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1.18.22 Proficiency Based Education Parent/Guardian Virtual Event

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Inside Great Schools (Lindsay Unified, CA)

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Inside Great Schools (Lindsay Unified, CA)

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GreatSchools.org is a national nonprofit with a mission to help every child obtain a high-quality education that values their unique abilities, identities, and aspirations. We believe in the power of research-backed, actionable information to empower parents, family members, and educators to help make this happen. For 25 years, the GreatSchools Editorial Team has been working to make the latest, most important, and most actionable research in education, learning, and child development accessible and actionable for parents through articles, videos, podcasts, hands-on learning resources, email and text messaging programs, and more. Our team consists of journalists, researchers, academics, former teachers and education leaders - most of whom are also dedicated parents and family members - who not only research, fact check, and write or produce this information, but who use it in our daily lives as well. We welcome your feedback at editorial@greatschools.org.

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Inside a performance-based learning school

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Performance-based learning means that students get to learn at their own pace. They can take more time when they need it and move on when they master a concept. See how adopting this model changed student outcomes at Lindsay High School.

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Personalized Learning described...School climate up! College attendance from 21%-42%.

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Personalized Learning described...School climate up! College attendance from 21%-42%.

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Chan Zuckerberg LUSD Partnership Announcement

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Why personalized learning? Lindsay Unified

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Why personalized learning? Lindsay Unified

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What does personalized learning look like for students and teachers? (4 of 4)

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By Amanda Avallone, Content Manager for Next Generation Learning Challenges
When educators tell the story of what galvanized them to embrace next gen learning, they often point to a watershed moment, a realization that so fundamentally shifted their thinking that it divided their career into "before" and "after."

Maybe they were looking at disheartening data around widening opportunity gaps. Maybe they heard the story of a promising graduate who had dropped out of college to take a low-skill, dead-end job. Or maybe they visited an innovative school full of motivated, self-directed, and capable learners and thought, with a twinge, "Why aren't our students more like that?" Whatever it is, this kind of epiphany inspires people to embark on the long and challenging journey to transform learning and never look back.

To learn more about what a change of this magnitude looks like over the long haul, I spoke to Barry Sommer, Director of Advancement at Lindsay Unified School District, about what prompted him and his colleagues--way back in 2006--to rethink everything they were doing and replace it with a new vision of student learning.

For this edition of Friday Focus: Practitioner's Guide to Next Gen Learning, Barry shared the story of transforming learning at Lindsay Unified, a small district of about 4,200 students in central California, focusing on:

What caused the district to try something so new it didn't yet have a name

How they made the change from a traditional model to a performance-based system

Lessons learned and advice to share with the field

A Matter of Time

The district's eureka moment came in 2006. Barry recalls that he and his colleagues were in Denver, Colorado, at a professional learning event, when it suddenly struck him that "what we are doing is not working. The traditional time-based model is not working. Fourteen percent of Lindsay's students self-assessed as gang affiliated. We were sending some kids to jail. Academic achievement was as low as it could go. Staff turnover, particularly for teachers, was awful." It was then that they asked themselves, "Are we ready to do something radically different?"

To answer that question and even more fundamental ones like "Why do we exist?" and "What is a Lindsay graduate?" Barry and other leaders gathered parents, staff, board members, learners, and community members for a series of meetings. "We were starting from scratch. We asked good questions in order to gather enough data to make a plan. We listened to our community, and that became the Lindsay Unified Strategic Design," which the Board approved and adopted for 2007.

Talking to Barry, it's clear that Lindsay Unified's educators saw time as the crux of the problem. They recognized that the traditional sorting of students by age was designed for administrative convenience, not learning. As a result, a new conception of time and mastery of learning became a foundation for the emerging model.

Rather than pushing students through school at a fixed and arbitrary rate, Barry reports, the district embraced a learner-centered, competency-based model they called PBS, or "performance-based system." According to Barry, thinking flexibly about time affected the learner experience in multiple, positive ways. "The biggest impact has been around culture," he explains,"which is very hard do in time-based systems because the structures don't allow it. We broke those down, so learners can take ownership of their learning through goal-setting and spending more or less time as dictated by their needs and interests."

Technology supports Lindsay's learners to progress at their own pace.

In practice this means that an English Language Learner can devote more time to working on English Language Arts; "fast runners" in math move on to more advanced content as soon as they are ready; or a learner's plan to graduate might include spending more than four years in high school.

Learners have agency in Lindsay schools, but they also have responsibility. As Barry puts it, "We message to them that we're not just going to pass you on. You have to demonstrate mastery of learning to progress, and you can do that independent of your age or grade." Learners have many options for how they might demonstrate their learning, but these demonstrations are all "verified and validated by the district for rigor," a step, Barry adds, that is sometimes overlooked in some competency-based models.

New Language for a New Design

Time was not the only obstacle Lindsay Unified tackled on its journey to redesign learning. The language people once used to talk about education also had to be dismantled and replaced with something that aligned with a learner-centered approach. Barry jokes that, in the beginning, "every meeting included a vocab test, as everyone connected to learning, including external stakeholders, made the shift to the new vernacular."

Barry describes, for example, how Lindsay replaced "student" with the more active learner, along with an accompanying message: "you are a co-constructor of your knowledge." Teachers became learning facilitators and schools were now referred to as learning communities. Even the term "standards," a staple of the education landscape, gave way to learning targets. "You are probably noticing that we use the word learning a lot," Barry says with a chuckle, but "a singular vocabulary leads to a singular vision and way of operating." Once everyone started using the new language, Barry notes, "all of a sudden learners were at the table whenever we had to make a decision."

To support learner agency, Lindsay Unified schools also do quite a lot of work around growth mindset and goal-setting. For Barry, this includes "transparency around student data, with charts on the walls where learners monitor their progress." This practice, he notes, sometimes provokes questions from visiting adults. For example, he recalls a guest asking a boy of about nine, "Is it embarrassing that you are two levels behind in ELA?" to which the boy responded, "Last year I was four levels behind, so soon I'll be right on track, and I know who's ahead so I can get help. It doesn't embarrass me."

Alluding to the traditional practice of grouping readers, Barry observes, "Kids always know who the robins and bluebirds are. We're just transparent about it."

Adults as Learners and Supporters of Learning

Lindsay's vision for a new kind of learning for students hinges on new kinds of learning for adults. Barry acknowledges that "this work is hard, and a lot of learning facilitators were not prepared to move away from traditional practices like lecturing. We lost 20 percent of staff in five years." Until about three years ago, he reports, the district continued to offer professional development in traditional ways. That has changed, however. Adult professional learning has become more personalized, with menus of options, project-based learning, virtual learning, and educator-designed experiences. The results, he says, have been very positive, with more stability among staff and a 95 percent satisfaction rate with the new professional learning approach.

