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Learning grows where success is visible.
When the class beats its All-Time Best, everyone celebrates, because every student’s progress counts toward the team’s.
Every best deserves a moment.
- A studentCorrect out of 12 on this quiz26
- A classTotal correct: six quizzes without a best119128
- A class in AustraliaTotal correct, from 65 at the start9497
- A whole schoolMath fluency, every classroom together14011401New best!
The two class rows follow real classes Dr. Jenkins describes on the Deming Institute podcast; the scores in between are illustrative.
Coaches and players celebrate together
Traditional finals end with students celebrating alone, and teachers aren’t invited. But when athletic teams win, coaches and players celebrate together. Add up the total correct for the whole class, post it all year, and when the team hits its highest mark yet, teachers and students cheer together.
A personal best belongs to the student, even if it beats the old one by a single point. A class best belongs to everyone, so helping a classmate succeed becomes a reason to celebrate too.
Because in the new game of learning, we’re all on the same team.
Dr. Lee Jenkins“It’s Eerie — But We Can Predict the Future of Education”, Education Today, 2025First downs along the way, touchdowns at the goal
Think of a football team moving toward the goal line. The players don’t celebrate after every play; sometimes they lose yardage. They celebrate first downs along the way and touchdowns when they reach the goal.
In a Learning That Lasts classroom, the year’s key concepts mark the goal line. One quiz may show a gain or a setback. The record over time shows the progress, and gives every student repeated chances to earn a new personal best.
A student who begins with zero correct may earn All-Time Bests at one, three and four. Another may move from two to four, five and eight. Both earn recognition for learning that lasts.
The coach no one would want
“Great game guys! We beat a tough baseball team today. If you got a hit today, join me at the ice cream shop across the street. If you didn’t get a hit, your parents will pick you up in the parking lot. See you Monday for practice.”
Who would want a coach like that? Everybody knows how devastating being on this team would be. Yet, this is the false motivation we use in far too many classrooms.
One total, three classrooms
So in Paducah, the three grade 5 classrooms don’t compete in math fluency. They add up the total correct in all three rooms, work to beat their best score together, and everyone celebrates. “Math fluency is not a sport,” and nobody wants one winner class and two loser classes.
Will Black Assistant Superintendent, Paducah Independent School District, Kentucky
Simple, quick, and for fun, not for prizes
A personal best
A name written on a shape on the wall. A quick high-ten with the teacher. A star sticker on the graph over the new highest score.
Middle school
Students write their name on the whiteboard, crossword-style, borrowing letters from friends’ names, including friends from other periods.
High school
Kerplunk: every personal best pulls a straw, and when the marbles come crashing down the class takes a couple of minutes for fun.
A class best
The Wave, a song, a dance or a cheer. One class made a spinner of ten celebrations they chose themselves; their favorite was letting the class hamster roll across the room in its ball.
A school best
At Linden Elementary in Fremont, Nebraska, the principal announces it and the whole school does a three-minute dance. The students love seeing the teachers dance too.
Four-year-olds and their first All-Time Best
Three notes from Milliken Park Elementary in Fremont, Nebraska, written the week its pre-kindergarten classes started.
My AM session had our math quiz yesterday and they got an All-Time-Best! We had a freeze dance party before we started calendar. Today they asked if they could freeze dance again! I told them we are saving the freeze dance to celebrate All-Time-Bests!
Tina Kuddes Pre-kindergarten teacher
These kids will know precisely how this process works next year when they are in kindergarten.
Courtney Fitzgerald-Stevens Academic coach
Today both the AM and PM Pre-K classes had All-Time-Bests, even with several students absent. They came and chanted the ATB cheer and smiled ear to ear with me in the office, and they literally stopped to tell anyone who would listen on their way back to class.
Susan Farkas Principal
Class total correct: 129, one more than its best of 128.
“It was me.”
Teachers tell Dr. Jenkins the same story again and again: the class beats its All-Time Best by one or two, and a student who has been struggling stands up and says, “It was me.” Without their few correct answers, the class wouldn’t be celebrating.
“When the school has an ATB [All-Time Best], the principal announces it and all students celebrate with a 3-minute dance. Maybe the best part is the students love seeing the teachers dance with equal joy.”
Angela WillnerdGrade 1 teacher, Linden Elementary School, Fremont, Nebraska“We celebrate by putting a $1 in the charity jar when the class has an All-Time-Best and $0.10 when an individual student has an ATB [All-Time Best]. At the end of the year we donate the proceeds to a charity the students select.”
Theresa CorcoranGrade 5 teacher, Graber Elementary School, Hutchinson, Kansas
“The students immediately accept ownership of their learning.”
Chris CreliaPrincipal, Wilson Elementary School, Norman, Oklahoma
Dr. Jenkins on celebration
His own talk for this room, then two passages from the keynote: the room on its feet, and a class best beaten by one.
A narrated walk through All-Time Best walls, class celebrations and why they matter, in his own slides. The room on its feet for a class celebration song, and the celebrations teachers listed afterwards. A class best of 128 becomes 129, and the student who made the difference.
Celebrations, as they happen
Leaves on a hallway tree, a stamp from the principal, silly string for the teacher. Every school finds its own way.
A personal best9
Each time a student has a personal best, they write their name on a leaf and place it on the tree in the hallway.
A class best4
Play college band music and celebrate a class All-Time Best with the Wave.
A school best1
The sign in a school office in Saskatchewan.
No student is invisible
Many of us grew up with awards assemblies that honoured a few students while the rest watched. Participation trophies offer recognition just for taking part. Learning That Lasts offers another way: every student earns celebrations through progress they can see.
“In more than twenty years of teaching this measurement process and visiting hundreds of classrooms, I have seen every student in every classroom earn multiple ATBs [All-Time Bests].” Personal progress earns a personal celebration. Shared progress earns a shared one. Every student belongs in both stories.
Picture every classroom in your district celebrating learning this month.
Because there is always a class total the kids become cheerleaders for each other.
Julie OteroNebraska Department of Education; formerly Superintendent, Centura School District, Cairo, Nebraska