ALP Needs Kids: Six Ideas for Including Youth in Our Next Conference about Education

By Carisa Corrow

We are pleased to share with you today a piece from our storytelling series of reflections and noticings coming out of our convening in Tucson!

Please stay tuned for more writings from our team of storytellers and revisit the blog here to see them all in the coming months.

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The ALP Conference concluded on February 17. 2023, and now the stories start coming in. A team of twenty-seven—including eight educators from Tucson—were a storytelling team in Tucson. For the next few months, this blog will share the stories of those folks.

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash

I know it's hard to get youth learners to an education conference. They might anticipate being bored, which is entirely likely at some points through a conference, even for adults. Sometimes it feels like getting a student overnight trip approved requires an act of God. And of course funding…many schools are underfunded as it is, finding money to attend is not easy. Regardless, we should try. Here are six things to consider based on my recent experience at ALP.

1. Make sure there are other young people attending as conference goers

I've been thinking about this one a lot this year as I organized for two students to attend a conference last year, and they were the only youth learners at the conference. They did get to connect with students on school tours, but the analysis and peer network building was missing.

ALP had less than ten youth learners as participants at its latest convening AND although it was great they were there, I wish there were more. Honestly, I tried to bring some, but coordination was difficult on my end, so I understand the barriers, and this is where the real magic happens, when power dynamics between youth and adults have an opportunity to shift. Younger folks have an opportunity to see older folks in their learning space, while the ideas of both can be shared on more neutral territory.

2. Include youth presenters whenever possible

Those breakout sessions should include youth presenters especially if it's about student centered learning. Enough said.

3. Give credit

What skills are students demonstrating by showcasing their learning or actively participating in an education conference? Back home, make sure these skills somehow show up in their body of evidence or for schools using traditional grading systems, the gradebook.

Not every learning experience should be transactional, youth will participate because of interest, not a grade. And, learning in community with adults as peers is an authentic experience that merits "credit" in whatever form your local school gives.

5. Provide evening activities and food for youth specifically.

I think the first time I saw youth performance celebrated at a conference with live performances was at Jefferson County Public Schools’ summer Deeper Learning Symposium. It was impressive. I was struck by the talent of the young performing artists and the size of the crowd…thousands.

At ALP, we started by listening to a live Mariachi Band with students from a local high school. The ease with which they performed as well as the music was incredible. This group was also fundraising to go to a competition in DC, so there was also the opportunity to solicit donations for their trip. Win. Win.

4. Provide evening activities and food for youth specifically.

This one also goes out to all the teetotalers and others who just can't be around alcohol. Create community building opportunities for youth and adults that show them they can have fun without alcohol. Bowling, guided city tour, or game night are some ideas.

6. Pay them with money

This isn't always possible, and when it is, youth learners should get paid for their time as presenters, performers or lending their expertise at the conference. I really hate to be transactional; we all should want to learn in order to learn, not for a payday. Free food, a hotel room and transportation might feel like enough to compensate young people, and if your organization can give a small honorarium, give it.

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About the Storyteller

I built a model UFO in high school for my senior project. I learned a lot about learning, how others use math to create and how schools lock students out of their potential through memorization, extractive assessments. and tasks that are not meaningful for students. This powerful experience led me to public education, where I was able to use project based learning and performance assessment as part of my regular instructional and assessment practice.

I truly believe in the power of public education; I was a public school teacher for fourteen years in NH. I also believe public school can be a lot better. There are so many conversations not had, and we need to have them no matter the discomfort. For the past four years, I have supported educators in NH and across the country with my friends at the Center for Collaborative Education focused on designing competency based assessment systems using the Quality Performance Assessment framework. I’ve helped thousands of teachers in NH design performance assessments as part of the PACE Initiative and worked to help districts make the shift to competency based education practices. I helped facilitate the Vermont Professional Learning Network from 2016-2019 which focused on Proficiency Based Learning Practices, Continuous Improvement and Work Based Learning. I was the technical advisor for the planning phase of the Manchester West Redesign project and am currently supporting Franklin High School as they create their Portrait of the Graduate. I have written self-paced courses for educators, contributed as a thought partner for competency based education publications and have presented at local and national conferences. In all of this work, I’ve gone on quite the learning journey myself discovering the ways unjust systems affect students and the communities in which they live.

My biggest hope is that Educating for Good becomes an entity that connects folks working on various educational endeavors in New Hampshire including topics such as reparations, anti-racism, poverty, militarism, democratic education, restorative practices, environmental sustainability and repair, and media literacy.

Who is ALP? Reflections of a First Timer

We are pleased to share with you today a piece from our storytelling series of reflections and noticings coming out of our convening in Tucson!

Please stay tuned for more writings from our team of storytellers and revisit the blog here to see them all in the coming months.

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The ALP Conference concluded on February 17. 2023, and now the stories start coming in. A team of twenty-seven—including eight educators from Tucson—were a storytelling team in Tucson. For the next few months, this newsletter will share the stories of those folks.

