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Volume 2, Issue 4 | March/April 2024
Happy Spring, MBLC Community:
We hope you and your students are well. Here’s the latest from the Mastery-based Learning Collaborative. In this community newsletter, you’ll find upcoming events and recaps, useful resources, an advice column, and more.
You can register for and get more info about upcoming events at the MBLC Site: bit.ly/MBLCsite.
Thanks for reading. We wish you a wonderful April break!
— Your MBLC Support Team
Professional Learning Coaches: Amanda, Clyde, Emily, Joy, Kate, and Katie
WA SBE: Alissa, Seema, and Stephanie
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You can register and get more info at the MBLC Site: bit.ly/MBLCsite or check out our Google Calendar of Events: bit.ly/MBLC_Eventcalendar.
For events open to Friends of MBLC, look for this symbol: 💟
ONLINE EVENTS
Monday, April 22 | 3:45-5:15 pm | COHORT 2 PLC, Session 4
Crafting your MBLC Work Plan & Budget.
- For Cohort 2 MBLC school teams
Tuesday, April 23 | 9:30-11 a.m. | Leaders Community of Practice Session 4 (last one!)
- For Cohort 1: Principal + 1
Tuesday, April 30 | 3:45-4:45 p.m. | Webinar 17 | Topic coming soon!
- For all Cohort 1 & 2 MBLC school teams and interested staff
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Friends of the MBLC invited, too! 💟
Thursday, May 2 | noon-1:30 p.m. | Youth Advisor & Adult Ally Session
Panel prep and youth voice opportunities for the May 7 Spring Gathering.
- For youth advisors and one adult ally from each participating school; optional but encouraged
Thurs, May 9 | noon-1:30 p.m. | Youth Advisor Panel Debrief
May 7 Spring Gathering debrief.
- For youth advisors who attended and contributed to the Spring Gathering—and their adult allies; optional but encouraged
Monday, May 20 | 3:45-5:15 p.m. | COHORT 2 PLC, Session 5 (last one this spring!)
School-to-school share out about MBLC work—planned and/or underway.
- For Cohort 2 MBLC school teams
Tuesday, May 21 | 3:30-5 p.m. | COHORT 1 PLC, Session 5 (last one this spring!)
- Grading for Accuracy and Equity PLC
- Project-based Unit/Assessment Design for MBL PLC
- CRSE Foundations PLC
- For Cohort 1 MBLC school teams
Tuesday, June 4 | 3:45-4:45 pm | Webinar 18 | Topic coming soon! (last webinar and last MBLC event this spring)
- For all Cohort 1 & 2 MBLC school teams and interested staff
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Friends of the MBLC invited, too! 💟
IN PERSON EVENTS
MBLC Members: Please save the dates!
Registration and more info forthcoming at bit.ly/MBLCsite
Wednesday, May 1 | 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. | MBLC Visit to CHOICE Academy
MBLC Member School in Burien | Visit focus: Collective staff efficacy.
- Optional but encouraged, 15 guests max, max 2 per school (WAITLIST ONLY)
Tuesday, May 7 | 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. | MBLC Spring Gathering | Central Washington University, Ellensburg
Youth advisor panels, school team huddles, school pair-shares, high interest electives.
- For all Cohort 1 & 2 MBLC school teams. Please send your whole MBLC team if you can, minimum 2+ MBLC team members.
Wednesday, May 15 | 9 a.m.-2 p.m. | MBLC Visit to Innovation Lab HS MBLC Member School in Bothell | Visit focus: Learner-centered school design.
- Optional but encouraged, 20 guests max, max 2 per school (7 spots left)
Wednesday-Thursday, August 7-8 | 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. | MBLC Summer Institute - Green River College, Auburn
- For all Cohort 1 & 2 MBLC school teams and interested staff
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Dear Embee Elsie:
Our high school joined the MBLC in January. One of the main focus areas for us is accurate and fair grading. We want to move away from grades as rewards for compliance and completion. We believe grades ought to reflect where students actually are with state standards, and with our schoolwide learning outcomes.
