Tim Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation, set the stage by emphasizing a mission to catalyze transformational change in education for every student’s well-being and success. “We are experiencing an erasure of history and book banning across the nation, which has become its own kind of pandemic. Standing down is not an option.” He highlighted the outdated nature of traditional metrics like the Carnegie unit advocating instead for a focus on meaningful learning experiences that prioritize student growth over compliance. “Our learning systems call for and, in some cases, are moving beyond traditional metrics like the Carnegie unit.”

Knowles also critiqued current signaling systems’ dehumanizing effects and advocated for a more human-centered approach, urging collaboration with organizations, colleagues, and communities to construct a new educational framework.

Signaling a New Era: Beyond Carnegie Units

In some cases, our learning systems are moving beyond traditional metrics like the Carnegie unit. The focus is now on competency-based personalized learning, where students demonstrate mastery through authentic, project-based experiences. The future of education lies in embracing holistic assessment frameworks, reimagining reporting mechanisms, and activating what Dr. Pam Cantor calls the biology of learning to unlock human potential. 

Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, the opening keynote speaker, echoed that improvement is a collective effort rooted in reflection and action. She emphasized the importance of addressing the needs of marginalized communities and sustaining change through collaborative vision and pragmatic action. “We must never underestimate the power of committed people to a common vision. I ask each of you to commit to pursuing justice and equity and to be critically pragmatic—even in the face of opposition.”

She continued, “The change we lead is more than one person and must stick. This work will meet with resistance, know the types and ready ourselves for the response.” 

Community Design: Where Every Voice Matters

The essence of community design is about creating inclusive spaces where every voice matters. Bill Nicely from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, along with his team and local superintendents, shared the Kansas City Real World Learning collaborative, which showcased a successful collaboration spanning multiple school districts and states. Through partnerships with businesses, community organizations, and schools, they provided real-world learning experiences to students, preparing them for success beyond graduation. 

During an ecosystem session sponsored by Education Reimagined and History Co:Lab, panelists shared how they created a more inclusive and supportive learning environment by involving the community in defining goals and strategies, which improved student outcomes and engagement. Through networked improvement science and community engagement, these partnerships can drive meaningful change and equitable outcomes. 

Karen Minshew of Cajon Valley School District highlighted the importance of clear communication with the community and the intentionality of this communication, which invites people into the work. “When we communicate with the community, stop using the educational jargon. Be specific and intentional about the words you use.”

Improvement Science: From Challenges to Solutions

Sessions on systemic change illustrated the power of improvement science in addressing evolving student needs. Summit attendees, like Paul Tritter, the Director of Professional Learning from the Boston Teachers Union, appreciated how the summit shared “the ways people are making Improvement Science work for them without getting hung up on the “capital I” and the “capital S.”  He shared further that hearing people’s stories of taking elements of the improvement framework to make a change in their contexts felt empowering and alleviated the reflective question of “Am I doing this right” that can stymy the execution of action. 

In this posture, learning systems can co-create personalized, competency-based learning pathways. By leveraging critical inquiry protocols and engaging students as co-creators, schools can transform from traditional models to dynamic, student-centered environments. “Students are voting with their feet. If students did not have to come to your school- why would they come? Dig into that,” said Ryan Cordia, principal at Northeast Career & Technical Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Often, it can be additionally impactful to put improvement science directly into the hands of students. During a student panel from DC Public Schools, a student shared that in addressing challenges such as chronic absenteeism, students used a design sprint and started with empathy interviews with their peers to iterate on testable solutions. Students were not just at the center of discussion, they were equipped to lead change and make an impact in their learning community. 

Coolidge High School students highlighted the importance of students’ voices going beyond mere presence to having a meaningful stake in decision-making. This includes providing spaces for students to contribute to design and be heard in staff meetings, hiring processes, and key decisions. Students exemplified this through Emphasizing, Defining, Ideating, and Sustaining. They used empathy interviews to address issues like chronic absenteeism, collaborating to create a more engaging and supportive school environment.

Forging Partnerships: Collaboration for Impact

Successful partnerships require alignment, flexibility, and a shared vision. Sessions on inclusive postsecondary pathways emphasized the role of community engagement in designing equitable learning opportunities. The focus on competency-based personalized learning signals a shift beyond traditional metrics like the Carnegie unit. 

Brooke Stafford-Brizard, Vice President of Innovation and Impact at the Carnegie Foundation, highlighted the importance of redesigning learning experiences and embracing holistic assessment frameworks. “We have come a long way from calling the skills that matter terms like ‘non-cog skills.’ An example of this is the incredible XQ Competencies.” The journey towards whole child education, equity-centered systems, engaging learning experiences, and supportive signaling is a testament to resilience, innovation, and collaboration as educators and stakeholders step into a future where every student can thrive.

Stepping into the Future

As we face the future of education, our educational systems must move beyond traditional metrics like Carnegie units. The journey towards whole child education, equity-centered systems, engaging learning experiences, and supportive signaling is akin to breaking in a well-worn pair of sneakers—a testament to resilience, innovation, and collaboration from educators, policymakers, and stakeholders to ensure every student can thrive and reach their full potential.

The post Sneakers, Signals, and Systems: A New Era in Education appeared first on Getting Smart.

Over the last decade, since school districts around the country began to adopt the Portrait of a Graduate model to define a vision for their learners’ outcomes, we have heard a similar story from many district leaders about these efforts. Typically they speak of the enthusiasm that this vision brings to the community, particularly when their Portraits have been designed with input from all community members including teachers, students, and families. Portraits of a Graduate focus on the mindsets and skill sets that enable lifelong learning, success in all careers, and personal fulfillment—the attributes that have received great attention in the movements for 21st Century Learning and increasing uncertainties about the technical skills and knowledge that will be most useful in a rapidly changing future.

However, while school leaders find inspiration in the collective buy-in (which has become increasingly rare to develop in other areas of school), they also tend to express concern over the difficulty in ensuring that students are achieving these outcomes. While the skill sets and mindsets represented in Portraits of a Graduate have received growing attention, there are still many fewer available systems-wide resources and support for achievement and assessment than there are for academic goals. Meanwhile, the programs and supports that do exist tend to address only particular skills rather than the whole Portrait. As school leaders add more and more of these programs in an attempt to fulfill the complete vision of their Portrait of a Graduate, they also often engender “initiative fatigue” and burnout from the educators and support staff charged with implementation.

