Over the last three decades, standards-based reforms have attempted to close opportunity gaps – mostly by tapping large scale assessment and accountability systems. But these assessment systems were not designed to provide real-time feedback to support teaching and learning at the classroom level. We also know that systemic racism is deeply ingrained in the history of assessment in our nation. But we can build and envision different ways of measuring learning, especially by centering students in these systems.

In this keynote, Alcine Mumby of Envision Learning Partners discussed how performance assessment can be a key equity strategy – giving students the opportunity to declare what they know, how they’ve learned it, and how they plan on using that knowledge to change the world.

On May 15 and 16th, 2024 educators from across the country came together in Oakland, CA for a two-day Assessment for Learning (AFL) Deep Dive and focused on student demonstrations of learning.

Together, we continued to pursue AFL’s essential question: What can we learn together about how assessment for learning relates to learner belonging, equity and liberation? Specifically, we explored “How do we build aligned and coherent performance assessment systems that promote learner belonging, equity and liberation?”

The event included background knowledge of Oakland education with ELP Assessment Design Partner, Josette Neal-De-Stanton, and longtime Oakland education leader, Gary Yee, school site visits hosted by Envision Academy and ARISE High School where folks experienced student presentations of learning, new tools were presented, and community connections were strengthened.

The AFL Blog will soon have posts from Storytellers about their experience at the event; learn more as those come out and see previous blogs from other AFL events by clicking here.

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A performance task can make no claim to quality if it is not crystal clear on what skill or skills it is assessing. The same is true for a performance assessment system writ large. This is why ELP cares about, and has become a booster for, the concept of a graduate profile (aka portrait of a graduate, learner profile, schoolwide outcomes, etc.). In order to “elicit learning that matters”—a key principle of ELP’s HQPA framework—a learning community must define what matters. That’s what a graduate profile does, and therefore why a profile, or something akin to it, is foundational to a performance assessment system.

To that end, I am excited to announce that ELP’s first ever online workshop series is devoted to developing a high-quality graduate profile. Although this workshop is already booked up, scroll down to learn more about future opportunities.

The launch of this series marks ELP’s commitment to making our work more widely and frequently accessible to the performance assessment movement. We plan to roll out a number of other online workshops, on various topics related to performance assessment, through 2021 and beyond.

Click here for more details.

To ELP partners and friends,

Envision Learning Partners was established to disrupt the systemic inequities created when students are expected to learn and demonstrate their learning in rote, standardized ways. We know that current systems of assessment do not show or honor the brilliance and talents of Black students. When we support schools, districts, and states to create more balanced systems of assessment, one way we define success is the ability to bear witness to powerful demonstrations of learning by Black students. Humbly, we acknowledge that we have more work to do as individuals and as an organization. And we are humbled by the searing reminder of recent events that improving education is not enough.

At Envision Learning Partners, we are taking this time to reaffirm our commitment to supporting our Black students, Black teachers, and Black leaders. We have explicit anti-racist, pro-black strategic goals. We have specifically invested in training and professional learning by Black-led organizations so that we can embody these ideals. We seek to work alongside our partners, in conversation and collaboration, to center the voices of the most marginalized and continually examine how our work as educators can support rather than impede racial justice in schools.

In that spirit, we urge our partners and friends to join us in engaging or recommitting to anti-racist equity work within your organizations. And we ask you to do it with the guidance of expert individuals and organizations, such as those listed below, that were committed and practiced long before 2020 hashtags and uprisings. Consider learning from and supporting any of the following Black-led organizations:

• 228 Accelerator
• The Black Teacher Project 
• Community Equity Partners 
• The Equity Lab 
• Leadership for Liberation
• The National Equity Project

If you’d like us to make a warm introduction to one of these organizations, let us know. 

In solidarity and community,

Abby, Alcine, Aragon, Courtney, Justin, Morgan, Rachel, Ruth, and Vinci

Still hot from the forge, ELP’s Virtual Portfolio Defense Toolkit is hereby released to the world. Click the button below to download the toolkit. Use it and share it widely. We hope that it inspires action, saves you time, and helps you find opportunity within this crisis to put students at the center of their learning.

ELP was galvanized by what we are hearing from our partner schools and districts: Rather than backing off from your performance assessment systems, most of you are leaning into them, understanding that students need this now more than ever. This toolkit is ELP’s first answer to your call for help. It is designed for learning communities at all levels of experience, whether you’ve had kids defending their learning for years or see this as your first opportunity to try.

And know that there are more tools on the way. Before the end of the week, we’ll release an accompanying Student Planning Tool, a student-facing organizer to help them plan for their virtual defenses or presentations. (Update: these tools have been released and are available using the link below.)

