In the State of Washington, a group of 40 schools—the Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative (MBLC)—has been working to design new approaches to teaching and learning in public schools, building systems and practices that are culturally responsive-sustaining and mastery-based. Mastery-based learning, sometimes referred to as proficiency- or competency-based learning, attempts to make schools more equitable by establishing clear learning goals for students, creating more accurate and helpful grading systems, improving systems of support, and putting students in the driver's seat of their own learning. These efforts can be attempted through many different strategies, some more successful than others. In this workshop, we will explore the successful strategies used by MBLC schools and teachers and discuss how to ensure that the changes we make are systemic.
Participants will:
- Discuss strategies, resources, and examples that can be used to center educational equity in mastery-based learning work.
- Analyze why mastery-based learning strategies cannot be implemented without culturally responsive-sustaining methods.
- Practice using a tool for planning systemic and sustainable change.
