Aligning our Work for

Student Success

Deconstructing the Standards

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Jumpstarting our thinking…

How do you know what to teach and how to teach it? Does everyone at your table use the same process?Does everyone in your grade level (no matter where they teach) use the same process?Why does this matter?

The Goldilocks Problem

Reviewing what we know

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Some Standards Are Too Big

“The student will analyze the regional development of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean, in terms of physical, economic, and cultural characteristics and historical evolution from 1000 A.D. to the present.”

What exactly does the standard expect us to teach?

What should be assessed?

Reviewing what we know

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Some Standards Are Too Small

“Compare the early civilizations on the Indus River Valley in Pakistan with the Huang-He of China.”

Specific and easily measurable, but what is the big idea of the discipline?

Will the students end up learning “factlets” that are a matter of memorization?

Reviewing what we know

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Reviewing what we know

There’s just too much to do!

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The BlameGame

The college professor who said“Such wrong in the student is a shame,Lack of preparation in high school is to blame.”

Said the high school teacher,“Good heavens, that boy is a fool.The fault, of course, is with the middle school.”

The middle school teacher said,“From such stupidity may I be spared, They send him to me so unprepared.”

The elementary teacher said,“The kindergartners are block-heads all.They call it preparation – why, it’s worse than none at all.”

The mother said, “Poor helpless child, he’s not to blameFor you see, his father’s folks are all the same.”

Said the father at the end of the line… “I doubt the rascal’s even mine.”7

If we can’t “do it all,”

how do we work smarter,

not harder?

Reviewing what we know

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We could use a process to:

Reviewing what we know

•prioritize the standards (Essential, Important, Nice to Know)•create shared meaning around the standards

E I N

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Remember: It’s a Process!

IntegrationContinuous ImprovementAlignment

Stu

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pro

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“Any student who leaves school still needing their teacher to tell them that they’ve done well has not yet learned to hit the target. They’ve not yet learned to recognize good thinking.”

~~Rick Stiggins

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“Marzano did a meta-analysis of in-school factors that affect student achievement. Coming in at the top – first place – is what gets taught. That is, if teachers can lay out a sound,viable set of standards and can then guarantee that these standards actuallyget taught, we can raise levels of achievement immensely.”

~~Schmoker, 2006

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Essential Standards - AKA

“Essential Learnings”“Power Standards”“Focus Standards”

WHATEVER we

call them!!

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Learning StandardRequired Knowledge and Skill

•Endurance•Leverage

•Needed for next grade

•Tested

ESSENTIAL

IMPORTANT

NICE to KNOW

From the work of Douglas B. Reeves 15

Essential Standards Identification Criteria

1. Endurance – Will this standard or indicator provide students with knowledge and skills that will be of value beyond a single test date?

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Essential Standards Identification Criteria

2. Leverage – Will this standard or indicator provide knowledge and skills that will be of value in multiple disciplines?

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Essential Standards Identification Criteria

3. Readiness for the next level of learning – Will this standard or indicator provide knowledge and skills that is required for the next level of learning?

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Essential StandardsAll standards (and indicators) are

NOT equal in importance!Narrow the standards and indicators

by distinguishing the “essentials” from the “nice to know”

Teach the “nice to know” in the context of the essentials!

Prioritization, not elimination!

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Don’t

forget Essential StandardsIdentifying Power Standards

does not relieve teachers of the responsibility for teaching all standards and indicators.

It must be decided which standards are critical for student success, and which other ones can be given less emphasis. 20

Work with your team to analyze your list of NC learning standards.•Begin by individually ranking the items essential, important, and nice to know.•Share and compare your lists.•How could you use this process with other teachers at your grade level?

Talking it over…

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Making DecisionsBeginning with the end in mind

First things firstDegree of TIME spent on each essential (find slide)

A focus on higher order thinking skills will pay off down the road

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“Deconstructing” or “unpacking” the standards is the process of taking a broad and/or unclear standard, goal, or benchmark and breaking it into smaller, more explicit learning targets that can be incorporated into classroom teaching.

Common Ground

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According to Stiggins, et al in Classroom Assessment for Learning, deconstructed standards: Provide a clear vision of the intended learning

and points the way for assessment Link each year’s learning targets to the previous

and following year’s targets, providing continuity among grade levels

Take into account the “180-day rule” Answer “How will I explain this to students?” and “Will my colleagues interpret this the same way I

do?”

What are you doing well? What are your chief opportunities for improvement?

Reviewing research

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Collaborating to create shared meaning helps us…Identify common big ideas, key concepts,

knowledge and skills that describe what all students in a given grade/course will know, understand, and be able to do.

Prune extraneous sub-topics, technical vocabulary and wasteful repetition.

Identify common misconceptions and prior knowledge.

Develop common assessments that correlate to the conceptual understanding and related knowledge and skills.