In addition, according to Barry, Lindsay puts "a lot of energy into developing classified staff," the non-teaching adults like bus drivers, secretaries, business professionals, aides, support providers, crossing guards, and cafeteria workers. "These adults tend to live in the district, and they are the first people who see learners each day. Any one of them can articulate what our model is. We all share a singular, aligned, and coherent vision of learners at the center."

What Lindsay Unified Learned

Today educators at Lindsay Unified can point to plenty of evidence of success: both attendance rates and school climate data put the district at the 99th percentile in their state. "Learners feel connected to everybody," Barry says. "They feel safe and bonded as a community. Drugs and alcohol are not a significant issue." The emphasis on "positive culture, not discipline" has also yielded results: suspensions and expulsions are down 65 percent since they instituted the performance-based system.

On the academic side, Barry reports "steady progress over time, from 25 percent proficient or above to 57 percent. Learners are motivated and engaged, and every subgroup is growing." At the same time, four-year college and university enrollment has doubled during the same time frame, with a very high completion rate (over 70 percent graduate within six years) for Lindsay graduates, many of whom are first-generation college attendees.

Lindsay Unified is also recognized as a thought leader for next gen learning, sharing their expertise through Lindsay Leads, an initiative to provide coaching and consultation to other schools and systems to develop their personalized learning models. Lindsay is also a Partner District within the Transforming Learning Collaborative, a partnership of pioneering schools offering educator-to-educator professional learning, founded by NGLC, Da Vinci Schools, and Schools That Can.

Though Barry is quick to say that Lindsay Unified is still working on making what they call the "Ideal Learning Experience" a reality, with over a decade of learning redesign under their belts, the district is in a position to provide guidance to those just setting out. Here are some of Barry's recommendations:

"Get meaningful input from all stakeholders before you do any transformational work. That way you get automatic buy-in for when you start to implement. We meet people who are doing great work, but if the parents and community don't know why, it's easy to revert to the traditional ways of doing things."

"Be mindful of using tech as an accelerant. You can't replace teachers with computers, but it's really hard to personalize and monitor personalized goals without technology." An investment in technology can also address issues of equity, he notes. "Only privileged kids had internet access, and we would find the learners who were not connected at home in the morning on the lawn at the District Office using the wireless. We couldn't get a service provider--they lose money serving our community--so we built our own." Ninety-nine percent of the district's families are now connected at no cost to parents. "The whole program is available for learning at all times. That's how a learner can progress two levels in one year."

"If we could wind back the clock, we would emphasize SEL (social-emotional learning) way more than we did. Lifelong learning is a push right now, along with figuring out how you embed it into the curriculum and how learners demonstrate proficiency. It would have been better to do that at the start. It was easier to create the academic progressions, but we probably would have grown the academics at the same time if we had been working on these skills right away."

Resources

Images, courtesy of Lindsay Unified School District, from the top:

A young reader at Lindsay Unified's Kennedy Elementary

Technology supports Lindsay's learners to progress at their own pace

An overview of Lindsay Unified's Life-long Learning Standards

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A Decade On: Lindsay Unified's Personalized Learning Journey (Opinion)

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By Amanda Avallone, Content Manager for Next Generation Learning Challenges When educators tell the story of what galvanized them to embrace next gen learning, they often point to a watershed moment, a realization that so fundamentally shifted their thinking that it divided their career into "before" and "after."

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The walls tell the story at Lindsay Unified. In every classroom - from kindergarten through 12th grade - each student's name is on a list on the wall that shows what students have learned and what they need to do next for every topic they are studying. After checking the list each day, students get to work, with no need for prompting from their teachers.

This small rural district in Tulare County has embraced "performance-based learning," which breaks down the way classrooms are traditionally structured so that students can work independently, with teachers providing individualized support. Lindsay is part of a growing national movement, with more schools promoting the concept of students working at their own pace, being in charge of their own learning and advancing only when they can show they understand the material.

"We have to teach kids to not be passive in their learning," said Lindsay Unified Superintendent Thomas Rooney.

The teachers at Lindsay are called "learning facilitators" because they are less of a focal point than in a traditional classroom. In these classrooms, they answer questions and work with small groups of students who need help or are ready for the next topic. Students, called "learners," set their own pace and monitor their own progress using the lists on the wall.

"We have to teach kids to not be passive in their learning," said School Superintendent Thomas Rooney. "We make the learning transparent. This is what you need to do to demonstrate mastery. This is where you are. You are going to track your own progress."

Teachers are typically familiar with material the grade level below and above the grade they teach. But they also collaborate with each other to meet student needs. If a 6th-grader is ready to learn a 7th-grade topic, he might be sent to a 7th-grade classroom when that teacher is presenting the topic.

Being able to collaborate with other teachers and share their students with each other "takes a lot of trust among adults," said Cinnamon Scheufele, the principal at the district's Washington Elementary and a former teacher there.

Kristy Caesar, a kindergarten teacher at Kennedy Elementary, said kindergartners mostly stay in their own classroom, except when students are academically far ahead of their peers. "This one little boy was such a high flier, I sent him next door to a 2nd-grade classroom" for certain lessons, she said.

More schools across the nation are adopting performance-based learning. In California, a few - including those in Vista Unified in San Diego County and Summit Public Schools, a charter organization in the San Francisco Bay Area - have fully embraced it. Other schools have adopted some aspects of the approach, such as using computers to individualize learning.

Computers typically play a key role in performance-based learning, making it easier for students to work at their own pace. But Lindsay made the shift in 2009 without the benefit of computers for every student.

Since then, the district has used grant funds, including a portion of the $10 million federal Race To The Top grant it received in 2012, to provide computers for every student and free internet access to the small farming community in the Central Valley.

The district made the change because students were not thriving under the traditional system, Rooney said. Dropout rates were high, and those who did graduate rarely went to college. More than 80 percent of the 4,237 students at Lindsay are low-income and almost half are English learners, according to 2015-16 data from the California Department of Education. About 30 percent have parents who are migrant workers, Rooney said.

Now seven years into the performance-based learning transformation, the district is fully committed to the approach. The district's graduation rate has risen from below 70 percent in 2010-11 to about 82 percent in 2013-14, the latest data available for the district. The number of students who have completed A-G requirements for entrance to state universities has doubled - from 17 percent in 2008-09 to 34 percent in 2014-15.

Students have also made substantial gains in district tests of reading proficiency, Rooney said. However, results on the state Smarter Balanced tests in 2016 showed that 42 percentof students scored "standard not met," the lowest category, in English. High school students did better than elementary school students, partly due to demographics, Rooney said, with two-thirds of 3rd-graders identified as English learners compared with one-third of 11th-graders.

