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CHAPTER

2

Instruction and Assessment Planning Using a Learning Continuum

Travel has been a family priority for my daughters’ entire lives. We have journeyed overseas and camped close to home. Each time we head somewhere new, I vow to wander without a clear agenda and let the day unfold completely on its own. This never happens, though, because every day my daughters wake up and ask what we are doing that day. For years, they have resisted my attempts to play things by ear. They insist on learning our destination each day. I have come to understand that knowing where we are going provides them with a great sense of comfort and control—in having a sense of where we might end up despite not being exactly sure how our journey will unfold. As Schimmer (2014) says, “Maybe it’s just human nature—we crave some element of predictability and find comfort in knowing a little about the future” (p. 70). Blending the desire for adventure with the need for clarity supports a softened edge.

This is the same reason why knowing our learning goals empowers and reassures us at the same time. If we know where we will end up, it gives us so much more freedom to meander and explore the landscape on the way. When our destination is clear, we feel more able to experience missteps, take risks, and imagine possibilities because there is reassurance that we will get to where we want to go in the end. The alternative is much less palatable. Starting with a wide open space and then trying to measure a discreet aspect in that landscape of possibility is very challenging for both the teacher and the learner. Instead, we can start with a target and then open up the learning space as wide as desired and necessary. In the end, we return to the target and measure progress against it by using a learning continuum (in some literature referred to as a learning progression). In this chapter, we will explore the concept of the learning continuum, examine the stages of creating learning continuums, and note challenges we may encounter when working with learning continuums.

Understanding the Learning Continuum

The learning continuum is an articulation of a progression of skills and understandings inherent in learning goals. It helps us plan multiple aspects of our assessment, instruction, and intervention by anticipating stages of learning. Recognizing these stages allows us to make instructionally agile decisions, both during planning and instruction. We form learning continuums for our learning goals by using a backward planning process in which we unpack individual goals and anticipate what incremental progress should look like for each. We design learning events around the skills and knowledge we want students to develop as they work toward achieving the learning goals. This process provides numerous benefits for teachers and students and creates an experience for students that honors their individual learning needs.

Backward Planning and Unpacking

Clarifying the learning continuum requires that we deeply examine learning goals and imagine how learners may engage with them as they progress from building readiness through exploration and learning to reaching proficiency and beyond. This thinking is reflective of planning with the end in mind, which Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (2005) articulate in Understanding by Design, and unpacking standards that Larry Ainsworth (2003) describes. Their works state that truly effective and responsive teaching can only happen when we first explore the destination—the very reaches of where we imagine heading with our learners. Once we have visited that place through deep reflection and planning, we are poised to meet the needs of the learners and invite them into truly effective and engaging learning spaces. In this planning process, indicators of proficiency for the broad learning goals are considered in addition to the more short-term markers on the journey. This process can be done in conjunction with other unpacking processes (such as formulating “I can” statements for students, placing targets on a ladder in order of complexity, identifying key vocabulary, or determining knows, dos, and understands) and certainly isn’t the end of our planning. Rather, the process builds a solid foundation for designing authentic, accurate, and reliable assessments and robust and creative learning experiences.

When we clarify key criteria for a learning goal within the learning continuum, we are affording ourselves the time and space necessary for anticipating student needs. This allows learning to unfold in a wide variety of ways, and allows us to provide differentiation and activate targeted intervention—all to increase the chances students will engage in a way that advances their learning and supports their emotional safety. This kind of planning is necessary because, as Wiggins and McTighe (2005) note:

To put it in an odd way, too many teachers focus on the teaching and not on the learning. They spend most of their time thinking, first, about what they will do, what materials they will use, and what they will ask students to do rather than first considering what the learner will need in order to accomplish the learning goals. (p. 15)

By considering the learning continuum, we are thinking first about the depth and breadth of our learning goals and how we will travel alongside students in an attempt to have them demonstrate proficiency. Second, we are thinking deeply about our students, the knowledge they bring to the content, and the ways they may develop their understanding of the learning goals over time and through practice. In essence, we bring both the goals and the students to the planning process.

