Ch 7: PLPs & Proficiency-Based Assessment

What do PLPs and proficiency-based assessment have in common? They both emphasize what students CAN do. They’re not about ranking, sorting, and labeling. They’re about growth, progress, and opportunity for all. First, some definitions: According to the Vermont Agency of Education: The focus of proficiency-based learning is on students’ demonstration of desired learning outcomes. Students …

Proficiency-Based Education

Why? Because we believe: All students can learn. The purpose of assessment is to determine the next steps for learning. The goal of education is not to sort and rank learners, rather to help ALL learners grow towards their potential. Students are partners in creating meaningful and relevant learning experiences and environments; their voice and …

Chapter 7: PLPs and Proficiency-Based Assessment

Foundations & Connections What is Proficiency-Based Learning? Vermont Agency of Education A New Era for Educational Assessment, David T. Conley, Jobs for the Future, 2014 How Selective Colleges and Universities Evaluate Proficiency-Based High School Transcripts: Insights for Students and Schools, Erika Blauth and Sarah Hadjian, New England Board of Higher Education, 2016 What is the …

What can we learn about proficiency from special education?

 Equitable access for each & every student Many of us doing proficiency work in the state see it as a means of ensuring equitable access for all students. A proficiency-based learning environment asks the learning community to partner together. The goal: to make certain all learners meet clearly articulated targets for success. And, the VT …

Paths to proficiency

Choose Your Own Adventure with 3 easy tech tools Students in blended learning classrooms benefit from taking control over the path and pace of their learning. Their teachers design learning paths which include: clearly articulated learning targets, readily available instructional activities via digital playlists, and built-in benchmarks so students signal when they are ready for …

4 key concepts for families about proficiency-based reporting

Parenting students in a world without grades Proficiency reporting is a set of legal requirements that all Vermont high schools must meet before 2020. In essence, we’ll report only on what a student knows and can DO, with no ultimate judgement about how well they can do it. A? B-? C+? Out the window. Here’s …

The crucial role of practice in a proficiency-based environment

Practice makes proficient What’s special about a proficiency-based environment? Practice, that’s what. I know, it sounded weird to me too. As a former math teacher, I thought of practice as the mind-numbing repetitive stuff that students had to do in order to attain fluency. Practice was for straightforward procedural skills. But Sam Nelson, a social studies …

Assessment in Proficiency-Based Classrooms

3 examples using blended learning Let’s explore how some Vermont teachers are shifting their instruction and assessment practices to move all students toward proficiency. Three different educators have changed the way they assess proficiency in their classrooms. Each has created a way for students to have control over the pacing of instruction and have included …

3 visualization exercises for proficiency-based learning

Outcomes, process and automaticity I worked with a group of teachers this summer to re-think goal-setting with their students. We know it’s a key component to developing Personalized Learning Plans (PLP), but students reported little engagement in following through on and reflecting about their goals. In our attempts to think differently about goal-setting and reflection, …

Proficiency-based teaching and learning in Vermont: who, why and how

Two examples of implementing proficiency-based scales of learning Vermont educators and their students are on a journey. Let’s look at how one school is implementing proficiency-based learning in a way that ensures all learners have the opportunity to thrive. When we clearly articulate learning targets both for and with learners, the end is clear to …

Publications & Presentations

Presentations Local Presentations Grow Community Through Service Learning and Leadership. Katy Farber & Peter Stratman. Presented at Vermont Fest, November 2018. Conversations About Micro-Credentialing. Susan Hennessey & Tim O’Leary. Presented at Vermont Fest, November 2018. Ideas Into Action Through School-Driven Change. Penny Bishop, John, Downes, Scott Thompson, and Life LeGeros. Presented at Rowland Conference at …

Equity toolkit

The moral imperative behind our work at TIIE has always been equity. It is also the basis of the middle school movement that we hold dear, which originated as a challenge to the status quo of junior high schools. As progressive educators, we promote shifts in education to bring more equitable outcomes, more humane learning …

NEW Essential Skills & Dispositions Toolkit

Many schools and classrooms across the country identify student skills for success. Ideally, those skills cut across content areas and are grouped within grade bands. They are communicated and prioritized within the learning community. While Vermont’s AOE has identified five Transferable Skills, some learning institutions choose different ones – sometimes also known as “21st century skills”. …