Educators from California and across the nation visit Lindsay to see what performance-based learning looks like. They find that most classrooms are quiet - the students absorbed in their work. Students work together on topics, talking softly, while others study on their own. Sometimes a group of students will present a project for feedback from their classmates. Even in kindergarten, students edit each other's work before turning it in to a teacher.

"We had to create a culture in which adults gave some ownership to the learners," Rooney said.

Marla Ernest, who teaches English language development at Lindsay High, said: "You never hear a kid say, 'I'm failing a class.' They always feel they are working toward proficiency. If they're not on pace, they figure out what to do to catch up."

Students must pass district assessments for each topic in English, math, science and social studies. Student achievement is rated from level 1 to 4 based on these assessments. When students reach level 3, they are considered proficient and can move on to the next topic.

Students can reach level 4 by doing a project that combines more than one standard or by helping a classmate reach level 3.Level 4 is equivalent to earning an A and would be counted as 4 points in a grade point average.

All students are aware of their progress, even kindergartners and 1st-graders such as Jose Herrera-Vasquez, who pointed to his classroom's wall where it showed how far he had progressed - to level 3 - in reading and writing in kindergarten. To reach that level, he pulled out the set of short words, such as "red," "blue" and "very," he had to be able to read and write.

"Kids can see what they need to learn, where they are going and whether they are on pace," said Caesar, the kindergarten teacher. "It inspires them and lets them help one another and learn from each other."

All students can also easily see how their classmates are doing, but there is no shame about being at level 1 or 2 in a topic.

"Everybody is good at something," Caesar said. "It's all about the culture you create."

Marla Ernest, who teaches English language development at Lindsay High, said: "You never hear a kid say, 'I'm failing a class.' They always feel they are working toward proficiency. If they're not on pace, they figure out what to do to catch up."

Alyssa Alvarado, a high school student, calls the traditional approach "restricting."

"We were held back sometimes and at other times pushed forward when we didn't understand the content," she said.

Some teachers say the new approach requires more work because they have to be prepared with multiple lesson plans each day.

The theory "sounds great until you have 30 kids and no one is in the same spot at the same time," said Tammy Hellwig, who has taught science at Lindsay High for the past 28 years. "You try regrouping them. You stay after school with the kids if you have to."

Scheufele said the teachers at her school like the requirement that every student needs to reach proficiency in every subject, partly because a lot of them grew up in neighborhoods with poor quality schools.

"It's not just a cool idea," Scheufele said. "It becomes an equity issue."

Whether students succeed, Hellwig said, has a lot to do with how much effort they put in. "If they work at home, they can study at a deeper level."

But not all students have that luxury. Some have parents who are migrant farmworkers and need their older children to help support the family by working in the cherry and apricot orchards that surround Lindsay.

High school student Jesus Ceballos said that he has had trouble studying at home because of family obligations, such as working in the cherry fields during summers and helping his father repair houses on weekends.

But Ceballos said the school has motivated him to continue with his studies, graduate and go to college.

"My teachers have always been here during tough times," he said. "They don't just help me academically."
To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource's no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.

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Putting students in charge of their learning transforms a small rural district

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Lindsay Unified, a small rural district in California's Central Valley, has embraced performance-based learning.

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Abstract

The Vermont Educational Quality Standards, passed in 2014, require students to graduate high school based on proficiency not merely by the accrual of course credits. The deadline to implement this policy is 2020, and thus, high schools across Vermont are feverishly revamping their systems and structures to support this change. Like many reforms, teachers are at the forefront of putting this policy into practice. The purpose of this study is to understand how teachers experience the shift to implement proficiency-based learning practices in their classrooms and how administrators support teachers in making this transition.

Two Vermont high schools were selected for this study. Both were well underway with formal implementation efforts. An online questionnaire was provided to all teachers at both schools. The district curriculum coordinators and all school administrators, in addition to any instructional coaches, were interviewed on a one-on-one basis. Four teachers from each site, representing a variety of subject areas (math, science, ELA, and social studies) were also interviewed on an individual basis. Furthermore, a variety of documents were analyzed from each site, including grading policies, teacher handbooks, and other artifacts related to the implementation of proficiency-based learning.

Findings suggest that teachers were actively engaged in implementation efforts within their classrooms but found the process challenging. Certain aspects of proficiency-based learning prove to be more difficult than other elements to put into practice. Engaging in a "pedagogical triage", teachers were selective with regard to which aspects of proficiency-based learning they attempted to implement. Given a lack of time and resources and the complex nature of the reform, teachers generally implemented those elements that were easier to put into practice. Furthermore, school and district administrators provided a variety of supports and resources to assist teachers' sensemaking of proficiency-based learning practices. Intentional educational infrastructure that included instructional coaches, assessment cycles, professional learning communities, and curriculum materials, were evident at both the high schools in this study. Overall, the changes teachers discussed were more evolutionary than revolutionary.

This study illuminates the specific challenges with implementing proficiency-based learning in a high school setting and how teachers experience putting proficiency-based learning into practice in the classroom. Additionally, the role of instructional coaches emerged as a key element of a coherent educational infrastructure in supporting teacher sensemaking of policy messages. Proficiency-based learning holds promise as an education reform but will only work with a coordinated educational infrastructure and a timeline that allows teachers to full comprehend all aspects of the policy.

Recommended Citation

Jones, Andrew, "Implementing Proficiency-Based Learning In Vermont High Schools: How Administrators Support Teacher Sensemaking Of Education Reform" (2019). Graduate College Dissertations and Theses. 1030.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/1030

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Implementing Proficiency-Based Learning In Vermont High Schools: How Administrators Support Teacher Sensemaking Of Education Reform

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The Vermont Educational Quality Standards, passed in 2014, require students to graduate high school based on proficiency not merely by the accrual of course credits. The deadline to implement this policy is 2020, and thus, high schools across Vermont are feverishly revamping their systems and struct…

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Educators from across the United States, and even as far away as Russia, called their time in Westminster Public Schools (WPS) well spent after the conclusion of the first-ever WPS Competency Based Education Summit. The CBE Summit, held Sept. 26 to 28, 2018, saw more than 200 educators from 40 different school districts and education organizations gathered for a journey into the WPS Competency Based System (CBS).

The theme of the event was "Lessons Learned from a Decade of Practice", and WPS created a first-class competency-based experience for attendees. WPS is the largest school district in the country to use a Competency Based Education (CBE) model in which students are measured by mastery, or understanding of a learning topic. Through CBS, students are fully immersed in a personalized learning model where they can either move quickly through a learning topic, or take the time they need to comprehend a subject area.

The CBE Summit offered attendees a first-hand glimpse at personalized learning in action, which included school visits to classrooms, tailored CBE sessions, and keynote addresses from Superintendent Pam Swanson and influential educator Dr. Robert J. Marzano. If you missed the CBE Summit, watch the keynote addresses from both speakers online here.