Next week, Morgan Vien and Abby Benedetto, chief designers of this toolkit, will host a webinar and some virtual office hours so that you can ask questions and get support for implementation. (Update: use the link below to view the webinar recording.)

There is no better time than now to challenge and honor young people with an opportunity to tell the story of their learning.

Cheering you on,

Justin Wells & the ELP Team

Click here to download this tool and more!

Here at Envision, we frequently use the Driver’s License Test analogy to talk about Performance Assessment: it is a clear and familiar example of showing you are ready for a momentous next step by demonstrating what you are able to do (drive) with what you know (driving rules and regulations).

As a mom, I recently had a chance to consider this analogy from a distinct vantage point: the passenger seat. Helping my daughter learn to drive has given me the opportunity to expand on this beloved Envision metaphor with some key observations related to Performance Assessment.  

First, it can be abjectly terrifying to drive with an “emerging” driver.  In Lola’s first few forays on the road, I had several white-knuckle experiences that will be familiar to any parent of teens. I had multiple visions of catastrophe. I may have screamed a couple of times. And I realized it was the loss of control that really unsettled me. It is daunting to realize there is NO OTHER WAY for your child to learn how to drive except by LETTING GO OF CONTROL. It dawned on me that it must also be hard for teachers to let go of control in the classroom. Of course, classroom performance assessment does not pose the threat of bodily harm the way hurtling over the Bay Bridge on my daughter’s maiden voyage did. But I found it interesting that I struggled to give up control even though I knew she was ready for this important step. I struggled in safer situations too—complete with pressing on the non-existent, passenger side brake—and sometimes found it hard to articulate instructions. It made me curious about how teachers confront and manage this struggle. 

Secondly, teacher-student relationships really do make a difference in student success. Lola took the test twice: she failed the first time. The first instructor was dour, unfriendly, and impatient. According to Lola, she gave the directions (turn left, turn right) with very little time between instruction and execution. She wasn’t receptive to clarifying questions. She did not smile. Two weeks later and the difference could not have been more stark: the second instructor was friendly and engaging, immediately introducing herself to both of us. After the successful test, Lola was effusive about how different this second experience was. This instructor took the time to give Lola a friendly overview of what the test would be like. When she noticed Lola was nervous, she offered suggestions for how to relax a little bit. For Lola, having the instructor see and acknowledge her anxiety helped enormously. Out on the road, when Lola made some small mistakes, the instructor said things like “this is a mistake I make sometimes too, so just keep in mind xyz…”. She also gave directions clearly, with time for Lola to execute on them, and was patient with questions. With that kind of assessor in the seat next to her, Lola was able to drive the way she knew how, and of course she passed.

In the days since Lola has been whizzing around the Bay Area on her own, I have thought often about this woman, her skill at her job, and the way she helped my daughter. It strikes me that performance assessment, at its best, is about not only challenging the learner but also creating conditions for her success. And I’m once again grateful for teachers who are practiced in the art of both supporting students and letting them truly show what they know and are capable of.

For more of Monica’s “parent perspective,” check out this 2018 post in EdWeek: The Gift of Portfolio Defense.

New Envision Learning Partners Projects/Events Page

The ELP team will have a significant presence around the US this Spring. Take a look at this new page on our website to see where we’ll be!

PARB Up & Running with Refresh

Last year, ELP merged with SCALE (the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity) and was given the opportunity to inherit the amazing Performance Assessment Resource Bank (PARB) website. PARB is a free resource that provides high-quality performance tasks, portfolio frameworks, rubrics, and much more.

Last month, the website was temporarily down for maintenance but is now back up and running, refreshed, and quicker than ever. We hope you have some time to explore and take advantage of all that PARB has to offer.

Keep an eye out in future newsletters for site updates and improvements!

The pandemic has thrust assessment into the spotlight. Everyone is talking about testing and grading. In the history of education, this is an opportune time to make things better. 

School Administrator magazine has focused its May issue on “Grading Beyond the Pandemic,” and I appreciated the opportunity to contribute an article arguing for portfolio-defense: “Reliable Data from a Rite of Passage.” A number of ELP partners are featured in the piece, including Los Angeles Unified, Pasadena Unified, Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, and Kamaile Academy in Hawaii (ELP’s very first client).

In that same issue, you can also read an article by ELP’s longtime partner Susan Dugle, the chief academic officer of Shelby County Public Schools in Kentucky. Shelby has been leading the way in this work for years, and the district’s performance assessment system has proven itself effective and resilient through the pandemic 

Turns out that assessment systems built for learning, not for sorting, are not only more just; they also hold up in a crisis. So keep building your system. You are preparing for uncertainty while also doing right by your students.