“So there I was….because every good story has to start with ‘so there I was…’ ” - Ruth Hellams

Who is ALP? Caridad Lopez (left) from Stacy Middle School in Milford, MA and Charlie Brown (right) of KnowledgeWorks . Photo and Image by Gary Chapin

So there I was: The end of the first full day at the 2023 ALP Conference at the beautiful Loews Ventana Canyon resort in Tucson, Arizona. It had been a long, beautiful day of getting to know Tucson, Sunnyside and Tucson Unified School Districts, and the amazing work of so many wonderful organizations and school districts across the country. It was a great day—but I was exhausted. And frankly, a little lost. I was still trying to figure out just what this “ALP Conference” really was.

I’d come to ALP with very little context. I knew the Assessment for Learning Project (ALP) was an organization created to develop and promote the use of formative assessment practices in K-12 schools. That alone was enough to get me excited enough to volunteer with the organization and fly halfway across the country to attend the conference. But that enthusiasm was put in check on day one.

At a conference of roughly 300, I knew one person. And I am an introvert. So getting to know the other 299 after 10 straight hours of instruction, reflection, and identity work required a certain amount of gumption that I just didn’t think I was going to be able to muster.

I grabbed my dinner at 6:30 and sat at my “crew table,” a brilliant conference mechanic that I’d never experienced before. Our “crew” of roughly 8-10 folks sat at a shared table and reflected together throughout the conference; those crew conversations went on to be a highlight of the conference for me. Only problem was, on night one, only one crew member briefly joined me for dinner, then left me to my own devices. Immediately, I was back in 7th grade: “Do I sit here and eat dinner alone?” “Should I join another table?” “Would that be weird?” “Should I head back to my room?” “Wouldn’t that be a mistake? Aren’t you here to meet people?”. The joys of introversion.

It was about 7:15. I thought, distinctly: “Maybe I’ll just call it.” And, a little less distinctly, but certainly still there, “maybe this conference was a mistake.” Candidly, I felt a little lonely, which is particularly hard when you’re sitting in a room with hundreds of people.

But then I thought: You know what? What the heck am I feeling sorry for myself about? I’m in a beautiful resort full of people passionate about a cause that, until recently, I didn’t even know other people were passionate about….and, oh by the way, I have three free drink tickets in my pocket. So instead of calling it a night, I said screw it. I grabbed a beer, not knowing where I was going to drink it or who I was going to drink it with. I headed back into the convention hall having no idea where I was headed. I saw two people I’d briefly talked to during a session that day and thought, “You know what…that’s gonna have to be enough.”

It was apparent immediately that Ruth Hellams and Carissa Duran might just have been the two best people in the room to have chosen to sit by.

They asked me about my work, about professional issues both were facing, about how the day went, about who I’d spoken with and what we’d spoken about. They took a genuine interest in who I was and what I cared about. Carissa and Ruth had that special trait that is highly prized by an introvert like myself: They were easy to talk to.

Our group of three quickly became a group of six. We migrated to the bar, circled our chairs, ordered drinks. Our group of six became a group of eight. Stories started to flow….and flow…and flow….until we had a veritable river of narrative flowing within and around our group: Snake pits. Ill-fated sailing trips across the Atlantic. Exquisite Mexican cuisine. Cremating pets. Lime wedges stolen from Warren Buffett, and, oh my, other stories that just can’t leave the table.

I had just met these people, yet they were sharing candid, vulnerable stories about their childhoods, their families, and their experiences.

It was, without a doubt, the best conversation with (relative) strangers that I’ve ever had the privilege to be a part of.

And it made clear that the “What is ALP?” question that had been running through my head all day was misguided. The more pertinent question was “WHO is ALP?"

I won’t pretend that our 2-hour conversation with eight of nearly 300 people at the 2023 ALP conference is in any way fully representative of who ALP is. But as Chucho Ruiz Vai Sevoi, our powerful keynote speaker the night before put it:

“It’s not the truth. But it’s a truth, and it’s an important one.”

Ruth Hellams, Carissa Duran, Gary Chapin, Emma Chapin, Alec Barron, Shannon King, and Justin Wells showed me that ALP is a group of welcoming, genuine, passionate, interesting, hard-working, eccentric, intelligent, progressive, creative, and joyful humans and educators. Their passion to support students, and the schools that shape said students, is a clear outgrowth of the widely varied and interesting lives they’ve lived. It’s my genuine hope that, in the work the eight of us at that table will go on to do, we will inspire and empower students to go through life inspired to create their own versions of the amazing stories heard that night.

I awkwardly attempted to capture at least a trace of this conversation with a photo. Eight glasses were left empty by night’s end, but my introverted heart was left full, no longer worried about fitting in and certain that the ALP community is a place where an introvert like myself, or anyone with a passion for education and an open mind, is both welcomed and celebrated. If you’re an educator that hasn't experienced an ALP conference, I can’t recommend it enough.