Learning Events With Clear Purpose

It is important to know that the learning continuum is neither subjective nor prescriptive. It is an articulation of what proficiency looks and sounds like in relation to learning goals and then what the journey looks like from readiness through exploration to proficiency and beyond. The learning continuum is about the knowledge and skills that lead to deeper understanding. Activities and assignments don’t drive the continuum. The activities and events emerge from clarity about how student understanding develops along a continuum. The continuum and the students drive classroom experiences. When we create learning activities or events and then try to fit them into the kinds of learning our systems expect or, even worse, we decide its purpose after the activity and assess that, we can place ourselves and our learners in a very precarious position. For example, if we decide to ask learners to engage in a book project or to create a poster without being crystal clear about the skills and knowledge we are attempting to develop, we may end up with products that completely miss the mark in allowing practice and demonstration of proficiency on any of the areas required by our learning goals. This can lead to a hard edge of a lack of efficacy for learners and stress for educators when asked to explain learning and growth in our classrooms.

Instead, one of the best ways to facilitate and later explain learning is to clarify the purpose behind the learning experience as it relates to the learning goals. To be clear, this learning experience can take a multitude of forms: inquiry, small-group work, independent composition and creation, problem-based learning, play-based learning—the list is endless. However, in order to help students imagine new ways of understanding, processing, and applying their learning, we have to be clear about these possibilities ourselves. This requires a significant amount of advanced consideration by the teacher, which translates into planning that focuses on both clarity and possibility.

Certainly, this is the premise behind all planning, but, traditionally, planning has often meant devoting a great deal of time to thinking about what students would be doing and not nearly enough time thinking about why they would be doing it and what they would be thinking and learning. I certainly recall sharing “teaching ideas” with colleagues and scanning educational periodicals for games and projects that would be engaging for learners. However, investigating the purpose of these activities or the learning that was going to be developed was secondary to engagement. I could not have clearly stated the criteria for success for students beyond participation. Further reinforcing this disconnect was the placement of the topic of assessment in university methods courses and within curricular documents themselves. Assessment always seemed to be relegated to the back of the book or the end of a course. As a result, it became the thing to think about after the learning was done.

If we want to reconnect with the learning goals, with assessment, and with achievement, then we have to begin with the goals themselves. Clarifying the learning continuum ensures that our planning, instruction, assessment, and reporting are all based on a solid understanding of the learning goals. This is a powerful shift that has tremendous implications for both teachers and students.

Student Experience

The learning continuum is important to both teachers and students. For teachers, it is instrumental in ensuring that our planning attends to both the learning goals and the learners who will interact with them through classroom experiences. It helps us plan and assess in ways that inform our practice and allow us to be prepared for multiple possibilities as learning unfolds for each student. The learning continuum serves a different purpose for the students. By being familiar with the continuum, students are able to monitor their own progress as they develop skills and understanding. The continuum reflects the individual experiences of each learner and this experience may be a little “messier” than the teacher-generated continuum suggests. For example, students may begin exploration of a learning goal quite confidently and then encounter a specific concept or target that gives them some difficulty. They may move back in the continuum in order to build readiness and then more forward again as they practice their newly acquired skill. Despite this back-and-forth expression of learning, recognizing where students are on their own learning continuums allows us to be responsive to student needs.

Teachers work through stages for clarifying the continuum, but how learners experience these stages is unique to each learner. Prior to instruction, a teacher will clarify what proficiency looks and sounds like as part of their planning. However, achieving proficiency is a stage in a student’s personal learning progression. The students’ stages in experiencing learning may differ from the teacher’s stages of mapping the learning. However, the work a teacher does to articulate the various stages of the learning continuum readies them to respond when the learners step into the learning and reveal the stage they are working through.

