ALN – Practitioner Stories: Practice, Progress, and Possibility

May 5, 2027  

Session 5: Practitioner Stories: Practice, Progress, and Possibility 

In-Person University Club 9:30am-2:30pm ET 

The 2026-27 ALN sessions focus on competency-based assessment systems that center student agency, deeper learning, and high-quality evidence. But what does this look like in real classrooms, schools, and systems? 

In this final session, participants will learn from districts and educators actively engaged in creating competency-based assessment systems. Through implementation stories, we will explore what it looks like to build competency-based systems over time—what’s working, where challenges persist, and how teams are navigating the journey. 

Participants will reflect on their own context, identify areas of strength and growth, and consider next steps for continued implementation.  

• Anchor Bay—Emily McEvoy will focus on learning progressions, the formative assessment process, and the move to quality summative and performance assessment. 

• Evanston I—(name?) There has been significant work done here in my home town, from Kindergarten up through HS, which is a really interesting case study that includes both spaces of success and areas of remaining tension. All of the things you mentioned (progress vs proficiency, academics vs behavior, clear reporting structures) have been at the center of all of the work here and are progressing differently, yet with similar underlying principles of equitable grading, in two separate districts (there is a high school district and a K-5 district). There have been several leaders in the work and I think a great session could be a combination of folks to give multiple perspectives in the same space. The high school work is being led by a teacher, Jim Sklar, along with a few other teacher leaders. For the K-8 space, I was a key leader, where we had a successful implementation that moved middle school math teachers across the district from traditional letter grades to competency-based grading practices that shifted how we assessed and reported. I could assemble a small group of teachers from the high school and the middle school and together give a very practical talk/discussion on “what’s worked and what we’re still working on”, if you would find this of interest. 

• Roxana IL – Steve Oertle is an outstanding administrator (he is the Assistant Superintendent) who has done years of competency-based work with K-5 teachers in his district. The work there is evident by the profound understanding among his teachers of the standards and how to teach with clear expectations in mind.  They are extremely well versed with the practical application of success criteria and rubrics and report cards that provide clarity regarding student progress. They are also working on improving the way  that they create true portfolios as a part of their reporting system.  Additionally, Steve has done consulting and speaking for years, so aside from being a great human and leader, he is also very comfortable giving talks that folks find helpful. 

ALN 2026-2027 Season Pass = $315.00  (5 sessions)  reflects a 10% discount 

Single session (in person) = $100 

Single session (webinar) = $50