catherine gewertz assistant editor, education week
TRANSCRIPT
Catherine Gewertzassistant editor, Education Week
Bringing Common Standards Into the Classroom
Expert Presenters:
Mark Baumgartner, director of professional issues, Cleveland Teachers Union
Lynn Dougherty-Underwood, director of K-12 literacy, Hillsborough County Public Schools (Fla.)
An on-demand archive of this webinar will be available at
www.edweek.org/go/webinar in less than 24 hrs.
The Cleveland Teachers Union and Cleveland
Metropolitan School District Common Core State
Standards Project
Webinar
August 30, 2011
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: awareness, training, and 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
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.
Webinar 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 distict’s curriculum development strategies and about your district’s professional development models.
Characteristics of the ELA Standards document
Topics
Strand
Standard Statement
Characteristics of the ELA Standards document
StrandsStrands
TopicsTopics
Standard Statements
by Grade Level
Standard Statements
by Grade Level
Standard Statements
by Grade Level
Standard Statements
by Grade Level
Standard Statements
by Grade Band
Standard Statements
by Grade Band
Characteristics of the Mathematics Standards document
K-8 StandardsDomain (Topic)
Standard
ClusterAlgebra Symbol
Our first year (2010-11): Training
• Implemented 2 six hour Common Core “unpacking” professional development workshops for all district K-2 teachers
• Led by CTU bargaining unit members– PEAC teachers developed the content for the professional
development sessions– Instructional coaches taught/facilitated the professional development
sessions
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 Champion– Develop and support an expert in each building– Champions receive an additional four district-level training
opportunities and a stipend based upon our PEAC Teacher model
• 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 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- 8 in 2013-14– 9-12 in 2014-15
• 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 + champion)– Each subsequent summer: revise/refine scope and sequence
What lessons has CMSD 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 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
• 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 “un-American” 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 district in the United States
of America.”
Hillsborough County Public Schools
EdWeek Presentation
August 30, 2011
Snapshot of Hillsborough County, Florida
• Hillsborough County Public Schools is the 8th largest school district in the nation 194,000 students 144 elementary, 46 middle schools, 27 high schools, and 2 K-8
schools• Hillsborough County is:
Geographically diverse with large farming areas, numerous suburbs and a dense, urban core
Economically diverse with 57.82% of students classified as economically disadvantaged
Linguistically diverse with 25% of families speaking a language other than English
Beginning with the End in Mind
MISSION STATEMENT:
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.
“© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.”
Surveying the District Instructional Capacity
The Aspen Institute met with multiple HCPS district stakeholders to analyze the district’s instructional capacity and to discuss key “levers” in the Common Core State Standards’ implementation.
• Evidence of current instructional practice was reviewed• Recommendations for future actions were agreed upon to
include :conveying the district’s CCSS message, providing an introduction and orientation to the CCSS, deepening the implementation work, and development of specific instructional programs that support
the expectations stated in the CCSS.
Conveying the Common Message
STAKEHOLDER FOCUS MESSAGE TIMELINE
District Administrative Staff
Introduction to CCSS
March 2011
School Board Members
Introduction to CCSS
April 2011
District Curriculum and Instructional Staff
Overview of CCSS June 2011
Mathematics Lead Teachers
Overview of CCSS Train-the Trainer Session
June 2011
ELA Lead Teachers and Reading Coaches
Overview of the CCSS Train-the Trainer Session
July 2011
Conveying the Common Message
STAKEHOLDER FOCUS MESSAGE TIMELINE
Mathematics and ELA/Reading Teachers
Overview of the CCSS
August 2011
Site Administrators Introduction to CCSS
August 2011
Parent and Community Stakeholders
Introduction to CCSS
September 2011
Site Administrators Overview of CCSS September – October 2011
District and Site Administrators
Introduction to National Assessments
January 2012
Deepening the Implementation
STAKEHOLDER FOCUS DEVELOPMENT
TIMELINE
•K-12 ELA and Mathematics Teachers •6-12 Content Literacy Teachers
Introduction to Rigorous Curriculum Design
September 2011 – June 2012
•K-12 ELA and Mathematics Teachers •6-12 Content Literacy Teachers
Deepening the Implementation: Advanced Rigorous Curriculum Design
January 2012-June 2012
District ELA and Reading Supervisors and Resource Teachers
Development of the Understanding the Instructional Impact of Text Complexity Workshop
September –December 2011
Deepening the Implementation
STAKEHOLDER FOCUS DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
ELA and Reading Teachers
Understanding the Instructional Impact of Text Complexity
January –August 2012
District ELA Supervisors, Reading Supervisors and Resource Teachers
Alignment of K-2 Instruction Based on the Florida DOE K-2 CCSS Implementation Guidelines
July –December 2011
Deepening the Implementation
STAKEHOLDER FOCUS DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
Selected Elementary, Middle, and High School Pilot Sites
Implementation of Principal and Site-based Leadership Team planning model, Professional Learning Community planning model, Assessment/Evaluation based on review of student work
November 2011- June 2012
All Remaining Elementary, Middle, and High School Sites
Implementation of Principal and Site-based Leadership Team planning model, Professional Learning Community planning model, Assessment/Evaluation based on review of student work
June 2012- June 2013
INTEGRATION OF STANDARDSAND INSTRUCTION
Standards do not tell teachers how to teach, but they do help teachers figure out the knowledge and skills their students should have so that teachers can build the best lessons and environments for their classrooms.
“© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.”
Literacy Design Collaborative
•Literacy Design Collaborative provides a framework to integrate literacy into content area instruction through a gradual release of instruction process.
•Instruction is grounded in the Common Core States Standards so that students “own” the college/career ready skills necessary for life-long success.
WHAT IS IT?
Literacy Design Collaborative
Hillsborough County’s LDC Initiative
•Our goal is to ensure the students’ success in their academic coursework and on college/career readiness tasks.
Instructional focus on critical reading/thinking, civil discourse, and argumentative writing
Language Arts anchored in SpringBoard curriculum, Social Studies content area “plug and play” design, Advanced Reading in a full course implementation
District supported module development
Mathematics Design Collaborative
•Mathematics Design Collaborative uses an “assessment for learning” approach that provides teachers with better insight into student-learning needs and allows them to quickly adjust their teaching strategies and emphasis.
•Instruction is grounded in the CCCSS so that students “own” the college/career ready skills necessary for life-long success.
WHAT IS IT?
Literacy Design Collaborative
Hillsborough County’s MDC Initiative
•The goal is to ensure the students are “moved to a level of confident, independent, rigorous mathematical practice required by the Common Core State Standards.”
Formative assessment lessons require students to actively work through challenging math that requires strong use of good math practices
Elementary, middle, and secondary mathematics MDC modules are anchored in current state mathematics standards and/or in SpringBoard curriculum.Susan Weston, Kentucky educational consultant for the Prichard Committee
How does this fit in HCPS right now?
Hillsborough County Public School’s Empowering Effective Teachers Evaluation rubric data from the 2010-2011 school year shows that as a district, the highest percentage of “developing” ratings is in Domain 3.
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation Domain 2: The Classroom Environment Domain 3: Instruction
Communicating with StudentsUsing Questioning and Discussion TechniquesEngaging Students in LearningUsing Assessment in InstructionDemonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
Why are CCSS important?
Teachers are asking for support to improve their ratings in Domain 3. The CCSS provide the solution to the question,
“What should we do to improve in Domain 3: Instruction?”
We envision phasing in CCSS as a solution for teachers that aligns with our key goal of
improving student achievement
CCSS Assessment
Hillsborough County is preparing for national assessments by:•Participating in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) public comment review of the Model Content Frameworks for ELA/Literacy and Mathematics•Aligning and revising current curriculum to the CCSS•Analysis of curriculum materials to determine matches to CCSS and need for further instructional support•Aligning of district-developed assessments to CCSS •Participating in piloting of CCSS assessment items
Implementation Timelines
National and State Implementation Timeline
Implementation Timelines
Hillsborough Mathematics Implementation Timeline
43
Hillsborough ELA and Content Literacy Implementation Timeline
HCPS Contact Information
Wynne Tye, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction
Lynn Dougherty-Underwood, Director of Literacy [email protected]
Bringing Common Standards Into the Classroom
Expert Presenters:
Mark Baumgartner, director of professional issues, Cleveland Teachers Union
Lynn Dougherty-Underwood, director of K-12 literacy, Hillsborough County Public Schools (Fla.)
Website for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) -- http://www.parcconline.org/ Website for the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) -- http://www.k12.wa.us/SMARTER/default.aspx Website for the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top Assessment program, which is what funded the assessment work -- http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/resources.html EdWeek’s Curriculum Matters blog -- http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/ A couple of recent stories describing the work of the two assessment consortia -- http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/10/01frameworks.h31.html and http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/11/21consortia.h30.html Participants are encouraged to track developments in assessment design on the websites of the two consortia, and on www.edweek.org, by indexing for “assessment” The official website of the Common Core State Standards -- http://www.corestandards.org/
An on-demand archive of this webinar will be available at
www.edweek.org/go/webinar in less than 24 hrs.