About Us
We call ourselves the Educational Transformation Group, established in 2018. We are passionate teachers who believe that all students can learn given enough time and support. It is our goal to create resources for teachers to provide this time and support.
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What We’re All About
We want to foster creativity, growth, and individuality. While there are many ways to do this, we have developed a method that is easy to implement and universally applicable. The Learning Progression Model is an approach to teaching and learning that de-emphasizes the role of grades, provides access to learners of all abilities, and shifts the focus back to the acquisition of knowledge and transferable skills. This is accomplished through a research-backed, strengths-based approach that is designed to identify and communicate concrete and measurable progress towards these goals.
Our Journey
When I began teaching 32 years ago, I was, like all other new teachers, merely mimicking what I had experienced. It worked, but it didn’t feel right. I felt like some students got left out, I was doing more work than the students, and they were just playing at school to get to the next square on the game board. As I encountered various mentors, got my graduate degree in Curriculum and Instruction, and gained experience both as a teacher and as a mother, I got better at engaging teenagers. Every new thing I encountered (cooperative learning, inquiry method, PBL), you name it… I tried it. At every conference that I went to, I sought the answer to my persistent question: “Will this be the magic bullet that would make all students entering my class have brains like sponges, eager for connection, and invested in their own learning?” Time and time again, I harvested useful strategies and applied them in my classroom, but none proved to be the solution that I was looking for.
Then, about 7 years ago, Dave and I were sitting in our office, discussing our mutual frustration about the endless talk of grades, the constant “How do I get an A?” from students and parents alike. It was always US doing stuff TO the students. We talked every day for months. He came up with a plan closely related to Standards-Based Grading and started playing with it in his classes. I tried a modified version in my classes the next semester, seeing interesting results.
This was also around the time when NGSS was being rolled out more formally and universally. I integrated the Science and Engineering Practices and Disciplinary Core Ideas into my new assessment scheme. Over the next few years, we rejiggered, revised, overhauled, and tweaked the approach. And saw amazing transformations. All of this is described in the book we later published in 2021, called “Going Gradeless”. We developed The Learning Progression Model (LPM) with the intention of creating a more supportive learning environment for all students. Guiding students through the development of specific skills, teachers use a flexible and systemized framework across all content areas and course levels. While de-emphasizing traditional letter and number grades (or to eliminate them completely), we developed a model that supports strengths-based, descriptive feedback, shifting the focus of student learning from results to process.
About The Founders
We are classroom teachers who live and work in New Jersey. We want to share our vision and expertise with our global colleagues, working from within the system to initiate reform of our antiquated models of education.
We are not consultants or administrators. We are in classrooms every day, implementing our current model and addressing current challenges.
We have a plethora of resources, including professional development courses, podcasts, blogs, and recommendations. We would like you to dig around, see what’s useful, and get in conversation with us on social media. Teachers get better only with support and time, just like our students!
I have been a high school science teacher for 14 years. Over that time, I have been a driving force in many initiatives across multiple districts. I developed, wrote curriculum for and taught two courses for a medical academy. As part of this initiative, we placed high school students in allied health internships at a local hospital. We also piloted a paperless classroom that led to a district-wide one-to-one program. Shortly after moving on to my current district, I began conducting action research on grade reform. As a result of this work, I was asked to be on a county-wide Growth Learning Assessment and Mindset (GLAM) committee. In addition to presenting these ideas with my district and at the GLAM meetings, I have presented at ECET2Metro and the New Jersey Science Teachers Convention.
I have been a science teacher for 30 years, teaching physics, chemistry, biology, math, and earth science. My work is characterized by trying new technology and approaches, in order to provide the best possible learning experience for kids. I have presented at conferences annually at either NSTA, ASCD, or NJSTA, with workshops on rubric design, inquiry, standards-based learning, project-based learning, writing CERs, and assessment design, amongst others. I also direct a STEM summer enrichment program for middle schoolers, called Summer Imagineering.
