The PL Defense 

What makes a High Quality PL Defense?

Evidence of alignment to the PL Readiness Continuum

• • • Teams have robust artifacts of personalized learning to draw upon that provides evidence of their implementation

    • Invites teams to articulate deep reflection/metacognition about their growth and progression of implementation

Evidence of team agency

• • • Teams address the PL Defense with their own unique answer

    • There is room within the defense structure to personalize

    • Teams might go through some curation process- they are making meaningful choices about what and how they defend

Evidence of a shared definition of success

• • • There is a shared rubric for the defense

    • Every member of the school community is trained on, and then calibrated in assessing a defense with the rubric

    • The panel uses an evidence-based protocol during deliberation to assess the defense

Evidence of deliberation school design + structure

• • • There are clear benchmarks that scaffold team progress to defense

    • Rehearsal and feedback is mandatory, and is worked into school culture and structures

    • The scheduling of defenses represents the culminating nature of the event, and also leaves enough time for teams to revise and try again.

Evidence of learning that is made public 

• • • Teams are defending in front of an audience

    • Teams are defending to a robust panel

    • There are diverse voices on the panel- campus staff, central staff, community members, industry experts when possible and other district leaders

Evidence of Professionalism

• • • Defense showcases strong 21st century presentation skills, both visually and verbally

    • All participants demonstrate high stakes nature of the defense through professional dress and language

Adapted from Envision Learning Partners to be “team-driven” vs. “student-driven”