The Objectives of the Learning Progression Method

Welcome back to school! I can’t believe summer is over. This was the first summer in my life that I did not work, and what a privilege it has been. Glorious. I was able to work on several projects, and getting back to posting here was one goal. Over the next several months, I will be posting regularly about my current thinking about the Learning Progression Method and its practical implementation in a traditional classroom.

I want to clarify that I don’t believe in change just for something to do. Teaching (and learning) is hard enough! The main thing is that I want grades to have meaning.

There are all kinds of alternative assessments and new jargon in education. In some fantasy world, I wouldn’t have to give grades at all, but in my district, we have to translate what students do into a grade. So what we do is really just “delayed grading”, putting time in between the assignment and the evaluation. We give descriptive feedback every week, and there is daily practice, but there is no grade directly associated with that feedback and practice. So when we say “gradeless”, we really just mean shifting the focus away from grades during the learning process.

It’s a pretty big adjustment, for everyone involved. And change is hard. So why do we do this? The traditional way of grading has been done for ages, and we are all used to it. Why rock the boat?

We developed The Learning Progression Model (LPM) with the intention of creating a more supportive learning environment for all students. On our path, we were able to become much more specific about HOW we could do this. Our goals include:

  • to provide a flexible and systemized framework to guide students through the development of specific skills.
  • for teachers to use across all content areas and course levels.
  • to de-emphasize traditional letter and number grades (or to eliminate them completely)
  • to develop a model that supports strengths-based, descriptive feedback.
  • to shift the focus of student learning from results to process.

To accomplish these goals, there are 10 essential features. These will also help distinguish this approach from other methods of grading (traditional and alternative (such as SBG)).

  1. Content is the Vehicle, Not the Destination: As teachers, we can become very attached to content. But this varies in different disciplines. Some are already very skills-based, such as English. Regardless, content is indeed important, because we cannot teach skills in a vacuum! Students must know some information in order to apply it. But knowing the information is simply the foundation, it’s what they do with it that really shows their mastery.
  2. The focus is on widely applicable and transferable skills: Learning is learning. The process doesn’t change based on content. Students need to see something, try it, receive feedback and try again. We keep repeating this cycle until we run out of time. While that may oversimplify the process, in general it is true.
  3. We use a strength’s perspective: Every student has something they are good at. Regardless of the level of academic success, based on interests, experiences or other factors, every student has inherent strengths. Use these talents as the starting point of student interactions. Students are the directors of their learning efforts. Students communicate what challenges they are encountering. We act as coaches in the classroom, providing guidance in acquiring the skills they identify as areas of opportunity. All students have the ability to learn. Students should be given opportunities to try, succeed, and experience learning that comes from falling short of a goal. The learning relationship is a collaboration. Students and teachers share power in the classroom.
  4. There is no penalty for missteps, slow uptake, or developmental readiness: Since scores are not averaged, students can develop at their own pace. Some may steadily improve; others may seesaw up and down, and still others may plateau for long stretches until they suddenly jump 2 levels! Do we care about the rate of skill acquisition or that the skill is acquired before you leave us? Therefore, students have the freedom to take risks. Because there is no permanent effect on grades from a wrong answer, students can take risks, knowing that you will have more opportunities to improve. This is especially important for my striving students, who often leave things blank rather than try and be wrong.
  5. Students can learn for the sake of learning: They can relax and reduce their anxiety about the grade, and just learn.
  6. Students have some autonomy… they learn to balance personal needs with compliance: Students get to make choices… and sometimes they aren’t good ones! But this provides plenty of opportunities for learning… we will talk about those choices. I’d rather students choose not to do homework, see that they aren’t doing well, and then choose to do it. Or choose to skip a lab report one week because they have a performance or a research paper due in another class. No penalty. But there are CONSEQUENCES.
  7. We look for incremental growth over time: This is more natural, less stressful, for both the teacher and student. In addition, it follows the research on cognitive load and executive function.
  8. The teacher is able to easily implement differentiation: LPM provides resources that allow all students to maximize their abilities. A teacher is accountable to a student. We identify the areas where there is opportunity for growth and assist students in developing a concrete pathway to success.
  9. There is a consistent emphasis on high quality, rigorous work: Consistency in our educational approach is required in order to best support students. Don’t confuse consistency with the need to be identical. Consistency means that students understand what high quality work is, how to set goals and monitor progress, regardless of the class or teacher.
  10. Teachers are free to give honest, prompt feedback: I can be honest because there is no pressure for me to finagle grades because I know that students have plenty of chances.I can get submissions back quickly because feedback is focused. This is especially true during first half of the year.

In subsequent posts, I will show how these features are embedded in the day-to-day implementation of the LPM classroom. In the next post, I will describe the Practices, both in general and specifically in our classes.

If you explore further on this website www.reimaginedschools.com, you can find the professional development course “The Essentials of the Learning Progression Method”, in which you will learn how to create your own Learning Progressions. You can find Dave’s podcast “From Earning to Learning”, here or on your favorite podcast provider. The book “Going Gradeless: Shifting the Focus from Earning to Learning” describes the development of the Learning Progression Method from its inception, and can be found on Amazon.