Moving from tradition, SAD 15 pilots standards-based learning
GRAY
2/5/2010

By Emily Parkhurst

There's a new energy bouncing through the halls and classrooms in Gray and New Gloucester schools. Teachers and students are anxiously awaiting large-scale changes to the way students learn, from report cards, to lessons, to physical classrooms.

Recently, the Maine Department of Education unveiled plans to move forward in standards-based education systems and began a partnership with the Re-inventing Schools Coalition (RISC).

Standards-based education requires students to define their own learning based on a number of pre-determined standards. Rather than traditional grades, students receive a one, two, three, or four designation for a list of standards and will know exactly what skills they need to master that standard and move on. A student in sixth grade might be working on the same math standard as a student in eighth grade, and may move around from classroom to classroom throughout the day, depending on the standard he or she is currently working on.

In the classroom

''Learning is the constant, time is the variable,'' said middle school art teacher Barbara Weed, who has attended several RISC conferences and is part of a teacher task force already implementing some of the standards-based learning.

''Everyone is learning the exact same material, just at their own pace,'' she said.

Weed, high school english teacher David Coleman, middle school math and Science teacher Kristi Fecteau, and Russell School teacher Kelly Thornhill have all begun working standards-based learning into their curriculums.

''It facilitates student engagement,'' said Coleman. ''So far, it's working great.''

Coleman's classroom walls are covered with brightly-colored posters of standards for learning that the students created for his class. He said he is already giving the students more control of their own learning. He offered the example of a talented artist who was struggling with an annotated bibliography assignment. Coleman said when he realized the student was inspired by art, he changed his assignment so the student could create an annotated bibliography of an artist instead.

''It's the kids' words. You've asked them what they should do to be successful,'' said Weed.

''They own it,'' added Fecteau. ''They're more likely to call each other out on it if they come up with it.''

Piloting the program

While the in-class experiments are just beginning, Director of Curriculum and Staff Development Karen Caprio and Superintendent Victoria Burns have been working on transitioning to standards-based learning since it was proposed. Last May, the district applied to be considered as an implementation site of the new RISC program. In late June, the district found out it would be one of two implementation sites in Maine. As a result, teachers and students have attended training and the whole district has begun the process of transitioning from traditional reference-based education to standards-based education.

''All of that heavy lifting will be done because we're a pilot school,'' said Caprio.

The district was chosen to pilot the program for a number of reasons, including a 25 percent disengagement and dropout rate, a willingness to reorganize, achievement scores at or above the state average, and a desire to improve the curriculum.

''We've been working to move achievement scores up, but it's never been good enough,'' said Burns. ''Right now RISC seems like an excellent fit. It can only be better.''

There are still many concepts to be ironed out and the school is only now beginning to consider what the standards-based learning will look like. Report cards may change, grade levels may disappear, students may move around from classroom to classroom, teachers may move away from lecture-style classrooms and into working with smaller groups or individuals. These are only a few of the decisions the district will need to consider as it moves forward.

''The number one factor in all this is the student,'' said Burns. ''I think, in the past we have left the students out of the equation. They've been very passive and let the adults do the work.''

Coleman, who has been teaching for 15 years, agrees.

''I'm tired of doing more work than the students,'' he said.

Students weigh-in

But if the students will do more work, what do they think about the shift to standards-based education?

''At first, I was iffy,'' said Krystal Fogg, a junior at Gray New Gloucester High School, ''but it's grown on me. I think it's going to be good.''

Fogg has attended some of the RISC training and is excited about the prospect of having more control of what she is working on and how she meets the standards.

''We get lectured to all the time now. With the RISC model, that would change. It would be more interactive,'' she said.

Fogg said that students from a school district in Alaska that has implemented the RISC program were teaching Maine students during the RISC seminar and were earning credit toward mastery of standards while they were there.

Elizabeth Morton, also a junior, attended the RISC training and believes standards-based learning is the way to go.

''We'll take charge of what we're learning. You can do a paper on what you want,'' she said.

''You're doing it for you. You're going to be able to learn your own way,'' added Fogg.

Transitioning from old to new

Everyone involved in the process knows transitioning an entire district to a new model of teaching and learning is going to be a challenge.

Coleman said he believes the best way to implement the change is to throw out the old model and bring in the new one.

''This can't just be adaptation of the old ways. It has to be something significant, something bold. We want to be the most student-centric district in the state,'' he said.

Some of the task force teachers said they anticipate skeptics and cynics. They hope the skeptics ask the important questions to help the implementation process run more smoothly and that the cynics don't upset the system to the detriment of the students.

''We need to empower the kids. The kids are going to sell it to the cynics and also to their parents. Once (the students) are excited, how can you not be excited?'' said Fecteau.

Caprio echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the relationship between parents, teachers and students in the new system.

''The parents and kids will have more active roles,'' she said. ''It's motivating and makes (students) compete with themselves.''

Assessing success

The program will also provide teachers new tools for assessment, which Burns said will help teachers target problem areas for students. Assessments will be made more often to provide teachers the information they need to respond.

There is currently a state law that prohibits connecting teacher salaries to student test results and Burns said she has not heard that repealing the law is the direction the state would like to go. However, she believes the new program will require more accountability of teachers while simultaneously providing them clearer standards from which they develop their lessons.

''It becomes a very transparent system. It's the teacher's responsibility to respond to the data. Years ago, we never made that assessment until the end of the year,'' Burns said.

With the standards-based program, she said it should be very clear how well a teacher is responding to a student's needs.

Regardless of cynics, unknowns and challenges, most say standards-based education is likely the way the future for education. In the meantime, students are attending classes, teachers are teaching, and the buzz of coming change hovers in the air. While the adults are cautiously optimistic, it was the young people who bubbled with excitement.

''I think the transition is going to be hard but in the end it's definitely for the better. We're excited about it,'' said Morton.

''You're going to be able to learn your own way,'' said Fogg.