PLPs to Know Students Well: Introducing the Personal Learning Plan Toolkit

  Introducing our updated PLP Toolkit Knowing each student well is essential to a year of flourishing for students and educators. It’s a prerequisite to ensuring equitable access to belonging and wellbeing, a culturally-responsive learning environment, and deep learning. And it enriches the relationships so central to a thriving school. Personal learning plans (PLPs) can …

A Vermont-centric look at personalized learning for social justice

The recent issue of the research journal Middle Grades Review was extraordinary for two reasons. First, it focused on the intersection of personalized learning and social justice education. And second, Vermont educators authored all but one of the articles. I encourage folks to peruse the entire issue, but this may not be realistic in the …

Increasing Student Self-Direction

“Increasing Student Self-Direction” was a webinar presented by Rachel Mark as part of the 2020-2021 UVM Tarrant Institute Professional Learning Series. We present it here in its entirety. You can either watch the webinar recording, listen to an audio version, or read the annotated transcript. Follow-up questions about self-direction in your classroom? Email rbmarkvt@gmail.com.   …

#vted Reads about Equity & Cultural Responsiveness in the Middle Grades

In January 2020, the Vermont state legislature proposed a resolution formally apologizing for the legislature’s role in passing a 1931 law making eugenics perfectly legal and encouraged in the Green Mountain State. Meanwhile, on the Standing Rock Reservation, in South Dakota, the future of the Dakota Access Pipeline is in doubt, but only at the …

Scaffolding success for self-directed learners

We talk a lot, as professional development coordinators and as educators, about self-direction. We think a lot about ways to support self-directed learners, offering them “choice and voice” while trying to make sure we support them in their learning. (And hey, educators, you’re learners too. I’m a learner. We are all, to some degree, self-directed …

How to Build An Anti-Racist Bookshelf

Who’s Outside? How to Build An Anti-Racist Bookshelf is an interactive online workshop for educators we offered in January 2021. We offered it in collaboration with Shelburne Farms. Additionally, educators Jeanie Phillips and Aimee Arandia Østensen courageously co-facilitated this workshop. Below you’ll find a recording of the workshop, optimized for solo or team playback.  The …

Building a blended & hybrid teaching toolkit

Hybrid and remote teaching environments require us to tap into everything we know about designing engaging and targeted learning opportunities. At the same time, the contexts are often unfamiliar. So what we need is a blended and hybrid teaching toolkit. When looking to design a successful remote or hybrid learning experience, consider thinking about what …

Where are we with formative assessment for remote learning?

Who could have predicted were we are today? Many aspects of education have been challenging the past few month. Most notably being distant from your students. They give you energy, bring you joy… and also provide lots and lots and lots of feedback. Teachers, we see you out there designing remote learning with your whole …

How GRCSU is responding to remote learning

Just like our colleagues across the state (and world, really), educators in the Greater Rutland County Supervisory Union (GRCSU) have risen to the challenge of completely transforming the way education is delivered — practically overnight. GRCSU is responding to remote learning. I’m fortunate and grateful to have been working with GRCSU for the past three …

Digging into self-direction

When states around the country shifted towards standards-based, competency-based and proficiency-based learning and reporting, that involved separating the content-specific skills and knowledge from the learner-specific habits and behaviors. The particular set of learner habits and behaviors that districts and states chose to measure and report have varied. Similarly, some states adopted guiding structures such as …

On equity in the middle school movement

The middle school movement has been a powerful force for positive change. It’s rooted in progressive education, with special attention to the developmental needs of young adolescents. In Vermont, we are ahead of most other states in implementing middle school systems and associated student-centered practices. That’s a good thing. Relative newcomers to this place, like …

Chapter References

  Chapter 1: Personalized Learning for Young Adolescents Foundations and Connections Personalized Learning and Personal Learning Plan,The Glossary of Education Reform, New England Secondary Schools Consortium How Personal Learning is Working in Vermont, Penny Bishop, John Downes, and James Nagle, Educational Leadership, 2017 Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning, Susan Patrick et al., iNACOL, 2016 Chapter …

The student-led conference as celebration

What does it take for us to see parent-teacher conferences as celebrations? What does it take for families to see those conferences as celebrations? And how can we make sure that students themselves feel celebrated for their achievements? We know student-led conferences push our school systems in the right direction, to a place where students …

