From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis
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Nicki Slaugh is a trailblazing principal who pioneered personalized competency-based learning at Question Academy Junior High in Utah. Nicki's innovative approach has captured national attention, increasing student engagement, test scores, and teacher retention. In today's episode, Nicky shares the journey of shifting from a traditional school to a dynamic, customized learning environment where every student thrives at their own pace.
Here’s what we’ll cover in today’s episode:
- How did Nicki transform her school culture to engage students and raise test scores?
- What strategies did she use to retain teachers and increase enrollment?
- How does personalized, competency-based learning work in a real classroom setting?
- What role does technology play in her innovative model?
- How did Nicki empower teachers and students with voice and choice in learning?
- What advice does she have for schools looking to implement similar changes?
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YouTube Video
This week's guest
Nicki Slaugh stands out as a trailblazer in the field of educational transformation. Through her efforts, she has established a school culture dedicated to customizing learning experiences for individual students, cultivating a positive atmosphere, highlighting the importance of STEM education, and purposefully integrating technology to unleash each student's potential. As a secondary principal, Nicki’s forward-thinking leadership has transformed a conventionally structured school into one that advocates for personalized, competency-based learning, attracting nationwide attention. Her dedication to innovation inspired educators, propelling the school to excellence.
Nicki’s focus has been creating proficiency scales, developing rubrics, self-paced pathways, incorporating technology as a resource, and giving teachers and students voice and choice in the classroom. Nicki is a Google-Certified innovator and certified in MagicSchoolAI. Notable achievements include creating a Mastery Tracker for students and enhancing student progress in competency-based learning environments. Additionally, Nicki has presented her work at numerous local and national conferences teaching educators and leaders. Nicki championed innovative practices and received the Teacher of the Year Award, Model School Award, and was part of the reason her school accomplished being one of the first STEM-designated schools in Utah. Furthermore, Slaugh's commitment to fostering partnerships between schools and the community is exemplified by her tenure as the Ogden/Weber Partners in Education Chair for three years, where she facilitated collaborative efforts to enhance educational opportunities for students. Nicki Slaugh's education legacy spans over two decades, starting as a classroom teacher. She fostered a love for learning in students from kindergarten to third grade. Transitioning to an instructional technology and curriculum coach for grades K-9, Nicki empowered educators to integrate technology seamlessly while enhancing the curriculum. Her collaborative leadership style fostered a culture of continuous improvement. Next, Nicki eagerly embraced the role of secondary principal, fueled by a passionate commitment to cultivating a vibrant culture of learning within her school. Her vision extended far beyond mere academic metrics; she aimed to elevate end-of-level test scores, enhance teacher retention rates, and bolster student enrollment. With determination and strategic vision, Nicki achieved these objectives and orchestrated a profound middle school transformation, transitioning it from a conventional model to a dynamic, personalized competency-based institution. Nicki has a Bachelor’s in Early Childhood, a Master’s in Educational Leadership, Gifted and Talented Endorsement, and an Administrative License.
Twitter: @nickiatquest
🎙️ Show Notes
Hosts, Guests & Featured People:
- Nicki Slaugh – Principal of Quest Academy Junior High, educational innovator, and co-author with Eric Sheninger.
- Eric Sheninger, author, thoughtleader and speaker, coauthor with Nicki
- Quest Academy Middle School
Resources:
Book The New Learning Leader: Transform, Inspire, and Lead“ by Eric Sheninger and Nicki Slaugh
-
Competency-Based Learning Framework:
Nicki describes the development of proficiency scales, rubrics, and personalized learning pathways as part of her school’s transformation. -
Google Classroom – Used as a digital platform for content distribution and student engagement in Quest Academy’s competency-based learning model.
-
Mastery Minutes: A dedicated time for students to meet with teachers for additional help or to accelerate learning, a key part of Nicki's competency-based system.
📝 Transcript
I used AI in Premiere Pro or Riverside to help with this transcript. I did proofread it. If you see mistakes, just contact me and let me know. YouTube autotranscripts are not pre-viewed. Thank you!
Transcript
Vicki Davis (00:00)
Nikki Slaugh. is the principal of Quest Academy Junior High in Utah. And Nikki, you've kind of pioneered a personalized competency -based learning approach in your school.
Nicki (00:05)
haha
Vicki Davis (00:17)
what have you done at your school?
