Effective, standards-aligned teaching and learning are only possible when an Optimal Learning Environment is in place. In Optimal Learning Environments, instruction addresses the needs of every learner with ever-present attention to academic excellence and joyful learning.

The Optimal Learning Environment framework provides clarity on the design of instructional environments grounded in the interdisciplinary research science on how people learn with focus on:

• Standards to support academic rigor
• Relationships and connection
• Integrated interpersonal, affective, and cognitive skills
• Learner agency and learner variability
• Students’ individual and community knowledge, strengths, and
  experiences

Optimal Learning Environments provide engaging classroom communities that are tailored and co-constructed by students and adults to support the success of each and every learner.