Life on the Continuum

No matter where you are on the customized learning continuum, there's always more progress to make. This is a healthy reminder for when I feel like I've got it all figured out. The other day I had one of those reminding moments.

I subscribe to a few blogs including that of Bea McGarvey, Maine's foremost customized learning expert/advocate. In reading some of the comments following a post, I was struck by the apparent progress that had been made by some contributors, teachers mostly. They were really customizing, going well beyond flexible time and independent study of standards into the world of content based on student interests yet somehow linked directly (not just by a thread) to required standards.

Personally, I don't know how they do it. The traditional structure of a school, even a progressive middle school like Medomak Middle, doesn't readily lend itself to customization to that extent. I clearly still have a lot to learn.

However, I was also struck by the callousness of one teacher's blog comments, comments that carried a tone of disgust for programs like mine that are not as far along the customized continuum as hers apparently is. This raised a red flag for me as I know that at times I become enamored with my own progress and frustrated with the progress of others. While it's important to be proud of one's progress, it is equally important to be ever mindful that all teachers live their professional lives on a continuum that never ends. Continuums are lines not line segments; they are designed to continue. In the teaching profession, there is always more one can do and always more progress to be made. Yet, change doesn't happen overnight, and educators need to be patient with each other, validating each others success steps along the way. I'll try to remember this.

Telling It Like It Is

One of the benefits of a standards-based, customized approach to learning is the emphasis on telling it like it is. This can be refreshing for teachers who have long felt the push and pull of a system that muddies the waters of academic reporting.

The blessing of a standards-based approach is that it can produce clear evidence of where students are in their individual journeys through the standards. If there are four standards to be met within a Measurement Topic, and a student has met two of them, then that student has met half of the required standards so far. That's quite clear.

The challenge arises with reporting. Just how does one report a student's Measurement Topic progress using a 1-4 scoring system? (Some schools report a general content score. Others report a score for each Measurement Topic. A third option, the one I will likely use, is to report both.)

Having tried a few variations, I've found that there are two principles that need to guide score reporting.

• Students must have all the time they need without penalty.
• Student progress must be reported honestly using a progress standard.

Students must have all the time they need without penalty.

Time is the great variable in a standards-based, customized approach. As human beings, students will experience ebbs and flows in their progress. Puberty, relationships, health, and a number of other factors can influence a student's rate of progress. Let's face it; even us adults have our good and bad times. Add content into the mix, content which may or may not peak the interest of a student, and an irregular developmental pace is to be expected. With this in mind, it's best to not penalize students for lagging behind general progress expectations. If a student is behind the expected pace, that student should be able to move forward without fear of a closed educational window. Opponents of customized learning often claim that students are allowed to slack off without consequence. This, of course, need not be the case. There should be consequences for a progress lag, more appropriately interventions designed to assist the student, but the student should never face a lost cause.

Student progress must be reported honestly using a progress standard.

Learning is not an all at once activity. Students do not even encounter, let alone meet, all standards simultaneously. Therefore, it is critical to report student progress using a progress standard. A progress standard indicates how many standards a student should have at least met over a given time frame. It's important to understand that this does not violate the previous principle! Students have all the time they need without penalty, but this does not discount a school's responsibility to honestly report each student's progress at any given time. Honest reporting gets all the information out in the open, so that all those involved can maximize student progress using the most appropriate methods for each student.

By applying these two principles, educators can breathe the fresh air and experience the clarity of telling it like it is.