Nicki (00:18)
I've been in education for 22 years. The first half of my career I was a teacher. I actually taught kindergarten first, second and third. And then I did some instructional coaching, working with teachers and admin for four. And this is my eighth year in administration in the secondary setting. So really I got offered a job position here at Quest Academy Junior High.
to actually take over the junior high. And I was asked to increase enrollment, retain teachers and raise test scores. So basically I needed to kind of do a transformation.
Vicki Davis (00:54)
Like that's a little bitty tiny list, right? Like every administrator on the planet has a lot of that same thing, don't they?
Nicki (00:58)
Yeah
Well, especially where I taught babies to read and first grade was like my favorite grade. All of a sudden they were like, we need you in the junior high. And I was like, hold up. I teach babies to read. I do cartwheels in the classroom. I don't know about this teenage thing. So I was a little bit nervous, but I was really up for the challenge. So I obviously came over as a new principal and I just started observing and checking things out.
Vicki Davis (01:19)
Yeah.
Nicki (01:33)
And what I realized is that in the secondary setting, we were still doing things that we were doing 200 years ago. Basically the teacher in front of the room, the rows of students, the class periods were like 90 minutes and it was all teacher centered with that teacher just talking at the kids. And all I had to do was just kind of glance and I could just see compliance and boredom. And I don't know, my elementary teacher heart was like, what is…
Vicki Davis (01:51)
Mmm.
Nicki (02:02)
What is happening? how can I fix this? How can I improve this? I really, really, really want these teenagers to want to come to school and to be engaged in their learning. Right. So I started thinking to myself and I was like, I wonder if I could do aspects of what I did as an elementary teacher in a junior high setting. And so I was trying to wrap my mind around things. I was going through data.
I was realizing that majority of my kids were in the honor roll, but our test scores were like 20 % below the state. So I was like, we really got a disconnect. I can obviously see kids are not engaged, they're compliant. I can see that our grades aren't a representation of learning at the moment. And then like you said, I had that huge task of we need to increase test scores.
Vicki Davis (02:39)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Nicki (02:56)
And we had actually 100 students in sixth grade. And by ninth grade, we only had 25. So as you could see, we were losing students each year. Because I'm a lottery -based charter school, so parents do choose to come to Quest. And it's not a private school. With charter, we do lottery. And so we're losing students each year. So anyways.
Vicki Davis (03:04)
Oh my.
Mm -hmm.
Yeah, and so you've been in that position for how many years now?
Nicki (03:23)
This is my eighth year.
Vicki Davis (03:24)
Okay, so eight years, so that was eight years ago. Describe what happened. Did you find some teachers who were on board with a vision to change things? Have you had staff turnover? What kind of has happened?
Nicki (03:28)
Mm -hmm.
Okay, so well, when you make a big transition like that, yes, you kind of ruffle some feathers, especially where I'm kind of like cheerleader elementary teacher coming in making change. So I came in, I just started talking about my vision. I was like, we're getting the first thing we all wanted to do was get rid of the desk. And so I got rid of all the desks and got whiteboard tables. Cause I said, I really want to see collaboration. I want the kids to.
have opportunities to communicate and problem solve together. We actually need to get the kids talking, right? So we kind of revamped the environment of each classroom first. And then I was thinking just the overall culture. How can I help my teachers and students form a relationship and a connection? Because I kind of felt like with a teacher centered approach, when you're talking at kids, you don't really have time to get to know them. You're talking, teaching.
Vicki Davis (04:09)
Mm -hmm.
Mm.
Nicki (04:30)
telling them what to learn and then everybody's doing the same exact thing. Everyone's turning in the assignment on the same day. Everyone's taking the test on the same day. There's not really any room to get to know each child as a learner. How do they learn best? You know, where are they at in the learning process? There's a lot of things that I was realizing that as an elementary teacher, I set up a lot of time to do stations and centers and small groups.
Vicki Davis (04:44)
Mm.
Nicki (04:58)
where that's really where my bond with my students was built, right? So I thought if I get tables and if I figure out a way to remove the teacher from in front of the room and get the teacher actually working in small groups and one -on -one, then I can help them form connections and relationships, which hopefully would help the students feel more empowered to come and engage versus just checking off the boxes or playing the game of school, right?
Vicki Davis (05:01)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah. So you've got competency based learning personalized approach, but let me ask you this now, eight years later, what is your attendance like? Did your dreams come true?
