Goodbye Grade Levels

By Derek Viger
July 10, 2010

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Unless you attended a small rural school, you were likely instructed only at your grade level. In 2nd grade maybe you learned beginning grammar. 8th grade you spent a considerable amount of time on “Maine Studies”. Biology came in 10th grade, 9th if you were in the Advanced Placement class. Curriculum experiences will vary, but the tradition of learning only what is required at one’s grade level is fairly universal in public education. Unless you are failing miserably, you get shoved along to the next level. If the material was not challenging, maybe you became bored and uninterested. Perhaps there were some concepts you didn’t quite grasp. Yet you were sent along to the next grade and expected to complete work that built on what you already didn’t understand. There are programs that help students within the current system, but Kansas City has a radically different idea. See if you recognize it.

Kansas City, MO. schools are making a large scale shift from grade levels to a subject mastery system. This fall, 17,000 students will switch to the new system in low-performing schools. Kansas City Superintendent John Covington said America’s current education system is outdated and based on past industrial and agrarian needs. This past model, argues Covington, based success on “seat time” not actual educational achievement.

In KC’s system, students will decide, with teacher guidance, what curriculum they should focus on. School work will be completed on an individual or small group level, with an eye on a student’s skill level. Looking ahead to high school, some students could begin college coursework early, while others could take extra time as needed. This method could help alleviate boredom and keep struggling students from throwing in the towel.

Some may have concerns that students will still be labeled as high-achieving or low-achieving (successes or failures) in this model. Superintendent Covington does not agree. “This system precludes us from labeling children failures,” Covington said. “It’s not that you’ve failed, it’s just that at this point you haven’t mastered the competencies yet and when you do, you will move to the next level.”

All of this may be familiar to Mainers. 11,248 students in six districts are transitioning to a standards-based model as part of the Re-Inventing Schools Coalition (RISC) approach. The Maine Department of Education gives a side-by-side comparison of standards-based education and standards-referenced (traditional) education. Here’s what they include as important points of standard-based education(pdf warning).

System based on defined number of learning levels

Students advance through the system based on achievement of each level

Standards are used to guide curriculum and student progress is measured and used to determine advancement

Students advance through system at their own pace

Learning is the constant;time is the variable

SAD 15 – Gray and New Gloucester – has implemented a standards-based approach. In February of this year, students and teachers reported they were excited about the then new program. ”It facilitates student engagement,” said high school English teacher David Coleman. ”So far, it’s working great.” Students have said they preferred having their education in their own hands rather than “being lectured all the time.”

Richmond high school English students are exploring their subject through building boats. Through learning how to build their boats students practiced skills in research, communication, and writing. Some students blogged about their exploits, some produced documentaries, and others wrote more traditional papers. All of this work allowed the students to become engaged in their studies and find their own ways to master the work.

To some “21st Century Skills” is just another reform buzzword. They hear that and think it means messing around on Facebook all day. Technology is part of the 21st Century Skills movement, but it is so much more than that. It is about abandoning an antiquated way of instructing students. It is about moving on to giving students the skills it takes to survive in this brave new world. The world does not function in a vacuum. Unless your just pulling a lever in a factory – does anyone do that anymore? – or plopping fries in a paper holder, critical thinking and problem solving skills are a must. Ditch the assembly line schooling. The time for a standards-based education system has come.

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Tags: Kansas City, Maine Department of Education, MSAD 15, Standards-Based

9 Responses to “Goodbye Grade Levels”

Derrick

10. Jul, 2010

“In 2nd grade maybe your learned beginning grammar.”

Intentional irony?
NickLevi86

10. Jul, 2010

Sounds like the Education industry may actually be learning something.
Ryan

10. Jul, 2010

It’s an idea that holds a lot of promise, but everything I’ve seen in Maine education tells me it won’t work. There are simply too many people inside and outside of the system to invested in the status quo. Any time we see educational reform opportunities, we see a watering-down of ideas so that nothing really changes. I like the idea, I just am too jaded to think it will succeed.
chris b

11. Jul, 2010

The first and only question should be is it in the best interest of the student and their ability to learn? If the answer is it’s in the town, or administrators, or teachers best interest then the idea should be scrubbed. You can serve only one master, in this case it should be the students ability to learn and master the materials need to be successful and productive citizens.
Derek Viger

11. Jul, 2010

In my view, the standards-based system is centered around a student’s ability, not an arbitrary one-size-fits-all traditional system. We should take care to do it right. Keep communities and students informed, instruct teachers on the system, and have proper data collection in place.
NancyEH

11. Jul, 2010

Although I appreciate the thought behind the theory, the reality is that – even in special ed where every student is supposed to have her own program intentionally laid out by an IEP Team – the resources do not exist to do standards-based education. It’s very labor-intensive and there’s already arguments (and the country) floating around Maine that our student/teacher ratio is too low.

In a related matter, there is no reason to keep the must-be-5-by-October-15-to-qualify-for-kindergarten [20-A MRSA 5201(2)(B) and (C)] rule, and yet I hear nothing about that in all the standards-based education rhetoric. If a child is ready to attend school based on some set of standards, then her age on an arbitrary date should not matter. If this effort is going to start someplace, let it start there.
George

11. Jul, 2010

Standards based education has a few bad points and some good points. The bad are as Nancy says that it is very labor intensive. More teachers are needed and mastery of the standards needs to be kept track of. Data systems need to be developed and kept both portfolios and electronic.Outlines for individual students on getting from point A to point B and through the standards need to be developed. This is challenging and draining on teachers. Goals and standards need to be specific and not vague like some of them are. The good points are that it motivates students and gives them different ways to show mastery of knowledge. If the standards are clear, then students can show proof that they met them. A couple of things bother me as a teacher, though. It is important for all students to be engaged. Many times if students work together on a project, a couple do all the work and some are along for the ride and don’t do and learn much. Also students need to show traditional skills such as grammar, or general knowledge of the history of the United States. They have to get the broad view of the whole of something in order to fit the little pieces together. Some skills need to be mastered and used in society besides critical thinking. I need to be able to express myself in writing or speech with good grammar to get me thoughts across. Both standards based and a traditional curriculum can go together. Reality and good practices are usually somewhere in the middle. It also has to be made clear on what is a standards based system needs. Maine teachers spent 8 years working on Comprehensive Assessment Systems being pushed by the state and no one knew what they were supposed to look like and guidance from the state as to what they were supposed to be constantly changed. They were suspended in 2005. So that is why standards need to be clear and goals. Standards based curriculum are good but checks and balances along with clear outcomes are needed.
Publius

12. Jul, 2010

Labeling students as a failure is a good thing. Some kids, and grownups at this point, are never told they are not good enough and consequently never make an effort to better themselves. Putting a negative label on a person can inspire them to self improvement through a sense of shame. If a someone gives up because of a negative label then the hard truth is they would probably grow up anyway as a burden to the rest of working society.
Ryan

29. Jul, 2010

Wow Publius! How quick you are to jump to a conclusion that telling a 5 year old they are a failure is productive. There is an age where it is productive, but to say “labeling students as a failure is a good thing” is a little over the top if you ask me. As the father of a special education student I can tell you first hand how patience and not criticism gets my son through his homework each night. I tell him when he is wrong but I never tell him he is a failure. At 8, that is exactly what he needs more than anything, my patience. You might want to clarify a little on your blanket statement.

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