How can school districts deliberately and systematically create the structures that enable all learners to become their envisioned Portrait in public schools that are already overtaxed and strained? That is the question our team sought to answer as we began an effort to examine the promise and pitfalls of the Portrait of a Graduate. In our recently released report, Shifting Education with Learning Pathways: Becoming Your Portrait of a Graduate, we share what we have learned about both the Portrait of a Graduate model itself and offer a systematic approach to integration that we see as a key to success in learners achieving the vision of the Portrait.

The Skills that Portraits of a Graduate Say are Necessary for Learners to Thrive

We began by analyzing the content of a sample of Portraits from school districts across the country. While Portraits are designed uniquely by each school district with input from their communities, we found an overwhelming alignment across them in terms of what skill sets are emphasized. In our analysis, 90% of named attributes across all 69 Portraits we studied are aligned to the following six skill sets:

• Analyze to Understand 
• Care For and Contribute to Society 
• Collaborate Across Difference 
• Communicate in All Media and Modalities 
• Create to Solve and Share 
• Practice Self Awareness and Regulation 

While the specific terms used to specify these attributes vary, there is significant unity in the nature of the outcomes being expressed. School leaders and PoG design teams can leverage these resources to support schools and districts in customizing the specific contexts of their own community-developed Portraits.

While districts across the nation agree that these six skill sets are essential for learners, they face challenges in operationalizing them systematically. Each skill set is broadly defined, universally applicable, and deeply interconnected, making it difficult to concretely align them to curricular and pedagogical decision making. They also do not directly correlate to the current assessment and credentialing paradigm, which relies heavily on standardized tests and course grades. 

Integrated Learning Pathways Make the Vision of a Portrait More Achievable

In our direct work with districts, we have seen that a first step in making these attributes concrete is to identify observable practices within these skill sets at each developmental stage or grade level. Schools can use these identified practices to design and define “horizontal” learning pathways that intersect each academic “vertical,” creating a cross-cutting curriculum that allows teachers to see the specifics of how they can implement Portrait practices in their contexts. This reduces the burden on teachers to identify, on their own, every necessary opportunity to integrate Portrait skills, and enables them to concentrate their expertise on ensuring those integrations meet the needs of each of their individual students. 

Partnering with districts from across the nation, we have co-designed Integrated Learning Pathways to identify and implement opportunities for students to develop Portrait of a Graduate skill sets cumulatively through each grade and complementary across subjects. This approach allows the burden of implementing a Portrait vision to be more shared between teachers and leaders and reduce the impact of “initiative fatigue.”

This horizontal approach to creating a Portrait of a Graduate learning pathway also allows districts to more seamlessly integrate new priorities by aligning them with the Portrait pathway, further reducing the burnout caused by continued introduction of new initiatives and programs. In our paper, we share how Indian Prairie School District in Illinois has leveraged this approach to align their focus on Computational Thinking to their Portrait implementation. Portrait attributes are broader than computational thinking alone; however, in this case, computational thinking was a productive framework to operationalize universal and crosscutting Portrait attributes into classroom teaching and learning. Indian Prairie’s Director of Innovation, Brian Giovanini shared, “As we thought about computational thinking, and really, the skills and competencies that feed underneath that term, it really helped us visualize parts of the Portrait and build a learning pathway for our students to get to that outcome.” 

We recommend district leaders leverage Integrated Learning Pathways to align teaching and learning to their Portrait of a Graduate and ultimately better prepare students for a successful future. 

Josh Weisgrau is Chief Learning Officer, Learning Experience Design at Digital Promise

Kelly Mills is Director of Learning Pathway Design at Digital Promise.

The post Design Integrated Learning Pathways to Realize Your Portrait of a Graduate appeared first on Getting Smart.

What has been described as a “monumental remake” of public education in Wyoming is now underway–and it’s a transformation journey to watch. 

In April, Wyoming’s top state education leaders announced a joint commitment to support a competency-based approach to transforming teaching and learning across the state–an exciting development for advocates of competency-based education. Just weeks later, the “Wyoming’s Future of Learning” collaborative formalized a remarkable partnership among these key leaders, and announced the launch of its first pilot programs.

Wyoming’s decision to leverage a competency-based approach to support its transformation efforts reflects a national milestone: it is now true that every state in the nation allows competency-based learning in some form as an alternative to time-based advancement. 

What is also noteworthy is its particular approach to leading transformation–one that places it in a very select group of states. 

Here are three stand-out features to celebrate in Wyoming’s approach that make it a promising transformation journey to follow.

Wyoming’s state education leaders are modeling the power and possibility of aligned partnerships in unprecedented ways.

The Wyoming Future of Learning collaborative is an alliance among highly influential educational leaders that is simply unheard of. Can you recall a time when the governor, superintendent, state board of education, and university leaders all signed on to a shared vision for transformation, and then organized programming and resources to move it forward collaboratively? In a remarkable signal of commitment to making the education system better for young people and their families and communities, Governor Mark Gordon, Superintendent Megan Degenfelder and the Wyoming Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the University of Wyoming College of Education have all announced their commitment to work collaboratively to support student-centered innovations across the state. This collaboration represents a powerful opportunity for accelerating transformation and streamlining policy changes that stand for what’s best for young people.

Wyoming state leaders are reimagining their own role in the transformation effort, replacing top-down accountability models for an approach that focuses on learning alongside educators.

Rather than leading with mandates or major policy changes, Wyoming’s education leaders are positioning themselves as learners alongside practitioners, resourcing pilot programs to help determine the most effective approaches to supporting student centered learning. In effect, they’re creating learning and feedback loops among practitioners–a strategic move that will help ensure future policy decisions are not abstractions or largely anecdote-driven decisions, but decisions informed by on-the-ground realities and local knowledge.