Next year we plan to use a 1-4 grading scale: Not Yet, Approaching, Meeting, Exceeding. We got this NAME scale from a Competency Collaborative school that asks students: “Can you NAME your grade?” We like the clarity and metacognition implied by this.
Now that we are poised to make significant changes to how we track progress, here is my question. As a school leader, what are the best ways to build capacity in educators to measure our students’ proficiency with standards, as opposed to compliance with activities?
Sincerely—Hoping to Exceed Expectations
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Dear Hoping to Exceed:
Getting the “noise” out of grades, so that grades are purely and clearly based on each learner’s progress and proficiency with standards/outcomes—this is a cornerstone of MBL. Bravo to you and your team for recognizing the power of using grades to communicate evidence-based feedback on where a student is in relation to grade-level proficiency—rather than rewarding or withholding “points” to elicit or discourage certain behaviors.
In this video, a star student recounts doing very well in a class—then failing an important state test for that subject. How did it happen? “It was a really eye opening moment, because we realized we were giving her misinformation about what her levels of mastery are,” says a school leader. Instead of coaching Angelica on her math and science skills, teachers were asking her to hand in everything on time, raise her hand to show engagement, and other behaviors that are a proxy for true evidence of learning. Good habits of work and learning contribute to proficiency—but productive student behaviors don’t stand in for knowing your stuff in an algebra, chemistry, or world history class.
Given that most of us attended schools where behavior was mixed into our grades, how can teachers develop and act on a clear and shared understanding of grade level proficiency?
Now, on to HOW to build capacity across a staff with accurate and equitable grading. Many MBL schools take time in departments or as a full staff to calibrate levels of proficiency using student work and the stated success criteria—whatever rubric or scale used for grading. This helps us to develop a shared norm for grade-level proficiency.
Here’s a calibration protocol from longtime MBL teacher practitioner Kasie Giallombardo from Maine. Give it a try with some colleagues, leaving lots of time and space for conversations as your team norms what evidence of proficiency looks like. Even more powerful: Make it a regular practice!
Very best—Embie
Reader, do you have a question for our advice columnist Embie Elsie (aka M-B-L-C)? Please reach her here!
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RECENT HAPPENINGS
Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to lately! Find recordings and resources from past events at the MBLC Event Archive on the community site: bit.ly/MBLCsite.
MBLC March Field Trip to NYC Competency Collaborative Schools
Visitors on the MBLC trip to NYC
“Thank you so much for the NY Experience! We will never be the same teachers again . . . ”
—two visitors on the NYC trip
In early March, 34 of us (30 WA-based guests and four MBLC professional learning coaches) visited four NYC middle and high schools with strong CRSE/MBL practices. Each visit included interactions with staff, leaders, and students, shared resources, classroom time, and time to reflect and make connections with our own context.
Host schools shared stories, examples, resources, and more. At the end of each visit, guests reflected together—and are here today to share receipts from the whole experience!
Spend some time digging into our digital trip booklet. It’s filled with a treasure trove of resources and information.
https://bit.ly/March2024NYCTripBOOKLET
Students on NYC trip
Tuesday, March 5 | 3:45-4:45 pm
Webinar 16: Using Data to Select an Equity Focus
Tuesday, Jan 30 | 3:45-4:45 pm
Webinar 15: Using Culturally Responsive-Sustaining MBL to Support Inclusive Instruction For Every Student
UDL
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The contents of this resource were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
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About us
The Mastery-based Learning Collaborative is a community of Washington State schools that are using youth-centered, mastery/competency-based, culturally responsive-sustaining practices and approaches. Our program is an initiative of Washington State Board of Education, in collaboration with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Professional Educator Standards Board.
Contact
Mastery Based Learning Collaborative
State Board of Education
Olympia, Washington
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