Using the continuum starts with the belief that all students can learn and that all students deserve learning experiences that invite them to develop proficiency of learning goals. Carol Ann Tomlinson and Marcia B. Imbeau (2010) state:

The degree to which a teacher melds respect for the individual and belief in the capacity of the individual to succeed with the intent to know each student as individuals determines the likelihood that the goal of maximizing the capacity of each learner is operational. (p. 37)

This means when we determine that some students need support to build readiness, we can develop these supports through targeted small-group instruction. At the same time, those students who are exploring the targets within a goal can spend time independently practicing while peer assessing and self-assessing against strong criteria and exemplars. Meanwhile, students who have already reached proficiency may be working together to solve a real-world problem that invites further synthesis and application of the skills within the learning goal. Every student is engaged in learning experiences that honor where they are in their own learning continuum. This supports their needs as whole people by clarifying possibilities for learning that place them at the center of this consideration. Student learning flourishes when it emerges out of positive and purposeful interactions among the context (elements may include the environment, resources, purposes, or peers), the student, and the teacher. Each part is essential and, together, what results is compelling and empowering learning for everyone. Developing and nurturing this relationship is the most important thing we can do to soften the edges of classroom decisions, which flow out of this relationship.

Benefits

Using the learning continuum allows us to do the following.

• Imagine various ways each learner may experience the continuum.

• Ensure we develop student readiness in order to increase deep learning.

• Design preassessments that honor students’ prior knowledge and skills before beginning a learning experience.

• Create differentiated and responsive learning experiences that anticipate a variety of needs.

• Equip our students with a shared understanding of growth and proficiency so they experience efficacy and confidence in their learning.

• Increase the validity and accuracy of assessment events to determine learning progress.

• Open up our search for resources that support each student’s journey toward proficiency and beyond.

• Plan learning experiences for students who need enrichment, so they are not just doing more of the same things.

The continuum allows us to differentiate in meaningful ways for students. For example, if the learning goal is product based (for example, write a narrative essay), then the processes used to develop understanding and get to the written product can vary (for example, brainstorm topics, collaborate with others to develop the story, design an outline using a digital tool). If the learning goal is process based (for example, analyze relationships), then the product that demonstrates proficiency can vary (for example, a Venn diagram, T-chart, or debate). We have the autonomy to be flexible with how students will move through each stage and how we will meet their individual and collective needs. Karen Hume (2008) notes, “This is the art of teaching: our ability to hold expectations constant, but to pitch our instruction, based on evidence, to the right degree of challenge and the right amount and kind of support for each individual” (p. 5). We can expand when needed, support when needed, challenge when needed, and cheer when needed.

The continuum invites both teachers and learners to open to the possibility that learning happens in different ways, at different times, and with different amounts and types of practice. This is important because, as Kochhar-Bryant (2010) explains, “Assessment and grading must recognize that students learn at different rates and show growth in many ways. This more encompassing and informative system honors all the ways humans grow” (p. 176). A classroom where differences are embraced creates a climate where learning will flourish. This is just one way to work toward the larger, lifelong goals of accepting diversity, showing empathy, and practicing patience.

Exploring the Stages for Creating the Learning Continuum

The learning continuum is composed of four stages: (1) building readiness, (2) exploring the learning goal, (3) clarifying proficiency, and (4) enriching understanding. Each stage includes questions that clarify the purpose of the learning and provide a catalyst for deeper investigation. These questions support the need for purposeful engagement and intellectual challenge, creating soft edges. See table 2.1 for a brief summary of each stage’s main objectives.

While students generally move through the learning process in the order of these stages (sometimes returning to earlier stages to review or clarify content), actually creating the learning continuum requires backward planning. For this reason, we will first discuss the proficiency stage, which is the goal we want students to reach, followed by the preceding stage, exploring, and the initial stage, building readiness. We will then examine enriched understanding after exploring the first three stages.

Table 2.1: Stages of the Learning Continuum

Clarifying Proficiency

While enrichment is part of the continuum and will be discussed later, the best way to ensure absolute clarity in our assessment practices and ready ourselves for planning is to begin developing the learning continuum by clarifying proficiency. This stage focuses on the indicators of proficiency for the learning goal. It also includes a demonstration of independence, confidence, and consistency. Essential questions guide this stage.

Identifying indicators of proficiency allows us to very clearly define what it looks like when students produce artifacts of learning that demonstrate the learning goal. Because thinking happens internally, we must rely on (and invite) outward indicators of learning to infer the degree of proficiency.

