Badger Flex Core

Dustin JohnsonMathematics Teacher and Department Chair

Badger High School in Lake Geneva, WI dustin.johnson@badger.k12.wi.us

Badger Flex Core (BFC) is a hybridization of educational strategies.

Questions I’ve asked in 24 Years of Teaching

Why are math books written and set up the way they are?

Do students really understand what they know and don’t know…do you?

Do your scores reflect what a student did well or not so well on assessments?

Do students learn at the same pace?

Do students in remedial courses have the opportunity to move up and/or be exposed

to the same material as their classmates?

What is Badger Flex Core?

Badger Flex Core (BFC) is a hybridization of educational strategies. BFC uses the Align by Design model matched to the integrated CCSSM standards spiraled at varying student levels of mastery reported with standard based grading.

What are the Key Components to BFC?

1)Resource/Book Design

2)Standard Based Grading

3)Test Design

4)Time to Learn

5)Learn from Mistakes

6) Aligned Curriculum to Ability Level

Resource Design

Notebook Designed By Units

Each unit has a self-evaluation vocabulary list

Each unit has a self-defining standard list

Performance StandardsHow good is good enough?

What reference points do we use?

Traditional School approachesA 90-100% - Outstanding - ExcellentB 80-89% - Above Average - GoodC 70-79% - Average - SatisfactoryD 60-69% - Below - Average PoorF >60% - Failing - Unacceptable

Standards-based approaches(May be described by levels or linked to %)

Advanced - Above standard*Proficient - Meets standardDeveloping - Below but approaching standardBeginning - Well below standard*Standard has to be defined, e.g. Ontario –“well prepared for next grade or course.”

O’Connor, K., How to Grade for Learning, Second Edition, Corwin, 2002, 71

Standard Based Grading“The use of columns in a grade book to represent standards, instead of assignments, tests, and activities, is a major shift in thinking . . . Under this system, when an assessment is designed, the teacher must think in terms of the standards it is intended to address.”

Marzano, R., and J. Kendall, A Comprehensive Guide to Developing Standards-Based Districts, Schools, and Classrooms, McREL, Aurora, CO, 1996, 150

AM – Advanced Mastery (100%)M – Mastery (80%)

IM – Initial Mastery (50%)NM – No Mastery (0%)

“the primary purpose for grading . . . should be tocommunicate with students and parents about their achievement

of learning goals.”

Brookhart, S., Grading, Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, Columbus, OH, 2004

Secondary purposes for grading include providing teachers withinformation for instructional planning, . . .

and providing teachers, administrators, parents, and studentswith information for . . placement of students. (5)

Brookhart, S., Grading, Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, Columbus, OH, 2004

Apply properties of rational exponents

Writing radicals with negative radicands as imaginary

Test DesignStandards must be listed for the students

Test DesignGroup of three tiered problems

One grade for all three problems

Test DesignStand Alone Tiered Problems

Same Standard Graded Separately

Time to LearnGrading Practices that Inhibit Learning9. Grading first efforts

Learning is not a “one-shot” deal. When the products of learning are complexand sophisticated, students need lots of teaching, practice, and feedback beforethe product is evaluated

Figure Intro. 15 Adapted with permission from R.L Canady and P.R. Hotchkiss, “It’sa Good Score: Just a Bad Grade.” Phi Delta Kappa (September 1989) : 68-71

Time to Learn90/90/90 Schools

Reeves, Douglas B, “Accountability in Action: a blueprint for learning organizations.” Advanced Learning Press, (2000): 189

Time to LearnStudents are introduced to a topic and then tested the next 3 weeks

Learn from MistakesWritten Responses in Performance Assessments

…teachers in the successful 90/90/90 Schools placed a very high emphasis on informative writing…The benefits of such an emphasis on writing appear to be two-fold. First, students process information in a much clearer way when they are required to write an answer. They “write to think” and, thus, gain the opportunity to clarify their own thought processes. Second, teachers have the opportunity to gain rich and complex diagnostic information about why students respond to an academic challenge the way that they do.

Reeves, Douglas B, “High Performance in High Poverty Schools: 90/90/90 and beyond.” Center for Performance Assessment (2003): 5

Learn from MistakesMaking Corrections on IM and NM Standards

Aligned CurriculumEveryone Learns the Same Curriculum

Aligned CurriculumEveryone has possible Upward/Downward Mobility

Badger Flex Core Question & Answer

Dustin JohnsonMathematics Teacher and Department Chair

Badger High School in Lake Geneva, WI dustin.johnson@badger.k12.wi.us

Cell: 608-574-7679