This is the third post in a series about Raíces del Saber Xinachtli Community School in Las Cruces, New Mexico. In post 1, we introduced the school. In post 2, we focus on their practices as a community school. Check out the whole series!
In a colorful third grade classroom, Instructional Coach Carlos Aceves is explaining the Aztec calendar to a group of students as part of their math lesson. He is midway through a description of the time it takes for the earth to orbit the sun when a student in the back of the room raises her hand. “You misspelled orbita,” she points out, gesturing at the whiteboard. Indeed, the word is missing an “a”. Aceves smiles and adds it, thanking her for the correction. “I wrote it in English,” he explains, before launching back into the lesson. The whole interaction takes place in Spanish, and feels casual and warm, not like a distraction or a questioning of his authority. Instead, he seems glad to reinforce a culture of learning that makes room for mistakes, mixing up languages, and encouraging student agency–even if it means a brief detour from the main focus of the lesson.
Although Raíces del Saber does not call itself a student-centered, competency-based school, they enact many of the key practices that define competency-based learning. These seven key elements are:
- Equitable culture, structure, & pedagogy
- Student agency
- Essential competencies
- Meaningful assessment
- Timely differentiated support
- Responsive pacing
- Personalized pathways
In this post, we’ll explore the ways in which Raíces del Saber enacts some of these seven key elements. We’ll celebrate the incredible work that they do to support and nurture their students, while also describing challenges they’ve faced and areas where they want to grow.
Equitable culture, structure, and pedagogy
“Strategies to ensure equity for all students are embedded in the culture, structure, and pedagogy of schools and education systems.” (Aurora Institute)
Educational equity means that all children receive what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential. Embedding educational equity in the culture of a school requires “interrupting inequitable practices, examining biases, and creating inclusive multicultural school environments for adults and children; and discovering and cultivating the unique gifts, talents, and interests that every human possesses” (National Equity Project). As described in the previous post, Raíces del Saber was founded in pursuit of this exact goal: to interrupt the inequitable educational practices that were so commonly leaving students–particularly Mexican students–with inequitable opportunities and outcomes, and to bring increased cultural relevance and respect for indigenous heritage and language into school settings.
“There is a network in the state, the NACA-Inspired Schools Network (NISN), that supported us to put together our model of a charter school utilizing indigenous language and culture. There are only 11 schools in the state with a model similar to what we are,” explained Lucía Veronica Carmona, co-founder and Director of Operations and Community Engagement.
The school’s intentional adoption of a two-way dual language model is based on research on the benefits of this model for both second language acquisition and socio-cultural integration and equity. The school grounds their pedagogical philosophy in Collier and Thomas’ (2004) seminal research on the powerful effect of dual language education for all students: “Two-way bilingual classes taught by sensitive teachers can lead to a context where students from each language group learn to respect their fellow students as valued partners in the learning process with much knowledge to teach each other.” The adoption of this model intentionally signals the school’s commitment to equity and inclusion.
Student agency
“Students are empowered daily to make important decisions about their learning experiences, how they will create and apply knowledge, and how they will demonstrate their learning.” (Aurora Institute)
Student agency appears at Raíces in many small ways. One pedagogical practice that embodies this principle is that of the fifth grade caracol, which is the school’s name for its capstone experience. “The caracol is about both the knowledge within and the knowledge outside, and bringing it within us,” explained third grade teacher Alessa Ibañez. Students in fifth grade work on a project of their choice throughout the entire school year, which is intended to incorporate everything they’ve learned over their years at Raíces. At the end of the year they present their completed projects to families and community members in a showcase held at New Mexico State University. The project has clear guidelines and content requirements, but can be on a topic and in a format of the student’s choosing. “Maybe a dance, something related to art; others are looking into food. So anything that they’re interested in, they can choose,” explained Ibañez.
