the learner first

An Introduction to The Learner First 

the learner first. 

Engage i measure i empower i transform

THE LEARNER FIRST 

What is The Learner First? 

The Learner First catalyzes and empowers school 

districts and education systems to create deep, 

systemic change which dramatically accelerates 

outcomes for the learners. 

JOANNE MCEACHEN 

JANE DAVIDSON 

The Learner First is not professional development. It’s not a program. It’s 

not a cookie cutter. It is a systematic process helping schools and districts look 

critically at the whole system; identify what needs to change to make it work for 

every single learner; and lead deep, sustainable, transformational change all the 

way through to outcomes for kids. 

The Learner First uses four key ‘assumption mind shifts’ to facilitate change in 

both thinking and practice throughout the system: 

• The only morally defensible 

target is 100% success. 

• Parents are the best experts of 

their own children. We foster 

this inclusive expertise. 

• Equal treatment leads to inequitable 

outcomes. 

• Focusing on a small number of the 

most vulnerable students, we create 

deep system-wide changes that 

benefit everyone. 

We deliver an actionable framework and process supporting decision makers 

to identify the real issues, work out how to address them, implement and drive 

change, and determine what’s working or not. 

In the words of a school 

Library Media Specialist who 

works with Learner First: 

“The Learner First is a change process with a goal of 

100% student success. We focus on the students who 

struggle the most. By lifting them, we lift everyone.” 

The Learner First 

www.thelearnerfirst.com 

info@thelearnerfirst.com 

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What we have learnt. 

Our Four Drivers to Success. 

Engage 

• Powerful, sustainable change must be done 

with people, not to them, or even for them. 

Over time it must be done by them. 

• By understanding each other as people, we 

build cohesive school and system change 

teams, creating a safe space to dig deeply 

into our underlying beliefs so we can effect 

genuine change for the learners who need it. 

Measure 

• To achieve the vision we need a clear idea 

of where we are at, and an authentic way of 

measuring meaningful progress. 

• No more teaching to the test; authentic mixed 

method assessment helps the whole system 

focus on what really matters for kids, and 

make it happen for them. 

Empower 

Transform 

• Sustainable change means empowering 

a critical mass of people with a process, 

supporting tools, and a methodology for 

understanding the real problems, working 

out what to do, and driving that change all the 

way through to outcomes for learners. 

• At every level of the system, we guide not 

just one leader but whole change teams 

through The Learner First methodology. As 

capability grows, change teams can make it 

happen themselves. 

• Genuine, effective change must be deep, 

systemic, and transformational. 

• We empower schools, districts, states, and 

countries to create transformational change 

at every level of the organizational culture 

iceberg. Not just policies and programs, but 

actual behaviors and practices, and – crucially 

– the core beliefs and assumptions that drive 

those behaviors 




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A Cycle of Continuous Improvement 




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What’s on your mind? 

Emotional 

Rescue 

Is 100% student achievement realistic? 

The 100% success target is a cornerstone of The Learner First assumption mind 

shift. The only morally defensible target is 100%. It is an immutable fact. We 

should never accept some children are preordained for failure. 

We may not achieve 100% in the first year, but we are persistent to help every 

single child to thrive. 

Time 

changes 

everything 

What can we expect to achieve in the first year and beyond? 

Based on measured outcome evidence for The Learner First work to date, primarily 

with Title One schools (or international equivalent), a school can positively 

accelerate progress (i.e. more than one year’s progress in a year) for at least half of 

your focal students (and, in schools who embed the process fully, greater than that). 

When a school takes a particular cohort of focal students, concentrating on them 

relentlessly for three consecutive years, 100% success is achievable for that group 

– the kids who many thought would never succeed 

Some students will accelerate and be succeeding by the end of 

the year; some will accelerate towards those goals and require 

additional support for following years. But they will be 

accelerating, not just progressing at the expected rate. 

Consider, these are the learners who have experienced 

the least educational success so far; they are not the 

kids just below a benchmark. 




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We have also found when changes are made to help the focal kids prosper 

actually benefit all learners. Non-focal students in the same classes 

experience gains just as meaningful, even though there is less focus on them. 

The following chart illustrates accelerated improvements of 8th Graders 

between Fall 2013 – Spring 2014. 




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Diamonds 

in the Mine 

Our fear is, aren’t we setting ourselves up for failure by targeting 

students who have struggled the most? Some of those kids really won’t 

ever succeed! 

Previous efforts to lift achievement have always focused on the “bubble kids”, the 

learners achieving slightly below benchmark - those who require minimal additional 

help to rise over the bar. 

We have become insensitive to the belief that there are some kids who are just 

destined to fail, so we focus on the ones we can do something with. This belief 

impairs our system. 

