{"id":7952,"date":"2015-12-19T11:19:20","date_gmt":"2015-12-19T15:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/?p=7952"},"modified":"2022-04-13T15:11:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T19:11:11","slug":"act-77-flexible-pathways-best-middle-level-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/act-77-flexible-pathways-best-middle-level-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Act 77, Flexible Pathways and best middle level practices"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Grappling with implementation<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/personalized-learning-in-the-middle-grades\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7893\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-7893\" src=\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/crowdfinal-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"personalized learning in the middle grades vermont\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>In my current work with a number of Vermont middle schools, we have been trying to grapple with ways to tell the story of, or create a better understanding of, what our state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/education.vermont.gov\/student-learning\/flexible-pathways\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Act 77<\/a>\u00a0Flexible Pathways legislation\u00a0looks like in action.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In part, this stems from wanting to be sure the current focus on proficiency-based teaching and learning in many schools doesn&#8217;t become the end-all, but rather <strong>one<\/strong> of the pieces of the puzzle that make Act 77 the legislative gift it\u00a0has the power to be.<\/p>\n<p>The gift that may transition many schools to student-centered learning.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting some thoughts down<\/h2>\n<p>Here is a very rough sketch I created to help me clarify my thinking:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alwaysThinglink\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\" src=\"\/\/cdn.thinglink.me\/api\/image\/732965556558233600\/1024\/10\/scaletowidth#tl-732965556558233600;734070134'\" alt=\"\" \/><script src=\"\/\/cdn.thinglink.me\/jse\/embed.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll notice I&#8217;ve turned it into a <a href=\"http:\/\/thinglink.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thinglink<\/a> so I could link out to models and definitions to help start building an understanding of the systems, structures, and supports needed to be in place in order to meet the requirements of Act 77.<\/p>\n<h3>Proficiency as architecture to learning<\/h3>\n<p>My current understanding is proficiency-based graduation requirements and proficiency-based teaching and learning will serve as the architecture for opening opportunities for robust flexible pathways in Vermont schools. Once we clearly articulate &#8212; through learning targets &#8212; what we value in terms of content, skills, and dispositions, multiple ways of meeting those targets can be offered to students.<\/p>\n<p>The Personal Learning Plan then becomes both a map of those paths and a vehicle for student self-assessment of proficiencies earned both in and out of the school walls.<\/p>\n<h3>Where is the PD?<\/h3>\n<p>My current lens: \u00a0I look at each section and think how to structure professional development to prepare teachers to flourish in this changing environment.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7961\" src=\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/flourish.jpg\" alt=\"act77 flexible pathways\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" \/>For instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/scott-thompson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scott Thompson<\/a> and I have started to build an iTunesU course to help teachers understand and practice working within a blended learning environment that makes the best use of <a href=\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/open-educational-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open Educational Resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The course includes examples of how to structure classroom time differently to meet multiple needs (stations, small group projects, self-paced online learning progressions, etc.).<\/p>\n<h2>How do you define Flexible Pathways? What&#8217;s missing from my graphic?<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grappling with implementation In my current work with a number of Vermont middle schools, we have been trying to grapple with ways to tell the story of, or create a better understanding of, what our state&#8217;s Act 77\u00a0Flexible Pathways legislation\u00a0looks like in action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[132,82],"class_list":["post-7952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-thinglink","tag-vermont"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31243,"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952\/revisions\/31243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}