There are other noteworthy state leaders who have also taken a learning partnership approach to engaging practitioners. One such example comes from reDesign’s work with South Carolina’s Department of Education. Under the leadership of Stephanie DiStasio, Director of Personalized Learning, the state facilitated multiple user feedback cycles with “early adopter” teachers to improve the newly developed competency framework. DiStasio also gathered routine input from school and district leaders on how to address barriers to implementation, which then informed new opportunities for educators to capitalize on policy flexibilities and access a robust array of professional learning offerings. 

Wyoming’s pilot programs are poised to support high levels of engagement and meaningful learning, by design.

Pilot programs can be an exciting way to foster engagement, learning, and innovation–but not all pilot programs are equal. Model design matters very much. Wyoming has strategically identified four focus areas for its pilot programs–Competency-Based Learning, Flexible Pathways, Personalized Learning, and Student Choice– all in response to community voices advocating for student-centered approaches. Arguably, when investing at the state level in ground-up innovation, establishing a clear focus doesn’t limit innovation; rather, it provides the participating learning community with clarity and a shared overall direction that can support prioritization and real-time decision-making. It also provides a simple, pre-determined framework for capturing and codifying learning. This is another noteworthy strength of the Wyoming pilot programs: its proactive plan to invest in both adult learning and institutional learning. The governor’s office has announced that state-sponsored professional learning will be provided to participating districts, and the Wyoming School-University Partnership, made up of school districts, community colleges, the University of Wyoming, and others, will serve as a hub for sharing their work and learning.

The importance of investing in adult development to support innovative pilot programs, or any transformation effort, cannot be overstated. Consider the pilot program currently sponsored by the state department of education in Massachusetts. The focus: How to reimagine grading and advancement policies. The partnerships: State department leaders, participating schools, higher education institutions, policy and research stakeholders, and design and capacity-building partners. The adult learning approach: Embedded school leadership coaching, policy and practice redesign support, teacher coaching to support shifts in practice that are essential to the new policies (e.g., When introducing a new policy related to revision, make sure instructional practices around feedback are clear, evidence-based, and implemented effectively), and opportunities for cross-pollination among schools to learn from their diverse models of implementation, while working from a shared roadmap for rethinking grading. Policy change implicates practice. Redesigning policies without investments in adult learning is like showing up for a marathon without training. 

When we put it all together–thoughtful pilot program design, reimagined state-level roles, unparalleled levels of partnership to help maximize the potential for real transformation–we see a clear message from Wyoming: This enterprise is fundamentally about learners and learning, nothing less. From the state house to the classroom, Wyoming educators are leading a transformation journey to watch, as they truly center their efforts on what’s best for young people. They deserve nothing less.

Antonia Rudenstine is the founder and creative director of reDesign, an education design and consulting organization with deep expertise in change leadership and strategy, curriculum and assessment design, competency-based learning, and pedagogy.

The post From the State House to the Classroom: How Policymakers Can Help Bring Competency-Based Education Into Reality appeared first on Getting Smart.

Updated: The Missouri State Board of Education voted unanimously Aug. 15 to approve ‘innovation waivers’ for the 20-school Success-Ready Students Network.

A network of 20 Missouri school districts is asking the state to implement a more responsive assessment system in order to personalize student learning.

The state Board of Education is considering the districts’ proposal to change testing at its Aug. 15 meeting. If approved, it would be the inception of a shift in Missouri’s education system that will “resurrect student engagement,” district leaders say.

The group of schools, part of the Success-Ready Students Network, wants to move away from the state’s annual standardized testing to assessments that would be administered multiple times a year. The coalition consists of public school districts and one St. Louis charter school, and includes a mix of rural and urban campuses with a wide range of student performance scores and poverty rates, according to state demographic and assessment data. 

During a June state board meeting, district leaders argued that the current system doesn’t provide results in time to be effectively used in the classroom. 

The schools want to instead take advantage of a new pilot waiver program created last year that offers exemptions for districts to bypass specific education laws for up to three years. These “innovation waivers” are intended to boost student performance and benefit educators by giving schools the room to implement unique strategies, said Lisa Sireno, assistant commissioner with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

“The state legislature enacted a statute that allowed the school innovation waivers in 2022 and so we’ve been working on what that process might look like,” Sireno told The 74. “The group with our very first innovation waiver request — the Success-Ready Students Network — kind of grew out of a (state) work group that was looking at competency-based education.”

While 20 school districts in the Success-Ready Students Network have agreed to launch new assessments if approved, other schools will join in the future, said Mike Fulton, one of the network’s facilitators. The plan is for a new cohort of districts to use the innovation waivers each school year until the entire state is involved.

If approved, districts will be able to administer multiple interim tests, but will still have to give the normal annual standardized test until a federal waiver is approved to get rid of it. Fulton said the Success-Ready Students Network will be working on a federal waiver later this year.

Fulton said the state’s innovation waivers are key to competency-based learning, which allows students to move through education at their own pace as they demonstrate a full understanding of the material.

“The whole proposal is designed to support the participating districts in using personalized, competency-based approaches in their learning design,” Fulton told The 74. “The assessment system was designed to provide feedback to both students, teachers, parents and every stakeholder, on how individual students are progressing, how classrooms and schools are doing and how districts are doing as a whole.”

Jenny Ulrich, superintendent of the Lonedell School District, part of the Success-Ready Students Network, said her teachers are always asking for feedback on what they are doing in the classroom, but assessment results are returned too late to make an effective change for individual students.

“We are alone out there trying to figure out how we get real-world learning to our kids,” Ulrich told the state board in June. “This work supports educators. It gives them a platform, an opportunity and the data they need to make good instructional design and decisions for their kids.”

Besides lagging results, standardized tests have been criticized around the U.S. for sucking up too much time, being culturally biased and doing little to improve students’ academic outcomes.

Ulrich said instead of the one-time tests, schools will administer tests several times a year and keep results updated online on a district dashboard for teachers to use in real time. The dashboards, which will go live in November, will show a student’s progress in becoming “high school ready” or “college, career and workforce ready.”

