“Educators as guides for engaged learners” summarizes the conceptual framework for UNT’s basic and advanced programs for teachers and other school personnel. This concept is portrayed visually as a compass, which represents the tools educators employ as they orient students in their exploration of landscapes for learning.

The engagement of learners requires simultaneous commitment to academic knowledge bases and to learner-centered practice. Educators who engage learners are committed to the continuous processes of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation that characterize the acts of discovery, problem solving, curriculum development, program development, inquiry, and research. Guiding engaged learners features on-going dialogue between educators and their students and with wider communities about how schools can prepare students for life-long learning in a democracy.