In the foothills of Alabama's Appalachian Mountains, leaders of the Piedmont City School District were rightfully proud that their schools had consistently met their AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) goals. But according to a 2010 Gallup Student Poll, only 35 percent of students believed they could solve their problems, and only 40 percent thought they can achieve their goals—likely influenced by some hard economic hits Piedmont took when two of the town’s main factories closed or moved out of the U.S. In fact, from 2007 to 2010, Piedmont’s unemployment rose by 10 percent.
In 2009, Superintendent Matt Akin and a team of Piedmont educators decided to do something about this. Underscored by the belief that there was a better way to prepare students for the world both inside and outside of Piedmont, they brought in a competency-based learning model, and completely restructured the district’s approach to assessment and data. Here’s their story.

Fourth graders collaborate on a math project | Credit: Piedmont City School District
Getting Inspired and Ideating
Over the course of 2009, Akin and his team visited the likes of Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina and Summit Public Schools in Redwood City, California. Inspired by what they had seen, the team decided to do away with “seat time” and implement competency-based learning, letting students master standards at their own pace and move on when necessary. But after three years of it, the team began to realize that they needed a more organized way to assess and gather data on student learning.
According to Akin, assessment would need to 1) include numerical data to show quantitative growth and 2) include performance-based and project-based learning activities so that students could see the relevance of their learning in authentic ways. “A lot of people also think of assessment as one test at the end of a unit or standard. But our assessment has to be continual.”
And, Akin adds, it would need to involve a variety of assessment options that students could choose from. “The important thing we saw when visiting other schools was the power of student choice in assessment. And of course, more choice means more data,” he says.
So, Akin and his team created “mBolden.”
Bridging Competency-Based Learning and Assessments
In 2013-2014, Piedmont piloted a competency-based program called “mBolden Piedmont,” and the next year, administrators rolled out the program schoolwide at Piedmont Middle School. In order for the program to function well, various forms of assessments had to be intricately connected to the competency-based learning program’s three main components: My Time, Team Time, and Class Time. And along with it, the way teachers used data also changed.
“Long-term planning has really changed. It’s not about planning for the whole school year anymore. Planning has to take place as a result of the data,” says Akin.
My Time: Using MasteryConnect and NWEA Scores

A lot of people also think of assessment as one test at the end of a unit or standard. But our assessment has to be continual.
Matt Akin, Superintendent
During My Time, students work through core competency skills and standards at their own pace. No teacher stands in front of the class, feeding students information; the students have to put in that effort on their own.
To help students find a starting place, teachers use students’ NWEA scores (introduced into Piedmont in 2014). Two days a week, students typically progress through their Independent Learning Plan (ILP), a set of lessons curated on the Compass Learning Odyssey program based on their NWEA achievement test scores. During the other three days a week, students use online programs, including Achieve3000, Discovery Education, Istation, BrainPOP, IXL, and USA Test Prep, to build their skill sets.
“What happens is that our programs are integrated with NWEA, and according to how students perform on those assessments, the content students get adjusts to how they did,” Rachel Smith, the district’s curriculum coordinator, says of the ILP program.
Because My Time sessions produce a tremendous amount of data on students and their progress, Piedmont Middle School teachers have weekly data analysis periods in addition to their regular planning periods, during which they use Mastery Connect to track student progress on their ILPs, as well as build and upload assessments. MasteryConnect gives teachers a color-coded display of how students are doing, and from the information on this dashboard, teachers plan the next part of the competency-based program, the “Class Time” lessons.

Students during My Time, in the Media Center | Credit: Piedmont City School District

Long-term planning has really changed. It’s not about planning for the whole school year anymore. Planning has to take place as a result of the data.
Matt Akin, Superintendent
“Class Time” is usually set up as a series of four stations that students rotate through every day, one for every core subject. Some students work in groups as a teacher reviews content with them, while others work individually on their teacher-compiled Blackboard playlists. Some are completing projects, while others are working on peer assignments. And each of these activities generates a mountain of assessment data.
Akin laments the fact that the district doesn’t yet have a dashboard where all this data gets consolidated. But Magan Glover, the blended learning coach at Piedmont Middle School, says that “teachers are at least looking at [data] more than they had before.” She continues:
“Each teacher will analyze the results of [each] assessment and pretty immediately know what that will mean for their instruction the next day. Assessment and data means the class structure—how kids are grouped, who needs remediation—changes on a day-to-day basis.”
And it’s not just teachers analyzing data. In fact, if you’re wondering where those mastery goals for each student are coming from, that’s where “Team Time” comes in.

Students work in small groups during Class Time | Credit: Piedmont City School District
Team Time: Teachers and Student Co-Analyze and Set Goals

We wanted students to be able to track their goal as relevant to a goal later in life.
Rachel Smith, Curriculum Coordinator
During Team Time, which takes place three times each week at the start of the morning, teachers meet with students to set and track standards-based mastery goals. Day One is dedicated to personal goals, Day Two is dedicated to reviewing the student’s collaborative projects, and Day Three is for researching possible careers.
To support conversations on Day One and Day Two, students look at their own mastery data on Mastery Connect and see where they’ve progressed. This data comes from core content work completed during My Time, as well as classwork and projects done during Class Time. Students then create targets and celebrate when they’ve improved.
On Day Three, students research future career choices, making connections between what they are learning in school and what they can do with that knowledge in the real world. “We wanted students to be able to track their goal as relevant to a goal later in life,” says Smith, the curriculum coordinator.
And all of this reflection and planning doesn’t just stay between the student and teacher. “We hold these student-led conferences once each semester where they talk about their work and the standards they’ve mastered with parents,” says Smith.

Students build a marshmallow tower during a Team Time activity | Credit: Piedmont City School District
Moving Forward

Students know now that even if they don’t know how to do something, we’ll provide what they need to figure it out.
Jerry Snow, Principal of Piedmont Middle School
Piedmont educators are the first people to admit that this is still a work in progress. “Students like being told by the teacher when there’s a test. We’ve learned that with middle school kids, you have to guide them,” Akin admits. But students are slowly picking up on the model, he says. “We’ve shifted that conversation. Now, the students have to tell us when they are taking the test.”
Thus far, the program has expanded up to ninth grade at Piedmont High School and down to fourth and fifth grades at Piedmont Elementary. In 2016-2017, mBolden expanded to 10th grade.
In the last several years, Piedmont students have shown growth in various ways. They’re scoring higher on the ACT, and even more telling, 70 percent of students are actually taking the test, as opposed to just 30 percent in the years before 2009. But for Piedmont Middle School principal Jerry Snow, success isn’t about the traditional tests. It’s about another form of assessmentmdash;a change in the way students assess and think about themselves.
“Students know now that even if they don’t know how to do something, we’ll provide what they need to figure it out,” Snow smiles.
For More Reading
Curious to read more? Here’s a piece on EdSurge that delves into some of Piedmont’s other innovations, including a “virtual start” schedule.