Tailoring instruction to meet each student’s specific needs is an essential aspect of personalized learning. Differentiated instruction—a practice many expert teachers have employed for years—is one way to accomplish this.
In this session, participants will learn techniques to differentiate in the math classroom, first by experiencing learning as a student and then reflecting alongside fellow participants. Participants will be led through a unit design process that will also provide an opportunity to try out the activities from a student’s point of view.
A portion of this design process includes the development of more challenging, open-ended assessment tasks aligned to school graduation standards that encompass the Common Core Mathematical Practices. Participants will complete an assignment and experience the possibilities for differentiation as they work authentically with the same problem. Participants will also have the opportunity to examine student work on this same problem and discuss the variety of ways that students can show success.
In this session, school coaches from the Great Schools Partnership will share a comprehensive approach to developing a multi-year district plan for implementing proficiency-based learning. Participants will leave with a stronger understanding of the components of district-wide implementation and a set of resources, such as a district self-assessment and planning tool. The resources are designed to guide a district leadership team through a thoughtfully staged process that will result in a concrete plan of action, building upon the district’s existing assets in the areas of policy, practice, and community engagement. This session will focus on the particular role leaders must play, especially in districts with two or more high schools.
While the session will help districts that are just beginning their work, the resources and strategies will also be beneficial to districts already transitioning to a proficiency-based system.
Session Materials: greatschoolspartnership.org/nessc16_district/
Public schools benefit everyone in a community—from the youngest resident to the oldest. And there is perhaps no more important role for a community than ensuring its youngest members are supported, educated, and prepared for adult life. As civic institutions, schools work best when they have the support of their communities, when they model democratic practices, and when they give students, families, and community members opportunities to be involved and be heard. In this session, participants will learn how to structure and facilitate constructive public conversations about educational issues, including practical strategies for establishing ground rules, ensuring that diverse voices are represented, framing questions and discussions, navigating differing viewpoints and values, and following up in ways that let community members know their voices have been heard and acted upon. Representatives from New Hampshire Listens will also model and facilitate a dialogue activity for participants, while a team from Portland Empowered will share the story of how it worked with new American families to develop a “Parent and Family Engagement Manifesto” and the challenges inherent in designing inclusive conversations that can overcome institutional, cultural, and linguistic divides.
Housed at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Listens, has helped districts, schools, and communities design and facilitate hundreds of community conversations that bring together diverse voices to solve challenging public problems. Coordinated by the Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, Portland Empowered works to inform and influence the future of education in Portland, Maine, by mobilizing parents, families, and students who are often left out of decision-making, including low-income and immigrant families, and by building the skills and capacity of students to lead educational innovation in their schools.
As more schools embrace personalized learning models as promising ways to engage students, we must guard against the danger of personalizing standards in the process. Ensuring that all students graduate college- and career-ready is one of the equity challenges we must address head on. How might we work to ensure our personalized learning system is designed in a way that begins with the belief that all students can reach the learning expectations that our communities have articulated are essential for success beyond high school graduation? What does it mean to be a school that places equity front and center in their personalized learning system?
In Visible Learning for Teachers—which is based on a study of more than 900 meta-analyses representing well over 50,000 research articles and 240 million students—John Hattie describes what students want more than anything else in feedback they receive from teachers: they want to know how to improve their work so they can do better next time. Although many teachers incorporate formative assessment into their practice, these assessments don’t always give students the detailed feedback they want and need, and teachers don’t always use formative information to modify instruction. In this session, participants will explore the three elements that can increase the effectiveness of formative assessments: (1) using learning targets well, (2) giving valuable feedback, and (3) creating opportunities for re-teaching, interventions, and support in both classroom and school-wide practice.
In this session, participants will learn about a variety of structures and practices they can use to help students improve their work, strengthen their skills, and accelerate their learning.In Visible Learning for Teachers—which is based on a study of more than 900 meta-analyses representing well over 50,000 research articles and 240 million students—John Hattie describes what students want more than anything else in feedback they receive from teachers: they want to know how to improve their work so they can do better next time. Although many teachers incorporate formative assessment into their practice, these assessments don’t always give students the detailed feedback they want and need, and teachers don’t always use formative information to modify instruction. In this session, participants will explore the three elements that can increase the effectiveness of formative assessments: (1) using learning targets well, (2) giving valuable feedback, and (3) creating opportunities for re-teaching, interventions, and support in both classroom and school-wide practice.
In this session, participants will learn about a variety of structures and practices they can use to help students improve their work, strengthen their skills, and accelerate their learning.
Session Materials: greatschoolspartnership.org/nessc16_formative/
In Visible Learning for Teachers—which is based on a study of more than 900 meta-analyses representing well over 50,000 research articles and 240 million students—John Hattie describes what students want more than anything else in feedback they receive from teachers: they want to know how to improve their work so they can do better next time. Although many teachers incorporate formative assessment into their practice, these assessments don’t always give students the detailed feedback they want and need, and teachers don’t always use formative information to modify instruction. In this session, participants will explore the three elements that can increase the effectiveness of formative assessments: (1) using learning targets well, (2) giving valuable feedback, and (3) creating opportunities for re-teaching, interventions, and support in both classroom and school-wide practice.
In this session, participants will learn about a variety of structures and practices they can use to help students improve their work, strengthen their skills, and accelerate their learning.
Personalizing learning is easier said than done. Identifying the essential knowledge and skills necessary for success and developing systems and structures to support students and teachers to accomplish it are the easy parts. Preparing for and supporting the professional growth and learning of teachers as they navigate the shifts in approaches to instruction, assessment, and related support to students is much more challenging—and critical. During this session, teachers from the Consortium’s League of Innovative Schools will share powerful and inspiring stories about the ways their schools’ personalized-learning efforts have supported their own growth, the power of collaboration, and the importance of an authentic learning community.