How to use data to inform progress

Involve learners with actionable data Wondering how to use data to inform progress for users in proficiency-based education? Assessment provides both learners and educators with data. One of CAST’s Top Ten Universal Design for Learning Tips for Assessment  is involving learners in their learning progress through assessment data: “Communicate with learners about their progress towards …

#vted Reads: The Benefits of Being an Octopus

This one goes deep, folks. On this episode educator Corey Smith joins me to talk about The Benefits of Being an Octopus, by Ann Braden. We talk glitter and posterboard, coffee and peanut-butter smoothies, and using the Equity Literacy Framework to dismantle inequality in our systems of learning with both students AND adults. What might …

3 ways to ensure equity is at the heart of your work

VTDigger reports that Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French said “From our standpoint, we portray districts being on a journey. Just like everyone in the world is on a journey. And we don’t see 2020 as some sort of hard and fast date.”  However, regardless of a deadline, we should remain focused on centering equity …

#vted Reads: Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades, with Penny Bishop

HELLO! I’m Jeanie Phillips and welcome back to vted Reads! We’re kicking off our second season of the podcast with none other than author, professor, associate dean and Vermont education LEGEND, Dr. Penny Bishop. We’ll talk VT PLPs, the power of a compelling school example in changing classrooms practices, and how to steal all the …

Ch 5: Flexing Your Pathways

Ah, that second pillar. Flexible pathways are key to engaging learning. They’re all those great ways we engage students actively and meaningfully. According to the Vermont Agency of Education: Flexible Pathways are any combination of high-quality expanded learning opportunities, including academic and experiential components, which build and assess attainment of identified proficiencies and lead to …

1.3 New Student & Teacher Roles

In a personalized learning environment, students and teachers take on new roles. Teachers are still essential, but in different ways. They’re empowerers, scouts, scaffolders, assessors, and community builders. Teachers are: empowerers. scouts. assessors. scaffolders. community builders. This is personal, close-in work. And often it better meets students’ needs, improves relationships, and deepens learning. By adopting …

Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs)

Knowing each student well is essential to a year of flourishing for students and educators. It’s a prerequisite to ensuring equitable access to belonging and wellbeing, a culturally-responsive learning environment, and deep learning. And it enriches the relationships so central to thriving among youth and adults alike. Personal learning plans (PLPs) can drive a rich …

Formative Assessment

What is formative assessment? Feedback empowers learners to have agency over their learning! Formative assessment is a strategy used by teachers and learners to generate data that informs teaching and learning.  Using a variety of methods, they gauge progress towards a learning goal.  This data is used to plan and/or revise instruction to meet learners’ …

Meaningful Instruction

What is meaningful instruction? Meaningful instruction is the heart of the proficiency based education model. Educators know that good teaching is personal, relevant, engaging, responsive, dynamic, and rooted in strong student relationships. Meaningful instruction includes plans for how instructors will provide multiple ways for students to learn, engage, and practice what they need to know, …

Learning Goals

What are Learning Goals?  Learning goals define what proficiency looks like in concise, student-friendly language. While educators may break down the goals into different sized learning targets or progressions, what is crucial is that students understand what they are learning and that they are able to make it relevant to their lives.  Explicit, measurable, transferable …

Summative Assessment

What is summative assessment? Summative Assessment is the opportunity for students to show what they know and demonstrate what they can do with that knowledge independently and in novel contexts. It’s a moment for celebrating all of the learning your students have done and can do! Their work provides evidence that they are proficient: that …

#vted Reads: Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty

In this episode of #vted Reads, I return to my old stomping grounds at Green Mountain Union High School. I’m talking with school counselor Ally Oswald, about the realities of reaching and teaching students in poverty. Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty is also the title of a 2013 book by educator and reformer Paul …

Chapter 6: Scaffolding for Equitable, Deeper Learning

Foundations & Connections Equal Opportunity for Deeper Learning, Pedro Noguera, Linda Darling-Hammond and Diane Friedlaender, Jobs for the Future, 2015 Student-Centered Schools: Closing the Opportunity Gap, Diane Friedlaender et al., Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, 2014 What is Blended Learning? Clayton Christensen Institute Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, Center for Applied Special Technology …

Chapter 3: Laying the Groundwork for Personalized Learning

Foundations & Connections The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment, Laura Shubilla and Chris Sturgis, iNACOL, 2012 What is SEL? The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Gold Standard Project Based Learning, Buck Institute for Education Transferable Skills: Sample Graduation Proficiencies and Performance Indicators, Vermont Agency of Education Examples and …