Your fellow learner

“Inclusive and Personalized School Environments Where Black and Latinx Students with Learning Differences Thrive”

• Led by ELP’s Director of Research & Innovation, Ruth Chung Wei
• Room Bolden 4 at 2:45pm – 3:45pm PT

Students with disabilities and multilingual learners are often subjected to exclusion from robust learning experiences and social disconnection. Participants will dive into the Effective Learning Environments for Learning Differences framework, which summarizes systems and supports implemented by four secondary schools that have a track record of success in supporting the thriving of Black and Latinx students with learning differences. The framework highlights inclusive, personalized, and competency-based practices that promote student belonging, engagement, and growth. Drawing on the framework school leaders and students from two schools will share practices, systems, and supports that support thriving among students with learning differences. Participants will use the framework to reflect on their own school learning environments for students with learning differences, challenges, and implications for their own work in schools serving students with learning differences.  

The Effective Learning Environments for Learning Differences framework was developed with a central focus on learning and well-being outcomes for Black and LatinX students with learning differences (students with disabilities and multilingual learners), who represent some of the most marginalized and underserved groups in U.S. public schools. We seek to equip school leaders with greater understanding of the conditions under which these students can be successful and thrive.

The Panel will include two school leaders, two students/graduates of inclusive, competency-based schools, and three researchers responsible for documenting the characteristics of the schools’ inclusive learning environments in case studies completed in June 2024.

Learn more about the full event and register by clicking here.

This workshop will dive deeply into the characteristics of High-Quality Performance Assessment. We know that one area where schools can improve students’ experiences is engaging them in rigorous, authentic assessments that provide students opportunities to lead their own learning experiences. Through performance assessments, students learn how to reflect, revise, and communicate in ways that strengthen teachers’ learning outcomes. Performance assessments also re-engage teachers in the craft of teaching, activating their own creativity and love of learning.

Participants will learn the characteristics of High-Quality Performance Assessments (HQPA). They will observe students engaged in a defense of learning and reflect on how the practice demonstrates the qualities of HQPA. We will also discuss examples of performance assessments and consider what teachers and leaders can do on Monday morning to move towards implementing performance assessments across schools and systems. Participants will leave the session understanding what is required to create outstanding performance assessments and excited to either start building new assessments or revising current assessments.

Learn more about the event here

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This year, with our seven coaches flying all over the country providing Professional Development to our partners, we decided to take the time to map out the various locations we are serving. Over the coming months, we will continue to profile some of our partners around the country. For now, check out the map below to see the places ELP has active partnerships: we are working with schools, districts, and teachers all over the country, impacting hundreds of thousands of students!

Tuesday, March 28th,  4:30 – 6:00pm PT

• Disrupting the Transference of STEM Trauma with Josette Neal-De-Stanton

This workshop will explore the often problematic relationship many students and educators have with STEM education emerging from traumatic experiences we simply never address. This workshop particularly focuses on the roots of STEM as it relates to white supremacy culture and STEM education, and how that bleeds into the way we see ourselves, or don’t, in in those fields. We will look at ELP’s HQPA principles (1: Eliciting evidence of learning that matters & 2: Tight on its criteria for success) as a means to address healing and thriving in the design of STEM assessments that matter. As 2 educators of color, we will create a learning environment that is safe especially for the most marginalized communities to have a voice, and use our expertise as STEM leaders to begin to change the narrative within our school structures. Participants will: have dialogue opportunities in pairs, and small groups, journaling time, creation of personal STEAM projects to help process their trauma, and leave with a plan created to address how the will disrupt STEM trauma in their lives/workplace.

• Building a Great Performance Assessment with Soraya Ramos

This is an interactive hands-on workshop where participants will prototype a high quality performance assessment (HQPA) aligned to deeper learning competencies. Through learning stations, participants will explore the what and why of performance assessments and use quality criteria tools to analyze for rigor, learner agency, and authenticity. Then participants will prototype their ideal HQPA, and reflect on their own learning and leadership.

• Making Modernized Mathematics Magic with Vinci Daro (in partnership with ConnectED & SDUSD)

This learning experience is organized around the principle that learning happens when learners’ own ideas are an active focus of the sense-making process. This is true for students who are presented with problems in their math class and being challenged to make sense of the problem, rather than being told an algorithm. This is also true for educators who are being asked to structure learning environments in new ways. This session discusses how one district has redefined what math class is, and how that new definition is framing the ways that students, teachers, and administrators are engaging in learning, including professional learning.This example serves as a focal point for experiencing what a modernized math classroom looks like, sounds like, and feels like. The session begins with a series of questions that encourage participants to reflect on their experiences as mathematicians. Many educators have not experienced learning environments that promote deep learning, therefore, it is important to create safe spaces where participants honestly reflect on how this discrepancy may impact their professional stance. We will explore what matters most in mathematics classrooms and we model how to prioritize deep and robust mathematical understanding. Modern math classrooms seek to both heal the traumas incurred from experiencing systems — math education — designed to sort learners, and establish new routines and practices that center deep and diverse problem-solving. There are a multitude of ways that one could approach the task of healing through teaching and learning, for this session we look closely at mathematics learning environments that allow student ideas to fuel the teaching and learning. We will highlight the ways that this environment supports learners to make their thinking visible, how learners revise their thinking in an iterative sense-making process, and how students use formal and informal mathematical language to communicate their ideas.

