JenDelfin

In short, NO. Marzano Academies works with schools that use letter grades, percentages, words, or graphics to inform interested parties on how learners are progressing through the learning. Educators often confuse the needs of the different stakeholder groups. They are different. Marzano Academies helps schools identify the stakeholder groups and then create reports to meet their needs. A single report is often generated for all stakeholder groups. This approach does not consider the individual group’s need for information. The need is predicated on determining how a learner is doing. There are two primary groups of stakeholders in a school, internal and [...]

Question: Is there a difference between standards-referenced grading (SRG) and competency-based education (CBE)? Answer: The short answer is yes. Competency-based education (CBE), sometimes referred to as standards-based, is the focus of the Marzano Academies Model of Education. We define CBE as having processes and practices that ensure that learners “demonstrate mastery of the content at one level before they move on to the next level” (Marzano, Kosena and Hubbs, 2022). Learners are challenged at a cognitive level appropriate for their maturity and previous exposure to content. Teachers present the curriculum not based on age but on what the learner is ready to learn. [...]

The short answer is no. Since we are humans evaluating humans through our assessments, there is no such thing as an entirely objective assessment. Even how you distribute potential points for the test is subjective and can change from classroom to classroom. What works better is to be fair in your assessments so all students have an equal chance. Proficiency scales help you define the criteria for learning both for you and your learner. A teacher should ensure their assessments are criterion specific. In competency-based education, the purpose of assessing shifts from a need to collect points so one can give [...]

Question: If I mark a student proficient in September, won’t they forget it by March? Answer: The short answer is yes. People often express concern about marking a learner proficient early in the school year and then progressing to other learning. They worry, rightly so, that learners will not remember what they learned and therefore should not be considered proficient. There is truth to this. Humans will not easily recall information and knowledge if they do not revisit, recall, and use it for some time. While the use of proficiency scales to build assessments and drive instruction will bring deeper focus [...]

Can learners provide evidence of the Scale Level 3.0 if they can’t show all Scale Level 2.0 without error? The short answer is YES. When implementing Competency-based education, it is natural to think about learning as a staircase that progresses in even steps to cover the gap between where a student is currently independent in their thinking and where they can reach with the support of the teacher – or other more knowledgeable individuals like classmates, older mentor students, or community experts. This gap is known as the Zone of Proximal Development. It is a theory put forth by [...]

Students in the Cherry Creek School District are returning to classrooms Monday, including at the brand new Woodland Elementary. Read more via 9news.com

Question: Should a student produce 3-pieces of evidence before I can determine they are proficient? Answer: The short answer is no. We are often asked, “Do you need at least three pieces of evidence before you can mark a learner as proficient on a given measurement topic (Scale level 3.0 content in the proficiency scale)? If not, then what is the magic number? How many do I need before I can determine proficiency? The answer is really, it depends. In a Marzano Academy, we encourage teachers to use the preponderance of evidence they have gathered during the learning opportunity, reflect [...]