What's Compacting?

"I like to compact because the compacting group is moving faster then the non compacting group and if we didn't have compacting or non compacting groups then the whole class would be slowed down or just bored because they aren't moving fast." - Student

What is Compacting?

An educational strategy used to address foundational knowledge at a faster pace in order to make more time for application of the content than would happen otherwise;
Provides opportunity for students’ needs to be met, regardless of their background knowledge;
Allows for small group, focused instruction as necessary with compactors and/or non-compacting students.

Who Should Compact? Option 1 – Pretest Students

Create a pretest, use as many forced-choice questions as possible for ease of grading. Think about concepts you would want students to know from previous content that will help them put pieces together for the current topic. Determine a “cut off” score; I usually shoot for around 85%. Give students an opportunity to preview/play content before taking it. Don’t be too stringent on the results… I always have students who want to argue about misunderstanding a question (or something like that). I like them to advocate for themselves, so I try to honor their comments.

Pro: You identify the students who have a strong content background & are ready to move on
Con: You could eliminate students who would choose to push themselves or who may be ready to move on early in the process.

Who Should Compact? Option 2 – All Students to Self Select

The first time I tried compacting, I explained the process using this description, then I provided the overall plan for the process of both compacting and not (referred to them as different paths).

Because they have chosen this path, I recommend you require demonstration of mastery before they set out to go deeper with the content.

Pro: Any student can choose to challenge themselves.
Con: Some choose this path for the wrong reasons and struggle through the process.

Who Should Compact? Option 3 - A Combination of Formative & Choice

This has come to be my favorite way to determine who should compact…

Expose students to the content with some sort of inquiry activity to help them “see” the content.
Give the students a pre-assessment.
Go over the pre-assessment with them, providing an opportunity for students to analyze their results.
Ask students to determine their learning path, using their pre-assessment score and the reflection they did on their results to make an informed decision.

Advice

Regardless of how you get students into compacting groups, keep the process short (about a week) so they are not pigeon-holed into a group for too long.
Keep the compacting and non-compacting activities equally exciting so both groups are appealing.
Ensure that students who compact still demonstrate mastery of the content.
Create some sort of “anchor activity” that could be completed in the chance that someone completes their path earlier than others.
Have the compactors share their learning with those who didn’t compact.
Use some of the same activities for both groups, but in different ways… fill-in-the-blank notes (non) could double as an assessment (compactors), etc.

Logistics

Create folders or pages that will help direct both group’s learning.
Set up assignments, but then excuse the ones that are not appropriate for each student (ex: Johnny is compacting so he will not be turning in the non-compacting work).

You can also use the compacting opportunity to “jigsaw” some content.
- Provide different levels of content, complexity/depth, etc.
- Have groups pair up and teach each other about what they learned.
- Assign a task that they need each other in order to complete.

One example: assigned an online simulation to two different groups.
- Compacting group = higher level thinking, more depth with the content
- Non Compacting group = Basic information, review (most of what the compacting group had demonstrated on the formative I used)
- When they came together, each had to explain and demonstrate the simulation they “played with.”
- They needed content from both simulations in order to address some “big idea” questions about the topic of the simulations.

"I like the option of compacting because it makes me feel that if I am understanding the topic very well I can learn that and expand on to that topic and if I just feel like I don't understanding the topic yet I can take it at a slower pace until i can completely understand." - Student

"More deeper and harder assignments in the compacting unit. The option is one thing I love about this class, it lets me work ahead, but also at my own pace and independently" - Student

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