“the primary goal of the cleveland metropolitan school district is to become a premier school...

“The Primary Goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is to become a premier school

district in the United States of America.”

The Cleveland Teachers Union

and

Cleveland Metropolitan School District

Common Core

State Standards Project

Our Implementation Plan

•Ohio’s theory – Build an infrastructure over a three year period (2011-2013) and implement the Common Core in all grades statewide in 2013-14

•CMSD’s reality – Teacher awareness is created by really using the new Common Core standards in the classroom

•CMSD’s bet – Teaching to higher standards than what our students are tested on will not negatively impact our test results

•CMSD’s safety net – Implementing K-2 first builds a foundation and provides a “no-fault” year to refine our strategy



Our first year (2010-11)

•Implemented three approaches: 1. Awareness, 2. Training, and 3. Curriculum/Assessment Writing

•Presented four Common Core Standards awareness symposia

•Implemented 2 six hour Common Core “unpacking” professional development workshops for all district K-2 teachers

•Re-wrote our Scope and Sequence standards documents to incorporate the K-2 Common Core standards



Our first year (2010-11): Awareness

Presented four Common Core Standards symposia

Two symposia goals:

•Create broad stakeholder awareness of the new Common Core Standards (teachers, principals, district administrators, etc.) and their relationship to Ohio’s current standards

•Gather feedback about district, school, and classroom readiness to guide our future planning and implementation strategies



Characteristics of the ELA Standards document

“The Primary Goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is to become a premier school district in the United States of America.”

Topics

Strand

Standard Statement

Characteristics of the ELA Standards document


Strands

Topics

Standard Statements by Grade Level

Standard Statements by Grade Level

Standard Statements by Grade Band

Characteristics of the Mathematics Standards document

K-8 StandardsDomain (Topic)

Standard

ClusterAlgebra Symbol

Symposium Participant’s Task

•We want to collect information from you to find out how CMSD is ready and where CMSD is not ready for the implementation of these new standards

•We want to collect information about the district, about our schools, and about your classrooms.

•We want to think about CMSD’s curriculum development strategies, about the district’s professional development models, about available instructional materials and resources, and about the district’s information and data systems.

Conference Participant’s Task

•Take a minute to think about how ready and not ready your own districts are for the implementation of these new standards

•Think about how to collect information about your district, about your schools, and about your classrooms.

•Take a minute to think about your district’s curriculum development strategies and about your district’s professional development models.

“The Primary Goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is to become a premier school district

in the United States of America.”

Our first year (2010-11): Training

Implemented 2 six hour Common Core “unpacking” professional development workshops for all district K-2 teachers

Led by our PEAC Teachers/CTU bargaining unit members

•PEAC teachers developed the content for the professional development sessions in coordination with district curriculum team

•PEAC teachers taught/facilitated the professional development sessions held at a school site-replicated K-2 classroom space.



Our first year (2010-11): Training

“Unpacking” focused on:

•Deconstructing standards to understand what is expected of a student

•Examining lots of different available instructional materials to begin to identify possible ways that a standard might be taught

•Crafting formative assessments to begin to identify how teachers might assess whether students have learned a standard

•Continuing to create awareness and gather feedback about our implementation plan



Our first year (2010-11): Curriculum Writing

Re-wrote our Scope and Sequence standards documents to incorporate the K-2 Common Core standards

Wrote “Version 1.0” Scope and Sequence standards for grades K-2 in ELA and math and incorporated new Ohio standards in science and social studies


School and Classroom Support

Common Core Advocate•Develop and support an expert in each building

•Advocates receive an additional four district-level training opportunities and a stipend based upon our PEAC Teacher model•Disseminate information to staff at building level

2011-12 Professional Development Plan•K-2 teachers will each receive four 6-hour professional developments spaced throughout the year to deepen understanding of the Common Core as more is learned and to support implementation of Version 1.0 Scope and Sequence

•Professional Development will be delivered in learning cohorts of 50-60, with sessions broken into 3 groups of 20 teachers each

Moving Forward

Implement one grade-band per year

•K- 2 in 2011-12

•3- 5 in 2012-13

•6- 12 in 2013-14

Refine and repeat the implementation cycle for each grade band

•Spring: unpack the standards activities (two 6-hour trainings)

•Summer: initial scope and sequence draft (one 6-hour session)

•Fall: implementation support (four 6-hour sessions + advocate)

•Each subsequent summer: revise/refine scope and sequence

What lessons has CMSD/CTU learned so far?



•Many people believe that the Common Core can be horizontally aligned with state standards but are not paying enough attention to vertical alignment about the depth of learning expected of students

•Teachers and leaders are embracing the Common Core standards but will require very high levels of support in order to transform teaching

•The assessments will enlighten the standards; The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium and PARCC Consortium must begin to share more publicly how the standards might be effectively assessed

What tools or partners has CMSD/CTU used?



•CMSD is counting on institutes like The Aspen Institute, The Gates Foundation, the Council of the Great City Schools, the AFT and other conveners to provide access to experts (David Coleman, etc.)

•CMSD has gained tremendously through informal conversations and formal collaborations with other large urban districts (which was more difficult to do in a state-centric standards environment)

•CMSD has carefully monitored Ohio Department of Education resources which may become very helpful in the future

Some final thoughts from CMSD/CTU



•There are a lot of “moving parts” to consider so that teachers, principals, central office staff, parents and community are ready for this fundamental shift

•Professional staff knowledge may be an issue; we cannot assume teachers themselves are very well prepared in these common core skills, dispositions, and habits of mind

•District and union collaboration has been a key piece of CMSD’s early successes

•The standards are distinctly “international” and we need to prepare our public for a new way of schooling

“the primary goal of the cleveland metropolitan school district is to become a premier school...

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