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About the Storyteller

Adam Sparks is a former social studies and English teacher from Nebraska. He holds a master's degree in Learning Design and Technology from Stanford where his work focused on using peer feedback to improve formative assessment practices. He is a co-creator of Short Answer, a new K-12 formative assessment tool.

Time in Tucson: Feeling & Remembering What AFL is About

We are pleased to share with you today the first piece from our storytelling series of reflections and noticings coming out of our convening in Tucson!

Please stay tuned for more writings from our team of storytellers and revisit the blog here to see them all in the coming months.

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In February 2023, the Assessment for Learning Convening took place in Tucson, AZ, bringing together the AFL community and inviting in dozens of new friends and partners. At the event were 27 storytellers, gathering, crafting, and reflecting on all manner of things AFL. Shannon King is one of those storytellers.

Image by Gary Chapin (Photo by Dids free use Pexels)

A Haiku :)

We CAN change the world,

Assessment for Learning friends.

Students lead the way.

In my current role, I’m asked to travel and talk with educators about the BIG ideas of assessment, and quite often, I’m tasked with inviting them to change their thinking about assessment—to take a broader view of the possibilities that assessment holds. Sometimes, that’s a big lift. If I’m being honest, usually it’s a big lift because assessment has traditionally been connected with so much negativity and has been used in ways that demean, diminish and are downright unhelpful to the main stakeholders in the assessment process—the students.

During the Assessment for Learning Project (ALP) convening in Tucson, I had the delight of engaging with educators who rejoice in the possibilities of assessment, who think of assessment as a way to empower and engage students, not as something that is about sorting, judging or grading. Here are three BIG ideas they taught and/or reinforced for me.

1. Assessment is about learning, first and foremost. To that end, equity, grace, and interdependence are valued in assessment for learning. Equity shows up when we provide each student with what they need to succeed, when we recognize and address systemic barriers and biases, and when we value diversity and inclusion. Grace, not a word that is often used in the same breath as assessment, means being compassionate, forgiving, and understanding towards students' mistakes, challenges, and differences, and providing a safe and supportive learning environment. Interdependence means recognizing the interconnectedness of individuals and communities, and creating assessment experiences that value those contributions and perspectives, and promote collaboration and empathy. This was particularly evident as students, such as Aidan, shared their perspectives about assessment experiences: “There is now shame in failure if it’s for the sake of learning.”

2. Building community and fostering a sense of belonging are critical aspects of effective assessment for learning. Students need to feel connected, valued, and respected in their learning environment, and to see themselves as part of a larger community of learners. We know from numerous experts that teachers can promote this by creating assessment opportunities that invite students to share their stories, experiences, and perspectives, to collaborate and co-create representations of their knowledge, and to celebrate their achievement and growth.

One session, facilitated by India Wilson and Lisa Floyd-Jefferson of Reynoldsburg City Schools focused on the use of Socratic Seminars in math as an assessment approach that promotes equity. They shared how Socratic Seminars can be an effective way to have important and challenging conversations, promote critical thinking and communication skills, and build a sense of community and respect for diverse perspectives. In the seminar we held as part of the session, one of the participants in the session shared with the group that they had done some work with teachers in their district about “deficit gaze,” a phrase that refers to the tendency to view students from marginalized groups as deficient or lacking, rather than recognizing and valuing their strengths and assets. Another talked about longing to do math “in community”...the session sparked conversations such as those that helped us live the ideals the presenters were discussing, not just listen to them.

3. Assessment experiences can promote AGENCY, not just compliance and conformity. And when it does, it’s powerful. Kiara, a student at Desert View High School, brought this point home for me when she talked about how becoming more agentic had impacted her school experience: “It takes time to get used to feeling free in your learning, but ultimately I had a deeper appreciation for my learning.” She was part of a team of students who designed learning experiences for the educators visiting her school that day, and the agency she and the other students had in their learning was clear from the way they discussed their assessment and learning experiences with us to the way they facilitated the learning of the 30+ adults in the room.

There are lots of things being talked about when we discuss assessment, and time with the ALP community helped me re-evaluate and recenter my conversations around what really matters.

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About the Storyteller

Shannon King, PhD

Chief Learning Officer, Battelle for Kids

Dr. Shannon King leads the Battelle for Kids research and innovation in 21st century learning and assessment design, as well as helping school leaders intentionally align their systems to take their vision to scale.

Shannon has more than 25 years of experience in education roles, including classroom teacher, gifted education resource teacher, instructional coach, and as an administrator supporting professional development and instructional best practices.

Shannon also works with graduate students as an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University and the University of Virginia, teaching master’s level courses in educational leadership, curriculum and instruction, assessment, differentiation, gifted education, and educational research.

Shannon frequently shares her expertise as a presenter at state, regional, and national conferences on topics such as deeper learning, assessment design, instructional coaching, educational leadership and school transformation.