Essential competencies
Rigorous, common expectations for learning (knowledge, skills, and dispositions) are explicit, transparent, measurable, and transferable. (Aurora Institute)
Raices has a Profile of a Learner that guides instruction and is aligned with the school’s pedagogical practices. The Profile is broken into three areas, which are described by animals: mariposa (butterfly), águila (eagle), and colibri (hummingbird). Each of the three animals symbolizes an attribute that the school believes its students possess: beauty, wisdom, and strength. These attributes are then described through a series of statements about student behaviors and abilities, which helps to operationalize them and transform them from values to something that can be enacted, practiced, and developed. These competencies are shared with students in multiple ways. A colorful poster reminding students of these attributes is posted on walls throughout the school, but that is not the only way it is communicated. Every day, students recite aloud a short profession about these values, repeating it once in Spanish, once in English, and once in Nahuatl. Accompanied by hand gestures and jubilantly chanted by a group of first graders, it is easy to see how this statement of belief embeds itself deep in students’ minds and hearts, guiding their learning and growth at the school.
The cross-cutting and interconnected nature of the learning at Raíces also is aligned with the principles of competency-based education–particularly the connection between academic content and standards and the big picture competencies that the school is hoping to cultivate in students. As Ibañez explained, “Everything we do is rooted within their culture. Whether we have students that can relate to the Mexica culture [or not], we center their identity and who they are. And so our question is, how can we empower and help students learn about themselves, but also include academics within that?”
She continues, pointing out connections between the school’s overarching competencies, the Xinachtli pedagogical approach, and content-specific learning: “For example, the Tonal Machiotl has a lot of math, and students learn base 10 and base 20. So it’s two different math systems, and they’re able to go from one to the other. And then from there, we have the Nepohualtzinzin [Mesoamerican abacus] that they’re incorporating as well. And so all of these tools help them–not just for the base 20, but also for the base 10. And so they learn that our ancestors were also mathematicians.” This fluent interconnection between content, culture, and competencies is at the heart of Raíces’ approach to competency-based learning.
Although Raíces has not moved fully to competency-based grading centered around the aforementioned core competencies, they do use proficiency scales and standards-based grading. Report cards do not show letter grades, but rather a 1-4 scale ranging from “Emerging” to “Advanced.” In addition to the state standards and expected academic subjects (e.g. Math, Social Studies), there are sections for Xinachtli language and culture and social responsibility. At the bottom are extensive comment sections where teachers share additional notes and reflections on the student’s development.
Currently, the school limits its capstone projects to fifth grade. However, they have hopes of expanding that approach into other grades as well. “Eventually, the goal is for every grade level to have a little mini capstone that we can build on, so that when students are in fifth grade, then it’s an easier transition for them to talk about more of their identity, who they are, about the project, and all the components of the Xinachtli pedagogy,” reiterated Ibañez.
Meaningful assessment
“Assessment is a meaningful, positive, and empowering learning experience for students that yields timely, relevant, and actionable evidence.” (Aurora Institute)
There are many ways in which Raices ensures that assessment for students is meaningful and empowering. Some of these practices are articulated above–showcases of student learning at special events, including the fifth grade caracol presentation; grading practices that share a more granular breakdown of students’ knowledge and skills, rather than a blanket letter grade; and opportunities for students to work together on practical, hands-on projects that produce immediate feedback. However, this is also an area that the school is intentionally developing. “We’re building toward [having] formative assessments that are consistent and built from grade level to grade level. We’re working toward that, because we don’t have that at this point,” explained Dr. Girón.
Another area the school is working on is clarity and accessibility of rubrics, both to students and parents. “We’re trying to leave it open [for them to have choice] but also give them guidance as to what we’re looking for,” explained Ibañez. Articulating the multifaceted learning goals of projects in language that is accessible to young students is important, she said, and something “we’ve been working on and know we need to improve.”
