time is a variable -- a model for schools that want to follow the philosophy of the Mastery Transcript
AN EXAMPLE
Start at 10:45 in the video
The Transcript is in BLUE
What if we allow the students to work slower (if they want to work more carefully)?
Students will be told that they can decide how they want to learn, when they will be tested, and at what pace they want to learn, and we will emphasize time management skills. If a student gets halfway through the first grading period, they will have an A or B in the class at that point...on those assignments that they have mastered.
They will have kept up with the first 5 assignments, Even if there are 10 assignments for that class, the student has done only half of the class and done those 5 assignments well, so they have an A for those 5 assignments.
Let's imagine that some students were supposed to complete 15 assignments and the students completed only 7 of the 15 assignments in the first quarter.
When the end of the grading period arrives, the grades of the 8 missing assignments will be entered as a zero because the students ran out of time.
But don't let that alarm you. The first half that they learned, the first 7 assignments were solidly learned.
When they enter the next grading period, they will work on the assignments from the first grading period that they did not complete.
In the middle school, this could be achieved with a second period of mathematics. In the high school level, students are older and we expect that they will catch up if we give you the opportunity.
The goal is not to move someone onto new material until they have mastered what they started.
Let's say that we are two or three weeks into the second grading period. You have mastered the missing assignments from the first grading period in perhaps three weeks.
You will test on your own schedule. You are working one on one with your teachers. There will be many ways that you can demonstrate to the teacher that you have mastered those 8 missing assignments (written test, project, oral presentations).
Then we are going back to change the grade for the first grading period.
This procedure tells the student: “You know what? You can do it. You can get A's and B's, it just takes you a little longer sometimes to do the material.”
For students who are gifted, we say, “You can do more. Go ahead.”
We are trying to maximize each student's potential.
We are going back to change the grades in the first grading period.
As long as they are being responsible and as long as they are demonstrating to their teachers that the students really are giving their all. If the students master what they didn’t finish in the first grading period, we will change the grade for the first grading period.
Of course they will be a little farther behind in the second grading period. Let’s cycle this through to the last grading period. Students get C and D as a final grade everyday. Put yourself as a high school student. You went through the entire school year and you are still not able to do everything, but you solidly mastered everything in the first, second and third quarters. You almost got everything in the fourth period. Your first three grades will probably be A or B, which helps your GPA, and your fourth grading period will be lower because you are out of time at the end of the school year. You can do more make up and we can’t change the grade from zero or incomplete to a higher grade. However, you will have four grading period when you have learned to slow down and learn deeply and you will have improved your time management skills. As each grading period goes on, you will realize what level you need to work on. How fast and when you are ready to be tested for mastery. When you average the three A, and the lower grade in the fourth quarter, your overall grade will be much higher. There is just some material in the fourth quarter that the student does not understand and we can address that with an intervention over the summer or with independent work at home, tutoring after school or a summer class. Rather than have someone who has C or D through the whole year, with gaps throughout the year, we just focus on the gaps from the fourth quarter.
When students return the next school year, the teacher and student will have much less work to get the student ready for the next class. (minute 15:46)
Parents, with this grading system, you might see a grade book and see a low grade for the first and second quarter. That’s okay. The student is working on the assignments that were zero … eventually, when the student completes those assignments, the points for the new assignments will be added and the grade will increase. Five or six weeks later, your child’s grade improves from D to a B. We are trying to tell you that on the five competencies that they have completed well, they get an A or a B because we won’t let them move on to more material until they have mastered it. This system is based on teaching for understanding and mastery. If you allow students to move on ONLY after they get an A or a B, then the grades will always be A or B. What will vary? The amount of time. Some students will do that with 5 masteries and other students will do it with 10 or 15 masteries.
(minute 16:50)
If after the first grading period the student has done only half of the material, the student has a D or F, ….don’t panic. That will tell the student “You have a D as of now, but the year is not over yet.” At the end of the school year they get an annual grade. They don't’ get a 9 week grade. If a student is behind 6 or 7 weeks, and they want to come back and work harder in the next grading period, we should not punish them for that. We should encourage to work on previous work and resubmit. What happens with certain kids is that they see that they got a D in the first grading period, and a D in the second grading period, then they give up. They just give up. They have a bad attitude for the rest of the year. “No matter how hard I try, even if I get two As, I won’t be able to make a B. I did so bad in the past that the best I can get is a C. So I won’t try any more.”
We want students to understand that it is about mastery. This is the way a musician learns. In music we all have different talent levels. There are prodigies who can do stuff at an early age and they should be encouraged to do more. Other kids might take a year to do what a gifted kid can do in five or six months. That’s okay. We are taking the strait jacket off of the teachers. The pacing guide is removed. There is no pressure to complete 15 assignments in one quarter. Over a year, you need to cover all of the material, but you have flexibility. If you need time to develop mastery, we will let you go slower. People have different achievement levels. Under this system, everybody's GPA goes up because you have the ability to show that you have mastered more.
(the talk continues… this transcript ends at minute 19)
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TINYURL.com/abdelarosa
(from minute 9:30)
Consider a student who masters only half of the subject and they are failing with an F in that class. When a student takes a course and through the course they are moved on a timeline, they are mostly getting Cs. We are cutting the 50% They went through all of the material but they never learned any of the material in depth. That’s a problem. There’s not enough foundational learning to allow for future learning.
When that student goes to the next level class because he got a C or a D, there is a significant part of mastery that the student lacks. That next teacher will have to go back and try to help that student get skills that the student didn’t get in previous years.
What if we allow the student to work slower?
Students will be told that they can decide how they want to learn and at what pace they want to learn, and we will emphasize time management skills. If a student gets halfway through the first grading period, they will have an A in the class at that point...
They will have kept up with the first 5 assignments, Even if there are 10 assignments for that class, the student has done only half of the class and done those 5 assignments well, so they have an A for those 5 assignments.
(this part then continues at the start of this sheet at 10:45)
On 14 August
2013 De La Rosa announced a new theme at MAC school: "The student is the class." You can learn more about his speech to parents by visiting the blog post that gives the entire speech, but here is an excerpt:
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| There are a lot of things happening at this school... |
2013 De La Rosa announced a new theme at MAC school: "The student is the class." You can learn more about his speech to parents by visiting the blog post that gives the entire speech, but here is an excerpt:
Now, here's what we're going to do.
if you are a school like us, we're going to implement a time-variable model. Students will be able to work at their own pace.
It doesn't mean that they are going to have an unlimited amount of time. They will be able to manipulate the time in cooperation with the teacher to serve their needs.
An Example
Picture yourself going from one city to another in a car. You are told that you have to go 50 mph to get there and you can never slow down and you can never speed up. When you reach a sharp curve, you have to take that curve at 50 mph. When you are on a straightaway, where you could make up some time, you can't go any faster.
When students are put in a strict timeline, those that can go faster tend not to be able to do so. The teacher has to wait for certain people in the class to catch up. A good teacher is going to try to keep as many kids on board as possible. We call that "the proximity" or the "herd."
If a student is a struggling student in that class, it doesn't help because the class is going to go too fast for that student no matter what. The only students who benefit from this approach are the ones in the middle.
Because time is constant and the learning is variable, we have mixed results as we move from year to year. As the material gets more difficult, the kids who do well usually continue doing well and the students who do
How can we fix this? What can we change? The class moves forward when there is overall success.
Now we have the student is the class and the only way we can make this work is if we work individually with each student.
If a student is capable in mathematics, they can move ahead.
If a student is struggling, they can slow down.
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