Essential Standards Shay Sievert Instructional Coach Pittsburg Community

Essential Standards Shay Sievert Instructional Coach Pittsburg Community Middle School

Foundation of Essential Standards PLC Question #1: What is it we expect our students to learn?

Foundation of Essential Standards Essential standards are a carefully selected subset of the total list of the grade specific and course-specific standards within each content area that students must know and be able to do by the end of each school year in order to be prepared to enter the next grade level or course. (Ainsworth, Rigorous Curriculum Design, 2010).

Foundation of Essential Standards that you are guaranteeing ALL students will know and be able to do at the end of the year.

Foundation of Essential Standards PLC Question #2: How will we know when they have learned it?

Foundation of Essential Standards These are the standards we will write our common formative assessments around. v v v Unit/Weekly tests/quizzes Pre-Post tests Rubrics/checklists Entrance/exit slips Item analysis District Assessments

Foundation of Essential Standards PLC Question #3: How will we respond when some students do not learn?

Foundation of Essential Standards We will provide “time and support” for students who have not mastered the standards. v v v v Differentiated instruction Small group instruction/flexible grouping Specific students data analysis Manipulatives Guided reading Immediate student feedback Additional time on assignments Teacher shared strategies

Foundation of Essential Standards PLC Question #4: How will we respond when some students already know it?

Foundation of Essential Standards We will provide extension for those who already have it! v Independent projects v Differentiation with in the classroom resource v Peer tutoring v Group leaders v Reading enrichment

Foundation of Essential Standards Marzano suggests that a guaranteed and viable curriculum based on a clear list of essential outcomes is the number one opportunity to raise the level of student achievement. (Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003)

Foundation of Essential Standards This is our opportunity to assure we are teaching a viable curriculum by identifying essential standards as we prepare for Standards Based Grading. Equal opportunity to assure we have each learned the content and skills that are determined as essential. This will provide our departments: v v Clear guidance about content to be addressed in specific courses and at specific grade levels (grade level and vertical alignment). Unconditional delivery of this curricula by individual teachers. (Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003)

Foundation of Essential Standards v v v Identifying and prioritizing the standards will allow us the time needed to adequately teach, assess, reteach and reassess. The standards we identify are critical for student success. Essential standards are those standards that, once mastered, give a student the ability to use reasoning and thinking skills to learn and understand other curriculum objectives as they move through school.

Foundation of Essential Standards Prioritize…not eliminate!

Foundation of Essential Standards v The consensus among educators nationwide is that in-depth instruction of “essential” concepts and skills is more effective than superficially “covering every concept of the textbook. v We are faced daily with the almost insurmountable task of trying to teach all the standards and indicators while at the same time meeting the extraordinary range of student learning needs.

Foundation of Essential Standards Marzano’s Standards Analysis of a Typical K-12 School System v v v 3, 500 benchmarks 13, 000 hours of class time available 9, 000 hours of instruction available 15, 500 hours of instruction needed to cover the 3, 500 benchmarks We need a K-22 school experience When we try to cram 22 years of curriculum into a K-12 time frame…everyone loses. Students develop into memorizers instead of into thinkers. (Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003)

Foundation of Essential Standards v Less is more. v Our education system has practiced more of an “inch deep and a mile wide. v It would benefit the needs of all of our students if we were to flip that around adopt an “inch wide and a mile deep” approach to instruction. (Ainsworth; Power Standards)

Foundation of Essential Standards v If instruction each year is reduced to racing students through an “inch-deep” coverage of standards, then this is one of the main reasons why students often do not remember what they learned the year before. v This results in time-consuming reviews and reteaching of concepts and skills that students should have learned in prior grades.

Foundation of Essential Standards v The cumulative effect of this cycle being repeated over several years begs the question, “Unless we change the way we teach the standards, how can we ever expect to see different results? ” v By emphasizing depth over breadth, we can do much to help students retain what they have been taught.

Choosing the “Essential” “What knowledge and skills must I impart to my students this year so that they will enter next year’s class with confidence and a readiness for success? ” -Ainsworth “Power Standards”

Choosing the “Essential” Power 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? For example, proficiency in reading will endure throughout a student’s academic career and professional life. (School)

Choosing the “Essential” Power Standards Identification Criteria 2. Leverage—Will this provide knowledge and skills that will be of value in multiple disciplines? For example, proficiency in creating graphs, tables, and charts and the ability to draw accurate inferences from them will help students in math, science, social studies and language arts. The ability to write an analytical and persuasive essay will similarly help students in every academic discipline. (Life)

Choosing the “Essential” Power Standards Identification Criteria 3. Readiness for the next level of learning—will this provide students with essential knowledge and skills that are necessary for success in the next grade or the next level of instruction? (State Testing)

Getting Started We will use the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. Common Core Standards Flip Books Kansas 15 ELA/Math-Kansas Released Indicators

Getting Started 1. 2. Questions to ask ourselves before we meet to go through this process: What essential understandings and skills do our students need? Which standards and/or indicators can be clustered or incorporated into others?

Getting Started 1. 2. 3. 4. Next Steps Begin reading through your standards and answering the questions that we have looked at today. You will have a sub for the day and work in here on developing the essential standards. We will use a grade level process and a vertical alignment process. Following that day, we may use our teach alike time and department meetings to complete this process. Essential standards must be complete by May 1.

Getting Started 1. What questions do you have? 2. Possible dates? 3. Before testing?