Nicki (05:38)
My dreams came true. So test scores increased within two years. Year one actually focusing on culture increased our test scores, just getting the kids to actually want to come to school and be engaged. But then year two on, we have always beat the state the past eight years. But my enrollment, my goal was to have 100 students per grade. We needed 400 students and so we have hit that goal, yes.
Vicki Davis (06:04)
Excellent. What does a day look like? It sounds like you're mastery based. So they're learning, they're taking tests at different times. Kind of described to me that day.
Nicki (06:15)
Okay, so when you take this approach and when you're mastery -based or competency -based, you have to start off with some high expectations, right? So as a team, the teachers that chose to stay on this journey with me during the transformation, we had to identify what state standards we felt were the power standards,
So we had to develop different pathways because everyone's coming in at a different ability level. So we started off with like the standards, developing rubrics, coming up with a learning process, thinking at what does it look like if a student is in an emerging stage versus a developing versus a mastering or extending. So we wanted to come up with a scale, a proficiency scale. So as a team, we started working on these proficiency scales, rubrics, trying to decide what.
state standards do we believe the students need to be confident on? And I wanted the bar to be really high, right? So that was what we did step one. so with grades, I don't know if you played the game at school, but I had like a three, nine, seven. Basically my goal was if it was 300 points for an A,
Vicki Davis (07:06)
Mm -hmm.
Nicki (07:17)
My entire mission that entire quarter was how do I get those 300 points? So even if I received maybe a 70 % on an assessment in chemistry, I never once said, hey, I didn't learn this. Do you mind meeting with me one -on -one or small group to re -teach it? I said, hey, I need that A, I need 25 more points. What can I do to get those points? I don't know if you did the same thing. but that's the game of school I played.
Vicki Davis (07:39)
Yeah. Let's say I'm a high achiever when it comes to academics. We'll say that. Yeah.
Nicki (07:43)
Right? So I wanted that A, but I, it wasn't focused on learning. So what I wanted to do was shift the focus from points and percentages to learning, which I needed to create proficiency skills. So that's what we first did is created these skills. So no, I don't have any points. I don't have points, extra credits, or any of that. We have the rubrics with the scale. We have examples with.
I can statements identifying so the students can identify where they're at in the learning process for every single state standard that they're working on, And so it's a very clear teacher clarity, clear and transparent, no questions asked, success criteria laid out so students always know what they need to do to master it. So that's kind of what we did first. So day in the life of ninth grade, every single class that they attend, they have their rubrics and their proficiency scales with the teacher's expectations in order to prove understanding to have that A.
But where the magic really happens is basically we have some classes that students get to take ownership in their learning. They get to choose how they want to learn. Do they want to learn with a teacher? Do they want to learn from watching a video? Sometimes teacher created, other times once they've found that they feel like are very high level, Sometimes they just listen to a podcast, other times they read articles because we've identified we have so many different types of learners. So what our students really love is they choose how to learn.
Vicki Davis (09:06)
Mm -hmm.
Nicki (09:07)
And then once you learn the topic, they also choose how to practice. So we call assignments practices. We have the practice, practice, practice, prove method. they choose how they want to practice and practice and practice with the goal of reaching mastery.
Vicki Davis (09:21)
Okay.
Absolutely.
Nicki (09:24)
So we have a lot of choice. So that's how you get engagement, They're choosing, how do I learn? And they're choosing, how should I practice? Then obviously we have what we call prove it dates, which is where they actually take a prove it, which is an assessment, but we just call them prove it because instead of causing them to have test anxiety, we're just like, it's time for you to prove understanding, So they're gonna glance at their proficiency skill, identify where they're at in the…
Vicki Davis (09:35)
Mm -hmm.
Nicki (09:51)
learning process based off the rubric and the proficiency scale, they are going to identify, I feel confident. I feel like I can reach mastery. So now I'm going to take the prove it. some classes will allow them a variety of ways to prove understanding. Some classes have more like math would have a one way, To prove understanding and science, there's usually like four or five ways. How do you prove understanding? So I think what's really cool is they have autonomy.
Vicki Davis (10:09)
Mm -hmm.
