an apple core a day …. instructional program alignment? standardscurriculum instruction assessment
TRANSCRIPT
Why a Core Curriculum?
The core: Sets high expectations for ALL
students. Provides foundation skills for future
learning. Helps to avoid repetition. Identifies gaps. Provides equal access for students
throughout the state.
Why a Core Curriculum?
Action by the State Board of Education in January 1984 established a policy requiring the establishment of specific core curriculum standards.These standards must be completed by ALL K-12 students as a requisite for high school graduation.
The Core Curriculum
Describes the minimum to be taught Is not everything that may be taught Contains content not teaching strategies Is assessable through multiple measures Infuses Life Skills Infuses Character Education principles Signals Integration Is developmentally appropriate
How is the core developed?
All decisions for curriculum development are based on the student and are: age appropriate developmentally appropriate address individual needs accommodate community
characteristics
How is the core developed?
Select Core Steering CommitteeDevelop Intended Learning OutcomesReview ResearchPrepare to Write Core Curriculum
Receive input stakeholders Survey teachers Select a writing team Write first draft
Revise Receive input
Pilot Evaluate Pilot Hold Public Hearings Final Revision
Present to State Board for ApprovalImplement the Core
Revised Core vs Old Core
Revised Old Core Revised Old Core Revised Old CoreStandards 8 11 5 13 3 49Objectives 27 28 11 54 9 118Indicators 70 104 37 34 42 313Standards 8 11 5 13 3 52Objectives 28 30 13 54 9 126Indicators 87 115 43 67 39 372Standards 6 12 5 13 3 52Objectives 20 54 13 54 10 131Indicators 74 80 52 80 41 436
Language Arts Mathematics Content
K
1st
2nd
Revised Core vs Old Core
Revised Old Core Revised Old Core
Standards 6 11 5 13Objectives 18 36 14 54Indicators 66 178 60 92Standards 6 11 5 13Objectives 18 34 14 54Indicators 66 188 60 105Standards 6 12 5 13Objectives 18 36 15 68Indicators 66 2 70 128Standards 6 12 5 13Objectives 18 36 15 68Indicators 66 2 67 116
Language Arts Mathematics
Core Terminology
Standard A broad statement of what students
are expected to know and be able to do
Describes what a student can do after a broad unit of instruction
Describes something that is observable/operational (Students will…)
Core Terminology
Objective A more focused and specific description of
what students should know and be able to do at the completion of instruction
Describes what is taught Describes students in ways that are
observable and operational Serves as the focus for end-of-level and
end-of-course tests Assessable with multiple measures
Core Terminology
Indicator Observable and measurable description
of student actions Indicates that a student has mastered a
particular skill or body of knowledge Involves an active verb Includes specific content, various levels of
thinking skills, abstraction and complexity Serves as an example of how an objective
may be assessed Is assessable with multiple measures
Core ExampleScience Core – 6th Grade
Standard:Students will describe the characteristics and
movement of heat, light, and sound.
Objective:Describe the movement of heat.
Indicator:Compare the movement of heat in various situations.Identify how heat moves from the sun to Earth.Compare and contrast efficient and inefficient uses of heat energy.Experiment with various insulating materials.
Teaching the Core
The core must be purposefully taught. The focus of all instruction must be to ensure that students have enduring understanding of the core.
Curriculum DesignAKA Learning Experiences
Where should a good curriculum design begin? Textbooks? Favorite lessons or activities? Goals? Standards? Assessment of student skills? Tradition? Colleague pressure?
Curriculum Design
What should a good curriculum design do? Help make teaching decisions
How much time should be spent? Which concepts are more important?
Include valid assessment of learning Tests? Performance tasks?
