Future of Learning Top Reads for week of June 15 2020
“Cleveland Schools Considering Bold Plan to Confront Coronavirus Learning Loss: A ‘Mastery’ Learning Initiative That Would Scrap Grade Levels, Let Kids Learn at Own Pace,” by Patrick O’Donnell, in In The 74 Million
“Cleveland schools would toss aside teaching many students in traditional grade levels this fall and dramatically expand the ‘mastery’ learning plan it has tested for a few years. […]
“In Cleveland, schools that use the system often keep K-8 students in the same grade band for a few years, instead of moving up a grade every year. Students then relearn and reinforce skills they need to succeed before advancing when individuals are ready to move on, sometimes mid-year.
“At high schools, students in mastery schools can keep re-learning specific skills and receiving extra help until they know them well. As students learn, schools often avoid giving traditional A-F grades and rate students as ‘incomplete’ or ‘developing’ until they rate as proficient.”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
When COVID-19 forced schools to adopt a 100% virtual model, a lot of folks woke up from “The Matrix” to realize that mastery-based assessments offer a superior model for empowering students to move at the right pace and to apply their learning to meaningful challenges.
At the same time, mastery-based approaches don’t fit comfortably within traditional curriculum mapping. This excellent primer on “non-linear” curriculum from Eric Hudson at Global Online Academy offers some practical models for threading that needle.
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“MIT won’t allow all students to return to campus in the fall,” by Laura Krantz in The Boston Globe
“ ‘Obviously, we cannot control the trajectory of the pandemic this fall, either here in Massachusetts or in the places around the world our students call home. We also have no control over the government response. We must accept these as unknowns and be ready to adapt,’ [MIT President] Reif wrote.
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
Reif is invoking the locus of control: we can’t control many things, but we can control our ability and willingness to adapt.
This is a hard truth to accept, at the end of the school year, with teachers and administrators who are exhausted.
We can’t make a garden grow overnight, but we can lead like gardeners.
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