Tuesday, March 28th,  5:15 – 6:00pm PT

• Den Talk: Alcine Mumby and Jillian Juman

Funders have felt that PBL + DL is not worth funding when trying to close achievement gaps for majority BIPOC learners. Others feel that BIPOC students MUST demonstrate that they have the basics they know (usually via standardized tests) before they engage in projects. What we have observed is that educators in the system need to know DL from the inside out. So how do we, as Black leaders, create the conditions for our educators (who are often not Black) to engage in deeper learning themselves?  What does it mean to build or talk about a DL school system that dismantles racist + oppressive idealogy?

Thursday, March 30th, 9:45 – 11:15am PT

• Disrupting the Transference of STEM Trauma with Josette Neal-De-Stanton

This workshop will explore the often problematic relationship many students and educators have with STEM education emerging from traumatic experiences we simply never address. This workshop particularly focuses on the roots of STEM as it relates to white supremacy culture and STEM education, and how that bleeds into the way we see ourselves, or don’t, in in those fields. We will look at ELP’s HQPA principles (1: Eliciting evidence of learning that matters & 2: Tight on its criteria for success) as a means to address healing and thriving in the design of STEM assessments that matter. As 2 educators of color, we will create a learning environment that is safe especially for the most marginalized communities to have a voice, and use our expertise as STEM leaders to begin to change the narrative within our school structures. Participants will: have dialogue opportunities in pairs, and small groups, journaling time, creation of personal STEAM projects to help process their trauma, and leave with a plan created to address how the will disrupt STEM trauma in their lives/workplace.

• Making Modernized Mathematics Magic with Vinci Daro

This learning experience is organized around the principle that learning happens when learners’ own ideas are an active focus of the sense-making process. This is true for students who are presented with problems in their math class and being challenged to make sense of the problem, rather than being told an algorithm. This is also true for educators who are being asked to structure learning environments in new ways. This session discusses how one district has redefined what math class is, and how that new definition is framing the ways that students, teachers, and administrators are engaging in learning, including professional learning.This example serves as a focal point for experiencing what a modernized math classroom looks like, sounds like, and feels like. The session begins with a series of questions that encourage participants to reflect on their experiences as mathematicians. Many educators have not experienced learning environments that promote deep learning, therefore, it is important to create safe spaces where participants honestly reflect on how this discrepancy may impact their professional stance. We will explore what matters most in mathematics classrooms and we model how to prioritize deep and robust mathematical understanding. Modern math classrooms seek to both heal the traumas incurred from experiencing systems — math education — designed to sort learners, and establish new routines and practices that center deep and diverse problem-solving. There are a multitude of ways that one could approach the task of healing through teaching and learning, for this session we look closely at mathematics learning environments that allow student ideas to fuel the teaching and learning. We will highlight the ways that this environment supports learners to make their thinking visible, how learners revise their thinking in an iterative sense-making process, and how students use formal and informal mathematical language to communicate their ideas.

We look forward to learning with you!

ELP hopes to see you at the Deeper Learning Conference in San Diego this March! Learn more about our Deep Dive and Workshop opportunities!

Click the images below to sign up!

