mastery.learning

Well, test scores were distributed yesterday, delineated by teacher, school and district.  What did we find?   First of all, school-wide, our 7th grade math scores went down from last year.  But that’s an apples to oranges comparison.  Last year we had a school of 400 kids total, and a population of more “haves” than “have nots”.   As we opened the new school this year, we gained three new feeder schools and a total of 700+ kids.  The new feeders are more predominantly “have nots”, so we knew that there would be some decline in scores based on their scores from their elementary school patterns.  They came to us at much lower levels than the kids we had previously.

I will not fib here and say that when given the overall scores for the department, I was not more than a little apprehensive about our program causing the lion’s share of the decline.   So, I took a deep breath when the assistant principal sat in on our department meeting and asked if anyone was uncomfortable sharing the data with our personal scores on it.   “No,” we all said,  and I prepared for the worst.

As it turns out, my teaching partner and I had the HIGHER scores in the 7th grade department.  Compared to the district as a whole, we were slightly above the average in every category.  Not way above the average, but enough to be significant.  And compared to our fellow teachers’ kids, we were significantly higher in several areas.

Because we started the model in the second quarter, mandating that some students start back at square-one, we didn’t get as far in the curriculum as we were “supposed” to, but we felt we got through the stuff that was most important for the Algebra I concepts they needed as fundamentals.  It was another reason to expect that we might be the cause of the decline in scores.   To our surprise, the “Honors” Pre-Algebra class, which was whole chapters ahead of where we were all year, had the LOWEST scores on the state tests.  We were floored.

On a personal level, my individual kids did OK.  Almost all of them remained at the level they came in at, meaning they learned a year’s worth of material in the year that I had them.  I had about a dozen who went up a level, and one kid went up two.  I had 2 who went down one level, and I’m not sure why, as they were excellent students during the year.   Four others went down, but I know why – they didn’t do a lick of work most of the year.  My partner had very similar results for his class.   Our collegues had fewer moving up a level, and a few more moving down.

While it’s really too soon to make definitive statements, we feel like we did what we set out to do.  We are still fine tuning the system (more on that later) and are hoping that starting off at the beginning of the year will show more dramatic results on this year’s tests.  Plus, we are anxious to see how our kids adapt to the Algebra I curriculum and if they were prepared enough to be successful as 8th graders.  So while the jury is still out on that, we are thrilled that our kids didn’t go down, or cause the majority of the decline department-wide, and it has strengthened our resolve to continue improving how we teach and  how kids learn.

It’s official, we are back to work.  No kids yet, but our prep days have begun.  Along with that, come the usual string of meetings and directives from administration, and the ultimate “report card”…..test scores.

My partner and I were anxious to find out how our kids did with our mastery learning system from last year.  We had expected a decline in scores for a number of reasons, and unfortunately, we weren’t disappointed.  Or, rather, we were.  Yes, our scores went down.  But they went down across the board for our 7th grade math.  Things will be delineated by individual teacher at our next meeting, and I’m almost scared to look.  If we all went down about the same, well..then it’s not our system.  If our classes only caused the decline, we have some serious thinking to do.

But why did we think they would go down?  Well there are a number of reasons we can readily point to.  We opened a new school last year and incorporated feeder schools that have a reputation for lower performance than the ones we had previously – so our population changed.  That is the global reason.   In our little kingdom, we attributed this to a few different factors.

First, we started the mastery learning system in the middle of the first semester, kind of on the fly.  We knew going in that we would be tweaking and fine-tuning the way we taught as we went.  This translated to the kids either not understanding their responsibilities with this system completely, and/or they were given the impression that they could take their dear sweet time to complete work (which some did).

Another thing we can say is that the dilemma we faced at the end of the first semester was that some kids were way further behind than others, but within the constraints of our online grade reporting system, we couldn’t just keep the gradebook going, everyone had to start fresh.  So we opted to start everyone at the same place at the beginning of the second semester.  This meant those who were too far behind, got jumped, and therefore were left with some significant gaps.  A necessary evil.   Lastly, that mantra of personal responsibility wasn’t impressed firmly enough on many of our students and they got into the habit of putting off math work until they were desparate.  And then they struggled to get it all done.

So will we quit?  NO!   We feel that the progress the kids did make was worth the effort, and that the test scores will eventually reflect that.  Also, our main objectives were not the almighty test scores, but the preparation and the solid foundation for Algebra I next year.  In my eyes, the telling of success or failure will really be more about how they are handling Algebra I this year.  And we will find that out anecdotally from the 8th grade teachers.  So it remains to be seen.

