The Opportunity Myth What Students Can Show Us

The Opportunity Myth What Students Can Show Us About How School Is Letting Them Down – And How to Fix It Summer 2018 © TNTP 2017

What Do Grade-Appropriate Assignments Look Like? /2

TNTP’s Student Experience Toolkit has assignment review tools for all four core content areas. /3

To determine whether your students have access to grade-appropriate ELA assignments, you can use TNTP’s ELA assignment review protocol. Take a few minutes to read annotate the ELA student work review tool. /4

To rate the Content section, you must determine the purpose of the assignment, analyze text quality and assess the depth of the task’s alignment to the grade-level standards. /5

Why focus on ensuring that students read and engage with complex, highquality texts? According to an ACT study, what students can read - in terms of complexity - is the greatest predictor of success in college. Yet. there is currently a huge gap between the complexity of high school and college texts. In fact, less than 50% of high school graduates can read sufficiently complex texts. We saw many instances where students never saw an appropriately complex texts in three weeks’ worth of assignments in The Opportunity Myth. “Using the ELA Publishers’ Criteria to Better Understand the Standards” www. achievethecore. org - Leadership Tools/Professional Development PAGE 6 /6

There is a huge gap between the complexity of high school and college and workforce texts. Interquartile Ranges Shown (25% - 75%) 1600 Text Lexile Measure (L) 1400 1200 1000 800 600 High School Literature College Literature Source of National Test Data: Meta. Metrics College High Textbooks School Textbooks Military Personal Entry-Level SAT 1, Use Occupations ACT, AP* /7

Why do we prioritize the quality and complexity of texts so highly? Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Textual Element Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Degree of Text Complexity Reading Between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals About College Readiness in Reading. pg 15. /8

But how do I know if a text is high-quality and grade-appropriate? QUANTITATIVE COMPLEXITY • What is the Lexile level of the text? • Is the Lexile level appropriate for the grade level? QUALITATIVE COMPLEXITY • Is the text appropriately qualitatively complex for the grade? WORTHINESS OF STUDENTS’ TIME & ATTENTION • Does the text exhibit exceptional craft and thought, provide useful information, and or contain rich illustrations (if illustrations are included)? • Does the text build content and/or cultural knowledge? • Is the text worth reading closely and re-reading? /9

How do you check a book quantitative complexity? Find a known book’s Lexile level: https: //fab. lexile. com/ PAGE 10 / 10

How do you check a book quantitative complexity? Analyze unknown text with the Free Lexile Analyzer: https: //la-tools. lexile. com/free-analyze/ PAGE 11 / 11

Is the text(s) quantitatively complex? Appendix A of the CCSS provides target grade level Lexile bands. Quantitative metrics are: • • Excellent at situating informational texts Good at offering a starting point for placing narrative fiction Unable to rate drama and poetry Not helpful for K-1 texts / 12

We also know that quantitative measures alone are insufficient to measure the complexity of a text. Grapes of Wrath Lexile Score: 680 L Grade Band Placement: 2 -3 No one measure is sufficient to determine complexity, and the novel on this screen is a very clear case in point. Of course, when you consider Steinbeck’s use of simple language and dialogue as a stylistic choice, it makes sense that the text is very readable – but I think we can all agree that second and third graders are not yet prepared to take on the Joads! / 13

Is the text(s) qualitatively complex? Qualitative measures allow teachers to consider elements of complexity that quantitative measures alone cannot address. Qualitative Measures Include: ü Text Structures ü Language Features ü Meaning/Purpose ü Knowledge Demands Characteristics of Complex Text o o o Subtle and/or frequent transitions; Multiple or subtle themes & purposes; Density of information; Unfamiliar settings, topics, or events; Lack of repetition or similarity in words o o o Complex sentences; Uncommon vocabulary; Doesn’t review or pull things together for the reader; Longer paragraphs; Structure which is less narrative and/or mixes structures / 14

Is the text(s) worthy of student time and attention? We have limited instructional minutes with kids and therefore we don’t have time to waste on weak texts. Rather, we want to expose students to texts that are worthy of their time and attention that: Are authentic or published Build content and/or cultural knowledge Are worth reading closely and re-reading / 15

Text Complexity: Which text is more complex and appropriate for an 11 th grade student? Why? Text 1 Lincoln was shaken by the presidency. Back in Springfield, politics had been a sort of exhilarating game; but in the White House, politics was power, and power was responsibility. Never before had Lincoln held executive office. In public life he had always been an insignificant legislator whose votes were cast in concert with others and whose decisions in themselves had neither finality nor importance. As President he might consult with others, but innumerable grave decisions were in the end his own, and with them came a burden of responsibility terrifying in its dimensions. Tex t 2 According to those who knew him, Lincoln was a man of many faces. In repose, he often seemed sad and gloomy. But when he began to speak, his expression changed. “The dull, listless features dropped like a mask, ” said a Chicago newspaperman. “The eyes began to sparkle, the mouth to smile, the whole countenance was wreathed in animation, so that a stranger would have said, ‘Why, this man, so angular and solemn a moment ago, is really handsome. ’” / 16

After you consider the quality of the text, you also consider whether the questions or tasks reach the demands of the grade-level standards. / 17

After you consider the quality of the text, you also consider whether the questions or tasks reach the demands of the grade-level standards. Does this assignment contain questions and/or tasks that reach the depth of grade-level standard(s)? • Does the assignment align closely to expectations articulated by grade-level standards, focusing students on the words and ideas in the text that matter most? • Does the assignment focus on students’ comprehension of the central ideas and key details in the text? If the lesson addresses skills/strategies, is the focus essential to comprehension? / 18

Let’s practice rating content and practice for one assignment together. Rate this sixth grade ELA assignment on the content and practice section of the ELA student work protocol. / 19

What standards did this assignment attempt to target? / 20

Should ALL assignments be grade-appropriate and standards-aligned? / 21

Now, we’ll do some more practice. / 22

What other resources could you use? https: //tntp. org/student-work-library / 23

Now that you’ve had some time to practice looking at assignments: • How could you use this process or tool to ensure that your students consistently have access to grade-appropriate assignments? • What next steps are you committing to? / 24

opportunitymyth. tntp. org/act-now Receive a personalized action guide with advice and tools you can use to help students in your community have quality experiences in school. tntp. org/studentexperiencetoolkit Browse resources designed to improve students' daily experiences in school. Includes all diagnostic tools used in the report. / 25