“By the end of the 2025-26 school year, it is our aim — our lofty goal — that 100% of our graduates would have an individualized plan,” Ulrich said. “As we reach these goals, all students will be able to declare, ‘I am truly college, career and workplace ready.’”

Fulton said districts will be transitioning to competency-based learning even if the state innovation waivers aren’t approved. Students will progress on evidence of mastery of skills based on state standards, meaning they might move through the K-12 education system faster or slower than their peers.

“That scares people a bit and I understand that,” Fulton said. “That’s a big shift.”

Sireno, the assistant state education commissioner, said the desire to switch Missouri schools to competency-based learning emerged from the learning loss caused by the pandemic. Earlier this year, more than a 100 Missouri districts experienced a drop in their student assessment scores to levels that would typically threaten their state accreditation.

“This will allow students to move at the appropriate pace. So, if some students finish mastery of the content a little bit quicker, if some students take a little bit longer, that’s OK,” Sireno said. “It’s a heavy lift, but it’s important work, and (districts) realize that it can have a real positive impact on student learning.”

Other schools around the nation have been tackling competency-based education as a way to help students recover ground in learning. Idaho, South Carolina, Kansas and Utah are among those that have successfully created competency-based learning systems, according to a 2021 state education department report.

Some states haven’t done as well implementing competency-based education. In 2018, Maine’s Department of Education had to scrap its competency-based learning model several years after it went into effect. The system lacked specifics in things like proficiency and grading, which also sparked parent backlash.

This is a common failure in putting the approach into practice, according to the Missouri Education Department’s 2021 report. 

“Researchers attribute negative outcomes to schools that implemented (competency-based learning) without clear definitions and expectations, as well as uneven implementation,” the report says. 

When Missouri’s innovation waiver plan was unveiled in June, the entire State Board of Education voiced support for it.

“It is a gift to the students, the parents and families in Missouri, and I would say nationwide,” said Charles Shields, board president. “Others will learn from us nationwide.”

Vice President Carol Hallquist said she believed it will “change the face of education” in Missouri.

Fulton, of the Success-Ready Students Network, said he hasn’t heard from any stakeholders warning against the use of innovation waivers or the switch to competency-based learning, but there is some wariness from the state department about using a model that hasn’t been tested. 

“I think we’re all going at this cautiously. Research is going to sit at the core of this,” he said. “But you have to be willing to be entrepreneurial and innovative and that’s what I think these districts are being asked to do. We need more of that in public education.”

Lauren Wagner covers education for the Omaha World-Herald and is a contributor to The 74.

This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox.

The post Why 20 Missouri School Districts Are Seeking New ‘Innovation Waivers’ to Rethink the Way They Test Students appeared first on Getting Smart.

This culture can then set the conditions for learners to understand that stress can be reframed as part of the learning process, an opportunity for growth, and a chance to push one’s boundaries. Embracing a growth mindset in the face of stress empowers individuals to approach challenges (and new learning) with resilience and adaptability, leading to enhanced learning outcomes and improved performance.

Equipping learners with a solid understanding of learning science empowers them to appreciate the importance of conditions, context, and thriving in their educational journey. Thoughtful feedback practices further enrich this transformative culture. By embracing these fundamental concepts, both educators and parents embark on a journey of transformation, redefining their view of productive struggle and embracing fresh learning experiences.

However, the real impact of growth mindset work comes to life when it seamlessly integrates into daily life, supported by systemic approaches that align with this vision. To genuinely cultivate a growth mindset culture, educators must avoid underestimating their learners’ potential and courageously address the harmful impact of systemic racial inequities in education. This unwavering belief in the capacity of historically underrepresented students to engage with challenging content is a cornerstone of fostering inclusivity. 

Educators create a learning environment that empowers every student, regardless of their background by recognizing and confronting these inequities head-on. This means breaking down barriers, providing targeted support, and nurturing a truly inclusive atmosphere that amplifies the voices of underrepresented students. By applying the strategies and tools provided below, learners gain a sense of empowerment in their learning journey and their ability to shape their own growth.

Implementation Progressions around a Growth Mindset Learning Culture:

• Fostering a Safe & Supportive Learning Environment
• Decoding How We Learn And the Power of Mindsets
• Embracing Feedback And Harnessing Self-Talk

Educators optimize their professional learning best when they are part of the co-designing and refinement and provide deliberate feedback. These progressions can also be integrated as educator competencies or included in a comprehensive Portrait of an Educator. For more details on these stages and their origin, we invite you to explore these articles Five Steps to Embed Growth Mindset Practices and Growth Mindset is More than a Bulletin Board.

SAFE & SUPPORTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT PRACTICES 

• Value and Acknowledge Learners: Prioritize recognizing and appreciating learners’ value when designing learning experiences. When learners feel valued and heard, it cultivates an environment that fosters recognition and enhances their readiness to learn. Validating and affirming their contributions is essential, as it acknowledges their unique perspectives and actively encourages their involvement in the learning process. Stephanie Malia Krause shares free resources from her latest book, Whole Child, Whole Life, 10 Ways to Help Kids Live, Learn, & Thrive. Tips for building connections and competencies. 
• Building Trust and a Safe Place: Establish an environment of trust by prioritizing relationship building. Begin by focusing on building relational trust through activities such as “Building Relational Trust” from Liberatory Design Implementation Cards, which feature design mindsets used at the Stanford d.school. NEA shared a recorded webinar titled “Building Trust in Indigenous Communities” and MDRC and The Education Trust have a helpful brief on “The Importance of Strong Relationships.” Design learning spaces for learners to take risks, ask questions, and freely share their thoughts, fostering an atmosphere where learning can flourish. 
• Cultivate Respect and Prioritize Learner Ideas: Create a learning environment that values and respects learner ideas. When learners feel that their thoughts and perspectives are respected and valued, they are more likely to share and express themselves without fear of judgment. This inclusive approach fosters psychological safety, enabling learners to engage in discussions and express their creativity confidently and without negative consequences.

