June  26,  2013  

“If  we  are  focused  on  seat  time,  we  are  focused  on  the  wrong  end  of  the  student.”      Ray  McNulty  (ICLE  President)    

¡  Need  to  disrupt  the  antiquated  system  so  that  it  can  adapt  to  21st  century  demands  

 

¡  A  system  based  on  learning  is  more  meaningful  than  a  system  based  on  time  

 

¡  Date  of  manufacture  should  not  determine  a  student's  path  through  her  or  his  education  experiences  

 

¡  Our  students  need  to  be  adaptable,  entrepreneurial,  and  resilient,  which  demands  a  system  that  supports  those  demands  and  that  growth  

¡  Struggling  learners  who  need  additional  time  to  master  concepts,  content,  or  skills  

¡  Learners  who  have  graduation  requirement  deficits  ¡  Students  who  are  ready  to  learn  anytime,  anywhere  ¡  Gifted  and  talented  learners  who  progress  at  ages  

younger  or  rates  faster  than  their  chronological  peers  ¡  Teachers  who  are  looking  for  ways  to  more  effectively  

differentiate  the  learning  taking  place  both  in  and  out  of  their  classrooms  

¡  Administrators  who  are  looking  for  real-­‐time  data  and  school-­‐wide  patterns  

¡  Legislative  changes  ¡  Iowa  Core  (implementation  by  2014)  

¡  Focus  on  the  4  guiding  questions  of  PLCs  (DuFour  &  DuFour)  

¡  Close  examination  of  assessment  and  reporting  of  learning  

¡  2012  Legislation  eliminated  the  Carnegie  unit  as  the  basis  for  credit  in  Iowa  high  schools  and  required  a  task  force  to  §  Redefine  the  Carnegie  unit  into  competencies  §  Construct  personal  learning  plans  and  templates  §  Develop  student-­‐centered  accountability  and  assessment  models  

§  Empower  learning  through  technology  §  Develop  supports  and  professional  development  for  educators  to  transition  to  a  competency-­‐based  system  

¡  Competency-­‐Based  Education  (CBE)  §  A  system  in  which  learning  is  the  constant  and  time  is  the  variable  

§  Students  advance  upon  mastery  (fastest  path  to  goals  that  matter  with  anytime,  anywhere  learning  and  no  restrictions  on  seat  time)  

¡  Step  1:  State  CBE  Forum  (Dec.  2011)  ¡  Step  2:  Knowledge-­‐Building  ¡  Step  3:  Shared  Vision  ¡  Step  4:  Desired  Outcomes  ¡  Step  5:  Action  and  Communication  Plans  ¡  Step  6:  Pilot  Project  Development  ¡  Step  7:  State  CBE  Task  Force  ¡  Step  8:  Progress  Monitoring  (reflect  &  revise)  ¡  Step  9:  Build  Capacity  

¡  Summer  =  rigorous  curriculum  design  ¡  Cohorts  2  and  3  are  underway  

§  Representation  from  all  buildings  and  grade  levels  §  Diversity  in  disciplines  represented  

¡  Cohort  1  provides  mentorship  to  Cohort  2  §  Any  SBG  pilots  move  toward  CBE  

¡  Ongoing  professional  development  ¡  SBG  conversations  in  elementary  buildings  

§  SBG  pilots,  including  one  elementary  school  (build  capacity  across  the  district  through  PD)  

¡  Ongoing  professional  development  ¡  Train  Cohort  4  (spring/summer  2014)  ¡  Cohort  2  provides  mentorship  to  Cohort  3  ¡  Cohort  3  provides  mentorship  to  Cohort  4  ¡  Broader  pilot  of  SBG  across  all  elementary  buildings  

¡  Parent  focus  groups  and  information  sessions  for  all  parents  

¡  Competency-­‐based  education  (CBE)  provides  varied  learning  opportunities  for  every  student  to  demonstrate  a  standard  of  excellence  through  flexible  use  of  time,  place,  method,  or  pace.  

¡  Competencies  ¡  Standards  

§  Unwrapped  Iowa  Core  content  areas  §  21st  Century  Learning  Skills  

¡  Clarity  of  purpose  §  Learning  targets  §  Rubrics  

¡  RtI  

¡  A  competency  is  an  enduring  understanding  that  requires  the  transfer  of  knowledge,  skills,  and  dispositions  to  complex  situations  in  and/or  across  content  areas  and/or  beyond  the  classroom.  