Meantime, there are a few tweaks to be done with our own teaching.  For me,  I am going to move to a more group-oriented model, and have one group table positioned right near my desk.  I’ll rotate in a group a day to sit there and do some focused small group learning.   I will also not leave when to do a group of assignments up to the students.  Instead, I will “assign” a particular assignment daily, but if students need more time, then they have it.  They still can’t take the quiz until they can turn in the work.  I will eliminate or reduce “challenging” a quiz, because I think that many students wasted too much time taking and failing a quiz because they were ill-prepared.  Instead, they can work ahead as they please, but still have to do the same work.

It is somewhat deflating to have worked harder at teaching than we ever have, and still not have the results we would have liked.  Hopefully, as we start out on Day One this year, we will see better results this time around.

One week left to go.  It’s crunch week.  I have been going through the new curriculum for two days now, and not liking what I see.  I took one of each of the student packets and have been going through them myself, making answer keys and trying to see what the kids have to do.  They are not going to like this, and I have to find a way to make it more motivating besides trudging through a packet of work every week.  The mastery learning model might work here, IF I get my ducks in a row ahead of time.  Problem is, I still don’t know what all the ducks even are.   So that’s tops on my list this week.

Science is looming as well.  My teaching partner and I decided to do a modified system of the mastery learning for that as well.  We have the first two chapters thought through.  For Science, we will do the same method of giving the students a group of assignments.  They will still have to be done before students can take the assessment.  The difference here will be that the assessments are two short-essay questions, we are calling them the Target Questions or TQ’s.   We will give students the TQ’s at the beginning of each week, and they will have the opportunity to practice answering them in a comprehensive manner.  Then we will have whatever labs, activities, and assignments we do, always including a vocabulary component, and always including a writing component.  Unlike math, there will be “testing days”.  If a student is finished with the work by the “testing day”, he/she will test on those concepts.   The class will move on to the next section as a group.  If a student doesn’t score sufficiently on a test, their work won’t be entered into the gradebook until they can pass the last TQ test.  They will have the opportunity again on the next testing day, or can arrange to come in after school etc to get caught up.  Because we do labs and activities that have to be set up ahead of time, we don’t want students to be working ahead of the class, but we want them to have the time to be able to grasp the material if they need more time.   So it’s really a combination of standards-based grading and mastery learning.   We’ll see how it goes….!

At any rate – I have one week left, and loads to do now.   So long, summer!

Almost?  But it’s only the middle of July!    For me, that leaves just over 3 weeks before we go back on August 10.  The summer trip is over.  The house to-do list is about half checked off.  But it’s this time of the summer that my head starts to think about school.

Again.

I haven’t started planning yet, not officially.  Nothing on paper. But it’s spinning around up there in my brain while I clean out the garage, and make those curtains I’ve been trying to get to for two years.

What’s spinning?

Well, I have to teach a remedial course along with my usual classes this year.  This instead of an elective….bummer.   The class consists of 8th graders who all failed Pre-Algebra last year.  The district is supplying materials from a “canned” program from UCLA.  Researched-based, so they tell me. (I always wonder if those “researchers” have actually taught the class, with real kids, in a live situation, for an entire year).

Supposedly, it means the kids will get a “packet” of work for the week, and I have a scripted curriculum to deliver.  Do the packet. Take the test.   Nowhere in the material does it seem to incorporate any reteaching for those who fail the test etc.  Some manipulatives are provided for activities that look, quite frankly, inane.  And students are supposed to work on the packets at home.  The real kicker is this:  the curriculum is set up for a remedial class of 20 kids.  The budget says that I will have 36.  36 failing students in one class.  No role models, a culture of “it’s cool to fail”.

Forseeable problems:

1.  At home?  These are the kids who failed because they don’t do homework.  I can see the packets getting lost or tossed.

2.  36 kids who failed – my guess is that about 2/3 failed not because of lack of ability, but because of apathy.  Apathy, behavior issues,  no prerequisite skills, etc.  Maybe 1/3 tried really hard last year, did all their work, but just weren’t ready, didn’t get it etc.  Those are the kids these programs are designed for.   But by far the majority will be those who chose to fail.   All in the same class.  How to motivate?  How to manage?

3.  How to teach with a “script”.  Say this, cover that, do whatever.   Foreign land to me.  Not sure if I’m going to abide by it.