HOW WE LEARN & MINDSETS PRACTICES

• Reflect for Self-Awareness: Promote reflection to gain insights into learners’ feelings about themselves and their learning experiences. By providing opportunities for learners to reflect on moments of success and challenges throughout the day, educators bridge the gap between experiences and understanding of optimal learning methods. This reflective practice encourages metacognition, self-awareness, and a deeper comprehension of individual learning preferences.
• Embrace Learning Science: Explicitly teach the dynamic nature of the brain, emphasizing that it evolves and grows throughout life. Adopt a phased approach to teach learning science, highlighting the concepts around neuroplasticity. 
• Supplement Curriculum: Engage learners by sharing and reviewing videos that illuminate the intricate workings of the brain. Consider integrating resources like the MindUP  Curriculum, which offers K-8 materials, including videos tailored to specific grade levels (e.g., grades 3-5). Turnaround for Children, now the Center for Whole Child Education at ASU Teachers College, offers resources around brain development (Stress and the Brain) for teachers. 

• Empower Parents & Families: Provide valuable resources for families and caregivers to enhance their understanding of brain development. MindsetWorks offers useful tools such as Brainology and Growing Early Mindsets (GEM). The Mindset Continuum chart helps identify mixed mindsets and offers insights into fostering growth.
• Address Misconceptions. Stay abreast of recent articles that challenge common misconceptions about learning cultures. By staying informed and up-to-date on the latest research and insights educators can foster an environment that nurtures understanding and growth.  

FEEDBACK AND SELF-TALK PRACTICES

• Encourage Feedback: Recognize the significance of feedback as a powerful tool for growth and development. Emphasize the importance of delivering feedback constructively and thoughtfully to provide valuable insights into learners’ progress and areas for improvement.
  • Consider adopting a coaching approach when providing feedback, paying attention to tone and quality. Edutopia offers strategies in their article for enhancing the coaching approach. 
  • Expand or create a feedback toolkit by exploring suggested sentence stems, such as the ones provided by Mindset Works. Review and adapt these phrases to suit your style and practice incorporating them into your feedback repertoire. 
  • Utilize the School Reform Initiative organization, which shares a protocol chart for identifying warm, cool, and hard perspectives.  
• Nurturing Positive Self-Talk: Teach self-talk and self-awareness through modeling. As both a teacher and a learner, share your thoughts with students when receiving feedback, especially if it comes from them after a learning experience.
  • Co-generate a class list with learners by collecting examples of nonproductive self-talk and brainstorming alternative approaches. Classmates can then practice this with a trusted partner, or as trust and the culture grows this list can be posted for peers to support one another.
  • Develop mindful observations of learners akin to running records rather than quick assumptions. Refer to Kristine Mraz and Christine Hertz Hausman’s book, A Mindset for Learning,” which offers a chart of observable behaviors of learners and the examples of self-talk that may be occurring.
  • Engage in “think alouds” is a simple yet powerful technique that allows for exemplary modeling of self-talk practices. 
  • Digital Promise also provides some positive self-talk resources and strategies on their Literacy 7-12 site.

To genuinely cultivate a growth mindset culture, avoid underestimating learners’ potential and bravely confront the harmful effects of systemic racial inequities in education. This unwavering belief in every student’s capacity to engage with challenging content is at the core of fostering inclusivity and empowerment. By embracing these principles, educators, and parents become powerful agents of change, enabling learners to thrive, succeed, and embrace a lifelong journey of learning and growth.

The post Creating an Inclusive Learning Culture Through Trust, Feedback Cycles, and Positive Self-Talk appeared first on Getting Smart.

This instructional approach revolves around three key stages: setting desired outcomes from the start, devising a plan to evaluate and achieve the outcomes, and formulating a strategic learning approach. The emphasis is placed on the process and tailoring the starting point for appropriateness (find out more about this on the ASCD website). Learning systems undergoing instructional shifts often prioritize strengthening instructional practices, and Backward Planning by Design serves as a foundational practice for personalized learning. 

A Collaborative Tool: Implementation Progressions 

The continuum below is a guide for educators to revisit Backward Planning and foster a systemic approach in classrooms and learning systems. It originated in Colorado through a collaboration involving K-12 educators, leaders, and stakeholders in Mesa County Valley School District 51. While it has been refined over time, the core purpose has not changed. Educators optimize learning and refine instruction through co-design and deliberate feedback. These progressions can also be integrated as educator competencies or included in a comprehensive Portrait of an Educator.

• Identify Learning Outcomes 
• Determine Acceptable Evidence
• Design Learning

In personalized learning frameworks, learner agency and co-designing elements are essential, empowering learners to contribute to their educational journey. To support this, there is an additional row for learner agency, followed by a section that emphasizes aligned instructional strategies. 

IDENTIFY LEARNING OUTCOMES PRACTICES

Learning outcomes can pull from competencies or standards. They may also be referred to as learning goals, Essential Understandings, Essential Questions, and Knowledge and Skills 

• Consider the learning outcomes. Questions to consider:
  • What are the essential concepts for students to understand?
  • What essential questions will students keep considering?
  • What knowledge and skills will students acquire?
  • What established outcomes are targeted?
• Review the depth of knowledge identified to know the learning outcomes. Set clear, achievable, and measurable learning goals and share them with learners. Prioritize collaborative, learner-centered learning. Determine how the design of learning contributes to a learner’s success and how the assessment process will impact the final mark (reassessment opportunities). 

DETERMINE ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE PRACTICES

Assessment design incorporates assessment literacy and learning science principles to effectively utilize formative, summative, and performance assessments.

• Consider the assessments and performance tasks learners will complete in order to demonstrate evidence of understanding and learning. How will I know if students have achieved the desired results? What will I accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency?
• Choose the types of assessments to gather evidence that will be used for designing. Considering Summative,  the culminating assessment activity at the end of the unit or a version of a formative assessment, that measures learners’ understanding along the way, such as quizzes, reflections, peer feedback, conferring, performance tasks, or practice work. 
• Access Prior Knowledge & Gather Feedback. This can occur through a pre-assessment, a type of diagnostic assessment to check students’ existing knowledge (which may not be needed in learning systems where the data is not averaged or archived) and/or formative check-ins (most common: KWL organizers, pre-tests, skill checks, and interest surveys (start of year/course). Timely, specific, and descriptive feedback that invites and allows student improvement
• Self & Peer Assessment. A key component of effective formative assessment is the involvement of learners in the process. This process Impacts the brain’s executive functions, ability to focus attention, monitor actions, and use feedback to make adjustments when necessary
• Performance Assessment. The authentic application of learning, the ultimate transfer of learning. Learners show what they know – not just for their teachers, but for themselves.

