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VaLIN 3.0

Virginia Beach City Public Schools Team

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Bridget

As a school division, exemplary models of learner-centered experiences exist and afford our stakeholders a picture of what is possible and why it matters. However, we recognize a significant challenge as we begin to scale this work to ensure that ALL students K-12 are guaranteed equitable access to personalized, rigorous, and relevant learning experiences that motivate and engage today’s learners, deepen their learning, and prepare them to thrive in an unpredictable future.

HS Redesign begins in Kindergarten: Therefore, we must develop vertical articulation of developmentally appropriate skills aligned to the VBCPS Graduate Profile to engage in authentic learning experiences designed to promote student agency and higher-order thinking skills while simultaneously ensuring growth and depth from Kindergarten to graduation.

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Authentic

Higher-order,

consequential learning

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We measure what we value.

Transformational Learning Lead Teachers Professional Learning

Signature Projects

All 5th grade TLLTs
A handful of grade k-4 teachers

Bridget-At the elementary level, we have been working towards more authentic assessment tasks for a few years. This year, our transformational learning lead teachers or TLLTs chose three pathways aligned to our divisions strategic plan. For background purposes, our TLLTs consist of one teacher per school per grade level. This lead teachers is selected by the principal to receive professional development three times a year and is to then share that experience with their colleagues.

For the 2021-2022 school year, all 5th grade TLLTs were asked to complete a signature project. All other grade levels could select this pathway. We had a handful in each grade level choose to try out “Signature Projects” with their class. The elementary version of the signature project continues to be more defined. Our goal is that teachers facilitate learning with students in an area that most interests the student. In some cases, it is within the confines of the topics covered in content and in other cases it is fully student choice but aligns to language arts standards. Students curated a variety of work samples to include, creating fidget stations to help students deal with anger and having them available at the guidance office to an entire class of 5th grade students creating presentations on environmental issues and presenting them to the environmental studies students for feedback.

As we curate more work samples for teachers to see, and capitalize on our teacher leaders, we are confident that more balanced authentic assessment practices will be more of the norm in the next few years. We are making it a requirement that all 5th grade teachers participate in a Signature Project experience next year.

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We measure what we value.

Curated Works of Substance: Portfolio/Presentation of Learning

Intended outcome: implementation of portfolio presentations beginning with all Juniors, Class of 2026
Angelique Phillips (FCHS Legal Studies Academy)

Angelique

As part of the VaLin 3.0 focus on balanced assessment, a subgroup initiated system wide structures and resources aligned to the Student-Curated Works of Substance goal in the HS Redesign Framework: Implement portfolio presentations (beginning with all Juniors, Class of 2026) to expand balanced assessment and to curate learning experiences that illustrate growth and mastery of both content knowledge and the VBCPS Graduate Profile.

This year we prioritized defining and providing exemplars for our portfolio development process. As you can see in the Google Site (go into the actual site),

First, we developed a Theory of Action which outlines the conditions and action steps necessary to achieve Educational Excellence in the classroom and to advance Student Ownership of Learning.
Next we developed a portfolio assessment path which you will illustrated through three different mediums: the One Pager PDF, the video overview, or the slide deck. You can find all of these on the Google Site. The process shared emphasizes

ensuring substantive work in classrooms. Works of substance are the learning experiences and the associated student work that serve as evidence of rigorous, relevant, real-world learning. Substantive work challenges and supports students to excel academically and includes evidence of learning in content and the transferable skills identified in the VBCPS Graduate Profile
Advancing models and resources for curation of learning artifacts. Curation involves the process of collecting and organizing artifacts around content-based skills and the transferable skills identified in the Graduate Profile. The collection may be curated through Google Drive.
And then sharing learning. Sharing learning provides opportunities for students to share exemplary student work (artifacts) with peers, faculty, and outside audiences. It includes student-led conferences, digital and face-to-face exhibitions of learning, and presentations of learning.

Ultimately, students will have the collection of learning artifacts and the language of reflection necessary to prepare and present a portfolio. As stated, our goal is to have a portfolio system in place for all high school students by 2025 and to develop the vertical articulation of this process for grades 5 and 8.
Schools have worked in different areas within this process including student led conferences, exhibitions of learning, panel presentations, the creation of learning articiats, and curating learning experiences. The Legal Studies Academy at First Colonial High School’s new Junior Seminar is highlighted in our artifact. We encourage you to explore the website which details this course=based approach and provides journey of one of our high schools in this area.

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We measure what we value.

Implementation of High Quality Curriculum and Assessment

Intended Outcome: develop a series of tools that when implemented will provide a clearer picture of the nature of balanced assessment in VBCPS across 3 areas:

What is PROVIDED from DTAL
What is IMPLEMENTED in classrooms
What are perceived IMPACTS on outcomes

Bridget

It is unrealistic to expect an 11th grade student to curate a collection of learning experiences and present their learning through a signature experience if they have not had experiences worth curating. Disposable assignments like worksheets and traditional multiple choice style summative assessments rarely provide students opportunities to strengthen or demonstrate their deeper learning skills. An integral part of our division’s vision for students depends on our capacity to not only provide high quality curriculum and assessment resources centrally, but to also capture what is implemented in classrooms, and perhaps most importantly to seek input from students and teachers about perceived impacts on students with regard to building their future readiness. For that reason we have begun to develop a three piece series of audit tools. This collection of tools will provide crucial information to guide our curriculum and assessment development and professional learning opportunities for teachers and instructional coaches. The first of these tools has been developed and will begin to be implemented with curriculum writing teams in the department of teaching and learning. The learning walkthrough tool will be finalized and ready to use for the upcoming school year and the survey for teachers and students to capture perceived impacts will be ready to use at the end of the first quarter next year. These tools will not be required but instead offered to leadership teams and coaches to use.

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Thank you!

Contact Information

Angela.seiders@vbschools.com

Nicole.DeVries@vbschools.com

Bridget.Mariano@vbschools.com

Angelique.phillips@vbschools.com

Robin.hoffman@vbschools.com

Cameron.Vadersen-Jacob@vbschools.com

George.Coker@vbschools.com