{"id":2988,"date":"2014-04-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/gateways-not-grades\/"},"modified":"2020-02-05T12:51:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:51:59","slug":"gateways-not-grades","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/gateways-not-grades\/","title":{"rendered":"Gateways, Not Grades"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second of a two-part series on Making Community Connections Charter School. Click here for Part 1<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i>In our traditional system, students progress in age-based cohorts, with most students progressing regardless of what they know and some\"j<\/a> being retained to repeat a year.\u00a0 Competency education expects students to get the support they need so that they are proficient, offering flexibility as needed, such as allowing students to continue to focus on gaps or areas where they are not yet proficient (i.e. competency recovery) in the summer or the coming school year.\u00a0 The challenge for the school is to keep students on track AND provide flexibility to ensure they become proficient, which means rapid response when students struggle and more intensive interventions as needed.<\/p>\n

Making Community Connections Charter School (MC2<\/sup>) has a different understanding of what it means to be on track. It\u2019s not just an arrow, angling up at 45 degrees. It\u2019s the J curve<\/a>, which predicts that as students become more mature, with the habits to be successful learners, they will take off and learn on a much steeper trajectory. Under this theory of learning, how does MC2<\/sup> make sure students are on track and progressing?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

How Students Progress<\/b><\/p>\n

First of all there is the Individual Learning Plan<\/a>, which is all about learning to make, monitor and adjust goals.\u00a0 Second, there are two sets of transparent competencies<\/a> \u2013 academic disciplines<\/i> and the life-long learning competencies<\/i> (i.e. the habits). In middle school, teachers emphasize building academic identities or thinking like an artist, scientist, mathematician, linguist or writer. In high school, teachers focus more on \u201cEssential Knowledge,\u201d pulling from state and national content standards, including the Common Core State Standards. Teachers carefully monitor<\/a> whether students are making progress on the competencies. MC2<\/sup> uses the MAP assessment twice a year and works with students to set goals based on their level and progress.<\/p>\n

Third are the phases that, like the habits, are at the core of the design. The entire educational philosophy of MC2<\/sup> is encapsulated in the phases. In order to move to the next phase, students have to complete all the requirements (see checklists<\/a>), develop a gateway portfolio<\/a> with careful attention to the different types and uses of portfolios (growth, best work, proficiency and readiness), then make a formal presentation to a panel<\/a> comprised of the student\u2019s adviser, parents, and a student advocate, as well as the MC2 <\/sup>director, and one to three outside panelists (depending on the student\u2019s current phase).\u00a0 Students pass through the gateways when they are ready, and not before. (You can see examplars of portfolios here<\/a>.) Carter explained that teachers negotiate with students around pacing, gradually releasing students to take on more responsibility as they increase their understanding of their personal learning strengths and challenges, demonstrate stronger habits, and learn how to design effective experiences.<\/p>\n

The four phases\u2019 focuses are:<\/p>\n