#vted Reads: The Power of Moments, with Rachel Mark

Thank you for joining us for another episode of #vted Reads. This time we will be discussing The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. We’ll look for ways to make classroom moments more powerful, explore opportunities to raise the stakes for your students, and visit the popsicle hotline. Oh, and we’ll talk …

Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades

How do educators personalize learning to engage, inspire & motivate students?   We’re pleased to share that our new book, Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades: A Guide for Teachers and School Leaders, will be available beginning May 7th. It’s available now for preorder. Teachers in grades five through eight can use personalized learning plans …

Chapter 2: Personalized Learning Plans

Foundations & Connections Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations Motivation, Engagement, and Student Voice, Eric Toshalis and Michael J. Nakkula, Jobs for the Future, 2012 The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum, 2016 Proficiency, Personalization, and a Cocktail Napkin: Or, How PBL Became PPBL, Emily Rinkema, …

Courtney Elliott’s Bright Spots and Belly Flops

  Students in Courtney Elliott’s class work on a Mystery Skype with a class in Wisconsin to demonstrate communication skills and content knowledge of the U.S regions. Inquiry question about personalized learning:  How might personalization through self-reflection, self-assessment, and flexible grouping and scheduling across grades 3 and 4 at Proctor Elementary School positively impact student …

How do you measure success with project-based learning?

“A Tale of Three Projects” Two Vermont educators share how they measure success with project-based learning units… in space! Allan Miller and Natasha Grey, two educators from Charlotte Central School, Charlotte VT, shared their journey towards authentic, meaningful, engaging project-based learning. The “Gold Standard” in project-based learning. At the 2019 Middle Grades Conference, they candidly …

Getting started with cooking videos

A recipe for video-making proficiency The ubiquity of the digital camera, whether mounted in smartphone, tablet or Chromebook, is getting everyone excited about making videos in the classroom. But it can be hard to translate the squealing, hand-flapping excitement of POWER into concrete, finished products. But making videos gets so much easier when you have two things: …

Run the world (Teachers) aka #TeacherDirectedPD

We just held the Best. In-service. Ever.  And all it took was a little love & empathy. Some in-service professional development days are better than others.  Sometimes, we get to be active learners and receive just-in-time instruction (and maybe even the gift of time to apply that learning for the benefit of our students). Other …

What is Learning Lab?

Welcome to Learning Lab VT Vermont’s schools are home to some of the most innovative, passionate and skilled educators in the nation. And they’re opening up their classrooms to the world. Welcome to Learning Lab VT. We’re all in this together. You ever wonder whether you’re really up to the task of meeting your learners’ …

Phys ed 2.0: More learning, less suffering

Personalizing PE In this era of personalized learning, it’s not just the jocks that find P.E. enjoyable. At Crossett Brook Middle School and Shelburne Community School, students employ cool technology, develop creative projects, and pursue personal interests and goals while developing autonomy, healthy habits, and deep understandings.

Battle Physics at Green Mountain Union High School

Come for the math, stay for the slingshots! Green Mountain 7th graders and HS physics students apply math and science to a real-world problem: hitting targets.  They collaborate in multi-age teams to design and build projectile launchers.  Then they calculate trajectories and calibrate their creations before taking aim. Each spring the students take over the Green Mountain …

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Digital badges as evidence of flexible pathways

Realizing the promise of micro-credentialing As teachers and students grapple with how to implement proficiency-based assessment, flexible pathways and personalized learning, what can we learn from digital badge eco-systems? What’s been tried? What’s worked?  And what do we need to think about as we implement micro-credentialing to help us grapple, not just with the requirements …

Winooski’s Graduate Proficiencies & Graduate Expectations

What proficiency-based learning looks like Winooski Middle and High School, in bustling Winooski, VT, has been quietly making the journey to proficiency-based learning and proficiency-based graduation requirements for the past six years. And the resources they’ve constructed along the way — to support students, teachers and families — celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity and challenge …

How making supports integrative and informed thinking

Makerspace learning at Proctor Elementary In this final post of our series on how maker-centered learning can help students develop transferable skills, we take a look at Integrative and Informed Thinking. During EMMA’s visit to Proctor Elementary School, in Proctor VT, the potential for maker-centered learning to support students’ integrated and informed thinking really came …

