Achievement Standards Network (ASN): Connecting Things Not Strings

1. Achievement Standards Network (ASN):Connecting Things Not Strings DinyGolder, JES & Co. Stuart A. Sutton, University of Washington EdReNe 2012—The Hague

2. Outline • ASN groundwork for “mapping” and data analysis • Enriching competency descriptions • Linking competencies to “related” resources (e.g. people, places, events...and other concepts) • Mapping competencies-to-competencies • Creating crosswalks (relating competencies in different frameworks) • AASL to CCSS • Visualizing crosswalks • Michigan to CCSS • Semantic mapping (further work on more fine-grained predicates) • Cross-jurisdictional data analysis • Supporting data-driven decision making

3. ASN-US as Repository of US Competencies • Resource Description Framework (RDF)-based open repository • 1,147competency frameworks descriptions from the 50 U.S. states and territories (equivalent to 1,147 national curricula) • Competency framework descriptions are made up of: • 395,530  individual competency descriptions • Competency descriptions are made up of: • 4,914,666RDF triples

4. ASN as Competency Description Framework • ASN is about a simple linked data infrastructure for competency description • Describing competencies • Describing the frameworks in which those competencies are found • Describing relationships between competencies • Relationships within a single competency set • Relationships across 1-n competency sets

6. Infrastructure is not sexy! • Metadata infrastructure is particularly not sexy! • Infrastructure of any kind is hard to “sell”! • Infrastructure serves the needs of others, so it is hard to justify (in the beginning)! • Infrastructure has no funding “end”! • Infrastructure done badly, or neglected, is a disaster!

8. ✔Atomize✔Describe ✔Relate ASN Framework in a ‘nutshell’

9. Atomize: Extract Competency Semantic Units Moving air and water can be used to run machines Some sources of energy cost less than others and some cause less pollution than others Make and interpret scale drawings Find and describe locations on maps with rectangular and polar coordinates. Planets change their positions against the background of stars. Make sketches to aid in explaining procedures and ideas. Many materials can be recycled and used again, sometimes in different forms. Some source of “energy” is needed for all organisms to stay alive and grow.

10. Describe: Create Metadata for Each Semantic Unit Planets change their positions against the background of stars.

11. Relate:Creating “Context” Learning Planes{ Selection, Sequence, Content }i.e., «molecules» Competency Assertionsi.e., «atoms» » Atomize» Describe» Relate

12. Learning Planes Plane B Plane A Competencies

13. Cross-Jurisdictional Learning Plane

14. People, places, events, concepts...and other “things” Enriching competency descriptions

20. ASN-US Jurisdictional Crosswalk Mapping AASL Competency Statementsto U.S. Common Core State Standards (Math and ELA)

21. Mapping (Crosswalk) Problem • American Association of School Librarians (AASL) wants librarians to create lesson plans… • Descriptive metadata for the lesson plans is created by the librarians • The librarians will only correlate the lesson plans to the AASL Standards for the 21st-Learner • The lesson plans need to be crosswalked to the Common Core State Standards in ELA and Math • AASL created the ELA crosswalk, but…

22. “X” Marks the Spot? ELA crosswalk was text-to-text in a spreadsheet

23. From Spreadsheet-to-SKOS Convert strings-to-things and import ELA crosswalk into database

24. What about CCSS Math? • We needed a tool that can • Create and manage machine readable crosswalks • ASN data was already there

25. No More Spreadsheets

26. How it was done... Various AASL Librarians worked on the cross walking tool, mapping sections of AASL to Common Core Math Librarians found it easier to use and to manage vs. a spreadsheet Exported the crosswalk and imported into the database

27. End Result

28. User Selects AASL Standards Only

29. Behind the Scenes • When user saves a lesson plan: • If the lesson plan has subject of Math or ELA • The systems looks up the appropriate crosswalk AND • Assigns the corresponding mapping(s) based on the grade level of the lesson plan

30. Printable View ELA Lesson Plan for Grade 7 User correlated AASL Standards

31. Printable View Continued ELA Crosswalk, Grade 7 Competencies

32. Lessons Learned More robust alignment properties are needed Once we had machine readable mappings, it was easy to incorporate the mappings into the AASL website (Drupal)

33. Evolving Mapping Predicates Align To Broad Super-Properties Align From Broad Alignment Exact Alignment Equivalency Properties Major Alignment Minor Alignment

34. Discussion Predicates

35. Discussion Predicates

36. Discussion Predicates

37. Sequencing Super-Properties

38. Practicing Mapping (Crosswalks)

39. Existing ASN:U.S. Crosswalks

40. Michigan Mapping to Common Core

41. Michigan Mapping to Common Core Distinguish between scientific explanations that are regarded as current scientific consensus and the emerging questions that active researchers investigate. Align To 9. Compare and contrast findings presented in a text to those from other sources (including their own experiments), noting when the findings support or contradict previous explanations or accounts.

42. Looking at U.S. Competencies Across Jurisdictional Borders ASN-US Graph Analysis

43. Complex Questions, Easy Answers • By using the structured, faceted nature of the ASN framework, we can ask and solve problems that span jurisdictions. For example • When does the U.S. start to teach its students the Pythagorean Theorem? • Which grade level(s)? • Who assesses it earliest?

44. Searching the ASN:US Graph • First, search for Pythagorean Theorem across entire ASN:U.S. dataset • Display the “Education Level” facet results

45. Faceted Search Screen

46. Faceted Result—”Pythagorean Theorem”

47. “Education Level” Facet

48. Results: Pythagorean Theorem is mentioned or assessed in grades 5-12 with the majority of results in grades 8-12. Next Question: Which state(s) start to assess Pythagorean Theorem in 5th Grade?

49. Searching the ASN:U.S. Graph • Now filter results by 5th Grade • Display the “Jurisdiction” facet results

50. Filter: 5th—Display: “Jurisdiction”