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Overview
BetterLesson believes that school and district leaders are first and foremost instructional leaders, investing in people and systems to improve learning opportunities and outcomes for students. Our goal is to provide leaders with processes, tools, and support for making organizational change and improving learning for students. We can help build leaders’ capacity in instructional leadership through a Learning Walk, a non-evaluative process used by leaders to assess the quality of student learning and effectiveness of instruction in their buildings, focusing on how leaders can support improvements to the learning experience. Learning Walks will consist of two learning experiences, a Learning Walk Launch and a Learning Walk Cycle.
In this Formative Assessment and Differentiation Learning Walk, leaders will learn about using assessment as part of the learning process including how to leverage checks for understanding, student-centered assessment, feedback, data, and grouping to support students in developing understanding of key content and skills. We will do a deep dive into the evidence and look-fors of formative assessment and differentiated instruction in the classroom and the available supports and resources for formative assessment and differentiation.
Audience
This Learning Walk is designed for school and district leaders, instructional coaches, and teacher leaders who are prioritizing Formative Assessment and Differentiation in their schools or districts and would like to take a student-centered approach to their role by developing their craft in coaching, observation, and feedback.
Specifications
- The Learning Walk launch can be experienced as a 1-day in person workshop with an onsite BetterLesson coach guiding classroom walk-throughs, or as a 2-hour virtual workshop facilitated by a BetterLesson coach, followed by independent classroom walk-throughs
- After participating in a Learning Walk Launch, which can be virtual or in person, participants will engage in collaborative cycles focusing on a specific topic. The Learning Walk Cycle can be experienced as a 1-day in person workshop with an onsite BetterLesson coach guiding classroom walk-throughs, or as two 2-hour virtual workshops, facilitated online by a BetterLesson coach, with independent classroom walk-throughs
Outcomes
These Formative Assessment and Differentiation Targets can be selected for the Learning Walk Cycle sessions to take a deeper dive into evidence of these outcomes in the classroom and student learning.
- Authentic Assessment in Instruction: I incorporate student-centered formative assessments into my instruction.
- Student Self-Monitoring: I guide students in gaining ownership over their own progress monitoring.
- Tracking Learner Progress: I examine assessment data for learner progress.
- Designing Student-Centered Assessments: I design or adapt student-centered formative assessments.
- Differentiate by Content: I differentiate the material I present to students in instruction.
- Differentiate by Process: I differentiate how students are engaging in and reflecting on the learning process.
- Differentiate by Product: I differentiate the ways students demonstrate their understanding.
Learning Experience
Launch
The Learning Walk Launch can be experienced as a 1-day in person workshop with an onsite BetterLesson coach guiding classroom walk-throughs, or as a two 2-hour virtual workshop facilitated by a BetterLesson coach, followed by independent classroom walk-throughs.
In the Learning Walk Launch, participants will…
Define
- Explore the benefits of a Learning Walk:
- To build capacity of school leadership
- To identify “look-fors” in Formative Assessment and Differentiated instruction
- To effectively support change
- Build understanding around the grain size and key components of Formative Assessment and Differentiation
- Be oriented to a tool to facilitate the Learning Walk process for the Formative Assessment and Differentiation Focus Area
- Prioritize Targets for Formative Assessment and Differentiation in their own school context
Explore
- Practice using the Learning Walk tool by participating in short, group classroom walk-throughs (in-person) or by evaluating curated artifacts and resources (virtual)
- Collaboratively reflect on the Learning Walk process and tool
Build
- Synthesize data from the Learning Walk using a digital tool to identify trends in the evidence they collected
- Build a plan for implementing Learning Walks in their schools
Cycle
After participating in a Learning Walk Launch, participants will engage in collaborative cycles focusing on one Target area within Formative Assessment and Differentiation. The Learning Walk Cycle can be experienced as a 1-day in person workshop with an onsite BetterLesson coach guiding classroom walk-throughs, or as two 2-hour virtual workshops, facilitated online by a BetterLesson coach, with independent classroom walk-throughs.
Define
- Build understanding around the key components of a Formative Assessment and Differentiation Target
- Take a deep dive into the “look-fors” and evidence of this Target within the classroom using curated artifacts to identify exemplars
- Prioritize look-fors within a Target to develop a focus for the Learning Walk
Explore
- Collect data and evidence for the Formative Assessment and Differentiation Target through participating in classroom walk-throughs and evaluating curated artifacts
- Collaboratively experience a protocol to reflect on the effectiveness of using a narrow lens when observing student learning
Build
- Synthesize data from the Learning Walk using a digital tool to identify trends with the evidence they collected
- Align on the evidence for a particular look-for in a Target and evaluate the effectiveness of the tool for that Target in their context
- Analyze their learning around the Learning Walk process to help build a plan for continued implementation