Common Ground

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Think about the value of clear, consistent learning targets across the district…

What’s one benefit for students?

What’s one benefit for teachers?

Talking it Over

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Students can hit any target that they can see and that holds still for them.

~~ Rick Stiggins

Reviewing research

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Without Clear Targets We Can’t…

Know if our assessments adequately sample what we taught.

Correctly identify what students know and don’t know and determine their level of achievement.

Plan next steps in instruction.Give detailed, descriptive feedback to

students.Have students self-assess or set goals

likely to help them learn more.Track student learning by target.

Reviewing research

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The power of the right focus

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Unpacking or Deconstructing Standards Determine standard type(s)

Knowledge Reasoning Performance skill Product

Identify its underpinning learning targets Create student-friendly “I Can”

statements

Getting Started: The Process

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Knowledge TargetsWhat students need to know, be able to do and/or be able to locate (know outright vs. know via reference)Often stated in verbs: knows, lists, names, identifies, and recalls

Key Terminology

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Reasoning TargetsThinking proficiencies – using knowledge to solve a problem, make a decision, plan, etc.Application of knowledgeMake up the majority of learning targetsRepresent mental processes such as predicts, infers, classifies, hypothesizes, compares, concludes, summarizes, analyzes, evaluates, and generalizes.

Key Terminology

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Performance Skill TargetsMust be demonstrated and observed – heard or seen – to be assessedExamples include oral fluency in reading, playing a musical instrument, demonstrating movement skill in dance, serving a volleyball

Key Terminology

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Product TargetsCall for students to create a productThe product isn't a medium to show the learning; the product IS the learning.Found more often in the arts than in core subject areasExamples include notating music, using desktop publishing software to create a variety of publications, creating a scatterplot to display data, creating a personal wellness plan.

Key Terminology

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Standard (target) Type

Underpinning Learning Targets

Knowledge

Reasoning Reasoning + K

Performance Skill

Skill + R + K

Product Product + S + R + K

Knowledge

Helpful tools

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Linking to Assessment

Standard/Benchmark:

Type: Knowledge Reasoning Performance Skill Product

Learning Targets

What are the knowledge, reasoning, skill or product targets underpinning the standard or benchmark?

Knowledge

Targets

Reasoning

Targets

Performance Skill Targets

Product

Targets

DECONSTRUCTING STANDARDS

Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J. A., Chappius, J., & Chappuis, S. (2004). Classroom assessment FOR student learning: Doing it right – using it well. Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute.

Putting it all together

Knowing it, understanding it, and knowing how to find it

Ability to use knowledge and understanding to figure things out and to solve problems

Demonstration of skill

Product required by standard (not an activity used to generate learning)

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Creating Targets For: “Demonstrate ability to drive a car with skill”

What knowledge will students need to demonstrate the intended learning?

What patterns of reasoning will they need to master?

What performance skills are required if any?What product development capabilities must

they acquire, if any?

Guided Practice

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Driving a Car With Skill

Knowledge

Reasoning

Performance Skills

Products

Guided Practice

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Learning Targets

What are the knowledge, reasoning, skill or product targets underpinning the standard or benchmark?

Knowledge

Targets

Reasoning

Targets

Performance Skill Targets

Product

Targets

DECONSTRUCTING STANDARDS

Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J. A., Chappius, J., & Chappuis, S. (2004). Classroom assessment FOR student learning: Doing it right – using it well. Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute.

Guided practice

Standard/Benchmark: Demonstrating driving a car with skill

Type: Knowledge Reasoning Performance Skill Product

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Making them meaningful“All too frequently, the

language of standards… is a professional one, designed to allow one educator to speak to another. It is much more important that these standards come alive for our students.”

~Douglas B. Reeves

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Create student-friendly “I Can” statements

I can explain the rules of the road – speed limits, stopping, right-of-way, when to signal.

I can describe what different parts of the car do (steering wheel, lights, brakes, gas pedal, gauges).

I can evaluate common road situations and determine the appropriate action to take.

I can steer a car in the direction I want.I can signal appropriately.I can keep the car in the appropriate lane.I can parallel park without hitting anything.

Next Steps

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1st grade math: SCOS objective 1.04:Create, model, and solve problems that use addition, subtraction, and fair shares (between two or three).

Guided practice

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Guided practice

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Algebra I: SCOS objective 2.02: Use the parallelism or perpendicularity of lines and segments to solve problems.

Guided practice

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Guided practice

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Putting it all together…

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Lessons Learned!

Is thisstudentfriendly?

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Use the template to begin deconstructing your North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Remember…

Determine standard type: knowledge, reasoning, skill, or product

Identify its underpinning learning targets

Be sure to include key vocabulary

Creating Targets that deconstruct

the standards

Team Practice

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“Aha's” from today

Next Steps

Sharing what we’ve learned…

Reflecting on the day…

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