It can be helpful to think of this stage as a door—call it the doorway of proficiency. This is the door a student walks through when he or she shows the understanding and skill named in the learning goal. The student must be able to independently place his or her hand on the doorknob, turn it, open it, and walk through (an exception to this may occur in the primary grades, where proficiency could occur with assistance). As educators, we do our very best to prepare students to walk through the doorway of proficiency but, in the end, we need them to be able to do it on their own. This is our shared destination, and it represents the proficiency stage of our continuum.

When working through the process of clarifying indicators of proficiency, there are three steps that will help guide us in our work: (1) identify and explore key verbs, (2) clarify the context of the verbs, and (3) explore essential questions. By engaging in these first two steps (clarifying the key verb or verbs and their context), we are essentially articulating the indicators of proficiency. We must have a strong sense of both the content and the processes to reveal the content. These kinds of considerations are important because they invite a deep understanding of the intent or purpose of the learning goals and the ways they could be lived in our classrooms. This clarity leads directly to responsive instruction and contextual assessment practices. Without clarity, the edges of our planning and subsequent assessment will harden.

Identify and Explore Key Verbs

To clarify what proficiency means for learning goals, we begin by identifying and exploring the key verbs in the learning goals (Ainsworth, 2003; Vagle, 2015; Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). This allows us to consider and then clarify the types of learning our students will demonstrate at the proficient level. Let’s explore this stage by using an example from the sixth-grade English language arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards (CCSS):

Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas. (RI.6.5; National Governors Association Center for Best Practices [NGA] & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010a)

In this example, the students are being asked to analyze. Identifying and focusing on this verb is helpful in ascertaining how students will engage in the content that follows. It also allows us to be very clear about the type of assessment opportunity we offer students when it is time for them to show understanding. Consider another example from the fifth-grade mathematics CCSS:

Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and of what it represents in the place to its left. (5.NBT.A.1; NGA & CCSSO, 2010b)

Here, students are being asked to recognize. This requires quite different processes and skills than analyzing, and it is vital to be clear about these differences from the outset. In analysis, students need to understand two or more ideas fully and then be able to explain the relationship between those things, supporting their explanation with details and examples. When students are, instead, being asked to recognize, it means understanding the attributes of something enough that it could be identified in an unfamiliar context. Sorting out the different processes and skills required for each standard or learning goal is the first step in clarifying proficiency.

Clarify the Context of Key Verbs

It is equally necessary to examine all information that follows the verb in a learning goal because this provides the context. Verbs, in and of themselves, do not portray the entirety of depth and breadth. Analyzing the causes of two world conflicts in social studies will require different kinds of knowledge and skill than analyzing game tactics in physical education. The context allows us to explore the depth of thinking required by the verb in each learning goal. We can ask ourselves, “Analyze what?” In the first ELA standard example, the answer is analyze the ways sentences, paragraphs, sections, or chapters fit into the structure of a text and contribute to idea development. Now that we understand what students are being asked to analyze, we can begin sorting out the parts of the standard that students must attend to. They will need to be able to recognize pieces of a text in various forms (sentences, paragraphs, and so on). They will also need to comprehend the text, identifying key ideas. They then need to consider the ways those smaller structures of a text develop the overall message; in other words, they need to consider how the text’s meaning is impacted by the way it is written.

In the mathematics standard, students are being asked to recognize the relationship between the value of the numbers in a multidigit number and their placement within the number. So, when a number is given, a student will be able to recognize the value of each digit in relation to the digits next to it. As soon as we explore the deeper intention behind a standard, we can begin to imagine how this will look as it is being introduced, explored, and eventually fully understood. In other words, the continuum begins to unfold.

Whether we use Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Bloom, 1956) or Norman L. Webb’s (2002) Depth of Knowledge model, it is important to understand the kinds of thinking required of students and what that thinking will look and sound like when it is lived in our classrooms. By considering this ahead of time, we are affording ourselves the confidence to design strong learning experiences and assessment events for our students that invite the practice and exploration they will need to reach proficiency.

Explore Essential Questions