Find the rest of the DL2024 sessions on Sched

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Heading: Learn about Kala Stepter
Paragraph: Kala is an educator, cultural strategist, and systems thinker, always rooting her practice in community. For over a decade, she has developed her pedagogy for teaching liberation, justice, and joy. With a dual masters in multi-subject and special education, Kala invites all learners – kids and adults of all backgrounds and abilities – to learn, be curious, and think critically about the ways we show up for one another. From her start in DC Public Schools as a STEM educator to working in DEIB strategy work in Oakland, Kala guides and supports institutions and its leaders to rebuild more just educational systems and practices. Today, she designs and supports the transformation of science and math instruction at Envision Education, a charter school network in the Bay Area. As their Director of STEM instruction, Kala develops structures to ensure that STEM is accessible and joyous for Black and Brown kids. She is most excited and energized seeing our youth innovate to shape our future, and is proud to contribute in achieving sustainable change.
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Heading: Learn about Josette Neal-De-Stanton
Paragraph: Josette is currently an Assessment Design Partner at ELP, Josette has 15 years of experience in education. She has started teaching life science at Elmhurst Community Prep in Oakland, and then spent 6 years teaching, coaching, and leading at ARISE High School in Oakland as well. A highlight, as well as a shift in her career gears came while working at ARISE, as Josette became a Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway Coordinator and then Coach. With these positions, Josette led the charge to create ARISE’s first Linked Learning Pathway in Public and Community Health. After leaving ARISE, she continued her work in CTE with the West Contra Costa Unified School District, as their District Work Based Learning Liaison. COVID saw Josette transitioning out of the traditional school setting, and needing to feel her work impact a larger audience, which essentially led her to ELP. As a former client of ELP, Josette saw the importance of the work being done, and really wanted to bring her science/CTE background to the organization. Josette is also a part time adjunct professor at Mills College, where she works in the Department of Education, in the teacher credential program as the Math & Science Curriculum and Instruction professor.
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Heading: Learn about Alcine Mumby
Paragraph: Alcine Mumby is a dedicated educator who has spent that last 25 years teaching and leading traditional and charter public K-12 schools all over the country. She currently supports and coaches district and school leaders to develop high-quality performance assessment systems that center student-led demonstrations of learning and metacognition. Prior to coaching Alcine taught Humanities at one of the first small schools in the Bronx where project-based learning and portfolio defenses served as the foundation of instruction. Afterward Alcine became a founding principal of Envision Academy in Oakland an administrator in several small middle and high schools in Atlanta and DC and a leadership coach in DC Charlotte & Philadelphia. Alcine earned her BA in English Education from NYU and a Master’s in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education from Stanford University. When she’s not listening to podcasts or catching a flight Alcine enjoys working toward earning BAE (Best Auntie Ever) status with adorable niece and five nephews.
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Heading: Learn about Sabring "Bri" Moore
Paragraph: Bri currently works for Alameda County Office of Education as a Program Director of Systemic Instructional Review supporting and monitoring the SIR Report for Oakland Unified School District. Sabrina is an Oakland native, and has served as Principal/Instructional Leader for TK-5 in the Oakland Unified School District and is a former teacher. She has a strong desire to lead high-impact initiatives benefiting youth across Oakland, starting in the Sobrante Park community. Her mission is to transform outcomes one neighborhood at a time. She blazed a trail by founding and leading 3Ls Academy. As Executive Director for The 3Ls Academy, she blazed a trail, designing program solutions that focus on technical, relational, social and cultural aspects of complex change efforts focused on educational equity.
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Heading: Learn about Roilyn Graves
Paragraph: Roilyn is a trailblazing advocate for inclusive education and has been in this work for the last 20 years. With an unwavering commitment to equality and empowerment, she has dedicated the past two decades to transforming the educational landscape for marginalized students. Roilyn began her career as a special education teacher for the School District of Philadelphia. After teaching for 10 years, Roilyn transitioned into special education administration and served in schools on the east and west coast in similar capacities. Currently Roilyn works as an Assessment Design Partner and is a course lecturer in the graduate school of education at Stanford University. In her spare time she enjoys cuddles with her dog Sully, chatting with her nieces and nephew, and karaoke (mostly at home).
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Heading: Soraya Ramos
Paragraph: Soraya is joining the Envision team as an Assessment Design Partner. With nearly a decade of experience in education, Soraya has worked to promote and support anti-racist teaching and learning practices through her roles as a teacher and as an assessment designer. Before joining Envision, Soraya served as a Senior Associate at the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE). There she worked in partnership with schools and districts in New England and nationally to design high quality assessments systems that promote equity and engagement. In addition to professional learning and coaching, she led a consortium of districts in Massachusetts in their pursuit of designing an alternative assessment and accountability system. Soraya believes that lasting assessment systems need to be in alignment with a community’s vision and coherent to a district and school’s priorities. Soraya holds an Ed.M. in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Chicana/o Studies and Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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ELP hopes to see you at the Deep Learning Conference in sunny San Diego this April 2025! Learn more about our Den Talk, Deep Dive, and Workshop opportunities!

When Envision CEO Jillian Juman and Chief Program Officer Justin Wells get on a plane together, they tend to have a deep and lively conversation about assessment. What makes for a comprehensive assessment system, one that truly prepares students to be global citizens that can drive systemic change, and what sustains such a system? Envision Education—known for portfolio-defense and other forms of high-quality performance assessment—has been innovating on assessment solutions for over 20 years. Lately, our talks circle the reflection that our current system is incomplete and not meeting the challenges of the time. Listen in—and join in—as Jillian and Justin bring their ongoing conversation out of the jet stream and into the Deeper Learning Den (to the welcome of Deeper Leaners and to the relief of plane passengers).