Nicki (10:18)
They choose how they want to learn it. They can work collaboratively in groups during all the practices. It doesn't always have to be individual work, The teacher, by creating a digital age classroom, we use Google Classroom. So they're putting all the content and the links for all the choices on our Google Classroom so that they're removed from the front of the classroom. So now they're not lecturing. So while kids are choosing different things, they're actually looking at the real -time data.
from all of the different tech tools we use to see where they're at each day on the learning process based off what they chose. And then they will pull small group or one on one trying to meet the needs of the
Vicki Davis (10:52)
Yeah.
Nicki (10:58)
students.
So we provide ownership with voice and choice and how they learn, practice, improve. But what we've also done is we remove seat time boundaries. Why does a student need to sit in a math class for 180 days, do the same assignments and take the same test as all students in the class?
when we're all different, So what I've done is I removed that boundary. If I have a child that can prove competency, say on a math standard in two days versus two weeks, as long as they meet my high expectations and prove that they're competent, I let them fly. So we have students that can do two years of math in one year. And I even have some eighth graders. They started with us in sixth grade. Eighth graders are currently in 11th grade.
Vicki Davis (11:19)
Hmm.
Wow.
Nicki (11:46)
So it's a beautiful thing because my ninth graders are earning additional high school credits in Utah ninth grade high school, but it actually is in junior high. It's kind of crazy. But then in 10th grade, they go to a different building. So my goal is to help them earn as many high school credits as they can while they're with me by allowing them to move at their own pace and reach proficiency sooner versus force them to be in a box.
moving at the same pace as the class, So by doing that, they can earn digital credits. That way it opens up their high school to where they can obviously attend a university, earn concurrent enrollment, go to a local tech college to get a certificate, do internships. Some of them might not even know their passion. They just want to take a bunch of electives, I feel like it's my job to set them up to be successful and to find their passion on what their career is, So.
Vicki Davis (12:14)
-hmm.
Nicki (12:39)
That's an aspect that we've added in to personalize is allowing them to move at their own pace
Vicki Davis (12:47)
So Nikki, let's say a student does not meet mastery. What happens?
Nicki (12:51)
Okay, so if a student does not reach mastery on their first attempt, then they are to take ownership and set up a time. We have a class that's called Mastery Minutes. It's a designated time in the middle of the day. A lot of schools call it flex time. It's a time where they can meet with any teacher to get additional help or accelerate their learning, So if they didn't reach mastery the first time,
then they set up an appointment to meet with that specific teacher, receive a reteach additional practice, and then they have another attempt to reach mastery. We do not allow our students to move on to the next standard or concept or skill until they reach mastery. So I think that's kind of where the magic happens and the differentiation and allowing people to work at different paces, you know, kind of happens is our high expectation of what mastery or being competent really is.
Vicki Davis (13:42)
and the accountability because you know what happens in many traditional classrooms you know somebody fails a test well we're moving on to the next unit even if you have students who don't even understand the last unit and as we know like in math math is so cumulative you get kids who just don't understand what you just did and i just love the accountability.
Nicki (13:57)
Agreed. Agreed.
Vicki Davis (14:04)
Yeah. So think of a teacher in your mind. who was with you before, went through this process and is now teaching this way. What would that teacher say about how they feel about teaching now compared to before?
Nicki (14:20)
Okay, this is my biggest selling point. I have a lot of schools from around the states and around the nation coming to Quest And that's the number one question. So they feel like the work is meaningful and purposeful because when the students are actually engaged and doing the work, it's less of a power struggle, So when you're talking at them and providing everyone turned to page 54, everyone do this, you kind of get the pushback. You're like more like the nag, right? They're not turning their assignments in. Where's your missing assignment? So that relationship's gone.
Vicki Davis (14:37)
Hmm.
Yeah.
Nicki (14:49)
You're kind of like the parent, like we do with our kids, with their chores where now they're like facilitators, they're going around asking questions, they're identifying how they learn best. They're getting to know them. The kids are actually engaged. They have less of a headache. So first off, that's why they love it. They say it's meaningful and purposeful. But the other thing is we really were back on your grades. We do not correct every single.
Vicki Davis (14:50)
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Nicki (15:14)
practice or assignment, If my teacher is circulating and observing and we're using tech tools to get instant data, They're seeing where they're at each day at the end of class through exit tickets or formative assessments or the different tech resources. I'm not going to have them take everything home in grade because really, if you think about it, I don't really care what they get on the practice. Our method is practice, practice, practice, prove. Mm -hmm.
Vicki Davis (15:37)
As long as they're getting feedback on how to correct it, you know, do it correctly, yeah.