"Talking and hearing from other educators and students and listening to Board of Education members talk about their progress and their journey and lessons learned has been really encouraging and thoughtful," shared Jennifer Marsh, a middle school principal from Mesa School District 51 in Grand Junction who is starting to implement a CBE in their schools.

For more information about the 2018 CBE Summit, visit wpssummit.co.

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Educators from across the United States, and even as far away as Russia, called their time in Westminster Public Schools (WPS) well spent after the conclusion of the first-ever WPS Competency Based Education Summit. The CBE Summit, held Sept.

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75 New England Schools & Proficiency Based Learning

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75 New England Schools & Proficiency Based Learning

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College Admissions | Great Schools Partnership

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85 New England Institutions of Higher Education State that Proficiency-Based Diplomas Do Not Disadvantage Applicants Over the past decade, the movement to adopt proficiency-based approaches to teaching, learning, and graduating has gained momentum throughout New England and the country, as more educators, parents, employers, and elected officials recognize that high educational standards and strong academic preparation are essential to ...

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Response to parent concerns & questions...

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Response to parent concerns & questions...

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Research re: PBE from Regional Education Labs

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Research re: PBE from Regional Education Labs

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By Joni Wackwitz
May 20, 2020

Teachers know that the amount of time students spend in class does not determine their mastery of course content. Competency-based education (CBE) addresses this issue by allowing students to learn and advance at their own pace. With this approach, students demonstrate mastery of competencies, or learning targets, to earn credit and progress. Research suggests this model can boost academic achievement, high school graduation rates, and college and career readiness ( Anderson & Fulton, 2015; Jerald, Campbell, & Roth, 2017; Sturgis & Patrick, 2010).

Browse these resources from across the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Program and other networks to learn more about competency-based education as well as its use in online and blended learning and credit recovery.

Competency-based education

For state guidance in facilitating competency-based learning, a REL Central report summarizes selected state policies and supports related to K-12 competency-based education. The report classifies state laws and regulations into three broad policy categories: (1) credit flexibility, (2) progression flexibility, and (3) individual learning options.

A REL Northeast & Islands report draws on a scan of state-level policies and 20 interviews to describe definitions, policies, and implementation of competency-based education in the Northeast. A companion video and webinar are available.

A new REL Midwest webinar describes the relationship between competency-based education and students' learning outcomes and how to create structures within a school or classroom to effectively implement competency-based education strategies.

Competency-based education can be a major adjustment for students. A REL Northeast & Islands guide describes how to adapt, administer, and analyze a survey to collect information about high school students' understanding of and experiences with competency-based education. A companion video is available.

REL Southeast's Measuring Success Through Competency-Based Learning Research Alliance in North Carolina is identifying and sharing best practices for implementing competency-based instruction at K-12 and postsecondary levels. Resources include a CBE Mastery Framework, which details major shifts in four areas of educators' practice: structure, culture, teaching, and learning.

A REL Central study measured the academic progress of elementary and middle school students in a Colorado district's competency-based system as well as teachers' assessment of students' knowledge. On average, students who were behind their traditional grade level took less time to complete performance levels than students at their traditional grade level.

REL Central's North Dakota Innovative Schools Research Partnership, which focuses on evaluating innovative education initiatives and services, is conducting a study of the use of dedicated flex time for student-directed learning as part of a competency-based education system at Legacy High School in Bismarck. Look for the report later this year.

The Ask A REL reference desk service has compiled research citations and resources on competency-based education in response to several questions submitted from the field:

REL Appalachia: What research is available on the effect of performance-based diplomas and education programs [363 KB ] on student outcomes?

REL Central: What research is available on competency-based learning?

REL Midwest: What research is available on

REL Northeast & Islands: What research is available on the impact of proficiency-based grading and reporting on students and the strengths and challenges of grading and reporting when schools move to proficiency-based assessment and reporting?

Online and blended learning

Competency-based instruction often is delivered in an online or blended learning environment. In this webinar, REL Mid-Atlantic provides an overview of blended learning and the potential of using technology in the classroom. The webinar draws on a related infographic to examine the implementation and effectiveness of blended learning, with examples from Delaware.

How much time should students engage with online courses? A REL Midwest and Virtual Education Research Alliance report examines engagement patterns and academic outcomes of students taking online courses in Wisconsin and finds that students who spent at least two hours a week engaging in the courses had better results. An infographic [55 KB ] highlights key findings.

Struggling to keep up with new and emerging research in online education? REL Southeast provides a rundown [210 KB ] of free sites and resources for locating the latest research on K-12 online and blended learning, with suggestions for navigating the resources.

Credit recovery

Competency-based learning is frequently used for credit recovery, which enables students to retake courses and stay on track to graduate. REL Midwest conducted an environmental scan of high school credit recovery programs and practices across Minnesota. The results are helping state leaders ensure equitable access to quality options. An infographic is also available.

Building on the above scan, an ongoing REL Midwest study is assessing the implementation of the Minnesota Alternative Learning Center Networked Improvement Community (ALC NIC), formed in 2019 to improve credit recovery practices by integrating competency-based learning strategies. The report is slated for publication in 2021. Learn more about the work of the Minnesota ALC NIC in this blog post.

Online credit recovery programs are gaining popularity due to their flexibility and ease at providing a range of subjects, even in remote areas-but are they effective? A REL Northwest report describes 2013/14 course enrollment and completion patterns for the Montana Digital Academy (MTDA), a statewide online credit recovery program. The authors find that almost 60 percent of MTDA students received a passing grade.

A REL Southeast study compared students in the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) online credit recovery program to students enrolled in other credit recovery programs in the state. Although NCVPS students were less likely than comparison students to graduate high school, NCVPS students who did graduate were more likely to do so in four years.

Can online courses compare to face-to-face instruction? A REL Southeast study analyzed success rates for online and face-to-face credit recovery and general courses at Florida high schools. The results show that the likelihood of a student earning a grade of C or better was higher online compared with face-to-face options for both credit recovery and general courses.

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Resource roundup: Competency-based education | REL Midwest

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By Joni Wackwitz May 20, 2020 Teachers know that the amount of time students spend in class does not determine their mastery of course content. Competency-based education (CBE) addresses this issue by allowing students to learn and advance at their own pace. With this approach, students demonstrate mastery of competencies, or learning targets, to earn credit and progress.

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What's working? Huffington Post article.

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What's working? Huffington Post article.

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Over the next few weeks, millions of children across the country will spontaneously take part in a quiet, private ritual. Just before bedtime on their last night of summer vacation these students, like generations before them, will carefully select and lay out their first-day-of-school outfit.