This deep dive addresses the problematic relationship students and teachers often have with STEM education, rooted in unaddressed trauma. It focuses on how white supremacy culture shapes science and impacts individuals’ sense of belonging in STEM. Participants will explore ELP’s HQPA principles 3: Open to different learner approaches and 5: A learning experience in itself to design STEM assessments that promote healing. Through dialogue, journaling, and personal timelines, participants will examine STEM trauma and develop strategies to disrupt it in their lives and work. By the end, participants will have tools to address and prevent STEM trauma transference in their classrooms and assessments. The workshop is split into two sections: naming and releasing trauma, and designing with critical hope.

In today’s world, where misinformation spreads rapidly, it’s crucial to equip educators with the tools to create effective, reliable performance assessments.

This interactive session will explore the “what” and “why” of high-quality performance assessments, emphasizing the importance of authentic assessments that foster critical thinking. Participants will engage in a newsroom activity to examine the impact of misinformation on society by sharing current headlines circulating in our ecosystem and practice critical thinking to evaluate the legitimacy of information sources.

Participants will leave with actionable strategies to enhance their assessments, ensuring they not only measure student understanding but also prepare learners to navigate a complex information landscape effectively.

Find the rest of the DL25 sessions on Sched.

We are delighted to announce the education leaders that have been selected to join Cohort 3 of our Deeper Learning Leadership Forum. The DLLF is a unique leadership experience that aims to develop, strengthen, and sustain a group of well-prepared leaders for the Deeper Learning movement. The DLLF seeks to address the questions and issues of educational inequity, by bringing together education leaders and providing them with learning and networking opportunities to help them lead reform efforts in their local systems and around the country.

Cohort 3 had their first convening in Ferguson, Missouri last week, where they visited schools in the Ferguson-Florissant school district. The purpose was to dive into best practices and get a deeper understanding of the role that their community plays in the learning experiences for students.

Here’s what Adrienne Usher, Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning for Bullitt County Public Schools (Shepherdsville, KY) had to say about the experience:

“The DLLF is already one of the most amazing professional learning experiences I have participated in over my career. This not only inspires me to be a better leader, but also to really push the thinking of all those around me.”

The DLLF consists of leaders who are interested in transforming their districts and networks into centers of deeper learning for every student! Learn more about the Deeper Learning Leadership Forum here.

March 15th and 16th, 2022 was ELP’s first in-person Deeper Learning Leadership Forum (DLLF) Cohort 5 convening since Covid began and it was a success! These amazing folks have been working together virtually since June 2021 but it’s hard to believe based on the amazing community and connections they’ve built in that time. We can’t wait to continue this life-changing experience with them!

Below are some photos from our time together, beautifully captured by long-time ELP friend, Thai Chu of Alive by Shooting.

Learn more about the Deeper Learning Leadership Forum here.

ELP’s Director of STEM, Vinci Daro, was joined by prior Deeper Learning Coach and math enthusiast, Jim Malamut, for our second Twitter Chat.

Q1: WHY MIGHT SCHOOLS WANT TO DO DEFENSES OF LEARNING IN MATH? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS?

Vinci- A1: Defenses put students in charge of what they defend – their own way of understanding something, their own learning.

Jim- A1: One benefit is metacognition. In prepping for defenses, students reflect on what they’ve learned in math and how it fits into everything else they know. They also focus on the processes by which they learned.

@tamyraintech– they also allow students to prioritize and therefore hone their quantitative reasoning skills. Quant skills are key drivers for viability in the ever-changing job market.

@Linked_Learning– Defenses allow students to practice critical thinking skills necessary to thrive in post-secondary. With defenses, students get to practice these skills before they get to college or a career opportunity.

Vinci- Thank you for this point – practice with articulating learning creates opportunities to deepen learning – revising and upgrading understanding so often happens when students communicate what they have learned.

Jim- A1: Defenses in math can also promote coherence for students and educators. Students draw their own connections between math ideas. Educators design for coherence as they work towards a culminating defense event.

Vinci- Learning math for so many students is a long fragmented journey through disconnected topic after topic. What Jim is saying about coherence is especially valuable for bringing coherence to a fragmented journey.

Q2: WHAT KINDS OF MATH ARTIFACTS ARE WORTH DEFENDING?

Jim- A2: Tasks where students had to figure something out, make sense of something in a deep way, something that is already or that becomes meaningful to them. Tasks that are well-scaffolded but not where students are passively following a recipe or prescribed set of steps.

Vinci- Tasks that are open-ended enough set students up to develop and demonstrate agency by choosing tools and representations that are most relevant to the approach that makes most sense to the student. Tasks where students get to flex their mathematical practices (reasoning in and out of contexts, justifying, modeling, etc.)

