Vermont Leading Proficiency Series

PBL Design Workshop for School Leaders

Intended Audience: high school principals, district curriculum leaders, instructional coaches & lead teachers

As Vermont schools engage in the work of implementing proficiency-based learning (PBL) systems, many school leaders are discovering the challenges of shifting to this new approach. Participants in this series will examine their school structures in light of their educational priorities and values. Facilitators will lead an investigation of PBL decision points and share resources, including related research, local examples, and other documents from the field. Facilitators will also lead a discussion of the PBL design trade-offs, challenges, and successes encountered so far. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of key decision points in designing assessment, grading, and reporting for PBL.

Facilitators will guide participating districts through an inquiry process shaped by guiding principles (below) and strengthened with approaches from the field that have worked. Facilitators will solicit implementation challenges & problems of practice from participating districts in order to meet specific needs in a timely way. There will be time for inter-district collaboration as well as team time for districts to apply new learning to their unique local contexts.

REGISTER HERE

Learning Objectives: Systems approach, Change Strategies, and Communications

Location:
The Essex Resort 
70 Essex Way, Essex, VT 04552

Dates + Times 
September 27, 2018 | October 25, 2018 | November 15, 2018
8:30 AM – 3:30 PM

Team Registration
$2,400 per team of four
Add up to three additional members at a rate of $450 per person

Registration Fee includes: 
Light Breakfast, Lunch, and Afternoon Snack
Course Materials

Facilitators:

Michael Martin, Ed.D, Director of Learning for South Burlington School District
Mike McRaith, Principal, Montpelier High School

Series Sessions:

Fall 2018

September 27, 2018 I 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Session 1

Session 1 Overview: 

Why: Clarity and Precision
What: Grain Size, Grading Consistency, Feedback, Reporting, Retakes, Transcripts
How: Structured Work Time

Decision Points: 

  • Who will decide what constitutes graduating? 
  • Will there be a school wide assessment system or guiding grading principles? (zeroes, formatives, summatives, retakes, midterms, finals, averages, .5 increments, power law, decaying average, etc.)
  • Will you have proficiency based credits, or will students graduate based on x number of accumulated proficiency indicators?
  • What grading scale will you use? Will you convert? How does that affect procedures such as GPA, sports eligibility, honor roll, graduation?

Agenda
Session 1 Slides

October 25, 2018 I 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Session 2

Session 2 Overview: 

Why: 21st Century Learning
What: Understanding by Design, Transferable Skills, Summatives & Formatives Grain Size
How: Structured Work Time

Decision Points: 

  • Who will decide what indicators are in a given course of learning? 
  • Are you going to have transferrable skills separate or together with units? 
  • Will courses have a set number of indicators or variables? 
  • How are formative assessments averaged into grades (if at all?)
  • What is your school homework policy and what is its intended effect?
Agenda
Session 2 Slides

November 15, 2018 I 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Session 3

Session 3 Overview: 

Why: Proficiency for all students
What: Growth Mindset, Executive Function, Universal Design for Learning, Systems  of Student Supports
How: Structured Work Time

Decision Points: 

  • How are habits of learning taught, assessed, and graded?
  • What happens when students don’t meet proficiency after multiple attempts?
  • When will you modify learning activities versus when will you accommodate? Who will decide? (special ed)
  • What are the instructional shifts you most want to see in a proficiency-based system?
  • Which aspects of your PBL system will help traditionally disadvantaged students the most? Which aspects risk hurting them?

Agenda
Session 3 Slides

Facilitator Biographies:

Biographies

Michael Martin, Ed.D. is the Director of Learning for South Burlington School District and a Senior Associate with the Rowland Foundation. He was a participant in the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education and teaches graduate courses on personalized and proficiency-based learning for Saint Michael’s College and The University of Vermont. He has written over 100 commentaries on culture & education for Vermont Public Radio and is the author of The Ghost of John Dewey. His work focuses on learner agency, collective teacher efficacy, and equity & inclusion.

Mike McRaith is the principal of Montpelier High School. He is a 2013 Rowland Fellow with a research interest and expertise dedicated to increasing student achievement through social emotional learning. He has been fortunate to study grit, deliberate practice, and social belonging with Angela Duckworth at the University of Pennsylvania’s Character Lab. With Castleton University, he offers several online continuing educational courses to teachers around the state on social emotional learning, proficiency based learning, and personalization.

Spring 2018

March 22, 2018 I 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Session 1

Session 1 Overview: 

Why: Clarity and Precision
What: Grain Size, Grading Consistency, Feedback, Reporting, Retakes, Transcripts
How: Structured Work Time

Decision Points: 

  • Who will decide what constitutes graduating? 
  • Will there be a school wide assessment system or guiding grading principles? (zeroes, formatives, summatives, retakes, midterms, finals, averages, .5 increments, power law, decaying average, etc.)
  • Will you have proficiency based credits, or will students graduate based on x number of accumulated proficiency indicators?
  • What grading scale will you use? Will you convert? How does that affect procedures such as GPA, sports eligibility, honor roll, graduation? 

Day 1 Slides: Clarity & Precision

April 27, 2018 I 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Session 2

Session 2 Overview: 

Why: 21st Century Learning
What: Understanding by Design, Transferable Skills, Summatives & Formatives Grain Size
How: Structured Work Time

Decision Points: 

  • Who will decide what indicators are in a given course of learning? 
  • Are you going to have transferrable skills separate or together with units? 
  • Will courses have a set number of indicators or variables? 
  • How are formative assessments averaged into grades (if at all?)
  • What is your school homework policy and what is its intended effect?

Day 2 Slides: 21st Century Learning 

May 25, 2018 I 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Session 3

Session 3 Overview: 

Why: Proficiency for all students
What: Growth Mindset, Executive Function, Universal Design for Learning, Systems  of Student Supports
How: Structured Work Time

Decision Points: 

  • How are habits of learning taught, assessed, and graded?
  • What happens when students don’t meet proficiency after multiple attempts?
  • When will you modify learning activities versus when will you accommodate? Who will decide? (special ed)
  • What are the instructional shifts you most want to see in a proficiency-based system?
  • Which aspects of your PBL system will help traditionally disadvantaged students the most? Which aspects risk hurting them?

Day 3 Slides: Proficiency For All Students