Whether a student is laying out a school uniform, the latest in brand-name gear, or simply a clean set of clothes, this simple act is full of meaning. Because in the care with which they choose that first outfit, and in the symbolism of arranging it--just so--students capture the excitement of the Back to School season; the anticipation of what the new school year will hold; and the planning required for a successful year ahead.

Planning is good, but of course there are plans to enact and goals to set that are far more central to students' success in school than the clothes they wear.

That's why over the next two weeks, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is celebrating the Back to School season by highlighting powerful examples of the thoughtful planning, the intensive collaboration, and the ambitious goal-setting that parents, teachers, and communities are undertaking this school year to set students on the path toward real and lasting success.

Working toward shared goals - in the classroom, at the kitchen table, and in our communities - is critical to making education a bridge to opportunity for students. For too many, and particularly for low-income students and students of color, that bridge has become too narrow, too hard to navigate, with a toll that is too high for too many. Back to School is a chance to remind ourselves that in order to make that bridge accessible for everyone, we need goals to help get us there.

Here's an example of what I mean: At Lindsay Unified, a school district in California's Central Valley, they are doing important work to create shared goals and a shared vision for students' success in the classroom. In Lindsay, where over 80 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch and over half are English language learners, the school system uses a model that provides custom learning paths for every student.

Instead of trying to force every student to learn at the same rate, Lindsay lets students advance to the next level of learning when they master specific content, regardless of their age or the time of year. Being clear about individual learning goals, and giving teachers the right tools to help them tailor instruction for students, helps students "own" their learning and make progress. The video of Laura, below, is just one example of how students are making powerful results they can proud of:

Another example is the extensive collaboration around goal setting being facilitated by our partners like Learning Heroes (whose mission is to equip parents to support their children's success). Working with community partners like Chicago Public Schools, the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Urban League, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership, and the National Council of La Raza, Learning Heroes is helping to convene "kitchen table" events to help parents understand the learning goals their child should be reaching at each grade level, as well as how to understand the assessment scores that show where their child is making progress or needs more support.

Learning Heroes has also compiled an online, interactive set of "Super 5" steps parents can take to champion their children's academic success, as well as their social and emotional health, both in and out of the classroom - a helpful resource as parents meet with teachers for Back to School meetings.

Communities are also doing vital work to set and achieve shared goals for student success, like the Chattanooga 2.0 initiative in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Four out of ten students there currently live in poverty, but there is also growing economic opportunity -- with nearly 10,000 new jobs that pay a living wage (around $35K a year) expected to come to Hamilton County over the next few years, due to rapid expansion in automotive manufacturing and other advanced industries. Eighty percent of these jobs will require a postsecondary certificate or degree, so a coalition of community partners including the Benwood Foundation, Public Education Foundation, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and the Hamilton County Department of Education, came together to create a strategy to improve education outcomes and workforce development in this changing economy.

Business partners, faith groups, educators and other key stakeholders in the community collectively agreed to adopt a shared goal of having 75 percent of Hamilton County residents earn postsecondary credentials by 2025. They also included participants from early childhood, K-12, and postsecondary sectors to engage in a 100-day planning process so that the work connects across the education continuum.

None of the work described above is simple or easy - and there will always be bumps in the road and lessons to learn. But we salute the parents, teachers, organizations, businesses and faith leaders who understand that the work of setting students - and particularly our most disadvantaged students - on a path toward success is possible if we can work together to meet shared goals. They also understand that this work is too important to leave undone, and that there is no time like the present to do it. After all, another school year is about to begin, and we've all got things to do to get ready for tomorrow.

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Education goal setting Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation whatsworking

President, U.S. Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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What's Working: Setting Goals For Success

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Over the next few weeks, millions of children across the country will spontaneously take part in a quiet, private ritual. Just before bedtime on their last night of summer vacation these students, like generations before them, will carefully select and lay out their first-day-of-school outfit.

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How A California Farming Community Is Leading The Global Shift To Competency

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Lindsay Unified has combined mission-driven leadership with remarkable continuity and incremental innovations to promote lifelong self-directed learning. The compounding effect is remarkably aligned schools, a powerful culture, and a system beginning to extend its impact nationally.

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ASCD article on grading (Marzano & Heflebower)

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ASCD article on grading (Marzano & Heflebower)

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Resources & Guidance from The Learning Accelerator

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Key Takeaway

High school implementation of blended learning in a diverse rural district school with a large population of free and reduced lunch students. The model focuses on high school english and english language learner classes.

Core strategies include the implementation of a performance-based system, the ability for students to work across grade levels, customized playlists for learners, learner choice throughout their day/week/year, individual personalized learning time, and a focus on lifelong learning standards (non-cognitive skills).

Interesting or unique highlights to check out: How Lindsay triangulates data to meet students' needs; and personalized learning approaches for English Language Development (ELD).

Experience Overview
NOTE: The following school profile is a snapshot of a moment in time, therefore some school structures, models, and strategies may have changed since publication.
Lindsay Unified Public Schools (LUSD) is a 4,200 student K-12 district in California's Central Valley. Lindsay High School enrolls 1,036 9th-12th graders (2016). The district uses a "performance-based" learning system in which every student (who Lindsay terms "Learner") progresses through learning standards at their own pace. Teachers (called "Learning Facilitators") guide Learners towards resources and provide direct supports as they develop evidence of mastery and move along their own pathways.

Launched in 2007 through the adoption of a visionary, district-wide strategic plan, LUSD has steadily become a model for competency-based learning nationally. The district uses blended learning as a mechanism for supporting their model, helping Learners develop foundational knowledge and supporting them through cycles of inquiry that lead to deeper learning. LUSD uses a number of tools to do this, but relies heavily on Empower, a competency-based learning management system, to support its model.

This page profiles LUSD's High School English Language Arts approach.

Learning In Action

Learners at Lindsay High School have a great deal of voice and choice. Their days are split between self-directed learning time and Facilitator-led instruction. During self-directed learning, Learners follow playlists that are custom-created for them based on their learning needs. They are given multiple opportunities throughout the day and week to work on these, and are able to choose what to work on from the learning activities aligned to each objective. Even during Facilitator-led instruction, Learners are often able to choose from a variety of assignments as the Facilitators spend most of their time on small group and individual instruction.

The flexibility for the Learner that these choices provide, combined with a mastery-based learning system, creates a powerful learning experience for Learners. Learners who are behind are able to catch up, and those who wish to move ahead may due so. All Learners are more active participants in their learning, leading to greater ownership and engagement. Lindsay High's Learners are not only able to attain mastery, but also gain life skills that will help them be successful beyond school.

Teaching In Action

Learning Facilitators at LUSD are focused on building lifelong learners. Within academic content areas, Facilitators are constantly seeking to provide Learners choice and voice in self-directed learning. In addition to academic content areas, LUSD provides instruction for lifelong learning skills. Lindsay Facilitators also modify Learners' learning so it can be mastery based, allowing Learners more choice over the pace of their learning.

