Overview of SCPS Instructional Initiatives

1. Overview of SCPSInstructional Initiatives A division-wide focus on continuous learning for all

2. Right now it may seem a bit like this…

3. This Morning’s Agenda… • Key components of HESD • SCPS Instructional Initiatives • Rationale • Big Idea Activity Sticky Note Questions

4. Not This Morning’s Agenda… • Creating calendar-based individual lesson plans • Mandatory instructional strategies • Maintaining current overall SOL pass rates

5. Key Components We Have! • Great Administrators • Great Teachers

6. Why? What research says high performing school divisions have • Clear and shared focus • High standards and expectations for all students • Effective leadership • High levels of communication and collaboration • Alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment with standards • Frequent monitoring of teaching and learning • Focused results-based PD • Supportive learning environment • High levels of parent involvement • Multi-tiered system of supports for students

7. Instructional Initiatives • Division Assessment System • BIG Ideas • Essential Understandings / Standards • Common Pre/Post Assessments • Common Benchmark Assessments • Research Based Interventions • Multi-Tiered System of Supports RtI

8. Instructional Initiatives Timeline ID BI Imp New TE Review Process 4/30/12 7/1/12 6/11/13 ' 12 Apr 2012 Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb 2013 Apr Jun ' 13 Build CBMA Build / Edit CPG Build / Edit CPre/Post 6/27/12 8/27/12 6/26/13 Summit meetings will be held to review BMA data – date/time TBD Division-wide assessment system fully implemented beginning 2013-2014 Made with Office Timeline 2010 www.officetimeline.com

9. Benefits of Collaborative Instructional Teams (ILT, PLC, etc.) • Teachers • Reduced isolation • Increased commitment to mission • Shared responsibility for student success • Greater job satisfaction and higher morale • Lower rates of absenteeism • Students • Higher levels of learning Collaboration – An interactive process that enables individuals with diverse expertise to work together as equals and share in the decisions toward mutually defined goals. “None of us are as smart as ALL of us.”

10. Evidence

11. Assessment Definitions • Multiple Measures- Impact on student learning must be assessed in multiple ways over time to reliably and accurately measure teacher influence on student learning. • Common – A common assessment is one that teachers in similar classrooms all administer in a similar way. • Benchmark – Benchmark assessments are common assessments given periodically throughout the school year, at specified times during a curriculum sequence.  The assessments evaluate students’ knowledge and skills relative to an explicit set of longer-term learning goals. The design and choice of benchmark assessments is driven by the purpose, intended users, and uses of the instruments.  Benchmark assessment can inform policy, instructional planning, and decision-making at the classroom, school, and district levels.

12. Assessment Definitions • Cumulative – A cumulative assessment includes information from content and skills provided throughout the year. It is usually utilized as an assessment of achievement, measuring how much of the content taught during the year the student has mastered. • Diagnostic – A diagnostic assessment uses standardized protocols to measure in-depth essential skills. • Formative – A common misunderstanding is that a test is either summative or formative; in actuality, these terms describe what you do with the results, and a test may be used for both summative and formative purposes. Formative "tests" give teachers and students feedback at regular intervals throughout the course of instruction so they can then act upon this feedback to improve learning. This feedback may come from a formal assessment, or it may simply be on-the-spot feedback from a response board, clickers, etc. Formative assessments are not necessarily used for grading purposes.

13. Assessment Definitions • Interim – Interim assessments are those administered at regular intervals. Remember that terms may cross over: e.g., an interim assessment may also be a common assessment; it can be used for formative or summative purposes, etc. • Pre/Post – Pre/Post assessments measure the progress made by a student in mastering content and skills within a given time interval. • Summative – A test can be both summative and formative. Summative testing involves using test results to evaluate the degree to which students have mastered contents/standards at a particular point in time. Summative assessment is a form of evaluation used to measure the effectiveness of an instructional program or intervention curriculum, practices, progress toward district goals, etc.

14. Making Connections • Pre/Post – evidence of mastery over time • BMA – evidence for learning • Common Pacing Guides – Guaranteed and viable curriculum • New Teacher Evaluation – evidence of learning • Goal-Setting Documentation – evidence • Performance-driven, data-informed • AIMSweb, Running Records, MCAT, Etc.

15. Making Connections cont. • BI support development of BMA • BMA are designed to assess learning not schedules – for example: SKMS / NFMS – BMA1 BMA2 1 7 2 8 3 9 4 10 5 11 6 12 PMMS – BMA1 BMA2 BMA3 1 5 9 2 6 10 3 7 11 4 8 12

16. What are Big Ideas… • Overarching concepts from which information can be framed • Transferable concepts from which universal ideas and content areas can be linked • Promote in-depth understanding versus memorization of isolated facts • Fewin number

17. More on Big Ideas… • Emphasize common characteristics of unifying concept or theme versus specifics of one topic • Example: features of revolutions in general versus specific facts about one in particular • Other examples: Biome, Government, Fiction, Integer, Conflict, Systems, Interdependence

18. Identifying Big Ideas • Can you apply the Big Idea to more than one instance or area? • Can you look at other grade levels and find similar or recurring themes around which to organize learning? • Will this concept stand “the test of time?” • Will students remember this concept long after they leave your classroom?

19. 7-minute Brainstorming • Select a note taker • 3minute personal quiet write • 15 second round-robin brainstorm • Pass if necessary • No discussion of statement • Note taker writes down as stated • Statement 10 words or less • Continue around until everyone passes • Can statements be grouped into broader categories? If yes, do so. • Now rank order by importance • When you get here let me know

20. 7-minute Brainstorming cont. • Gallery walk by subject area • Discuss repetitive themes or concepts or the lack their of • Are there vertical linkages that could make curriculum stronger? • Is vertical alignment coherent and able to be built upon?