{"id":2045,"date":"2016-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/north-queens-community-high-school-blooming-outcomes\/"},"modified":"2019-12-16T12:55:15","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T17:55:15","slug":"north-queens-community-high-school-blooming-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/north-queens-community-high-school-blooming-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"North Queens Community High School: Blooming the Outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post first appeared on CompetencyWorks<\/a> on August 2, 2016.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Principal
Principal Winston McCarthy, Chris Sturgis of Competency Works, Lew Gitelman of reDesign, and teacher Martin Howfield at North Queens Community High School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the sixth post of my Mastering Mastery-Based Learning in NYC tour. Start with the first post on NYC Big Takeaways<\/a>\u00a0and then read about\u00a0NYC\u2019s Mastery Collaborative<\/a>,\u00a0The Young Woman\u2019s Leadership School of Astoria<\/a>, Flushing International<\/a>, and KAPPA International<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine my surprise as Lew Gitelman greeted me when we arrived at North Queens Community High School. Pure delight. Twenty years ago, Lew Gitelman, co-founder of Diploma Plus<\/a>, which\u00a0has been replicated in many schools across the country, was the first person to patiently walk me through what competency-based education looked like in a school and classroom. After lots of hugs and ear-to-ear grins, we got down to talking about mastery-based education at North Queens, a transfer school serving students who are over-aged and under-credited.<\/p>\n

Spanish teacher Martin Howfield opened the conversation with, \u201cWe don\u2019t frame learning in terms of passing and failing. We do growth. So mastery-based grading makes sense for our school and our students.\u201d After piloting in two classrooms in the Spring of 2011, they decided to take the whole school to mastery-based learning the next fall. Gitelman, Co-Director of reDesign<\/a>, has been working with the team to create a system that is aligned to Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy<\/a>. Principal Winston McCarthy explained, \u201cWe use a trajectory of learning based on Bloom\u2019s to move kids to HOTS \u2013 higher order thinking skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blooming the Standards<\/h3>\n

\u201cYou can Bloom the standards. You can Bloom the learning outcomes,\u201d enthused McCarthy. Gitelman expanded on this. \u201cIf we want students to be thinking about big ideas and using HOTS, how do we operationalize it?\u201d he asked. \u201cBloom\u2019s Taxonomy captures the thinking skills students would need and a path to move from lower level to higher level skills. This isn\u2019t just about meeting or exceeding a standard. We want our students to be able to understand the level of thinking they are applying to a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

By aligning around Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy, North Queens is prioritizing students\u2019 development of skills and strategies to solve problems, rather than prioritizing content. The content in each discipline is integrated into skill-building. However, operating in the archaic Regents system that requires students to know about the Byzantine Empire in order to graduate means there are times this doesn\u2019t lead to the voice and choice that is so helpful in motivating and engaging students. (Shame, shame on the New York Regents. It\u2019s time they upgrade their high-stakes assessments to be aligned with learning sciences and adolescent development.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The grading system at North Queens is aligned with Bloom\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Synthesis\/Evaluation = Advanced\/Mastery<\/p>\n

Analysis = Proficient<\/p>\n

Application = Capable<\/p>\n

Comprehension = Developing<\/p>\n

Remember = Emerging<\/p>\n

The levels are described in terms of what students can do:<\/p>\n

Synthesis is\u00a0The student solves a problem by putting information together that requires original, creative thinking<\/em>. The performance tasks might use verbs use as compose, propose, formulate, assemble, construct, or design.<\/p>\n

Evaluation is\u00a0The student makes qualitative and quantitative judgments according to set standards.<\/em>Performance tasks might use verbs such as estimate, measure, assess, and predict.<\/p>\n

Analysis is The student separates information into component parts. <\/em>The performance tasks include debate, compare, calculate, solve, experiment, and question.<\/p>\n

Application is The student solves a problem by using knowledge and appropriate generalization<\/em>. The performance tasks include illustrate, demonstrate, dramatize, and use.<\/p>\n

\"North
North Queens Community High School Principal Winston McCarthy talking shop with Jeremy Kraushar of NYC\u2019s Mastery Collaborative<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gitelman reminded us, \u201cWhen we think about helping students build their skills, we take into consideration their grade level expectations and the level of skills students have reached. You need to meet students where they are.\u201d This doesn\u2019t always mean a student\u2019s lowest performance level, either. Teachers have to make a judgment about where students are academically, how much support they will need and is available, and their ability to tackle challenging material. If they are still recovering from years of failure, bite-sized tasks will help them rebuild their belief in themselves and seed a growth mindset.<\/p>\n