DESIGN LEARNING PRACTICES

Backward Planning from selected assessments and outcomes should incorporate instructional strategies and activities. Instructional strategies and learning activities are evaluated and considered for learning design. 

• Questions to consider:
  • What enabling knowledge (facts, concepts, principles) and skills (processes, procedures, strategies) will learners need in order to achieve desired results?
  • What activities will equip students with the needed knowledge and skills?
  • What materials and resources are best suited to accomplish these goals?
  • How will course material and learning experiences be organized?
• Instructional strategies are the teaching methods used to present new information. Methods can include teacher-centered approaches like demonstrations or lectures or student-centered approaches like peer discussion and inquiry-based learning. Instructional activities are the specific ways in which students interact with the course content. These activities run the gamut of watching educational videos, creating posters or presentations, completing a group project, or playing learning-based games 

These implementation progressions serve as a reflective tool for educators and PLC teams to self-assess their understanding and application of the Backward Planning stages. These tools foster a culture of reflection and growth, leading to ongoing improvements in instructional practices and enhancing learner achievement. 

The post Charting the Path for Personalized Learning By Planning Backward appeared first on Getting Smart.

The future direction of education lies at a transition point.

As we move deeper into the 21st century, the way we think about education – and the role that it plays in our lives – must change.

The traditional approach to education has long centered around a set curriculum and standardized testing. This was valid when we sought uniformity and could accurately predict outcomes. But with the rapid advancement of technology and an ever-changing global landscape of challenges and connections, it’s clear that we need to redefine our curricula to explicitly focus on building adaptable, lifelong learners who are adaptable to constant change.

My current role is to rethink education by helping educators create a more dynamic and inclusive education system. This requires a paradigm shift in how we think about education, which is a necessary first step in order to make any long-lasting change to our education system as a whole:

Strategy 1: Portfolio-Based Learning

One way to achieve this paradigm shift is by going beyond project-based learning and highlighting the crucial component of portfolio-based learning.

In portfolio-based learning (defined here by the University of Warwick), students work collaboratively to take ownership of their learning and apply the knowledge directly within practical, real-world settings. It allows students to go beyond merely documenting findings and solving problems.

Portfolio-based learning acts as a comprehensive tool to encourage learners to constantly reflect on their learning experiences, identify their strengths and weaknesses, showcase their creativity and self-expression, and codify how they are uniquely set to respond to the world around them.

Additionally, portfolios provide evidence of a student’s learning journey. Used as a tool for evaluation and assessment, it helps educators make more informed decisions about a student’s progress and potential.

According to the Harvard Business Review, the effectiveness of an exit interview program should be measured by the positive change it generates, regardless of the method used. Upon completion of the portfolio, a purposeful exit interview presents students with an opportunity to uniquely express their learning progress to mentors, fostering valuable feedback and guidance for what lies ahead.

Strategy 2: Competency-Based Learning

Shifting to competency-based learning is another approach that prioritizes the mastery of skills over the completion of predetermined coursework.

For example, educators can utilize levels of skill mastery like novice, specialist, and master, to assess student progress and enable them to learn at their own pace, customizing to individual needs and interests to enable students to learn at their own pace. By combining portfolio-based learning, real-world competencies and mastery-based learning strategies, competency-based learning ensures that students develop the skills and knowledge required to thrive in the real world.

Strategy 3: Technology-Infused Teaching Practices

Another essential component in redefining education is for teachers to incorporate technology into their teaching strategies. Technology can provide a more interactive and engaging learning experience for students, and it can also assist in addressing other teaching challenges, such as learning differences and language acquisition. There is a growing demand for educators to keep pace with the ever-changing technological landscape and provide students with the tools they need to succeed in the future.

Educators can use project-based learning and technology-infused teaching practices to enhance and personalize the learning experience for students. Technology plays a significant role in this experience by facilitating global connections between students and peers/experts, providing remote access to information and resources, and enabling the creation and sharing of student-generated content.

Technology-infused interdisciplinary teaching practices include the use of various digital tools and platforms, such as virtual and augmented reality and social media (see a sample of students’ work from Oaxaca, Mexico). These tools allow students to engage in project-based learning experiences that challenge them to apply critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity to real-world issues.

Strategy 4: Future-Facing Vision

To make these changes, educators and schools need to start small.

It is essential to create a vision of what the future of learning looks like and then work towards that vision. Educators also need visionary leadership to help them experiment with new design fiction, teaching strategies, and creating innovative ways of assessing and predicting the effectiveness of these strategies. Educators should collaborate with other educators to share best practices and develop a community of learners.

Conclusion

The future of education must be redefined to keep pace with the changing times. We must also be willing to imagine the futures that we have the possibility to create.

The traditional approach to education is no longer sufficient in preparing students for the complexities of the real world. Redefining education requires a paradigm shift in how we think about education as a way to empower adaptable, lifelong learners.

By redefining education, we will prepare our students for a future that is ever-changing and full of possibilities. In the process, we may also make teaching joyful again. I’m radically hopeful about the future for our learners.

Russell Cailey is the Managing Director of THINK Learning Studio, an innovative consultancy and training platform shaping modern education around the world. An England native, Russell has spent over two decades as an educator and leader in the world’s first traveling high school (Think Global School) and the Loreto network of global schools, sharing his vision of disrupting the traditional education model and promoting a new, more dynamic approach to learning.

The post From Classroom to Career: Mastering Real-World Competencies through Alternative Learning appeared first on Getting Smart.

