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Higher Ed in Focus
July 10, 2019
MTC Offers Journey towards Mastery Learning Courses to Members
September 10, 2019
The Mastery Transcript Consortium™ (MTC) and Challenge Success have partnered in a three-year pilot program to offer a valuable survey research tool to MTC’s growing network of member schools. The partnership is a natural step for the two organizations, who share a focus on improving and enriching the high-school experience for all students. Challenge Success specifically supports schools, families, and communities in embracing a broad definition of success and implementing research-based strategies that promote student well-being and engagement with learning, while MTC member schools are creating a high school transcript that reflects the unique skills, strengths, and interests of each learner.
Supporting Member School Journeys
MTC’s members are high schools at different stages in their efforts to transform their educational model into one that is based upon the principles of mastery learning and focused upon providing each learner with the authentic and engaging learning experiences that an MTC Mastery Transcript will support and showcase. For many MTC member schools, there is a multi-year process ahead as they prepare for this transition, and, at each stage of their journey, they will need to collect valid sources of data that inform major decisions about programmatic and structural changes.
“This is an important partnership for MTC, as it will help our member schools make data-driven decisions to enhance the culture of learning for their students,” said Stacy Caldwell, CEO of MTC. “Enabling our school leaders to gather and analyze illuminating information about the whole student experience is essential as they chart their community’s unique journey to the Mastery Transcript.”
The Survey Tool: Informing Decisions
The survey questions cover a wide range of categories–student engagement, learning culture, grading and assessment practices, homework, sleep, and support structures–which are all integral to supporting student well being, while providing students with an effective learning environment. The original survey was developed and validated by Stanford University researchers during the last decade and overseen by Stanford’s Administrative Panels for the Protection of Human Subjects; results from this survey are already helping school leaders and communities to benchmark against a similar cohort of schools and to make data-driven decisions that measurably improve the whole student experience. Questions specifically aimed at helping schools measure students’ experiences with grades and assessments at their schools were piloted last year and will be added to the survey this coming school year pending the approval of Stanford Administrative Panel for the Protection of Human Subjects.
“We are excited to partner with the MTC and share our survey tool with member schools to help deepen dialogue and promote engaged learning” said Dr. Denise Pope, Challenge Success co- founder. “We look forward to leveraging what we learn together to further inform research on effective school practices for alternative assessment and the Mastery Transcript.”
Sample graphic of high school students’ responses to a Challenge Success research survey question: Is effort part of your final grade in the following subjects?
Get Involved
Beginning in 2019-2020, the Challenge Success-Stanford Student Survey of School Experiences will be available to all MTC member schools at a significant discount through this partnership. Challenge Success and MTC will make the survey accessible to all interested member schools during the three-year pilot period. For more information, members may sign up for an introductory webinar on August 28, 2019 at 3 p.m. ET with the Challenge Success research team.
If you have questions about member opportunities such as these, please get in touch with Susie Bell, director of member engagement. If your school is interested in becoming a member of MTC, please contact Ben Rein, senior director of outreach and partnerships.
About MTC
The Mastery Transcript Consortium™(MTC) is made up of a growing network of public and private member high schools who are codesigning the Mastery Transcript, a high school transcript that supports mastery learning and reflects the unique skills, strengths, and interests of each learner. In the coming years, the MTC hopes to change the way students prepare for college, career, and life.
