Challenge. Every public elementary, middle, and high school with Title I programs in the United States faces a common challenge: Each of their students is expected to meet state and local student academic achievement standards for reading and mathematics. According to Center on Education Policy (2019), thousands of these schools are in need of improvement because they are not making progress toward this challenge. How, then, do teachers know their students are acquiring the skills, knowledge, and processes they need to be successful at applying content and technology in the 21st century?
Solution. TaskBuilder was designed with the help of teachers and principals to help all students meet rigorous content standards. It has a track record of success helping teachers in their quests to show continuous progress in meeting and exceeding this academic challenge.
A Day in the Life of a Teacher With TaskBuilder
Ease. Ms. Smith “logs in” to her password-protected LearningFRONT account and opens TaskBuilder. She selects the current state content standards and aligned local curricula for a mathematics lesson. The standards are automatically transferred into an inline editor for her to align with other parts of the lesson. Then, she clicks on an embedded link to access the dashboard of test scores on her state’s or district's website to determine priority standards for her lesson based on her student data profiles. After identifying her priority standards, Ms. Smith selects preferences in TaskBuilder to consider how she might organize, deliver, assess, and provide accommodations for students with special needs in her lesson.
Next, she selects scientifically-based or evidence-based teaching strategies -- for classroom, online, or blended models -- that are aligned with her mathematics standards. Again, they are automatically transferred to her lesson design page -- this happens for all content selected for her lesson. Then, she selects a scoring tool that is aligned with her standards and teaching strategies and will be used to measure her students' learning on classroom and state assessments. Finally, she adapts a TaskBuilder template to develop a plan for analyzing the results of her lesson. These steps required about 45 minutes because of the easy access to the latest public domain, school district, and customized content and media contained in TaskBuilder.
Collaboration. At this time, Ms. Smith decides to create a WikiTask of her draft lesson for other teachers on her grade level team and the principal to provide feedback. After receiving suggestions on her WikiTask, Ms. Smith returns to the TaskBuilder editor to refine how she will teach the class and to select graphic organizers and apps recommended by her peers. As she works, she accesses on-demand professional tips for completing each step.
Results. After the lesson is taught and analyzed, Ms. Smith updates her WikiTask with the results of her lesson and a brief analysis for making progress towards meeting the mathematics standards. Then, she makes adjustments for re-teaching based on the results and plans a new lesson that builds on previous successes. Ms. Smith follows this process at least twice per month to produce 18 standards-based lessons with results for improvement. Continuing this process each year, she and her colleagues create a momentum for instructional improvement and increases in student achievement in her classroom and school.
Savings. Ms. Smith's annual subscription to LearningFRONT integrated social and professional learning tools, including TaskBuilder, and a data-driven professional learning program was purchased for $89.97. This gives her professional choices, flexibility, self-paced use, and tools that support her classroom teaching responsibilities. Compare hiring a consultant or conducting a conventional workshop over 12 months to deliver these resources for each teacher at that price. TaskBuilder is easy to use, gets results, and saves time and money.
Enabling factors: Ms. Smith has ongoing digital access to content standards, customized local curriculum, scoring tools, evidence-based teaching strategies, test results, professional tips, and other teachers' WikiTask lessons -- 24/7 on multiple digital devices. This learning community of teachers adds value to the School's TaskBuilder learning community by sharing their tasks and results of teaching. Ms. Smith used her 45-minute planning period to develop a draft lesson and to seek WikiTask feedback from peers and the principal. Then, she completed the lesson at her own pace and preferred location. Additional planning that she completed within school or at home leveraged her efforts with her professional learning community.
Educational Consequences: Based on successes by teachers using this approach in low performing and trailblazing schools, teaching and student performance improve significantly and lessons tied to success are shared systematically. Teachers and schools improve continuously and create new and better ways of learning in all subject areas.
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