Gitelman explained, \u201cUsing Bloom\u2019s to focus on the skills is going to lead to better teaching. As they organize units and lessons around learning targets, teachers are able to plan for the different skills they will need to model and how to provide feedback. He continued, \u201cThe design of tasks is very important. Ask yourself, within the task itself, is there a path from remember up to synthesis and evaluation?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very different to help students learn how to critique, synthesize, or evaluate using the content as compared to understanding and remembering content. Many of the schools I visited have described this process of shifting from a stronger focus on content to a focus on skills as teachers having deep conversations about what they expect students to learn how to do and know in each discipline.<\/p>\n

Keeping Students Visible<\/h3>\n

A teacher explained, \u201cIn NYC, 55 is a code that tells a student they are failing. When the conversation focuses on how many failures a student is accumulating, they disengage. They disappear.\u201d I was struck by the phrase \u201cdisappear\u201d as one of the turning points in the effort to build a policy for multiple pathways to graduation (see Too Big to Be Seen: The Invisible Dropout Problem in Boston and America<\/a>). When we think about transparency, should we also be thinking about what transparency means for how much we can \u201csee\u201d in our children and teens in school? Can competency-based education help us have a better view of their learning and development?<\/p>\n

\"Teacher
Teacher Erick Delcham discussing math concepts with a student at North Queens Community High School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McCarthy continued, \u201cOur students are coming from years and years of getting 55 or 65. That\u2019s why at North Queens, we focus on growth. We change the conversation. I\u2019m not passing or failing you. I\u2019m giving you opportunities and support to learn. This shifts the responsibility to the students. It\u2019s their education. We talk about growth and next steps. These conversations help us to understand how students are growing and developing.\u201d North Queens uses a framework of emerging, developing, and capable. Students earn credits when they reach capable on seven out of ten learning outcomes in a course.<\/p>\n

We saw North Queens\u2019 vision for a highly personalized, highly rigorous model in ELA teacher Joi Walker\u2019s classroom. The walls were covered with inspiration, prompts, learning outcomes, and of course a reference to Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy. Students were all highly engaged, with Walker working closely with students as they needed help.<\/p>\n

Meeting Kids Where They Are<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe gap between persistence and resilience is the lack of academic skills.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those were more words of wisdom from Lew, \u201cYou can\u2019t persist with skills you don\u2019t have yet.\u201d He was describing the absurdity of asking a student in algebra who lacks understanding of numeracy or fractions to persist in solving more advanced problems. \u201cWe found that kids will persist if they are actively working on a specific skill that is central or high leverage to moving their learning to the next level,\u201d McCarthy agreed. Gitelman expanded on his point. \u201cWe talk about content, but we need to keep the focus on skills,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to ask if a student comprehends the content rather than keep the laser-like focus on skills. They are learning the content through learning the skill. Students should be able to provide evidence that they are building their skills.\u201d Gitelman also added, \u201cThe discussion about helping students to build a growth mindset is often framed around soft skills and the emotional side of learning without thinking about the context of academic skills. We think about the growth mindset and building the academic skills together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A bulletin board at North Queens Community High School focuses on the power of growth mindset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

North Queens doesn\u2019t organize around grade levels, especially given that students all have very different credit histories and skills. As McCarthy explained, \u201cThere\u2019s a constant tension regarding how heterogeneous or homogenous the groups should be. There is no right answer. We group based on our students\u2019 needs.\u201d Given the focus on skills, North Queens will provide differentiated text for different levels of readers. However, Gitelman warns, \u201cWhen students are reading at second or third grade, it isn\u2019t possible to master the outcomes. They need to have a basic level of literacy. Similarly, if you don\u2019t teach math conceptually, the students are never going to get traction. We include competencies about building number sense to make sure students have the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Insights and Inquiry: In creating a competency-based set of policies, we might want to consider additional programming (and funding) for schools to draw on the expertise of literacy and math specialists to help students strengthen their foundational skills. It\u2019s so tragic that a situation has developed where we allow students to just be passed on year after year without helping them learn to read. In a competency-based world, we don\u2019t pass on. We respond. That\u2019s really what accountability is all about.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lew’s Reading and Resource List<\/h3>\n

Stacked on McCarthy\u2019s desk were books quite different from those that competency-based education leaders usually recommend to me as must-reads. Described as \u201cLew\u2019s reading list\u201d I\u2019m sharing the list with you:<\/p>\n

Books<\/h4>\n
\"Lew's
Lew’s Books<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n