In the core of every single teacher, staff member, leader, student, and parent is a 

belief that every single student has the potential to succeed and prosper. 

To mine these diamonds we take those learners who nobody felt could succeed, 

connect with them as people, tap into the expertise of their parents, and find out 

who they are, what they love, how to engage with them, 

then accelerate those students. 

We know far greater success is by 

choosing to accelerate the kids whose 

lives can be changed the most. 




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I’LL FOLLOW 

THE SUN 

How does The Learner First approach 

achieve significant shifts for kids we are 

not even focusing on? 

We are all shifting the whole system together, many of us without realizing it. 

Here’s how it happened in classrooms: 

In each classroom where a teacher has chosen to focus on just three to five focal 

students, they begin a deep connection with those learners and their parents, to 

know them as people, find out what interests them, what they already know, and 

then work out how to create learning experiences that bond with those interests 

and teach what they need and want to know next. 

Focusing on a small number in one class is manageable, with the benefit of 

escalating the mind shift across the class. 

WHAT THE 

WORLD NEEDS 

NOW 

I hear all this talk about “changing the system”, Are you serious?! 

Although we know that instructional practice is the most powerful predictor of 

student outcomes, we also know teachers work within a system which forces them 

to focus on a specific agenda, work in particular ways they intuitively know are 

not the best for their students. Often it feels like there is nothing they can do to 

change the environment. 

While teachers are genuinely connecting with kids in every single classroom, major 

change is happening at the “systems” level too. Principals and central 

office leadership teams are interrogating every part of what 

they do through the eyes of those focal kids, and asking, “How 

are these policies / procedures / rules / supports helping or 

hindering teachers and staff from being able progress and do 

what they really need to do for these kids?”. 

It is called Teamwork. 




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ROLLING 

THUNDER 

What about standardized test scores? 

When test scores are used as the sole or primary measure for evaluating 

performance of students, teachers, and schools they feel pressured to “teach to 

the test”. That makes both learning and teaching uninspiring for everyone – and 

ineffective for most kids. 

The Learner First work is using Authentic Mixed Method Assessment to track 

student outcomes. Standardized test scores are but one data point used alongside 

all other evidence teachers have to understand where a student is aligned on the 

relevant outcome. 

President Barack Obama recently called for a capping of standardized testing at 

2 percent of classroom time and said the government shares responsibility for 

turning tests in the be-all and end-all of American schools. 

“Learning is about so much more 

than just filling the right bubble, 

so we’re going to work with states, 

school districts, teachers and 

parents to make sure that we’re not 

obsessing about testing”. 

President Obama 

Huffpost Politics 10/24/2015 




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Lighthouse 

I can see 

clearly 

now 

The Lighthouse digital data 

collection platform radically 

changes the way teachers, 

schools and districts measure and 

track student and district progress 

toward achieving target outcomes. 

Among other features, Lighthouse allows the district to do the following: 

• Determine and enter student success ratings using a range 

of student success rubrics, surveys and tools, as well as 

formal assessments. 

• Administer student, teacher, and parent surveys across the 

district for specific groups. 

• Output reports demonstrating where the district and 

individual is currently positioned and indicating areas that 

need to be accelerated 

Rather than simply entering student ratings based on a limited range of 

performance indicators, teachers learn to take into account everything they 

know about each individual student when determining their ratings. 

This Authentic Mixed Method Assessment (AMMA) approach drives 

teachers’ understanding of each student’s current position in their learning 

progression, and is embedded within the Lighthouse system to guide 

teachers through the rating process. 




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Lighthouse is a rich and more 

illuminating way to evaluate learning. 

Teachers can view ratings from multiple rating periods side by side and easily 

visualize each student’s progress and achievement. Knowing where each student is 

currently at in the learning process helps put the emphasis on individual learners, 

and also clearly identifies those students that require 

a different approach in developing their learning. 

With Lighthouse reports, teachers and 

district leaders will always know exactly 

where they are in accelerating 

individual learners or the district as a 

whole, allowing day-to-day progress 

without ever losing sight of overall 

goals. No matter what goals the 

district is hoping to achieve, 

Lighthouse helps make the path to 

these goals clearer than ever before. 




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Start me up 

1. 

Ask everyone you work 

with for a story on 

the successes and notso-successful 

learning 

practises. 

2. 

“Always wanted to know 

but too afraid to ask“ type 

questions. 

Make them your agenda 

for the next few weeks. 

3. 

Ask your team how much 

they would like to change. 

If you think they wouldn‘t 

care re-think how you are 

talking to them. 

4. 

Ask three friends who are 

not in education for a story 

on their experiences and 

views. 

Be prepared to listen hard. 

5. 

