NESSC High School Redesign in Action Conference

Proficiency-based learning can take a wide variety of forms from state to state, school to school, and even classroom to classroom. And yet, certain beliefs and practices tend to be held in common across even diverse proficiency-based learning systems. To better define this shared pedagogical foundation, upon which schools can build their proficiency-based learning work, the Great Schools Partnership created the “Ten Principles of Proficiency-Based Learning,” which describes the features found in the most effective proficiency-based systems.

But what do these principles look like in the classroom? How do teachers make them meaningful for themselves, students, and colleagues?

In this workshop, participants will examine specific, purposefully implemented practices that various teachers use in their mastery classrooms to bring the ten principles to life. Through this exploration, participants will deepen their understanding of how these practices, when used for purposefully, can have positive effects on student achievement. In small learning groups, participants will add to the presented collection of practices. They will be able to transport these concrete strategies back to their schools, with an understanding of how each supports at least one of the ten principles.

Proficiency-based learning can take a wide variety of forms from state to state, school to school, and even classroom to classroom. And yet, certain beliefs and practices tend to be held in common across even diverse proficiency-based learning systems. To better define this shared pedagogical foundation, upon which schools can build their proficiency-based learning work, the Great Schools Partnership created the “Ten Principles of Proficiency-Based Learning,” which describes the features found in the most effective proficiency-based systems.

But what do these principles look like in the classroom? How do teachers make them meaningful for themselves, students, and colleagues?

In this workshop, participants will examine specific, purposefully implemented practices that various teachers use in their mastery classrooms to bring the ten principles to life. Through this exploration, participants will deepen their understanding of how these practices, when used for purposefully, can have positive effects on student achievement. In small learning groups, participants will add to the presented collection of practices. They will be able to transport these concrete strategies back to their schools, with an understanding of how each supports at least one of the ten principles.

In this workshop, teachers and students from Proctor Junior/Senior High School will highlight their efforts to change their school from a teacher-centered model to a student-centered learning environment.

Presenters will share several key efforts that have been part of this transition to a “learner-centered” paradigm, including the separation of work habits from academic expectations, capacity-building for students to track their own progress against content proficiencies and drive their own learning through formative and summative assessment, and the role that Proctor’s ‘earned honors credit’ policy plays in a larger proficiency-based approach to learning.

In particular, presenters will focus on transitioning to PBL in Math and Science courses, describing strategies such as an “asynchronous classroom”—in which students work at their own pace through a collaborative, inquiry-based approach to labs—and teacher-designed “playlists” that target specific learning intentions and provide students with choices in how they access and demonstrate learning.

In this workshop, teachers and students from Proctor Junior/Senior High School will highlight their efforts to change their school from a teacher-centered model to a student-centered learning environment.

Presenters will share several key efforts that have been part of this transition to a “learner-centered” paradigm, including the separation of work habits from academic expectations, capacity-building for students to track their own progress against content proficiencies and drive their own learning through formative and summative assessment, and the role that Proctor’s ‘earned honors credit’ policy plays in a larger proficiency-based approach to learning.

In particular, presenters will focus on transitioning to PBL in Math and Science courses, describing strategies such as an “asynchronous classroom”—in which students work at their own pace through a collaborative, inquiry-based approach to labs—and teacher-designed “playlists” that target specific learning intentions and provide students with choices in how they access and demonstrate learning.

Current research suggests that high-functioning professional learning communities (PLCs) have a positive impact on student learning. At Bacon Academy, we identified the need to broaden the notion of a professional learning community to incorporate not just a team of teachers, but the entire faculty.

In 2014, the school established an action research team called the Teacher Learning Community to take on the development of a school-wide professional learning community. Presenters will share the process that the team used to surface teachers’ needs, including surveys for teachers and students, interviews, and classroom observations.

Through this session, participants will gain an understanding of how to function as a school-wide PLC that can help teachers access research-based strategies to improve instruction. Participants will learn about Bacon Academy’s working model for how to conduct action research in their schools and will leave with protocols to support the development of an action research team in their own schools.