conversations with educators, innovators, and leaders reimagining learning for the future. New episodes weekly.

07/23/2026

How do we turn strong change ideas into meaningful action?

Usually, the problem is not a lack of committed people or creative ideas. The bigger challenge is creating the time, structure, and shared support needed to move an idea forward.

The WNC Resilience Project Learning Lab will support six district teams as they test a locally designed change idea, such as a classroom practice, curriculum, student support model, a community partnership, or broader systems change, learn from what happens, and decide whether to adapt, adopt, or abandon it.

The goal is to build a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement that helps good ideas turn into action that benefits WNC students and their communities.

If you are in Western North Carolina, join us at the 2026 Summer Convening on July 28–29 to begin building your own pathway from idea to action.

Outside WNC? Reach out to learn how Open Way Learning can support your team in doing the same: www.openwaylearning.org

We will share 2026–2027 WNC Resilience Project Learning Lab application details at the Summer Convening and through our social channels afterward.