U.S. Westward Expansion: Common Assignment 2 For Teachers

The old adage “You don’t know what you don’t know” can be problematic when it comes to understanding how high schoolers are doing after graduation. For school leaders, a lack of data makes it hard to craft goals and metrics around high school graduates’ postsecondary paths.

Elizabeth Dogget remembers how hard it was to personalize instruction to meet student needs while she was student teaching. “It was really difficult to track where my students were on their progress towards meeting a learning objective and giving them timely feedback,” she recalls. “Often I would take a bunch of stuff home over the weekend, but by the time I got through giving them all feedback, it would be too late for them to make meaningful changes.”

In the first part of our Progress in Action campaign, we highlighted inspiring stories of educators who collaborate with their peers, ask their students for feedback on their teaching, and try new approaches to help all students succeed.