¡ Multiple  standards  both  within  and  across  disciplines  outline  the  knowledge,  conceptual  understanding,  abilities,  and  skills  required  to  meet  the  complex  demands  of  the  competency  

▪  Assessment/demonstration  at  the  upper  levels  of  Bloom’s  (analyze,  evaluate,  create/synthesize)  or  Webb’s  (Level  Three:  Strategic  Thinking,  Level  4:  Extended  Thinking)  as  well  as  the  appropriate  use  of  the  universal  constructs,  dispositions,  and  employability  skills    

¡  The  process  of  evolution  drives  the  diversity  and  unity  of  life,  which  is  essential  to  drawing  inferences  about  past,  present,  and  future  life  on  Earth.  

¡  Reading  nonfiction  and  informational  texts  is  an  essential  means  of  acquiring,  constructing,  and  expressing  knowledge  as  an  active  participant  in  social  and  professional  settings.  

¡ Many  outcomes  in  life  involve  chance,  but  probability  and  statistics  allow  people  to  determine  the  likelihood  of  an  outcome  and  make  reasonable  predictions  in  order  to  make  choices  and  take  action  in  their  own  lives.    

"Why...would  anyone  want  to  change  current  grading  practices?  The  answer  is  quite  simple:  grades  are  so  imprecise  that  they  are  almost  meaningless.”  

Robert  Marzano  

Student A Student B

What specific skills and concepts does Student A need to refine to succeed in Math?

If both students received the same grade in Reading, does that mean they need the same instruction?

Is Student B being challenged in Math? Is s/he making growth?

¡  Emphasis  on  formative  ¡  Student-­‐driven  (multimodal)  ¡ Most  recent  vs.  average  ¡  Self  and  peer  assessment  ¡  Learning  is  transferable  

§ Within  course  or  content  area  §  Across  disciplines  §  Beyond  the  school  walls  (multidirectional)  

¡  Learning  anywhere,  anytime    

¡  No  zeros,  Ds,  or  Fs    

¡  No  extra  credit    

¡  Learning  targets  are  clear  and  communicated  to  the  stakeholders  (posted  and  available  to  students  in  advance  of  the  assessment)  

 

¡  Assessments  are  tied  to  standards  and  competencies;  no  compliance  grading  (separate  learning  from  behavior  through  employability  standards)  

 

¡  Students  may  demonstrate  proficiency  over  time  with  reassessments  

 

¡  Grading  is  based  on  the  highest  level  attained,  rather  than  an  average  

¡  Proficiency  Scale  §  5    Exceeding  Proficiency  with  Standard  (Evaluation  or  Synthesis)  §  4    Meeting  or  Exceeding  Proficiency  with  Standard  (Analysis)  §  3    Meeting  Proficiency  with  Standard  (Application)  ______________________________________________________________  §  2  (I)    Approaching  Proficiency  with  Standard  (Understanding)  §  1  (I)    Approaching  Proficiency  with  Standard  (Knowledge)  §  NA    No  Attempt  

Supporting  students  through  "not  yet"  instead  of  accepting  failure  keeps  students  on  the  learning  trajectory.”  

Carol  Dweck                            

Teacher  A   Teacher  B   Teacher  C  

¡  Teachers  plan  with  remediation  in  mind  (differentiation  of  time,  place,  method,  pace)  

¡  Just-­‐in-­‐time  interventions  based  on  formative  assessments  

¡  Learning  contracts  ¡  Blended  learning  (APEX,  Odyssey)  ¡  Success  Center  (high  school)  ¡  Homeroom  intervention  time  (middle  school)  ¡  Competency  Recovery  (high  school)  

¡  First  Semester  §  973  students,  K-­‐12  §  76  earned  an  “Incomplete”  at  semester  §  13  were  not  successful  after  remediation  (5  are  no  longer  attending  school)  

§  20  accelerated  through  course  content  §  5  opted  to  increase  their  proficiency  levels  after  the  end  of  the  term  

§  99%  of  our  high  school  students  earned  a  “C”  or  higher  compared  to  61%  in  non-­‐CBE  classes  

¡  Second  Semester  §  957  students,  K-­‐12  §  49  earned  an  “Incomplete”  at  semester  §  6  were  not  successful  after  remediation  §  16  accelerated  through  course  content  §  5  opted  to  increase  their  proficiency  levels  after  the  end  of  the  term  

§  99.6%  of  our  high  school  students  earned  a  “C”  or  higher  compared  to  62.8%  in  non-­‐CBE  classes  

¡  Understanding  that  learning  is  on  a  continuum  and  is  not  based  on  age  or  teacher-­‐determined  timeframes  

¡  Determination  to  battle  the  status  quo,  knowing  that  changing  mindsets  and  deeply-­‐ingrained  mental  models  will  be  one  of  the  most  formidable  challenges  to  successful  implementation  