How making supports service learning

Responsible and involved citizenship in Grand Isle We’re looking at how maker-centered learning and makerspace activities can help support students in developing Vermont’s five transferable skills. We’ve looked at clear and effective communication, self-direction, and creative and practical problem-solving.  In this post, we recount EMMA’s visit to Grand Isle School, where teachers and students used …

Maker-centered learning and transferable skills:

Making as evidence of problem-solving It’s quite easy to see how making often takes students on new journeys, where their imagination provides opportunities to exercise the transferable skill of creative and practical problem solving.  After a visit by EMMA, students at Malletts Bay School, in Colchester VT, were inspired to use their new skills to create …

Making as evidence of self-direction

The Maker Movement & Transferable Skills, Part 2 We’re looking at how maker-centered learning provides opportunities for students to develop the Vermont Agency of Education’s five Transferable Skills, starting with Clear and Effective Communication. Today we continue our series with more examples. Our mobile making lab’s visits brought forth evidence of students taking charge of …

The Maker Movement and transferable skills

Making as evidence of transferable skills around Vermont During the past year, EMMA has visited schools around Vermont to fuel the conversation about maker-centered learning. As we reflected on each of EMMA’s visits, we continually noticed that maker centered learning provided evidence of students applying cross-disciplinary transferable skills.

Jessica DeMink-Carthew

Jessica DeMink-Carthew is an Assistant Professor in Middle Grades and Elementary Education at the University of Vermont. She is also a Senior Research Associate with the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education. Her research centers on supporting student teachers and practicing teachers in experimenting with innovative teaching practices such as personalized learning, proficiency-based learning, and social …

J-Term at Hazen Union

Personalized, proficiency-based PBL or bust During a faculty meeting in late December of 2016, educators and staff talked about the need to provide personalized learning options for students at their small, rural Vermont school. They wanted do so in a way that  honored the students’ need for passion-based, independent projects, as well as the desire …

Student-led conferences

A student-led conference (or SLC) can be a magical opportunity for teachers to engage deeply with a student and their family. It typically involves a middle schooler gathering some evidence of their learning, strengths and challenges, and possibly their goals and aspirations. They assemble that evidence along with reflections into some format; many use a …

Scheduling

Scheduling The continued movement towards the middle level concept has put tremendous pressure on how schools choose to organize their time. For good reason! The remnants of the junior high days of past still exist. However, emerging schedules that support student-centered learning and best middle level practice are having a greater presence every year. Innovative …

Take project-based learning to the next level

3 ways to plan for PBL 2.0 You’ve dipped your toe into project based learning. You’ve planned an entry event, shared  a high quality driving question, managed student teamwork, created scaffolds, and helped students finish a meaningful project to present to an authentic, engaged audience! Whew! Well done. But we know you. We know you’re a total …

Scheduling and student choice

The middle school team at Rutland Town School in Rutland, VT have been working on a more fully integrated implementation of personal learning plans (PLPs) at their school. They’re also passionate believers in student choice and learner-centered classrooms. Given some flexibility to change the school schedule, they came up with iLearn, a model of student self-direction and …

Tracking proficiencies in Schoology

3 ways Schoology supports sustainable Proficiency-Based Learning A learning management system (LMS) can be used to manage classroom workflow, create self-paced differentiated units, and collaborate within or across classrooms and schools. As teachers in Vermont and elsewhere grapple with how to create proficiency-based learning environments, they are looking for new strategies and routines. Let’s explore …

Planning a PBL unit

Resources to tackle project-based learning Welcome to the PBL Highway, my new series aimed at helping you on the road to project-based learning!  Setting up a student-driven, rigorous, community-focused project-based learning (PBL) unit can feel daunting, so the best way to tackle anything this huge (it’s yuge!) is to break it down into manageable steps. …

4 ways to begin using scales for assessment

Getting started assessing proficiency School systems in Vermont and elsewhere are in the midst of a shift to proficiency-based learning. At the early stages, this transformation can feel overwhelming even for educators, even if they’re excited by the idea. Where to start? Start with scales for assessment.

3 types of videos for showcasing content areas

Structures & examples for student filmmakers Many students love working with video. Students can create videos for any subject to show specifically what they’re learning, how they spend their time and to demonstrate proficiency. But it’s not always obvious how you, as an educator, can help students see the connection to  specific content areas. Let’s …

(Re) Designing PLPs with students

What Vermont students really think about personal learning plans Put 47 middle-level students together, challenge them to think differently about ways to create effective, relevant and meaningful Personalized Learning Plans, and watch the magic happen. This past summer, we did exactly that.