Learner choice in content and pacing provides a unique challenge to LUSD Facilitators as they have to cater to each individual Learner's learning needs. Facilitators leverage an online system called Empower (formerly Educate) to analyze Learner data, determine personalized learning pathways, and provide resource choices to Learners in their academic content area. Facilitators help meet Learners' needs by providing feedback, small groupings, one-on-one instruction, remediation, direct instruction, and other instructional practices. Blended instruction has enabled Facilitators to better meet Learner needs, leading to increased engagement and academic success.

Learners at Lindsay High School work in age-based, grade-level cohorts within a traditional classroom structure (one educator in a classroom). Facilitators usually begin class with a group launch, followed by personalized learning time where students work at their own pace. Facilitators work with small groups and conferences, and provide direct instruction as needed. Learners also have personalized learning time each week, which allows students more flexibility to focus on their biggest needs.

Lindsay's program implementation is fully blended at all times. The school has a 1:1 student-to-device ratio (Chromebooks), which enables students to work on their devices alone, with peers, and with their facilitators throughout class. The school primarily uses the individual rotation model for blended learning, where Learners manage their individual learning pathways through a system called Empower and utilize additional content platforms such as Reading Plus, WriteToLearn, Duolingo, and more.

While Lindsay High School follows the traditional grade 9-12 structure, Learners are not limited to learning within their specific grade. Learners have autonomy over what to work on, their pace, what resources to use to learn with, and what level of mastery they'd like to aim for. Learners who are behind are able to backfill earlier learning objectives, and Learners who are ahead are able to learn multiple years' worth of content in a single year. Differentiation is created through grouping strategies, one-on-one support, and the availability of multiple content resources on playlists. Performance data from assessments and tasks are used every period, and Learners are responsible for making sure their progress is accurately reflected.

Conditions for Success

Educators seeking to try out this model with their students should keep the following key needs in mind:

Staffing: Lindsay's model deploys within a traditional classroom structure. Facilitators work in a ratio to Learners that is similar to most public schools (roughly 24 students per teacher).

Devices: This model requires that every student have access to a learning device at all times.

Content: This model relies heavily on content available through a learning management system called Empower. Some of this content is paid, but none is proprietary to Lindsay alone.

Broadband/Connectivity: Students must have adequate connectivity at all times (Lindsay Unified has also worked to provide community Wi-Fi to support Learner work at home).

Replication and Scale

Lindsay has replicated its performance-based learning approach across all grades and campuses. This replication is strongly supported by a district-wide vision and commitment, including competency-based grading, investments in technology infrastructure, and support and training for teachers.

ASU Prep Digital

ASU Prep Digital is a virtual, public K-12 charter school that is part of the...

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Lindsay High School serves all grade 9-12 students in Lindsay Unified Public Schools, a California district that uses a performance-based approach to...

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https://rhs.rutlandcitypublicschools.org/academics/proficiency-based-learning-practices/what-will-colleges-think/

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Personalized Learning

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Personalized Learning

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Thanks to personalized learning, attendance and graduation rates are on the rise in Lindsay, California, where students - primarily from low-income families - have taken ownership of their learning and their futures. In this summary, Senior Program Officer Helayne Brinauer Jones explains what other schools can learn about the promise of quality personalized learning from Lindsay Unified School District.

Related Stories

Powerful things happen when learning is student-centered. At Joseph Lovett Elementary School in Chicago, administrators have been working hard to create an engaging learning environment for students.

Last week, our Progress in Action campaign celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week by highlighting stories of great teachers around the country-teachers who are working to help all students succeed.

Heading into a new school year, I'm feeling refreshed, energized, and excited to take on new challenges. I have many things on my mind. But mostly I'm eager to see how my learners grow and make progress.

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Subscribe to get timely and informative updates directly from the U.S. Program team. The newsletter will offer research, resources, and materials that U.S. Program and our partners create to improve education for all. Subscribe today to read about lessons learned from practitioners.

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Investing in the Promise of Quality Personalized Learning

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Thanks to personalized learning, attendance and graduation rates are on the rise in Lindsay, California, where students - primarily from low-income families - have taken ownership of their learning and their futures. In this summary, Senior Program Officer Helayne Brinauer Jones explains what other schools can learn about the promise of quality personalized learning from Lindsay Unified School District.

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https://www.usd259.org/Page/16435

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HUNTER, N.D. - On windswept fields outside Fargo, North Dakota, a bold experiment in education has begun. In a lone building flanked by farmland, the Northern Cass School District is heading into year two of a three-year journey to abolish grade levels. By the fall of 2020, all Northern Cass students will plot their own academic courses to high school graduation, while sticking with same-age peers for things like gym class and field trips.

The goal is to stop tethering teaching to "seat time" - where students are grouped by age and taught at a uniform, semester pace - and instead adopt competency-based education, in which students progress through skills and concepts by demonstrating proficiency.

That alone isn't unusual; a majority of states now allow competency-based pilot programs, and many schools have fully implemented the approach. What makes Northern Cass notable is that very few mainstream schools, let alone districts, have set out to topple grade levels.

But as the movement against seat-time learning grows, more schools nationwide will be grappling with grade levels, deciding whether to keep them or to hack through thickets of political, logistical and cultural barriers to uproot them.

Some school leaders insist that competency-based education can survive and even thrive within grade levels, or a modified version of them. Others, however, echo Northern Cass superintendent, Cory Steiner.

"We can't keep structures that would allow us to fall back into a more traditional system," said Steiner. "If we're going to do this, we're going to have to manage without grade levels."

***

One recent spring afternoon, about a dozen Northern Cass students working on laptops made themselves comfortable in a large classroom with mobile furniture, beanbag pillows and a plush blue couch.

"We've decoupled the curriculum from those grade levels. You are studying what you need to study at your level."

Bill Zima, superintendent, Kennebec (Maine) Intra-District Schools regional school unit #2

The kids were rounding out eighth or ninth grade, but that had little to do with their choices of self-paced lessons in several subjects. Some had finished all the material pegged to their grade level months ago and had moved on, while others were taking more time.

Two teachers, known as "academic advisors," were on call to field questions and ensure everybody stayed on task (the teachers also lead weekly seminars or labs to bolster the computer work).

These students, and a couple dozen others circulating through the classroom for three periods each day, make up Jaguar Academy (named for the district's feline mascot). As a first-year pilot, Jaguar Academy is just part of the larger overhaul. But it's one of the district's first steps toward a grade-free future.

For students like Katelyn Stavenes, reclining on the couch and catching up on science she missed during an illness, Jaguar Academy is a welcome taste of autonomy.

