Turn 'student voice & choice' into a school-wide reality
See how my residency program transforms schools into self-directed learning environments.
What is Self-Directed Schooling?
What is this Residency?
2-for-1 Residency:
Teacher & Instructional Coach
Year 1 — Proof of Concept: I teach in one classroom with a Self-Directed Schooling (SDS) model, demonstrating principles/practices.
Year 2 — Scale-Up & Mentorship: I loop with students and coach prior grade level teacher to replicate model across grade levels.
Year 3 — Cascade & Sustain: I loop with students and coach the same teacher to coach their prior grade level teacher via a PLC.
For Administrators...
Self-Directed Schooling Residency: Strategic Implementation & Measurable Impact
With this program, Greg Mullen partners with school leadership to launch a three-year, evidence-gathering residency that embeds Self-Directed Schooling principles and practices while safeguarding accreditation and budget realities.
This program includes:
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Embedded Change Architect – as the on-site expert, teaching and learning strategies as well as PLC protocols align with state standards and state ed code.
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Baseline-to-Impact Plan – my data instruments collect pre-launch baselines as well as deliver mid-year and year-end board-ready reports.
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Stakeholder Alignment – monthly leadership briefings for school admin and staff, workshops and mentor sessions for staff and families, and state assessment-aligned implementation timelines.
Outcome you can bank on: a research-validated proposal for full-scale adoption of a self-directed schooling model without academic shortcuts.
Increase Student Engagement
with a Self-Directed Model
Provide Coaching to Improve Change Implementation
1-Year Baseline to Impact
with 6-Month Pulse
Clear Expectations and Goals for Staff, Students, Families
For Teachers...
Co-Teaching & Real-Time Coaching That Lets Agency Take Root
Teachers who choose to participate have a classroom to observe, shoulder-to-shoulder, that can translate “student voice & choice” from strict adoption to adaptable personalization.
Each participating teacher receives:
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Live Lesson Modeling – weekly co-taught periods where students set goals, track progress, and showcase learning while standards remain explicit.
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Five-Minute Feedback Loops – hallway huddles and end-of-day debriefs: actionable, non-evaluative, immediately usable.
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Plug-and-Play Toolkit – goal-setting cards, conferencing scripts, project-board templates, and pacing-guide overlays matched to state curriculum maps.
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Personal Growth Evidence – documents for tracking instructional shifts for self-evaluation portfolios of both staff and students via agency-driven leadership and learning.
Outcome: less micromanagement, more meaningful instructional time, and a clear on-ramp to mastery-based, self-directed learning environments for staff and students.
Coach Confers, Not Controls
teachers in transitioning from student-centered
to student-led learning.
See Agency Boost Motivation
in staff and students with strategies aligned with self-directed culture.
Experience Coaching Cycles
that apply to personal and professional growth:
Plan-Teach-Reflect-Iterate
Toolkits Pave the Path
for teachers and admin seeking guidelines for principles and practices.
For Parents...
Top 3 Parent Questions (relevant to Deci & Ryan's Self-Determination Theory):
Autonomy
“Will my child have structure,
or will they be left to
‘do whatever’?”
Students craft purpose-driven goals that connect to grade-level curriculum standards, building the foundation for next year’s tougher content, yet can still spring from personal interests since the same metacognitive awareness and learning strategies are coached.
Competence
“How will I know my child is actually mastering grade-level academic standards?”
Student tasks are tagged to state standards and students are coached to track progress so they can communicate degrees of mastery over time with both intention and ownership over their learning process.
Relatedness
“Does self-directed learning mean my child is working by themselves all day?”
Learning is inherently social: critique circles, peer tutoring, and co-planning sessions make classmates co-teachers so each child gains as much from collaborating with peers as from individual practice or teacher and parent feedback cycles.
For Students...
For Students...
Your Learning.
Your Evidence.
Your Responsibility.
Set goals, manage your workflow, and present evidence of mastery. Learning how to learn is the primary goal. Your role is to show evidence of that learning process, whether it involves the school's curricula or your own interests.
Plan Your Day, Week, Month.
You develop a Weekly Workflow Planner that is specific to your learning preferences. Digital or on paper, you map out tasks, track resources, determine checkpoints, and present mastery of ongoing learning through progress portfolios.
Feedback isn't given; it's requested.
You drive the feedback cycle by scheduling peer reviews, booking check-ins with teachers, and framing the questions you need answered specific to your needs; because knowing what feedback to seek (and when) is a core metacognitive skill that turns corrections into intentional self-directed success.
Showcase Progress and Projects.
You create a Digital (or Paper) Portfolio packed with evidence, reflections, and standards-aligned rubrics, then present highlights at quarterly Exhibitions of Learning where your work speaks, your audience asks, and you defend the evidence of mastery you’ve worked hard to obtain.