#ready2launch

Get ready for a new vision of innovative education With the advent of personalized learning, many schools and educators are finding the freedom to launch their teaching in a whole new direction. They’re getting #ready2launch into a vision of personalized learning with students as partners, students as leaders, and schools as places where learning is …

4 ways to partner with students around Genius Hour

1% teacher inspiration & 99% student-led Genius Hour is a leap of faith in which educators set aside their most precious resource, time, for students to pursue their passions. It doesn’t get much more student-centered than that. But there are actually several aspects of Genius Hour where students can be involved as partners to amp up …

Community Based Learning in Vermont: What’s going on?

4 lessons from a recent gathering On Friday, March 11, more than 50 participants from public and private schools, community education partners, and higher education from Vermont and the surrounding region gathered for a Community Based Learning workday, put on by Big Picture Learning, Eagle Rock School, Big Picture South Burlington, and Partnership for Change. …

Providing support for goal-setting in a PLP

3 strategies shared by local educators At Manchester Elementary Middle School, sixth grade students speak fluently about their Personal Learning Plans (PLPs). They’ve been working on setting goals in a PLP for years; some students in this school have been doing so since third grade. Manchester educators Seth Bonnett and Melissa Rice, share what they’ve learned about …

Personalize learning with Open Educational Resources

What they are and how to use them In a recent blog post, I suggested access to technology can empower teachers to be responsive to students’ needs in a blended learning environment.  I want to expand upon that notion and explore further how Open Educational Resources play an important role in how we teachers facilitate more …

Defining innovation in Vermont education

What do we mean when we talk about innovation in Vermont education? Recently, the #vted Twitter chat focused on innovation, and the conversation brought a mix of practical tips, brilliant insight, and positive sentiment. The take-home message for me was that innovation thrives in an environment with a balance of risk-taking, moral support, and professional learning.

X is for eXtra credit

How does edtech affect extra credit? Is extra credit still a valid notion as we move towards ubiquitous learning, and grapple with questions of equity in education? If the goal is anytime, anywhere learning, how can we quantify certain activities as eXtraneous to that learning space?

Using Schoology for differentiated learning

Addressing student mastery and learning targets in an LMS Kristi McKnight, a 9th grade teacher at Harwood Union High School in Moretown, Vermont, shares how she and her teaching partner, Mike Coyle, use the Schoology learning management system (LMS) for differentiated learning with her students. With Schoology, McKnight is able to describe how she’s giving her …

Innovative learning shared at Nashville conference

Music City learns a thing or two about Vermont ed tech Half of the Tarrant Institute staff and a special guest headed to Nashville last week to present at the Association for Middle Level Education Annual Conference. We set out to share with middle grades educators from around the world the incredible, tech-rich teaching happening in Vermont schools. As we always …

4 ways personalized learning plans are taking off in Vermont

Educators are embracing digital tools for planning and sharing Personalized learning plans, or PLPs, are non-traditional pathways by which students can navigate from entrance to graduation in a way that’s personally meaningful. By studying topics they’re passionate about, students continue to stay engaged; by collaborating on the plans with educators and family, students’ passions can …

Is extra credit an equity issue?

What is the worst consequence of our best idea? That’s a question that Chris Lehmann, founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, asks his team when trying out new strategies in their high school. It’s a question I want to pose to all teachers when considering issues of equity in our classrooms.

Testing unbound

Turn formative testing into a learning opportunity Wonder what words, when using free association, are conjured from folks when they hear the word TEST? Pulled quickly from my psyche are: anxiety, study, judgment, memorize, prep, control My guess is these are some common possibilities, but the word LEARN probably wouldn’t make most peoples’ list.  

Evernote with HUMS at EdTech Teacher iPad Summit!

Show of hands, who’s planning on attending the EdTech Teacher iPad Summit in Boston this week? Hm? While you’re there, make sure to catch TIIE’s Susan Hennessey, presenting with HUMS educators on their groundbreaking work with Evernote on the iPad for e-portfolios. Proficiency-based graduation requirements have never seemed so bewitching…     Mirror, Mirror…Student Self-assessment …