"I can just lean back and do my stuff instead of always watching the clock and wondering, when can I get out of here?" said Stavenes, who will be a ninth-grader this fall.

Meanwhile, at one of the tables in the hallway set up for kids working together, a girl named Silver Anderson said that doing three courses in Jaguar Academy (physical science, English and American history) gave her the schedule flexibility to meet with the band teacher on Friday mornings for an informal class in music theory and composition.

"I've been experimenting with chord progressions," she said. "There's so much behind music to learn."

The district plans to expand the pilot until it's an option for all students in what are now called the eighth through twelfth grades. And, beyond Jaguar Academy, Northern Cass educators are rewriting lessons and assessments, both for academic subjects and for "habits of work," such as perseverance and collaboration, into progressions of competencies free of grade-level expectations. They have spent evenings and school breaks shuffling teacher schedules and prepping for competency-based classrooms; they've visited other schools around the nation that have a head start down this road; they've added another guidance counselor to beef up internship opportunities for older students; and they've held several workshops to explain it all to parents.

"I'd love to tell you we have every answer," Steiner said, but "we've got a long way to go."

***

While seat-time schooling is fiercely opposed by reformers, it is backed by state and federal law. Northern Cass's reforms rely on North Dakota's 2017 decision to let districts apply for waivers from requirements such as hours of instruction.

Most states have something on the books to encourage competency-based options, but only about a half-dozen have loosened seat-time dictates enough to dispense with grade levels, according to Matt Williams, chief operating officer and vice president of policy and advocacy for the personalized-learning nonprofit KnowledgeWorks.

In North Dakota, Williams and his colleagues worked with Kirsten Baesler, the state superintendent of public instruction, to write the waiver bill, and Northern Cass leaders lobbied legislators to pass it.

They pushed for radical change even though North Dakota districts were doing well by traditional measures, such as graduation rates, ACT scores and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, on which the state regularly ranks among the top fifteen in most subjects and grade levels tested.

"We'll do whatever we have to do for testing. But we won't put any extra effort or incentive into them. They'll be something we have to do and move on."

Cory Steiner, superintendent, Northern Cass (N.D.) school district

According to Baesler, however, "We were too often teaching to a test. Educators wanted students to engage more and apply their learning in meaningful ways."

At Northern Cass, momentum for change began during the district's 2016 accreditation renewal when staff checked up on students after graduation. They found that graduates' college grades tended to dip compared to their high-school GPAs, and the students bounced around a lot - switching majors, transferring to other universities or dropping out. District leaders decided they hadn't done enough to prepare students for life after high school.

According to Melissa Uetz (pronounced yoots), a special education teacher who became Jaguar Academy's lead facilitator, the message was, "We needed to help kids find their passions before they left school."

That meant more flexibility and potential for exploration in student schedules. The primary goal for Jaguar Academy was to give high school students more opportunities for job shadows and internships. More proposed changes spiraled out from there, including the decision to do away with grade levels.

"Teachers said, 'If this is good for kids, why not bring it to all of them?' " said Steiner. "Our conversation went from Jaguar Academy to 'What if we tore the whole system down?' "

Of course, no matter what individual states and districts allow, federal law still mandates grade-level-pegged testing. Education departments use those scores to evaluate schools. Quite often, so do parents.

California's Lindsay Unified School District, which switched to competency-based education years ago and has been mentoring Northern Cass, kept grade levels because of standardized tests. Lindsay Unified's director of advancement, Barry Sommer, said he would love to scrap grade levels, because they get in the way of "truly moving to a 21st-century school that's learner centered." But California's district-accountability tracking system is based on grade-level achievement tests.

Meanwhile, even the handful of schools that have successfully ditched grade levels, such as Waukesha STEM Academy, a charter school about 20 miles west of Milwaukee, must still keep age-based groupings in the background to sort students for standardized testing.

"We take the tests. But we don't think much about them, quite honestly," said James Murray, Waukesha's principal.

Steiner plans a similar approach. For testing and student data reporting, Northern Cass will still link students with an expected year of graduation.

"We'll do whatever we have to do for testing," said Steiner. "But we won't put any extra effort or incentive into them. They'll be something we have to do and move on."

***

Jaguar Academy is often library-quiet. Prepackaged lessons from an online curriculum provider comprised about 80 percent of students' work in the first year. Steiner wants to cut that online learning quotient way back, to 20 percent, partly by expanding the number of seminars in which teachers lead a deeper exploration or a lab on select topics.

Still, it has been hard enough to schedule just one weekly seminar, he said. Students often skip a non-Jaguar Academy class to attend, and there have been no math seminars, because none of the academic advisors are math teachers.

And seminar scheduling is just one of the logistical headaches Northern Cass will face as grade levels disappear.

"Competency-based schools still need structures - they just need new structures," said Sydney Schaef, a mastery learning designer for reDesign, a Boston company that guides school overhauls. "We still need ways to identify where kids need to be when they come into the building in the morning." And when kids should stop going to elementary school and start attending a middle school across town. (Because the Northern Cass district is in a single building, they dodge that particular challenge.)

"Even reimagining space is bigger than any of us thought," said Steiner. "Classrooms that used to be owned by a teacher will have to be more flexibly used. We're looking at one of our gyms and asking, does it have to double as a classroom space?"

Then there's the question of whether to place limits on how quickly or slowly students move through competencies. For instance, another of the districts mentoring Northern Cass found that just letting students work "at their own pace" led some kids to slack off and disrupt classmates.

"I remind teachers that we need to put some controls on this," said Bill Zima, superintendent of the district in question, Maine's Kennebec Intra-District Schools regional school unit #2 (RSU2). "First-graders are not ready to completely manage their time. Nor are seniors. Nor are adults, really."

The solution for some is grouping kids who would traditionally be in two or three different grade levels together in a single classroom, a longstanding practice of Montessori schools.

"A lot of schools are finding ways to blur grade levels rather than getting rid of them," said Karla Phillips, policy director for personalized learning at the Florida-based Foundation for Excellence in Education, or ExcelinEd.

At Northern Cass, teachers plan to step in if a student gets more than three weeks behind or ahead of an expected "teacher pace." Students who struggle will get extra support. Students who speed ahead will get a conversation about next steps.

"Maybe we let them fly," said Steiner. "Or maybe they want to do an independent project, or work as a peer teacher or go back to work more on a competency where they've struggled."

Meanwhile, the district is reworking teacher assignments to better fit a school where age and academics are no longer tied together. Last year, for example, the elementary teachers stopped being generalists and started to specialize. The idea is that teachers will encounter students in a broader range of ages and abilities, but only in their own academic areas of expertise.

"We asked, who's passionate about math, writing or science, and so forth. And we ran with it," Steiner explained.