Vinci- A2: Work that a student is proud of. Work on a problem or project that is connected to a big idea of the math course.

@Linked_Learning– For #LinkedLearning students, they may also defend an artifact connected to their work based learning, internship, or industry pathway, deepening cross-subject connections. Work that a student can identify as a demonstration of their own learning. If a student can name what they learned as they produced the piece of work, it’s a good candidate for defending.

Jim- Yes, and tasks where students can decide on their own questions, how to answer them, what quantities are relevant, and how they are connected.

@tamyraintech– A2: Artifacts that require students to reflect on how key math concepts are applied in relevant and meaningful contexts.

Jim- Yes!! I love how this article talks about possibilities for authenticity in projects: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/authentic-project-based-learning-john-larmer

@Linked_Learning– Love this! We know students work harder and dream bigger when their learning connects with them and connects them to the world.

@DealJT- I’m wondering in what ways you are able to make explicit to students the connection between defense of mathematics and the overall defense of learning.

Jim- Hey thanks for joining and great question! I think about the ways in which students and teachers can make explicit connections between math practice standards and overall critical thinking skills.

@DealJT- Thanks! We are just diving in to defenses of learning , but I’m really excited for the momentum we might build with defenses in math – I’m hoping we can both build capacity to successfully defend learning, and also create rich artifacts to use in the defense.

Vinci- Thanks for your question, Jason. The process of formulating the ingredients of a defense, then rehearsing, then articulating to an audience is the same process across the content areas – and has the same effects: metacognition, coherence, agency.

@DealJT- I love the idea of the math practices as an anchor in that connection.

@DealJT- How do you create buy in with students that that process, specifically in mathematics (but also overall), is a relevant and important process to students’ life-sustaining futures and dreams? –the connectedness between mathematics and defense of learning creates really powerful cohesion, but I want to make sure I’m ready to help students make a strong connection beyond that into their futures.

Jim- I think this speaks to a question of how to help students use math as a tool to read and write their worlds.

Q3: WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST HURDLES TO GETTING DEFENSES OF MATH LEARNING GOING?

Jim- A3: Asking students to defend their use of agentic skills using tasks that didn’t give them enough opportunity to use agency. The urge to design lengthy special artifact-worthy learning events that are disconnected and contradictory to how students are learning math daily.

@DealJT- Would this indicate that the “artifact-worthy” events should change, or that daily learning should change so that students are doing more artifact-worthy things every day? Or somewhere in the middle?

Jim- I think learning should be happening every day so we (Ts and Ss) can find artifacts of it. Still can be special events but only getting to practice something like “justification” once or twice a quarter isn’t enough. What are we doing the rest of the time?

Vinci- Often math teachers feel they must create a separate set of assignments or learning opportunities that are in addition to their regular stream of studying, working and learning together. Ideally, a system gets better — math curriculum gets better and math teachers get better — at creating learning experiences that are worth defending as a regular part of the work that is happening in math class.

Vinci-A3: Another hurdle is the reluctance to put ‘shy’ students in the spotlight – but very often these are the students who benefit most from the experience.

Make sure to follow ELP on Twitter @EnvisionSchools and use the hashtag #ELPCoachChat to join our next Twitter Chat!

This year’s Defense Design Studios (DDS), our annual portfolio defense showcases, are all completed! These events might have been the closing for the students who presented but for a lot of the educators who attended, it’s just beginning. Many of this year’s attendees are looking to implement portfolio defenses into their schools.

Two visitors from The Edge Foundation, based in London, attended the DDS at Envision Academy in Oakland and later wrote about the portfolio defense model and their experience at observing our students. Read their reflection here.

ELP hosts DDS at Envision schools in the Bay Area, as well as partner schools in Sacramento and Dallas. There are even a few schools in LAUSD that hosted their own DDS without ELP’s support this year, for the first time! Texas saw attendees all the way from Missouri, Sacramento had teams from Fresno and Colorado, and Envision schools gladly welcomed groups from Wisconsin, New York, and even the UK. All in all, over 100 educators attended the ELP hosted DDS this year.

We’re highlighting some of the Deeper Learning Leadership Forum (DLLF) alumni who are making moves- achieving goals, serving their communities, and impacting the future of education.

ELP has worked with 58 educational leaders from all over the United States since 2016 and we’re excited to open applications for our fifth cohort early 2021!

Tracie Noriega

“Greetings from San Lorenzo Unified School District, where I now serve as the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. I started here in July of this year. Since my time with Cohort 2 of the DLLF, I transitioned from the Director of Assessment and Evaluation to K12 Instruction while I was in New Haven Unified.

