ISBE Unfinished Learning Series - 9-12 Math Community of Practice - Session 1 - Defining our Approach to Addressing Unfinished Learning

Oct 10, 2026

Uploaded by Mia

ISBE Unfinished Learning Series outlines a 9-12 Math Community of Practice session focused on defining an approach to address unfinished learning. The session contrasts two schools that began the year remotely and planned phased in-person learning. Piedmont Valley School uses remediation plans, beginning-of-year diagnostics, MAP screening, small-group intervention, and computer practice. Brightwood Academy emphasizes leveraging student strengths, essential content prioritization, PLC collaboration, standards coherence mapping, formative assessment evidence, and differentiated instruction.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Defining our Approach to Addressing Unfinished Learning

A Tale of Two Schools

Piedmont Valley School

Brightwood Academy

Standards Analysis Case Study

HS. F-IF. B.6 Calculate and interpret the average rate of change

ISBE Unfinished Learning Series 9-12 Math Community of Practice Session 1: Defining our Approach to Addressing Unfinished Learning A Tale of Two Schools Like many schools across the country, Piedmont Valley School and Brightwood Academy started the year in a fully remote model with a phased return to inperson learning in January. Anticipating students would experience a spring/summer slide, both schools developed an approach to make up for lost instructional time and address unfinished teaching and learning as part of their vision for excellence. Piedmont Valley School At Piedmont Valley School, Principal Ross brought his leadership team together in the fall to develop a remediation plan. He acknowledged that the challenges they experienced trying to implement remote learning last spring meant that students had not had consistent access to the last two months of their curriculum. He says,“We can’t let our students fall any further behind. We have to meet them where they are and catch them up.” He charges the team with the task of figuring out how to adjust pacing calendars for the upcoming school year to allow for significant remediation at the beginning of the year based on missed content from their previous grade and data from a beginning of the year diagnostic administered to all students. In order to allot time in the curriculum for remediation, grade level teams are charged with adjusting pacing guides. In some cases, grade level teams decide to shorten every ongrade level unit by 1-2 weeks and in other cases, they identify units that address supplementary and additional standards to skip entirely. In addition to the beginning of the year diagnostic, Principal Ross moves forward with administering the fall MAP, a norm-referenced test, to identify students who need more intensive remediation. Intervention teachers provide additional small group instruction to students with RIT scores falling below the 40th percentile twice a week. These students are also assigned to a computer-based program to practice basic math facts and computation. Brightwood Academy At Brightwood Academy, Principal Metts brings her leadership team together to begin planning for the fall. She acknowledges the impact interruptions to teaching and learning have had on their students’ social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD) . She begins by sharing some research with her team about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to addressing unfinished learning. She says,“Yes we may have some gaps to close, but if we pick up where left off this spring, we will just be creating another gap to close the following year. We have to focus on building on student strengths to accelerate their learning and ensure students can move forward with gradelevel content this year.” Over the summer Principal Metts formed a mathematics steering committee comprised of school leaders, teacher content leads from each grade-band, a lead Special Education teacher, and EL specialist. The committee outlined a plan that involved working with teachers to prioritize the essential instructional content for each grade level. Content leads then worked with grade level teams to adjust pacing calendars to allow time needed for indepth instruction of the essential content. Principal Metts created a school schedule that carved out weekly collaborative planning times for teachers to work in PLCs. Before each unit of study, teachers meet in PLCs to trace the coherence of the standards addressed in the unit to identify prerequisite standards that will build the foundational understanding for the essential learning of the unit. Content leads support grade level teams to identify opportunities to integrate unfinished learning within grade-level content and plan how to support students in making connections to previous learning. An important part of this work is selecting and using formative assessment tasks toelicit evidence of students’ understanding of the relevant prer

FAQs

How does Piedmont Valley School plan remediation for unfinished learning at the start of the year?

The principal convenes a leadership team to adjust pacing calendars using missed curriculum information and beginning-of-year diagnostics. Grade-level teams revise pacing guides to include significant remediation time, and intervention teachers provide twice-weekly small-group instruction based on MAP results and RIT scores below the 40th percentile.

What core planning strategy does Brightwood Academy use to avoid creating new learning gaps?

Brightwood Academy prioritizes building on student strengths by accelerating learning toward grade-level content. The team uses a steering committee to prioritize essential instructional content, adjust pacing calendars, and integrate unfinished learning through PLC planning, formative assessment evidence, and differentiated whole-group or small-group instruction.

How are PLCs used to support instruction in Brightwood Academy’s approach?

Teachers meet in PLCs before each unit to trace standards coherence and identify prerequisite standards. Content leads and teams use formative assessment tasks to gather evidence, interpret students’ understanding, and then decide how to address unfinished learning through targeted prerequisite teaching, lesson adaptation, spiral review routines, or small-group lessons.

Oct 10, 2026

Uploaded by Mia