Communicating Student Learning Campbell River s journey in making a shift from reporting to continuous communication of student learning. 1
We will focus on Ø Why we embarked on this journey Ø How we got to where we are today Ø What CSL looks like in our SD 72? Ø Where we are going next... 2
WHY? Ø Research around AFL is simply too significant to ignore. 3
WHY? Ø Educators told us they spend too much time on report cards. Report cards interrupts the learning in my classroom they have little impact on improving student learning. 4
WHY? Ø Parents told us that they do not understand report cards 5
WHY? Ø Students gave us some important advice... Why can t the feedback we get in school be similar to the feedback we get outside of school when we are learning feedback that is descriptive and helps us learn 6
WHY? Ø Our MOE invited us to think differently and removed barriers. 7
WHY? Ø To align our practices with our district s learning beliefs. 8
HOW? Our criteria when implementing new initiatives includes: Ø Ensure the why is educational sound and research based Ø Model AFL throughout the process Ø Begin with pilots & invitations to participate Ø Provide side by side support for adult learning Ø Pay attention to the change adoption curve 9
Setting The Stage 2006- Invitation for educators to explore other report card possibilities for grades 4 to 6 that better align with AFL principles. 2008-Dissatisfaction with our assessment policy led to an invitation to develop an assessment policy that better matched the research on AFL. 2008-2009 Request from primary teachers to develop a similar performance based report card 10
Expanding the Participation 2010-2011 Middle School teachers became curious and wanted a conversation about what success looks like at middle school;; Behaviours for Successful Learning were developed 2011-2012 Further development of learning progressions for middle school students 2012 + An Invitation from the Ministry to Think Differently (Spring of 2012) 11
FALL of 2012 Co-creating a Vision ü Solicited feedback from our District Leadership Team.suggestion was made to place more emphasis on Assessment for Learning. ü Brought groups of teachers together and gave them a blank slate What could communicating student learning look like in our district? 12
Solicitating Feedback Took teachers proposal to educators and asked for feedback framed around: 1. What excites you about the proposal? 2. What worries you? 3. What questions do you have? 4. What supports would you need to implement the plan? 13
Responding to the Feedback Ø Shared the feedback we received Ø Created a plan in response to the feedback Ø Invited teachers who wanted to pilot the plan to join the CSL Action Research Group. 73 teachers joined us even in our job action year. 14
What Does Our Communicating Student Learning Framework Look Like?
What Does Communicating Student Learning look like for this teacher? 16
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Monthly Communication about BIG IDEAS around What students are learning Ø Monthly Newsletters Ø Weekly Newsletters On Teacher websites Ø Emails Ø Phone Calls Ø Open Houses 18
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Monthly Communication about how students are progressing in their learning Ø Criteria with work sample sent home Ø Student eportfolio Ø Math Mornings Ø Inquiry Projects Ø Open Houses Ø Student Led Conferences 20
Samples Uploaded to Student eportolios 21
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Communicating through Student Led Conferences 25
What Do The Grade Level Learning Progressions Look Like? Ø K- 8 Ø Created with teacher input Ø Describe the learning progressions Ø Family friendly language Ø Aligns with curriculum and competencies Ø Based on valid and reliable evidence Ø Can be used for all students. Ø Used in our Year End Report Card (our Assessment of Learning) 26
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Being part of the CSL Pilot was because... Ø A great adventure because I was able to really reflect on the growth of each student and it has strengthened the partnership with students and parents. Much more satisfaction of the usefulness of the feedback I sent home. Ø Rewarding for me and my students. My students took far more ownership of their learning. Parents and their children had more concrete examples of the progress made during the year. It was more real 29
Ø Exciting because I was able to use a variety of ways to communicate student progress. I enjoyed videotaping my students and the parents truly appreciated seeing their child in action. Having the students share their learning during our math/science night was very successful with lots of positive feedback from parents. Ø I feel I added over five more weeks of real learning time in my classroom as I didn t have to interrupt the learning cycle three times a year to focus on report cards way less stress for me and my students as a result. 30
District Response To Pilot Feedback Ø In 2013-2014, CSL initiative implemented in all K-8 classrooms Ø Connected with Scholantis to co-create a Student eportfolio;; everything filed on our local servers Ø Students and teachers can upload video, audio and text based samples of learning Ø Just added student blogs to the portfolios Ø Portfolios can be accessed anywhere with Wifi 31
District Response To Pilot Feedback Ø Every teacher participating has received an ipad and release time to collaborate Ø Created a two block District TIST position to support teachers (this will be our 3 rd yr) Ø Have created a Learning Progressions webbased Tool that allows teachers to asses student learning and email directly to parents. This tool also allows them to select aspects of various learning progressions that are the focus of a unit of study especially helpful for project based learning. 32
The LP Tool... Ø Allows for fast and easy data collection of an individual student,a class, a school and the district as a whole. Ø Year End Report Card data is connected to this tool and used to create classroom profiles for teachers that first week in September Ø Significant for planning for intervention especially those schools who have implemented RTI 33
Feedback After 3 Years Ø Overwhelmingly positive Ø Teachers and students tell us that they spend more time on improving learning rather than proving learning Ø Less stress on teachers and students because CSL matches the learning cycle in the classroom Ø Students have more ownership of their learning Ø Teachers feel that they have a greater understanding of each student s learning profile 34
Ø The student-led conferences are really helping parents understand this shift more than any of the other strategies we used Ø Parents tell us that they feel more confident in knowing what they can do to support this children s learning Ø As a result of not having letter grades, students are no longer asking, Does this count? keeping the focus on learning and not on What did I get? 35
Where Are We Going Next? Ø Improve our Communicating Student Learning Sharepoint site on the portal to allow for more sharing between teachers and greater support for our Late Majority and Reluctant adopters of CSL Ø Begin exploring how we can move from grade level learning progressions to developmental learning progressions in our communicating and reporting of student learning. Ø Begin to explore what CSL look like at the Secondary level 36
Where Are We Going Next? In terms of our Student eportfolios: Ø Continue developing teacher capacity Ø Creating parent logins Ø Working on notifications to parents when portfolios are update 37
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Ø Learning Progressions and Profiles Tool Created as a Microsoft Access and SharePoint hybrid app Ø Using Access allowed us to have an app on teacher desktops within a few months of creating the design Ø The teacher app syncs with SharePoint each time it is opened and receives any changes in design Ø Data is always real time and saved in SQL tables in SharePoint Ø Report Card data entry in done via web page but Access and SharePoint have limitation including printing so another web solution is required but will use the same SQL tables Ø Teacher use Citrix (Web Apps) to access the app from home or other locations Ø Student data is updated from our Student Management System (CIMS) nightly via an Access automated process Ø 39