I don’t know where to start with what I took away, as there was so much! What I really appreciated was the various processes that we experienced as a cohort, which really helped me to structure PD’s for teacher leaders and administrators. I loved being with like-minded Equity warriors and the knowledge that there are so many of us continues to inspire me. Just recently, I used the d.school’s Design Thinking Process for my committee work in our planning to re-open our schools. I hope everyone is well and I remain grateful for my time with the DLLF!”

Rody Boonchouy, Ed.D.

“Since completing my fellowship from Cohort 1, I have been serving as Associate Superintendent of Instructional Services in the Davis Joint Unified School District. Not only did the DLLF experience deepen my understanding of both self and what it means to promote equitable and progressive learning experiences for all students, but it also connected me to life-long colleagues who are (and will be) collaborators throughout my career.“

Terri Holden

“I am now in my second year of serving as the Superintendent of Yellow Springs Schools in Yellow Springs, OH. My time in the DLLF was perhaps the best professional experience I have ever had, and molded me into the leader I am today. As a member of Cohort 1, I was exposed to individuals and ideas that challenged my thinking, and helped me advocate and work for deeper learning with an equity lens for all students. This has led me to my current position where we are examining how to interrupt the systemic inequity of which we are a part to provide access, power and choice to our students, while prioritizing those youth furthest from opportunity.”

Dan Deguara

“As of July 1, I began as the new Superintendent of Belmont-Redwood Shores School District in San Mateo County.  I continue to appreciate our thoughtfulness around systems thinking and the change process.  As educators it is important that we continue to develop our systems so that we are able to provide authentic experiences that foster deep and meaningful learning for all students.”

Ellen Dorr

“Since DLLF, I’ve continued to grow my capacity as an equity-focused leader. I am in my final year of the Leadership for Learning doctoral program at the University of Washington and serve as the Chief Technology Officer for the Renton School District. During the pandemic, the need for digital equity, which encompasses so much more than access to devices and internet, has come into sharp focus. We are dedicated to building a humanizing, resilient, and equitable school system in order to provide our students and families with the learning, experiences, and futures they deserve.”

Shannon Terry

“As a result of my participation in the Deeper Learning Leadership Forum, my equity lens crystalized from microscopic to macroscopic to megascopic. Through shared learning experiences with DLLF cohort members, real possibilities for eradicating inequities and disparities became clear. I developed 20/20 equity vision. As we learned and served together as equity energizers, evangelists and engagers, we forged ahead during our DLLF cohort years to positively impact our communities. We also forged lifelong bonds. Despite the passage of time, my DLLF cohort remains at the ready to step into the space to partner in the equity work as active participants, thought partners, and experienced experts. Because of the DLLF support system, the opportunity to co-lead racial equity work in the Dallas ISD became a reality in 2019. Leaning heavily on lessons learned as a cohort member, the design, development, and implementation of a five-year racial equity professional learning plan was achieved. Fast forward to present day, I currently serve as a Division Director at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and was recently tapped to co-lead internal equity work. To my DLLF family, glad I have you on speed dial. You’ll be hearing from me again soon! The equity work continues…always. Infinitely grateful for the Deeper Learning Leadership Forum! Let’s change the world.”

Click here to learn more about the Deeper Learning Leadership Forum.

A newly published case study from the Center for Innovation in Education (C!E), featuring Envision Learning Partners in Appendix C, highlights Allen County, Kentucky’s multi-year effort to redesign assessment and accountability through Inclusive Design. The report, Better Together, shows how the district co-created their graduation competencies called “Profile of A Patriot” and embedded project-based learning and performance assessments to place students’ passions and real-world skills at the center of learning.

Envision Learning Partners has been proud to support Allen County in this work, and we’re excited to share C!E’s new case study. We’ve partnered closely with C!E through the Assessment for Learning Project, working together to advance learner-centered assessment practices nationally.

Read the case study here.

The nonprofit, public media station KQED provides educators and young people multimedia content, experiential activities, and professional tools to create learning environments of the 21st century, by promoting media literacy, civic engagement, creative expression, and problem solving using digital media.This partnership enables ELP and KQED Education to:

• Share each other’s expertise with our communities
• Offer KQED resources to ELP district partners and teachers in service of strengthening skills and tools for performance assessments.
• ELP often works with schools who have selected Digital Literacy as part of their Graduate Profile. ELP will introduce schools that desire to deepen their Digital Literacy learning with KQED and their growing body of resources
• KQED Education and their partner schools has the whole child learning in mind, inline with ELPs approach to student learning. KQED will introduce like-minded KQED partner schools to ELP and their range of resources and services.

Learn more about ELP and KQED, and contact info@envisionlearning.org or avaba@kqed.org if you have more questions about the partnership.