Embedded Files
Equity Commitment: The goal of the Washington Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative is to nurture culturally responsive-sustaining mastery-based learning systems in schools across the state in order to foster equitable, inspiring and sustaining education for all students.
Here are some questions that have been asked frequently.
What’s happening in MBLC schools?
What’s happening in MBLC schools?
Students are training to become expert learners who can show what they know and can do in a variety of ways, including project-based learning, performance tasks, and more traditional assessments. Along the way to meeting and exceeding grade-level expectations, learners receive responsive feedback and support based on their interests and needs. This model of instruction, which honors students’ assets and cultural backgrounds, has been shown to help close opportunity gaps—and to foster growth mindset, a positive learning identity, and a sense of belonging and value in school.
Adults are also actively learning—about clear and aspiration learning outcomes for students, rubrics/proficiency scales as tools for learning (not just for grading!), cultural competence, educational equity, rigorous hands-on learning and assessment, grading for accuracy and equity, and more. Member school educator teams engage in frequent professional learning and networking opportunities that include informational webinars, professional learning communities, and community gatherings. Schools across the MBLC are already sharing promising practices and resources.
What principles and practices of Mastery-based Learning (MBL) should be prioritized and implemented first in order to have the greatest impact?
What principles and practices of Mastery-based Learning (MBL) should be prioritized and implemented first in order to have the greatest impact?
The school or district works as a community to develop shared understanding of and commitment to the principles of equitable, culturally responsive, student-centred learning.
All teachers design their assessments in reference to a set of common learning indicators and scoring criteria.
Teachers design assessments together and score them collaboratively, using student work to calibrate their understanding of what demonstrating mastery looks like.
All teachers score assessments using common scoring criteria. This does not mean that every assessment needs to be scored by rubric, but it means that if an assessment is scored using points, the questions/test items have been carefully designed to reflect the scoring criteria.
In mastery-based classrooms, students can explain how tasks and experiences align to learning outcomes, and students regularly use standards and learning targets to reflect on their own progress and set goals for growth.
What are the most important features of Mastery-based Learning (MBL), and what does it actually look like in practice?
What are the most important features of Mastery-based Learning (MBL), and what does it actually look like in practice?
Mastery-based Learning is a collection of best-practices, not a single educational strategy or model, and schools approach implementation in various ways. However, MbL schools will generally include these characteristics:
Instruction, assessment, and grading are competency-based.
Educators consciously create a culturally responsive, relationship-rich learning environment.
The learning environment is youth-centered. Students have voice and choice in how they learn and how they demonstrate their learning, and pacing is responsive to student learning needs.
Students receive timely, differentiated support as needed to achieve rigorous learning outcomes.
Resources: Principles of Master-based Learning
Great Schools Partnership: Beliefs and Practices of Proficiency-Based Learning
Competency Collaborative: Five Shifts of Competency-Based Education
Resources: Mastery-based Learning in Practice
The Competency Collaborative video library
Champlain Valley Union: CVU Learns blog
CompetencyWorks: Blog
How should we design and prioritize standards that drive student learning in our school but ensure that students have met all required state standards?
How should we design and prioritize standards that drive student learning in our school but ensure that students have met all required state standards?
Start by:
Prioritize skills-based standards that describe transferable skills.
Focus on standards at what the Competency Collaborative calls “a useful level of specificity: manageable, focused, and deserving of sustained attention.”
Cluster and unpack existing content standards so that students can meet the essential components of each without assessing all standards individually.
Shift mindsets to “depth over breadth,” the understanding that deep learning on a smaller set of standards is more effective for students than a coverage model.
Evaluate standards
The NYC Competency Collaborative describes learning outcomes in this way: Outcomes are the basis for all teaching, learning, coaching, and assessment, and:
align to/support a school’s vision and philosophy, relevant standards, and supporting habits/skills.
are relevant to learners and designed to prepare them meaningfully for postsecondary life.
offer a useful level of specificity: manageable, focused, and deserving of sustained attention.
express learning goals in student-friendly academic language.
