NESSC High School Redesign in Action Conference

This presentation will describe Great Bay Charter School's (GBCS) progress on the road toward personalized learning. GBCS is implementing its year one action plan as a NexGen personalization project school and is committed to personalization, but like many schools, it is challenged by initiative overload. How can schools effectively link together components of their system of personalized learning to create cohesion—and results for students?

Presenters will discuss the current connections between GBCS’s personalization initiatives, lessons learned so far, and likely next steps. The session will focus on the intersections between its faculty advisory program, writing across the curriculum program, its recently implemented personalized learning plans, and its evolving use of portfolios.

Participants will engage in a reflective exercise about the personalization of learning in their individual settings and consider both existing programs and potential barriers. They will develop an understanding of how GBCS’s action plan has helped the school overcome barriers and strengthen the relationships among ongoing initiatives in order to work more efficiently.

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/  

Research shows that a proficiency-based feedback system increases student engagement, encourages personalized instruction, and gives students much greater control of the learning process. But for many educators, making the transition to proficiency-based learning and assessment can be challenging. Schools often have pockets of teachers who have successfully transitioned to proficiency-based grading and feedback practices. How do you get from pockets of proficiency-based grading to schoolwide adoption?
In this presentation, four teachers and a principal from Ellington Middle School will show participants how one school developed a school culture of learning that has led to the implementation of proficiency based learning and assessment in all classrooms.
Participants will learn strategies for developing and implementing a schoolwide proficiency-based model from the ground up using book clubs, teacher study groups, parent and student input, and effective practices for building community support.

Research shows that a proficiency-based feedback system increases student engagement, encourages personalized instruction, and gives students much greater control of the learning process. But for many educators, making the transition to proficiency-based learning and assessment can be challenging. Schools often have pockets of teachers who have successfully transitioned to proficiency-based grading and feedback practices. How do you get from pockets of proficiency-based grading to schoolwide adoption?
In this presentation, four teachers and a principal from Ellington Middle School will show participants how one school developed a school culture of learning that has led to the implementation of proficiency based learning and assessment in all classrooms.
Participants will learn strategies for developing and implementing a schoolwide proficiency-based model from the ground up using book clubs, teacher study groups, parent and student input, and effective practices for building community support.