About Quest Forward Learning
Helping every student succeed with active learning, skill development, and continuous feedback.
Quest Forward Learning enables high school students to take charge of their learning, to succeed academically, and to develop essential learning and work skills.
High schools offer Quest Forward Learning to their students like other academic programs, but with greater benefits: active learning that is engaging, feedback-driven assessments instead of frequent tests, and daily practice of skills students will need in college and career.
Learn more about Quest Forward Learning in the sections below.
Contents
What is Quest Forward Learning?
Quest Forward Learning is a method for teaching and learning that engages students through active learning, skill development, and continuous feedback.
Quest Forward Learning was developed by Opportunity Education to incorporate evidence-based pedagogies and strategies backed by decades of research in the field of Learning Sciences. It is designed for rigorous academic learning and the development of skills students need to succeed in education and their career.
Quest Forward Learning is built on the insight that young adults need to own their learning and drive their own success, with five research-based Guiding Principles.
Understand each of the Guiding Principles behind Quest Forward Learning.
Learn how teachers engage students with Quest Forward Learning.
Glossary of Terms
If you are new to Quest Forward Learning, you will encounter terminology that’s a little different from other school lingo. This glossary provides you with all the basic terms for understanding Quest Forward Learning and supporting your students’ experiences at school.
Active Learning
Students learn best when they are actively involved through researching, investigating, discussing, creating, solving problems, defending their beliefs, and more.
With Quest Forward Learning, students take responsibility for their own learning. They engage with problems, tools, and ideas, as well as peers and teachers. To support this, teachers create and use curricula that include ample opportunities to learn actively and work on meaningful projects, provide options that let students make choices, and employ flexible pacing strategies.
Skill Development
With Quest Forward Learning, skills development is woven into all aspects of the learning experience.
At other schools, students focus primarily on what they need to know (or memorize) to demonstrate learning on tests. At schools using Quest Forward Learning, students gain academic knowledge through their work to develop skills. Developing an important skill is the top priority for every lesson in the Quest Forward Curriculum.
Two skills frameworks are at the core of Quest Forward Learning:
- Learning Skills for learning effectively
- Work Skills for working productively
By developing these skills, students become better equipped to take on any opportunities and challenges their future will bring them.
Continuous Feedback and Assessment
One of the unique features of Quest Forward Learning is the approach to assessment and feedback. Rather than administering a few high-stakes exams to measure student knowledge, skills, and progress, teachers can complete low-stakes assessments every day and week to provide feedback to students.
Teachers focus feedback in four areas:
- Engagement: Teachers can record students’ engagement after each class session, ensuring they are not just physically present but mentally as well.
- Learning Goals: Teachers provide feedback on artifacts and how well they meet the identified learning goals.
- Work Skills: Teachers provide feedback on artifacts and the skills students demonstrated while creating them (i.e., Work Skills).
- Learning Skills: Teachers provide feedback on artifacts and other work products and observations of students demonstrating the Learning Skills.
Course of Study
The Course of Study book provides details on each core academic course in the Quest Forward Curriculum, as well as background on the philosophies behind Quest Forward Learning.
The book offers insight into the approach to teaching, how student performance is assessed, and how mastery learning works in schools using Quest Forward Learning day-to-day.
Quest
At schools that use Quest Forward Learning, students and teachers use Quest, a web-based tool that can serve as their hub for learning and teaching. Quest is part of a comprehensive Quest Forward Learning Management System (LMS) that also includes web-based tools and apps for school management and curriculum development.
Students can observe their progress, explore topics, and develop skills through academic projects. Students can use Quest to share their work products with teachers, receive feedback, and reflect on their own progress and growth. Teachers can provide guidance to students in a personalized way, give feedback on student work, and support student skill development with practical suggestions in Quest.
Access for Parents/Guardians
Are you a parent/guardian of a Quest Forward Learning student that would like to see their work online?
Our Mission
In some schools, students are trained to memorize old answers to familiar questions. Today’s world is dynamic, connected, and changing, raising new questions all the time. For students to succeed, they need more than fixed answers — they need the ability to keep growing and adapting to the world they find.
Opportunity Education created Quest Forward Learning to activate lifelong curiosity in each student and cultivate the mindset and skills to succeed in life and work.
Success isn’t about answering old questions. It’s about seeing opportunities to create value, and having the skills to do so.
Learn more about Opportunity Education at www.opportunityeducation.org.
Joe Ricketts, Opportunity Education’s founder, benefactor, and CEO describes his perspective on the challenges of education today, and his vision for the future of learning. Mr. Ricketts is a self-made entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the company that is now known as TD Ameritrade.
Learn more about how his story inspired his vision for education.