Take all this information 

and apply a simple question 

of yourself: “Can I do 

better for learners?“ 

If yes, you have our contact 

numbers. 




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Meet the team 

joanne mcEachen 

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF DESTINY CHANGER 

Joanne is an internationally 

recognized whole system education 

change leader; originally from New 

Zealand. She alongside, Jane Davidson, 

co-founded The Learner First. 

Drawing on her deep expertise in creating 

change at every level of the K-12 system, Joanne 

has delivered numerous keynote addresses and 

professional development workshops to educators internationally from (USA, 

UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Uruguay, Australia, and New Zealand), on topics such 

as, Whole System Change, Educational Leadership, Authentic Assessment, and 

Educational Technology. 

Prior to immigrating to the United States, Joanne led several whole-country 

education change initiatives as a national (Federal Government) leader for the 

Ministry of Education in New Zealand. Within these roles she was responsible for 

the performance and outcomes of up to 2,600 schools. 

Joanne also serves as Global New Measures Director for New Pedagogies for 

Deep Learning: A Global Partnership. This is a 10-country, 1,000-school initiative. 

Joanne is best known for her leadership in the design and implementation of a 

major national (Federal Government level) system realignment for the Ministry of 

Education in New Zealand. This multi-pronged approach included targeted change 

management assistance for schools, a redesign of the system for funding and 

allocating professional development, and the redesign of PLCs as school cluster 

Learning and Change Networks. 




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Dr. Jane Davidson 

CO-FOUNDER AND VICE PRESIDENT 

Jane is an internationally recognized 

evaluation specialist and thought 

leader, best known for developing 

evaluation rubrics as a methodology 

for drawing conclusions about 

quality and value. 

She has also made significant contributions in the 

areas of causal inference for qualitative and mixed methods, and in synthesis 

methodologies for evaluation. 

Jane works alongside leading educational system change guru Joanne McEachen 

using practical educational, systems change, and evaluative know-how to create 

and track genuine deep change in education systems, states, districts, and schools. 

Jane is former Associate Director of the internationally recognized Evaluation 

Center at Western Michigan University, where she launched and directed the 

world’s first fully Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Evaluation. She was 2005 recipient 

of the American Evaluation Association’s prestigious Marcia Guttentag Award. 

Prior to completing her doctorate in organizational psychology and evaluation at 

Claremont Graduate University, Jane worked in training and development, quality 

assurance, and HR. She is also a qualified high school teacher of physics, chemistry, 

and science; and taught English in Japan for four years. 

Jane’s text, Evaluation Methodology Basics: The nuts and bolts of sound 

evaluation (2004, Sage), has sold heavily in both the US and internationally as a 

graduate text and practitioner guidebook. Her minibook, Actionable Evaluation 

Basics: Getting Succinct Answers to the Most Important Questions (2012, Real 

Evaluation) is also available in Spanish and – soon – French. Jane is sought after as 

a speaker for her signature approach of methodologically robust but refreshingly 

practical evaluation with breathtaking clarity. 

She has presented keynotes and invited workshops in the US, Canada, the UK, 

Singapore, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. She has led successful 

workshops for AEA, CES, AES, TEI, ANZEA, and UNISA, and coauthors a popular 

blog (GenuineEvaluation.com.) with another top international evaluator, Dr. 

Patricia Rogers. 




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Dr. Jennifer Mersman 

Chief Data Whisperer 

Jennifer Mersman is a forthright, 

multifaceted practitioner who has 

experience working with multiple 

stakeholder groups within the public, 

non-profit, and private sectors. 

She takes a systems level approach to her 

work, examining the interplay of factors at 

the organizational, group, and individual levels. 

Jennifer is skilled at taking big picture concepts and tackling them with a strong 

methodological background to inform practical solutions based on solid evidence. 

Jennifer is a dedicated problem solver, and believes that every obstacle to 

performance originates from a problem with thinking, that can lead to perceptions 

and systems that hinder people and organizations from reaching their full 

potential. To affect the person or organization, one must first affect the pattern of 

thinking. Jennifer’s main area of experience is in applying the logic of evaluation to 

programs, personnel, and performance appraisal. Her dissertation work involved 

the measurement of the beliefs, values and behaviors of organizational culture and 

tying those cultural components to organizational performance. 

Jennifer has published and presented on a variety of topics at professional 

conferences. The context of her professional work has spanned from school 

districts to the finance industry. Jennifer has taught at the university level, as well 

as in primary education (K-12), including alternative class/school structures for 

at risk students. Her professional background has also informed her volunteer 

work within her local community. Her value for impact and long lasting positive 

change can most clearly be seen in her commitment over the last several years to 

be completely present as a mom to her three children. Jennifer brings a solid under 

girding of training and experience to the table–filtered through her lens as a frontline 

educator, coach and mentor of little world changers. 