One of the challenges the school is also wrestling with is how to prepare students for required state assessments without undermining their commitment to the Xinachtli pedagogy, and in a way that allows those assessments to be a positive experience for students. Dr. Girón believes that if good learning is happening, assessment should take care of itself–but also recognizes that the format of state tests is quite unfamiliar to students from Raíces, and thus it is not always easy for students to present their knowledge fully. He explained his vision for integrating test prep into daily instruction in a seamless way: “Instead of telling children ‘we’re going to do test prep today,’ we would build the test prep processes into the instructions so that the children were learning without realizing they were preparing for the test. It was just part of the daily life that they did these things, without being scared or intimidated or told very specifically ‘Next you’re going to the computer lab to do test preparation.’ It’s a work in progress. I think that we can do a better job on that, but I think we’re going to get there. We held our own last year in terms of not falling, in terms of performance, and I sincerely believe that, based on what I’ve seen this year, we will see greater productivity in the state assessments.”
Differentiated support
“Students receive timely, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs.” (Aurora Institute)
Personalization and individual support is another strength of the school. Class sizes are small, and every teacher is supported by an educational assistant, which allows students to receive timely, differentiated support when they need it. Learning stations and small group activities are core classroom practices. On the day I visited I saw students working together or individually, interacting with their teaching staff regularly for help, feedback, or guidance. Teachers mentioned doing a lot of hands-on and visual activities to help differentiate instruction and embody UDL principles. “I try to differentiate the instruction; however, the learning outcome is still the same,” explained Ibañez. She also allows students to demonstrate their learning in different modalities, like offering them choices between writing or presenting.
Students also acknowledged this personal support. As fourth grade student Sofia explained, “I feel like our teachers know us and they’re going to help us. If I’m struggling with something in class, they’ll come and help us and ask us what we need help with. And if I get something quick, they’ll give me harder stuff so I can learn more.”
The principle of differentiated support also applies to adults at the school. Every Friday the staff gathers for PLC (professional learning community) time, which are called “knowledge-sharing sessions” at Raíces to emphasize the reciprocal nature of the learning. Carlos Aceves, school co-founder and Xinachtli Instructional Coach, often shares insights about Mesoamerican history and culture and help teachers think about how to implement the pedagogy in their own classrooms; as needed, the school will also bring in external resources or connect to people from NISN to support their learning. Carving out time for this ongoing learning, based on teachers’ needs and interests, is “a constant battle,” noted Dr. Girón, but a priority for the school.
Responsive pacing and personal pathways
“Students progress based on evidence of mastery, not seat time; students learn actively using different pathways and varied pacing.” (Aurora Institute)
These two elements are interrelated: personal pathways refers to what and how students learn, while responsive pacing refers to the speed and process at which they learn. “In competency-based schools, student pathways are personalized, reflecting each student’s unique needs, strengths, interests, goals, and pace. The order in which students master learning targets both within and across academic disciplines may vary… Varied pacing does not imply that there is a single learning pathway that students simply navigate at different speeds” (Levine & Patrick, 2019, p. 5).
Students did acknowledge ways in which their teachers know them as individuals and work to support and encourage them in personalized ways, as described above. However, on the whole, students generally are grouped by grade level and share learning experiences with that group.
The school does have a foundation from which to build out these practices. In particular, the many multi-age learning opportunities that the school already provides may serve as a strong foundation from which to build more flexible pathways for students–while not losing the intentional focus on a shared learning experience and community that makes the school so special.
— — — — —
Raíces del Saber Xinachtli Community School is not yet a fully competency-based school, and it may not ever adopt all of the components of a competency-based model. However, it does strongly illustrate the heart of competency-based learning: “a replacement of the systems, structures, and pedagogies of the traditional system… driven by the equity-seeking need to transform our educational system so all students can and will learn through full engagement and support and through authentic, rigorous learning experiences inside and outside the classroom” (Levine & Patrick, 2019, p. 4).
For those who still have questions, fourth grade teacher Roberto Moctezuma has an invitation: “It’s something they need to live themselves. Come to my classroom to see it, just see what it brings. See how it builds in the children, to feel comfortable in their own skin. My best suggestion: come understand what’s going on. See the beauty of it.”
This is the final post in a series of three posts about Raíces del Saber Xinachtli Community School. It is part of a larger series about schools that are implementing practices from both community-centered and competency-based educational systems in order to best serve their learners. Read the rest of the case studies here!
