This is the final post in a series of seven posts on instructing and assessing 21^st Century skills. This post focuses on best practices related to classroom assessment design, grading, and reporting the 21^st Century skills described in this series.

This is the sixth in a series of seven posts on instructing and assessing 21^st Century skills. This post focuses on measurement and assessment challenges that must be overcome in the instruction and assessment of the 21^st Century skills described in this series.

This is the fifth in a series of seven posts on instructing and assessing 21^st Century skills. This post focuses on critical thinking, one of the four critical 21^st Century skills addressed in the series.

This is the second in a series of seven posts on instructing and assessing 21^st Century skills. This post focuses on collaboration, one of the four critical 21^st Century skills addressed in the series.

This is the first in a series of seven weekly posts on instructing and assessing 21^st Century skills. This post provides background on 21^st Century skills, the Center’s recent work in that area, and an overview of the set of seven posts.

Since school closures and remote learning became the norm, I have received emails from school and district leaders relevant to COVID-19 achievement gaps asking some variation of this question:

This post is the last in my three-part series on competency-based grading. In Part 1, I describe the key similarities and differences between traditional, standards-based, and competency-based grading practices.

This post is Part 2 of a three-part series on competency-based grading. Part 1 described the key similarities and differences between traditional, standards-based, and competency-based grading practices. 

This is the first in a three-part series on competency-based grading. I was motivated to write this series because of recent conversations about competency-based grading within my children’s school district. I’ve noticed confusion about terms, misinformation, propaganda, and a general lack of high-quality resources on the subject. My goal for this series is to help guide honest and transparent conversations about key issues and best practices by: 

The Maine legislature passed a proficiency-based (also known elsewhere as competency-based or mastery-based) graduation requirement in 2012, which was recently repealed before it was implemented. 

The repeal prompts us to ask several questions: What went wrong with Maine’s proficiency-based diploma initiative that prompted its repeal? What lessons can be learned to help other states implementing similar policies or pursuing similar initiatives? What can help mitigate some of the concerns that led to the repeal?