So….the brain is spinning.  It’s looking like I will spend quite a bit of time before school starts trying to figure out how to adapt the mastery learning system to this course.  Use it to motivate these kids, to make sure they understand.  Who knows, maybe I will find some really good activities in this “canned” stuff that I can use in my regular math classes.  Maybe I’ll set up partnerships with these kids and my other classes for some peer tutoring?  Afterschool?  Something.   Gotta do something to get them over the hump.

I just don’t know what.  Any suggestions?

OK,  so I’m dipping my big toe into the waters of blogging.  Please excuse any and all newbie errors as I try this format out.

I currently teach 7th grade Pre-Algebra and Life Science.  In our math classes, my teaching buddy and I instituted a mastery learning system for the first time this year.  We began in the second quarter, and are still fine-tuning.   It has changed the way we teach.  Below are the highlights.

1.  Students are given assignments for the chapter up front.  They know in advance what is required. They also know in advance how far they must progress in the quarter to earn an A, B, or C grade.  (We don’t have D’s in our district).

2.  We do whole class instruction in the form of notes for each section, plus spiraling review or activities.  Students keep a composition book with these notes, that serve as their “directions”.

3.  Students complete the assignments at their own pace.  Solutions and answers are available.  Students self-correct.

4.  Presenting notes and finished work is their “ticket” to the quiz.  We have a quiz after every 1-2 sections, depending on content.

5.  A student must pass a quiz at 80% or better to be considered “proficient”.  They cannot move on to the next section until they have passed the current one at 80%.  If they do not pass the quiz, we take the time to see what things the student needs to work on, and give them additional practice based on that need.   They may retest when they have completed the extra practice and are ready.   Some will repeat this process a third or fourth time. Especially until they learn that “guessing” on a test doesn’t work.

6.  Assignments don’t count in the gradebook until they have passed the quiz.  Once passed, all assignments and quizzes are entered into ABI (online gradebook system).

Some things we have found:

*Students took a while to figure out that if they do it right the first time, it saves them a lot of work.   They also discovered that just copying answers from the solutions guides, or back of the book was futile, because they need to show their work before it’s accepted.  Also, they learned that doing “bogus” work and then just putting the right answer, doesn’t mean they will pass the test.

*We need to have two to three versions of the quizzes (this wasn’t too hard to do).  They are short, 8-10 questions.  I have the students correct their errors as part of their practice when they don’t pass a quiz.

*It requires some maturity and responsibility for students in 7th grade to take it seriously.  In the beginning, many of them thought, “Cool, no homework!” Well, no assigned homework, anyway.  Students have to work at home to stay on pace with the course as it it set up.  Some do, some don’t. The ones that don’t are those that usually don’t do much homework anyway.

* We found that if we tied progress to grades, ie. “By report cards, you have to be at section 3-7 for a “C”, 3-9 for a “B”, and 4-2 for an “A”.   and posted that in advance, they knew exactly how much they had to accomplish.  That was a really good incentive.  It did make for a lot of last-minute work at report card time, but they learned it…isn’t that the goal?

*  We found it was way better for us not to have to constantly grade homework and record assignments.  Now we just record them when they pass the test.  Homework is only worth one point.  The test is worth double the number of questions, ie. 8 questions = 16 points.   Next year, we are thinking since grades are based on how far you have progressed, we are only going to use 0, and 1.   Pass/fail for the most part.  Since passing means you have accomplished 80% or better, that’s all we really need to know.

* This year, we input every assignment into ABI so parent’s can see them at home.  Next year, we think we will only input the quizzes.  We have a Chapter Assignment sheet for the kids, and will get parent’s to sign it that so they will be informed.  Still debating that one.

* We found that grading is both easier, and more informative for us.  We have to stay on top of the quizzes, daily.  This gives kids immediate feedback so they know the next day where they stand.  But, usually I have about a dozen quizzes a day to grade, sometimes more.  It doesn’t take long, and I don’t feel like I’m slogging through 80 of the same test over and over.

* Off-task behavior is consistently a challenge.

* Students are learning more from each other!   They are consistently forming little groups and working together, without our intervention.

* We let kids who pass tests put their names on the board as “Movin’ UP!”  7th graders love this. We also post the names weekly for all to see.

* Best thing….we know our kids really well.  At any point in time, we can tell you who struggles with what, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.  And the kids know what they know….isn’t that what we want?