"We were too often teaching to a test. Educators wanted students to engage more and apply their learning in meaningful ways."

Kirsten Baesler, North Dakota state superintendent of public instruction

One early adopter was math teacher Danielle Bosse. On a typical day, most of her students spread around the classroom, working independently on math skills, while one or two at a time pull up a chair to Bosse's desk for a coaching session. Kids who feel ready to move on ask Bosse to unlock an online test, which they take at a table topped with black cardboard dividers.

Asked how students have adjusted, Bosse said, "Standard operating procedures. We did a lot of standard operating procedures."

Known around Northern Cass as "SOPs," these procedures are co-developed by students and teachers to help kids manage their time and stay organized. An SOP might require students to take out planners at the start of class and jot down their learning targets or put their names on a whiteboard next to the competency they are working on that day.

The SOP brainstorming began last October, after many students struggled with their newfound autonomy. In fact, Steiner's plan is to start this coming fall with a week devoted just to SOPs and other "soft skills," such as critical thinking.

"All these key skills we want kids to learn, like time management," he said, "we need to teach them very explicitly.

***

After cutting the regulatory red tape and solving the logistical puzzles, a deeper challenge remains in the move away from seat-time. Grade levels are part of our culture, deeply rooted in how we think about learning and childhood more broadly.

"If we're going to do this, we're going to have to manage without grade levels."

Cory Steiner, superintendent, Northern Cass (N.D.) School District

"When you meet somebody and ask how old their kids are, they say, oh, they're in third grade or fourth grade," noted Phillips of ExcelinEd.

Cultural norms have kept grade levels partially intact in Maine's RSU2 district, which has hosted Steiner and Northern Cass teachers many times.

"We've decoupled the curriculum from those grade levels," said RSU2's Zima. "You are studying what you need to study at your level." But, he added, the district has kept the grade levels as a "social moniker."

Even Waukesha STEM Academy gives grade levels a cameo in student progress reports. "Parents still wanted to know how their kid was doing compared to a kindergarten through 12th-grade scale," said superintendent Murray. So, the school added a grade-level scale across the top of report cards that mostly measured student progress along broader "learning continuums."

"Parents had the comfort of seeing the old system while being aware that the new system and progression was in place in school," said Murray.

Some competency-based schools want to keep grade levels for reasons beyond offering parents a safety blanket. Grade levels, they argue, can give students a sense of camaraderie and enhance social learning. For instance, at Casco Bay High School, in Portland, Maine, two or three interdisciplinary "learning expeditions" a year are arranged by grade level. Last year, a junior-year expedition had teams of students visit rural Maine to interview local "unsung heroes" and create mini-documentaries about them. that were stitched into a large, single documentary for the entire grade.

"There's an element of 'we're all in this together.' We're all taking on the same complex project," said the Casco Bay principal, Derek Pierce. "Our kids support each other, and they are really good at giving each other feedback, because the quality of your project will reflect on the whole project and, therefore, reflect on me."

Back at Northern Cass, however, they believe that grade levels would become a crutch for students and teachers and ultimately stymie reform. "All of us have a pit in our stomach right now," said Steiner. "We know that we're taking a big leap and not everybody's going to be on board."

This summer, Northern Cass teachers and administrators have continued rewriting lesson plans and assessments, including those for "habits of work." They've also been visiting more-experienced competency-based districts such as Lindsay Unified. By 2020, Steiner wants Northern Cass to be the district hosting visitors, as a mentor to other schools mulling the idea of nixing grade levels.

"On their way to visit Lindsay or another of these pioneering schools, they can stop in North Dakota," Steiner said, "because there's a school out in the middle of a cornfield that's doing this transformative work."

This story about competency-based education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

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HUNTER, N.D. - On windswept fields outside Fargo, North Dakota, a bold experiment in education has begun. In a lone building flanked by farmland, the Northern Cass School District is heading into year two of a three-year journey to abolish grade levels.

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It is time to build a national obsession around learning in America.

For this to happen, we must face head on our K-12 education shortfalls, but we also need to excite what is possible in education. This cultural pivot will inspire our citizens to take personal and national pride in learning. A new culture of learning will save education in America. And we should begin building this new approach to learning in Detroit, Michigan.

I know about the history and challenges associated with education in the Motor City. I am also well aware of the toxic nature of its politics, the intransigence of the education establishment, and the ongoing tension between state and local leaders.

But if we make education work in Detroit, we can make it work everywhere in America.

First, Detroit needs an identifiable, home-grown education leader and change agent. This person should embody a new mindset, a new energy for Detroit. One that champions children's learning ahead of any and all adult-related interests. This new leader must be strong enough to take on the status quo with tough love. The new leader should not be tied to any particular group and may or may not be from the education or education reform world.

But this person must be highly respected, be able to navigate Michigan's dicey politics and have no other interest or focus other than making Detroit the pre-eminent learning center in America - by any means necessary.

Second, significant community and civic attention must be devoted to changing how Detroit citizens view education - not just as a means to an end, but, rather, as an integral part of the lifelong learning journey of life. All stakeholders and residents need to be cultivated to embrace creativity and innovation to help propel positive outcomes for children. And there must be a willingness to borrow the best unique practices from others that may work in Detroit.

For instance, adopting Indianapolis' Innovation Network Schools concept could work beautifully in Detroit. Innovation Network Schools are public schools made possible by Indiana state laws which allow school districts to convert, open or restart schools into new, autonomous schools with their own nonprofit boards. These schools are exempt from most district practices and have "full operational autonomy." The new leaders for the reconstituted schools are trained through a fellowship program administered by the Mind Trust, a highly regarded education nonprofit group. Indy parents and students love the new and improved schools.

Detroit Public Schools should also consider the personalized learning model implemented by the Lindsay Unified School District in California. This largely poor, mainly migrant farming community once had the worst performing school district in the state. After a tedious process driven by grass-roots community meetings lasting over a year, Lindsay completely redesigned its schools. Nine years later, test scores are up, as are college admissions for Lindsay high school graduates.

Finally, Detroit must grow its school choice offerings. As is evidenced in Florida, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., we now know that quality-based school choice programs lead to improvements in traditional public schools. Detroit has a significant number of charter schools, but there should be more emphasis on quality and accountability. And other forms of school choice should be considered.

For far too many years, the mention of Detroit's education woes has led to collective head-shaking. But this can be turned around if state and local officials commit to the right leadership and a grassroots community driven process for change that also provides more options for parents.

Kevin Chavous, author of " Building a Learning Culture in America," is a founding board member of the American Federation for Children and Democrats for Education Reform.

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It is time to build a national obsession around learning in America. For this to happen, we must face head on our K-12 education shortfalls, but we also need to excite what is possible in education. This cultural pivot will inspire our citizens to take personal and national pride in learning.