The challenge, however, becomes implementation. With Katie Martin, we highlight the specific steps to take the Portrait of a Graduate into reality. Nomenclature can be confusing here, so for clarity, we define some overlapping terms. A Portrait of a Graduate (also called a Profile of a Learner, Learner Outcomes, Profile of a Graduate, etc.) consists of a set of competencies (also called outcomes, proficiencies, etc.). Competencies are broken down into progressions (also called indicators, rubrics, etc.) that describe multiple levels of proficiency on each competency. Most progressions articulate a level of competency that is expected of learners prior to earning a credential (such as a diploma).

These competencies can be:

• core: high-level skills in core academic areas such as written communication, mathematical thinking, etc.
• technical: high-level skills specific to a particular sector, often CTE related, and
• transferable: transferable across multiple sectors often built into the Portrait of a Graduate)

Regardless of the type, competencies are broad assertions that a learner can apply a particular set of skills across multiple situations with varied contexts.

Learners that can demonstrate these competencies are better equipped both personally and professionally as adults. And, the one question we continue to get is how to specifically assess competencies once a progression of indicators has been built out for each competency?

Traditional standardized assessments often are accurate but not valid measures of a learner’s potential. When assessing deeper learning and application, there are multiple methods to assess a competency. With these types of assessments, it is challenging for measures of assessment to be both valid (correctly measuring what you want to measure) and accurate (being consistent in what you measure).

Standards-based

While standards-based is not competency-based, it is certainly related and worth explaining. The main difference lies in the granularity of a standard (very specific) compared to the more broad skill applications described in competencies. All public schools are required to design curriculum that aligns to state-mandated standards. Some schools explicitly connect all learning, especially in math and literacy, to standards. Most primary schools are now using standards-based report cards with students where each class articulates student proficiency on a set of standards for that class. These standards are evaluated using rubrics that can describe three to four levels of performance where the third level is often deemed “proficient” and the fourth level is deemed “exceeding/extending/applying”.

Dr. Robert Marzano has extended standards-based work to help schools build Proficiency Scales for each standard. These scales articulate the content and skills expectations leading up to and exceeding the standard. This assessment rubric shows performance on the skills/expectations of the level of proficiency. Portage High School in Indiana articulates proficiency scales around each standard, as an example.

Competency-based 

Competencies are larger grain size compared to standards, and are transferable across multiple domains, supporting relevancy and useinto the future. Often, competencies are evaluated via performance assessments, complex applied tasks to demonstrate understanding of the competency in multiple and novel contexts. Stanford University’s SCALE initiative offers a database of performance assessments. In competency-based assessment systems three approaches have emerged in the landscape.

Rubric-based competency systems are often found in secondary schools and use the levels of performance articulated in the progression as a rubric. Students submit and re-submit work until they get to a proficient performance level, typically a three. Levels 1-2 show progress along the way, but these lower performance levels are meant to guide the student not serve as levels of attainment. Once a student has submitted enough evidence against level 3, then they could challenge themselves to the exceeding or level 4 performance. In this system, students are submitting and resubmitting until they receive a 3 or 4 on multiple artifacts. At that point, the student has demonstrated proficiency on the competency. Northern Cass in North Dakota uses this system)

Progression-based competency systems are different. A progression may be a series of levels, depending on whether this is a PK-Graduate system or a secondary approach only,  and a student is expected to demonstrate proficiency at one level before moving onto another level. This progression based system implies that a student will demonstrate evidence toward each level. Summit Learning’s Cognitive Skills, Building21’s Competency Continuum, and XQ Competencies are all built on this system.

Rubric/progression-hybrid competency systems articulate a progression of indicators for each competency and articulate assessment rubrics for each level of performance. This approach is complex in terms of construction, but provides clarity on each indicator for both the learner and the educator. Specifically, for any given indicator, the evidence submitted is evaluated against the rubric to assess the quality of the submission.

Determination of proficiency threshold

Once a school has a set of competencies, a related progression and has made a decision around how the progression will be used, a series of protocols on how to determine proficiency must be made. Often these protocols are dependent on a teacher who is assessing the artifacts submitted toward the particular competency. Some competencies may only require one artifact while others may require more. Some schools may decide to use a mathematical determination if they are applying a rubric-based competency system. The average of the last three scores, the highest scores, or a decaying average all are methods to determine proficiency on a competency (these calculations are also used in standards-based systems). Some LMS platforms will provide these options (or allow a school to build its own custom auto-calculation). Whether teacher-determined or calculated, proficiency determination should aim for both accuracy and validity.

Translation of Competency Systems for Reporting

While traditional letter grades are typically not relevant in a competency-based system, a translation is sometimes needed to meet state, district or school requirements around grades, courses, etc. This can be challenging as competencies are binary, you either do or do not meet the expectations articulated in the competency progression. However, a few different methods are observed in schools. First, a competency-average is when the score on each competency (which was determined by an auto-calculation or teacher determination) is averaged across the competencies for the course. That resulting average is translated into a letter grade through a school-determined translation table. Second, competency-completion looks at the number of total competencies in a course and the number of competencies determined proficient and calculates a “percent-proficient” score. This score is then translated into a letter grade for the course. This last option avoids any averaging but does run into the issue of timing in that competencies are meant to be completed over time, so your percent-proficient score will increase over time.

Conclusion

Assessment of competencies tends to be the most challenging change for schools and districts implementing a competency-based system – especially when constrained by state reporting, eligibility, and college applications. Being clear on approaches and methods from the start can provide clarity for all members of the community.

The post Measuring Learning Growth: Competencies and Standards appeared first on Getting Smart.

Durable Skills are a combination of how you use what you know – skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity – as well as character skills like fortitude, growth mindset, and leadership. Last fall, America Succeeds published an analysis with Lightcast that found that of the over 80 million job postings from 2020-2021, seven of the ten most requested skills were Durable Skills and the top five Durable Skills were requested in job postings. The analysis also affirmed that Durable Skills are in demand for jobs across the workforce regardless of educational attainment level, industry, sector, or geography.

Earlier this year, Intuit and America Succeeds partnered to create a case study articulating the effectiveness of Intuit’s Design for Delight program (more on that here) and how well it cultivates Durable Skills. Our team joined as a partner in the work to support educator engagement, develop and refine learning outcomes and we were lucky enough to participate in the camp to support storytelling and connect with learners.