Nicki (15:41)
So where the teachers not in front of the room and meeting with them, they're providing feedback, they're conferencing with the kids, they're meeting one -on -one or small group. So they know where they're at during the whole journey to where eventually the students feel confident, then they take the prove it, So they don't have to take hundreds of papers home to correct and input scores every day. So that's removed.
Vicki Davis (15:56)
Mm -hmm.
Nicki (16:02)
That's kind of that tedious work where we have teachers that are always complaining that we have all this work and all these boxes to check off, So teachers believe it's meaningful. They love, they don't have all the busy work, but the other thing they love is I do have high standards and high expectations for my teachers and my staff when I say create these proficiency skills. What we believe at Quest is competency, So we put the bar very high, but I'm very flexible and.
Vicki Davis (16:08)
we do.
Nicki (16:27)
I want my teachers to give my students choice in how to learn. I give my teachers choice in how to design their curriculum. I will purchase the the research based curriculum they need, but they actually get to design on the backend what their choice words look like, what their practices look like. So they also empowered because I treat them as a professional and allow them to create stuff
versus buying a one size fits all curriculum,
Vicki Davis (16:47)
Yeah.
So I want you for our last question is travel back in time. Think of Nikki Slaugh first day, eight years ago. What would you tell her to make the process of implementing this better?
Nicki (17:03)
Oh, that's a good question. Well, I feel like now that I went through the journey, I could easily work on path, pace, place, choice, voice, and choice with a teacher or a school and help them very easily. Because now that we went through the process, we've had opportunities to fail and grow, fail and grow as a staff and we've had to solve problems together. So.
I actually love that at an eight year journey, because I got to experience all the highs and the lows. That way I can help schools improve. But I will admit it was rocky at first making that shift. I had a lot of teachers really felt strongly on a due date is a due date. And if they have a missing assignment, it's not their problem. I think what I was really hard to improve on was how do I help shift that mindset of it's not the.
child's problem. Maybe we haven't taken time to actually find something we value about the child and identify how they learn best. Sometimes we just look at it as if they don't do their work, it's not my problem, I'm just going to move on, right? So I think it's just making a smooth process, working with teachers and just helping that growth mindset be like, look at a different perspective. And what does it really mean to be a teacher? What's the definition of a teacher? It's our job to figure out what we can do for them and to
Vicki Davis (18:00)
Yeah.
Nicki (18:16)
personalized learning for them based on their needs.
So creating pathways, allowing them to move at their own pace, giving them voice and choice in their learning, and then just setting up an environment where they feel comfortable to ask questions with their teacher, because they're working one -on -one in small group, as well as conferencing with them.
and being proactive throughout the learning process versus just take the test and then try to be retroactive and fix it.
Vicki Davis (18:44)
this is where a lot of schools are heading and need to be heading, a lot of classrooms. And when you have a…
an administrator who believes in this, it makes it a lot easier to have a culture. Because if you could imagine having one teacher who really personalizes learning and has competency -based, mastery -based, and then you go to the next class and it's more lecture -based, it can cause some tension as it does in many schools that have such different approaches.
Nicki (19:13)
I think on that you hit it right on the nose. I think if I could share anything with your listeners, it's take the risk, jump in, go in 100%. Too many times we just have one or two teachers try this. And like you said, it's not fair on the student end because they're, they're confused as well as then it's not consistent. I jumped in year two and I made the shift 100 % with every single class, every single grade, but we developed it.
Vicki Davis (19:34)
Yeah.
Nicki (19:40)
We developed this program together as a team, my teachers and myself, right? So I have the vision, but when we all jumped in, we would meet and problem solve together how to make this work. And then I feel like that strengthens your culture because it does start from the top. If they see myself and my teachers having a great relationship and then they have a relationship with their students, it's just full circle. So I think if I could tell any of you, just jump in and do it.
Vicki Davis (19:47)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Nicki (20:07)
and take the risk. I promise you it's best practice. It's not rocket science. It's just meeting the needs and loving all your students and just helping them learn wherever they're at.
Vicki Davis (20:17)
Nikki Slaugh, we will put all of her bio and all the information in the show notes. Also big shout out to Eric Sheninger our mutual friend who told me about Nikki and said, Vicki, you have to get Nikki on the show. So thank you for coming on the show
Nicki (20:27)
Yes.
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
The post The Spectacular Story of Quest Academy: Whole School Competency-Based Learning appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!
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