¡  A  systems  thinking/doing  perspective  

¡  An  appetite  for  learning  and  for  contributing  to  the  conversation  at  a  local,  state,  and  national  level-­‐-­‐it  is  important  to  continue  to  read  widely  about  competency-­‐based  education  and  the  nature  of  change  in  our  world  so  that  advocacy  will  be  effective  and  purposeful    §  It  is  also  important  for  those  interested  in  transformation  to  use  their  voices  to  educate  others  and  to  push  our  thinking  by  pointing  out  what  might  be  around  the  corner;  be  visionary  

¡  Resilience  and  grit  

¡  Start  with  the  “why”  ¡  Create  an  overview  of  a  well-­‐articulated  design  process,  from  knowledge-­‐building  to  writing  competencies  to  unwrapping/aligning  standards  to  developing  proficiency  scales  to  differentiating  instruction  and  assessment  to  assessing  fidelity  of  implementation    §  Also  included  should  be  how  to  design  effective  professional  development  to  support  the  above  

¡  Communication—learn  how  to  build  feedback  loops  to  engage  stakeholders  early  and  often    §  It  is  important  for  students,  parents,  teachers,  counselors/registrars,  tech  support  personnel,  administrators,  board  members,  community  members,  and  higher  education  officials  are  included  in  the  design  process  and  in  the  evaluation  of  implementation  

§  HOW  to  use  the  information  gained  from  feedback  for  reflection  and  growth  should  be  included  in  the  design  

¡  Google  group  for  pilot  teachers  ¡  Letters  from  district  to  all  families  in  the  pilot  ¡  Syllabi,  letters,  etc.  from  all  teachers  to  students/families  

¡  Admin  and  counselor  meetings  to  educate  and  update  

¡  School  Board  meetings  ¡  Building  presentations  ¡  Building  capacity  outside  the  district  (presentations  to  IASB,  UEN,  ISEA,  U  of  I,  P21;  membership  on  State  Task  Force)  

¡  Parent  focus  groups  

¡  Teachers  need  to  make  effective  use  of  time,  place,  method,  and  pace  as  ways  to  vary  learning  experiences  for  students    §  Educators  need  to  know  how  to  individualize  the  learning  process  so  that  CBE  is  driven  by  student  agency  rather  than  by  the  system's  agenda    

§  If  the  Common  Core  is  the  floor—the  base  of  what  every  student  should  know  and  be  able  to  do—then  how  do  we  vary  time,  place,  method,  and  pace  so  that  the  glass  ceiling  is  removed  and  students  can  follow  the  fastest  path  to  goals  that  matter  to  them?  

¡  Develop  robust  RtI  frameworks—how  can  we  best  remediate  and  enrich  through  the  use  of  real-­‐time  data  for  just-­‐in-­‐time  interventions  that  will  support  learning  in  this  environment?    

¡  Teachers  and  administrators  will  be  concerned  with  the  logistics  of  CBE  and  how  they  can  successfully  take  learning  "off  the  clock”  

¡  Adaptation  of  student  information  systems  and  gradebooks  so  that  this  transformation  is  not  held  back  by  limited  resources  §  Current  SISs  are  philosophically  and  pragmatically  limited  in  terms  of  CBE  

§  If  districts  continue  to  hit  walls  during  their  efforts  to  track  and  report  learning  or  to  flexibly  schedule  students'  educational  experiences  along  with  how  those  experiences  are  reflected  on  transcripts,  they  may  turn  away  from  this  important  work  

¡  Understanding  CBE  from  a  systems  perspective  so  that  the  interconnectedness  and  interdependency  of  the  system  (local,  state,  and  national)  can  be  mapped  and  managed  

¡  This  work  cannot  be  completed  in  a  silo  and  necessitates  the  preemptive  work  of  identifying  potential  unintended  consequences  along  the  way  

¡ Mapping  policy  evaluation  so  that  districts  and  states  can  remove  barriers  to  anytime,  anywhere,  any  method,  any  pace  learning  

¡  A  plan  for  educating  state  legislators  and  education  officials  as  well  as  how  to  include  local  boards  and  other  governing  bodies  in  the  conversation  will  assist  districts  with  the  change  process  

¡  Building  a  framework  for  including  community  resources  in  CBE—how  to  tap  into  local,  national,  and  global  resources  to  take  learning  beyond  the  walls  of  the  school    

¡  Districts  will  need  support  in  marrying  real-­‐world  learning  experiences  with  competencies,  standards,  and  evaluation  by  highly  qualified  teachers  

"Never  doubt  that  a  small  group  of  thoughtful,  committed  people  can  change  the  world.    Indeed,  it's  all  that  ever  has."      Margaret  Mead