Lead to effective learning activities
Understanding By Design
A curriculum model which affects---Teacher planningTeacher deliveryStudent learningStudent assessment
Understanding By Design
Learner
expectations & standards
Learning opportunities
Assessments
skill
s
dis
posi
tions
know
ledge
Backward Design Process
Stage 1: Identify Desired ResultsStage 2: Determine Acceptable
EvidenceStage 3: Plan Learning Experiences
and Instruction
Understanding“…the capacity to apply facts, concepts and skills in new situations in appropriate ways"
Howard Gardner
Understanding
Without pressing the point too much, we urge teachers to think of students as juries think of the accused: innocent (of understanding) until proven guilty by a preponderance of evidence that is more than circumstantial. Grant Wiggins
Worth beingfamiliar with
Important toknow and do
"Enduring"understanding
Establishing Curricular Priorities
Enduring Understanding Filters
Fulfills state standards
Represents a "big idea" having
enduring value beyond the classroom
Resides at the heart of the discipline
Requires student uncoverage
Engages students
Backward Design Process
Stage 1: Identify Desired ResultsStage 2: Determine Acceptable
EvidenceStage 3: Plan Learning Experiences
and Instruction
Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
Performance tasksQuizzes, tests, promptsUnprompted evidenceSelf-assessment
A significant part of the continuing crisis in public education can be attributed to the difference between what educators say a student can do, as documented with report cards and diplomas, and what students can actually do, as observed at work and in the home.
-Dr. Douglas Reeves
Informal Assessment
Informal checks for Understanding
Observation/Dialogue
Quiz/Test
Academic prompt
Performance task/project
Student Achievement and Test Performance May be Improved by:
Teaching for understanding of core objectivesTeaching for attainment of basic and higher order skillsUsing instructional methods appropriate to curriculum goalMonitoring individual performanceProviding meaningful and timely feedbackMaintaining good class managementMaximizing academic learning timeSetting high expectations for ALL
Worth beingfamiliar with
Important toknow and do
"Enduring"understanding
Assessment Types
Traditional quizzes and tests Paper/pencil Selected response Constructed response
Performance tasks and projects Open-ended Complex Authentic
Think Like an Assessor Not an Activity Designer
Design assessments before you design lessons and activitiesBe clear about what evidence of learning you seek
Multiple Sources
Think "photo album" versus "snapshot“
Sound assessment requires multiple sources of evidence, collected over time.
Backward Design Process
Stage 1: Identify Desired ResultsStage 2: Determine Acceptable
EvidenceStage 3: Plan Learning Experiences
and Instruction
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
Sequence of learning experiences and instructionStudent engagement
Evidence shows that students can succeed with time, focus, multiple opportunities, personalized solutions, feedback, rigor, and CONSISTENTLY high expectations.
Learning Experiences
WHEREW= Help students know where the unit is going.H = Hook the students and hold their interest.E = Equip students, explore the issues, and experience the ideas.
R = Provide opportunities to rethink and revise.E = Allow students to exhibit their
understanding and evaluate their work.
Classroom Ramifications
ALL teachers should understand the expectations of the core curriculum. Staff development opportunities should
be made available for ALL teachers to learn about standards, objectives and recommended teaching practices.
ALL activities inside or outside the regular classroom should be focused on core objectives.
Classroom Ramifications
Teaching strategies should be designed to meet individual learning needs. Adaptations might include: Changing classroom environment Changing teaching style Changing instructional materials Changing level of complexity of content.
Differentiation
How can teachers be certain that all students reach the learning goal or attain the enduring understanding?
Differentiation
We’ve been shooting with water guns– a small stream of water down the middle of the class. We’ve got to figure out how to be oscillating sprinklers—and where to put the soak hoses from time to time.
Administrator, Midland Middle School
Why Differentiate?
Classrooms are becoming more and more inclusive and heterogeneous.Research shows that the teacher makes a big difference in student learning.New state testing laws and NCLB require attention to disaggregated scores.More assessment will highlight the differences.
Principles of Differentiation
Teachers begin where students areLearners differ in important waysStudents are engaged through different modalitiesTeachers Use varied rates of instruction Use varied degrees of complexity Hold all students to high standards
Principles of Differentiation
Use time flexiblyUse a range of instructional strategiesDiagnose and prescribe the best instructionUse powerful curriculumModify instruction to meet learner needsUse a variety of grouping structures
DifferentiationIf the starting points are dramatically different for children, and the finish line is the same, then equity is an empty slogan unless differentiated opportunities, supports, and resources are brought to bear on behalf of students and schools that face a longer or harder race. Lowering standards for some is a route leading to the “soft bigotry of low expectations” that President Bush has spoken about. But ignoring or dismissing the different distances or routes that students and schools must travel to achieve high standards is equally unjust.
--Scott Thompson
Our Most Precious Resource
Children are our most precious resource. In the end, they’re all we have. And if we as a nation cannot help the coming generation, if we cannot prepare ALL children for learning and for life, then just what will bring America together?
Ernest L. Boyer
The Teacher"I've come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.“ Haim Ginott