The objective: Determine the value of the camp in preparing students with the skills needed to be successful in their future careers.

After observing the camp, America Succeeds created a case study sharing the four-day summer camp experience and their verdict on if it truly supports learners in creating and building Durable Skills that will serve them in high school and beyond.

Download the case study here and take a look at what America Succeeds found, see photos of learning in action and learn more about Intuit’s Design for Delight program and camp opportunity.

The post Design for Delight: Building Durable Schools with Learners appeared first on Getting Smart.

Implementing scalable change in a learning system requires visionary work, brave conversations, and the ability to be intentional when deciding where to start, how to phase the work ahead, and how to reflect along the journey. Creating human-centric structures can not be achieved through a prescriptive recipe; it does not involve a canned curriculum with a paced delivery. Moving away from our system’s age-old paradigms requires brave leadership–not simple management.

Traditionally, our schools have not been designed to support all learners in achieving as much as possible. Although intended to provide families with access to viable economic pathways, the school has historically been designed, first and foremost, to be efficient. Transforming a learning organization born and bred from within this context takes time, and the route matters. As with any journey, taking the wrong route may prevent you from reaching your intended destination at all.

This blog builds upon Framing and Designing the How, by digging into strategies for determining the ideal pace for implementation of innovation by seeking an understanding of the system you serve (including the students, community, staff, and families). By assessing your organization or team’s capacity for change and commitment, you can identify leverageable phases and determine where to start.

Scaling Change

The level of readiness, urgency and commitment are driving factors in the pace of transformation and the leadership that is required. As a system experiences growth toward the vision,  the understanding, and commitment, will make way for larger levels of implementation to occur.

Starting small could mean a team of teachers collaborating and providing thematic projects or changing a leadership structure at a site. This level of change might lead to all middle schools providing humanities instruction across the system or intentional leadership teams aligned to the needs of sites, not seniority or personal preference.

Another route to change, given the context of capacity and commitment challenges, could be to start innovation through a microschool or learning pathway. This would fall into the small-scale change for a district or large-scale for a school. Providing an incubation hub for educators in the system to innovate or see and engage could lead to demonstration learning environments and eventually phasing onramp options for other groups in a system. Similar to meeting learners where they are on a learning journey, these innovative options can meet educators where they are in their change process.

Very Small Scale: Thematic units between teachers Small Scale:  Design a microschool or HS pathway Large Scale: Early literacy redesign Implement: District-wide learning model

Large-scale change (short of whole-school transformation) could include redesigning early literacy development or assessment practices.

Full-scale implementation, like a district-wide personalized learning adoption, entails changing instructional practices at every level and this requires a high level of skill capacity and beliefs in the transformation. This phased level of change requires different approaches to leadership structures and intentional language around communication. Different levels of scale have varied needs and drivers.

Uncovering Drivers, Assessing Readiness

A collaborative team can support the project managing side of things but must do so in service of leading transformational change, which will not be easy or clean. This is the work that leaders are drawn to do. This is also the work we were drawn to do within this profession; to impact lives, not just the lives that are compliant, receptive, or malleable. Educators want to reach all of the young people we serve.

As communities uncover the need for change around the only learning system they know, that can be unsettling, as change often is. The pandemic exposed our learning systems that were poised to change in this context, those that weathered the storm, and those that barely hung on because the system was so utterly unprepared to change within a different context.

The chart below considers the drivers that are needed to move an organization through transformational change. Considering these drivers can shape the pace by building momentum, inclusion, and common understandings toward the implementation of a learning vision.

Understanding that you have groups at varying levels and studying the motivation and needs of these groups can shape a more considerate and responsive leadership style. This is also true for how the work is communicated and with consideration of the stakeholder roles. Transformational leadership relies on transparency and consistent communication. Leaders must share how they will lead and communicate during the journey to move toward the trust that is required to innovate.

Leaders and Managers

Leading groups in varied places on the journey are similar to but not exactly the same as differentiated learning. With adults, this is their profession, they trained for this career.

The more leaders are aware of the needs and wants of a group or individuals, the better they will communicate and lead. For example, a group of teacher leaders who feel valued in the current model and have a high capacity in delivering personalized learning may need to better understand the reasons (why) around systemic change, or the way a context changes their known strategies. Whereas some groups may already see the need for change and may even work with marginalized groups that the system is not serving. This group may need to understand the how or learn about a set of strategies and pathways that allow for new and innovative approaches.

Leaders need to utilize the expertise and insight of various stakeholders to support systemic change and sustenance. Instead of siloed departments disconnected from their mutual accountability, transformational systems will lean into the ambiguity together. Continuous collaboration, improved communication and more robust identities for roles and contributions will lead to a new way of understanding leadership and possibility.

Leading for Scale and Sustainability

At the same time, the success of a system is never solely the result of one leader’s efforts, but instead because of a collaborative leadership effort. In such a setting, leaders don’t shy away from leaning into the hard stuff, but they also make space for others to be part of crafting the solution, using their collective strengths. A leader acting alone is unlikely to make sustainable change; a leadership team or collective leadership efforts are vital.

Transformational leaders distribute decision-making authority and responsibility to teams closest to focused stakeholder impact, like students. They spot and utilize leaders throughout the organization to staff and lead short-term projects, host or sponsor conversations, and facilitate agreements for improvement and innovation projects. They also give space for leaders in charge of future thinking as well as leaders in charge of the current strategy. Leaning into critical conversations and embracing vulnerability in times of ambiguity are critical phases to moving an organization forward.

Closing Thoughts

To assess a learning system’s level of readiness, an internal learning audit or external needs assessment may be a great place to start. The Carnegie Foundation, a leader in the field of improvement science, offers tools and resources for how to lead change. Co-designing Schools Toolkit provides resources for equitable change at the school level. With a strong understanding of leadership, shared commitments, and values, the work ahead is doable and scalable. The time this will take depends on the readiness of systems, their size, and scale, as well as the health of the communities they serve.

The post Mindful Leadership for Change appeared first on Getting Smart.