Learning Progression Builder

What This Skill Does

Maps the learning progression from novice to target proficiency for a specific skill domain, identifying the sequential stages of understanding, the prerequisite relationships between them (what must come before what), common stuck points (where students typically stall and why), and diagnostic tasks that reveal which stage a student is currently at. The output is a progression map that teachers can use for three purposes: planning instruction (teaching in the right sequence), formative assessment (diagnosing where a student is), and differentiation (providing the right support for each student's current stage). AI is specifically valuable here because constructing a valid learning progression requires both deep content knowledge (understanding the logical structure of the domain) and pedagogical knowledge (knowing where students actually get stuck, which is not always where the content logic would predict).

Evidence Foundation

Heritage (2008) defined learning progressions as "descriptions of the successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about a topic that can follow one another as children learn." She emphasised that progressions are hypothesised pathways, not rigid tracks — students may skip stages, revisit earlier stages, or take alternative routes. Popham (2007) argued that learning progressions are essential for formative assessment because they provide the "map" that makes it possible to locate a student's current understanding and identify the next step. Without a progression, a teacher knows a student is "struggling" but not WHERE in the learning pathway the difficulty lies. Daro et al. (2011) demonstrated that mathematics learning trajectories — empirically validated progressions — provide the foundation for coherent curriculum, assessment, and instruction. Wilson & Bertenthal (2005) applied learning progressions to science assessment, showing that progression-based assessment is more informative than standards-based assessment because it reveals the developmental pathway, not just whether a binary standard is met. Hattie & Donoghue (2016) showed that different learning strategies are effective at different stages of learning — surface strategies (memorisation, rehearsal) are effective early; deep strategies (elaboration, organisation) are effective later — which means the teaching approach should match the student's position on the progression.

Input Schema

The teacher must provide:

• Target skill: What students should be able to do at the end. e.g. "Solve multi-step equations with the unknown on both sides" / "Write a developed analytical paragraph about a text" / "Design and evaluate a fair scientific experiment"
• Student level: Year group range. e.g. "Year 7–9" / "KS3" / "Middle school"

Optional (injected by context engine if available):

• Subject area: The curriculum subject
• Starting point: Where students begin