Resources:
How do we write proficiency scales that improve student learning?
How do we write proficiency scales that improve student learning?
Proficiency scales, also called learning scales or scoring criteria, describe levels of mastery that can be seen in student work. They should be designed collaboratively by educators and meet the following criteria:
Trait 1: Scoring criteria articulate a clear progression of learning.
Trait 2: Scoring criteria describe the quality of student work at each performance level.
Trait 3: Scoring criteria describe (in affirmative terms) what students can do at each level of performance.
Trait 4: Scoring criteria are task neutral; they can be applied to a variety of learning experiences and products.
Resources:
What does MbL look like at different grade levels?
What does MbL look like at different grade levels?
The principles of MbL do not change based on the age or grade level of students.
Competencies must target the appropriate level of critical thinking for students, and student-facing success criteria should be written (or described for pre-readers) in a way that students can access and retain.
Competencies may be fewer in number for younger students.
How does MbL work in alternative settings?
How does MbL work in alternative settings?
MbL seeks to remove barriers that interfere with student success.
Focusing on rigorous learning outcomes, rather than traditional credit systems, supports students who need supportive paths to graduation.
Many students in alternative settings have felt unsupported in traditional learning environments. Culturally responsive, sustaining, mastery-based learning helps more students feel supported in their schools and less likely to seek out alternatives to graduate, and aligns with the principles of many alternative programs.
Resources:
Learning Edge (Chris Sturgis)
How does MbL connect to flexible pacing and personalized learning?
How does MbL connect to flexible pacing and personalized learning?
Because Mastery-based Learning focuses on meeting rigorous learning standards rather than seat time or credits, students gain the ability to demonstrate their learning in individual ways and in more flexible periods of time.
A risk of personalized learning and flexible pacing can be that educators cannot describe what all students must learn in order to graduate. In an MbL system, because students must all meet a set of collaboratively designed, rigorous learning outcomes, that concern is resolved.
Resources:
How should we align our grading and reporting practices with principles of MbL?
How should we align our grading and reporting practices with principles of MbL?
Think about school-wide grading practices before making changes in reporting tools. Grading connects closely to beliefs about instruction and assessment, while reporting is communication to students, parents, colleges, and other stakeholders.
Develop common grading guides to guide teacher practice, and make those guides available to parents and students.
Resources:
Great Schools Partnership: Grading and Reporting for Educational Equity
How should we communicate with our communities and families about MbL?
How should we communicate with our communities and families about MbL?
Shift thinking from communication to engagement. Begin by building real systems for hearing from parents and community members in which they will feel heard and understand how their feedback and input is valued and used. Schools that engage their communities effectively will have more success communicating changes.
Start with the “why.” MbL is simply good teaching that requires unifying a number of best practices in education and ensuring that those practices are common across every student’s experience.
Anticipate parent pushback over topics like changing report cards and transcripts, and academic honors.
Resources:
What is the connection between MbL and educational equity?
What is the connection between MbL and educational equity?
Mastery-based Learning does not automatically ensure educational equity. Standards-based systems of learning can be implemented in ways that reinforce existing inequities. However, a clear set of rigorous learning outcomes ensure that all students leave with the skills and knowledge they need.
CRSE statement here
Resources:
GSP statement about Ed Equity
CC
WA statements?
How long does it take to transition from a traditional educational system to an MbL model?
How long does it take to transition from a traditional educational system to an MbL model?
Full implementation, including changes in instruction, assessment, grading, reporting, and student support systems depends primarily on teacher readiness and community support.
There is not an “end” of MbL learning. Rather, educators learn to collaborate constantly about student learning and refine their systems as needed.
Resources:
Here are some frequently asked questions that we have been asked by educators and students in MBLC schools. We will update this list periodically.
Page updated
Report abuse