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Dr. Leslie Conery 

Lead Change Catalyst 

Leslie Conery is a creative and 

results-driven leader with more 

than 25 years experience developing 

strong teams to meet organizational 

goals. 

Her experiences include developing 

partnerships and working collaboratively with 

public, nonprofit and privately held organizations for 

the purpose of improving student learning opportunities so that all students reach 

their creative and intellectual potential. 

After grounding her career through teaching at the elementary and high school 

levels, Leslie worked with school systems building strong professional learning 

communities. She takes a systems approach to organizational development and 

has experience that spans focusing on individual student learning to writing and 

shaping global and national policy. 

Leslie provided over 18 years of nonprofit association leadership at the 

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) serving a variety of roles 

including deputy Chief Executive Officer for twelve years, chair of ISTE’s global 

conference and exhibition for ten years, and member of ISTE’s NETS (National 

Educational Technology Standards) leadership team. Leslie has served on boards, 

expert panels and advisory groups supporting innovative educators on every 

continent. 

Through multiple collaborations, she continues to work with educators and policymakers 

globally to bring about systemic change in education. She also continues 

to ground her thinking and understanding of classroom practice by working in 

schools with educators focused on making sure that all students succeed. 

Leslie has a Masters of Science in computer science education and a Ph.D. in 

curriculum and instruction with research emphases in the areas of educational 

technology and professional development. She is an accredited member of 

the Partnership Brokers Association and The American Society of Association 

Executives also credentials her as a Certified Association Executive. 




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Dr. Rodney Hopson 

Change Catalyst 

Dr. Hopson is a principal of H&H 

Strategies and Professor in the 

Division of Educational Psychology, 

Research Methods, and Education 

Policy in the College of Education and 

Human Development at George Mason 

University. 

Previously, he served as Professor, Department of Educational Foundations and 

Leadership in the School of Education, and teaching faculty member in the Center 

for Interpretive and Qualitative Research and Honors College in the School of 

Liberal Arts, Duquesne University. He received his Ph.D. from the Curry School of 

Education, University of Virginia and has done post-doctoral/sabbatical studies 

in the Faculty of Education, University of Namibia, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg 

School of Public Health and Centre of African Studies, Cambridge University. In 

leadership capacities, Hopson has served on the Board of the Directors of the 

Council of Anthropology and Education, the American Evaluation Association, and 

various program and committee chair roles in the American Educational Research 

Association, and the Comparative and International Education Society. He served 

as the 2012 President of the American Evaluation Association. 

Hopson’s research and practice focuses on the analysis and impact of education 

and schooling on marginalized and underrepresented groups in diverse global and 

nation-states while seeking solutions to conditions these groups face. Hopson’s 

research and evaluation work has been funded by school districts, universities, 

philanthropic and development agencies, non-profit and community-based 

organizations in the United States, Namibia, and Norway. His research and 

practice work uses critical interpretive and evaluative methods to promote ways 

of rebuilding schools and restoring communities for the underserved and under 

resourced through emancipatory policies, practices, and praxis. 




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Dr. Jacqueline Sakho 

Change Catalyst 

Dr. Roebuck Sakho is the founder and 

managing partner at The Restorative 

Justice Group, a think tank that 

designs and evaluates restorative 

justice processes, practices and 

techniques to facilitate collaborative 

teams of schools, academy and 

community. 

Specifically, the systems change response focuses on assisting communitycentered 

organizations operating at the grassroots level to build their capacity 

to be active participants in the improvement process alongside schools and 

researchers. The work involves designing a knowing and doing space where 

schools, academy and community work in an authentically collaborative 

partnership to respond to discipline disparity in traditional school settings and 

non-traditional settings to create sustainable transformative improvement. 

She has consulted with community leaders and school leaders in Oakland, CA; 

Memphis, TN; Nashville, TN and Pittsburgh, PA responding to discipline disparity. 

Dr. Roebuck Sakho continues to deepen this work by intentionally engaging 

vulnerable and/or destabilized school communities in the ecological model of 

systems change. She has a rich background in facilitative dialogue, program 

development and transformative networking and has consulted with the Zehr 

Institute for Restorative Justice at The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at 

Eastern Mennonite University; Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at 

Berkeley Law School; The NAACP Legal Defense Fund in partnership with Atlantic 

Philanthropies, among others who are actively responding to the inequitable 

delivery of discipline practices in PreK-12 schools. 




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Contact us 

Make contact with us today and find out how 

to better support learners at your school. 

w 


? info@thelearnerfirst.com 

With thanks for the inspiration: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, 

Molly Hatchet, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Leonard Cohen, Tommy 

Duncan and Johnny Nash. 




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the learner first

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