Kevin Buntman: In our school, we try to emphasize different ways that students can demonstrate their learning. We really believe that when students have some ownership over how to show their learning, it increases engagement and their passion in what they’re doing.

Kevin Buntman: At Kettle Moraine, we do things a little bit differently than the traditional high school. We’re all about personalizing the learning plan for the kids to give them voice and choice, in whatever way or shape they want to learn.

Jess Scherer: Demonstrations of learning are the way that a student will show you what it is that they’ve accomplished over the course of the semester. A student may choose to demonstrate their learning by a discussion, by a presentation. Students may choose to write a paper, or create a video. The possibilities for demonstrations of learning are endless.

Daniel (Student): As a class, we kind of move together as one, but then we’re all branching out, doing our own things for separate periods of time.

Daniel (Student): I really like this style of learning, because I am able to showcase my talents, and I don’t really like writing papers all that much. I’d rather be hands-on, working on what I want to work on, how I want to work on it.

Jeff Walters: Our pathways classes provide us the structure and the opportunity for competency-based work, and that allows kids to work at their own pace. And then, ultimately, demonstrate that mastery when they are ready.

Kevin Buntman: We’re trying to get rid of that concept of you’re in the chair for this many hours, and that’s what proves that you know something. Instead, it’s once you can prove your knowledge,
then we continue on the pathway.

Jess Scherer: Each of our Pathways courses has a set of competencies that students have to
attain in order to earn the credit for their course.

Kevin Buntman: In a web design class, we’re looking at three big competencies, which
are HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Demonstrations of learning are essentially any form of evidence that the student wants to turn in to prove their competency. That gives the students a lot of choice in what they do. In my classroom, a lot of students build actual projects. So, they’ll build a website, or they’ll write some software.

Kevin Buntman: The Computer Science showcase is an opportunity for the kids to be assessed on their competency. The student’s job is to explain what they’ve created, look at some of the hurdles that they had to overcome, and then they also focus in on what those competencies were and how they mastered them.

Matthew (Student): I have a passion for computer science. I’m going to be a computer engineer major next year at college. Having these options to choose a pathway that I want to learn about, really I think will help me in the future.

Angelique Byrne: In art, the starting level competencies are the elements of art and principles of design, because that’s what you’re gonna use to create all art, no matter what. If the students know they’re focusing on something like line and color, it doesn’t matter, necessarily, the medium or the content, it’s really understanding those concepts.

Angelique Byrne: And then once they understand them, then they move to that next level. Then the competencies get more difficult.

Angelique Byrne: The critique is a demonstration of learning. They’ve got to introduce their work, talk about their competencies, and then get their feedback from their peers.

Angelique Byrne: Assessment for the competencies in art is really portfolio-based. It’s the whole body of work that shows value. Students make a digital folder, and they put all of the pieces in that they think meets each competency, and then we assess it. Some of it’s through critique, and some of it’s through individual conferencing with students. And then, once all the competencies have a score,
they move on to the next level.

Jess Scherer: Demonstrations of learning are a really cool way for a student to make a choice about what it is that they want to learn, and it allows for a lot of creativity in how they show what they know.

Angelique Byrne: I think the demonstration of learning shows that passion, and really helps with student engagement, because they’re really interested in what they’re doing and to see that ownership over their learning, that’s really exciting.

Schools That Work

Kettle Moraine High School