Handout #3 Part III. The Standards Toolkit

1. Handout #3Part III. The Standards Toolkit Performance Indicator Progression Scope and Sequence Language Arts Framework Instructional Guide

2. Performance Indicator Progression • Are organized by grade levels and for each of the 16 content standards. • Are descriptors of student learning toward a standard. • Describe evidence of student learning (e.g., what should be in student work). • Reflect growing sophistication required in student work and performance.

3. Performance Indicator Progression Familiarizing yourself with the document: • Go to the READING AND LITERATURE section. • Find the “response” strand and standard. • Look over the performance indicators for Grade 2, Response to Literature.

4. Performance Indicator Progression Standard: Response Benchmarks: See Grade 2-3 cluster Performance Indicators: • Relate text to own life • Retell a story • Recall important facts and information • Extend text understanding • Interpret text • Support an opinion about a book or story • Tell why one liked or disliked a book and why

5. Performance Indicator Progression Using the performance indicators for Response: • Read the example(s) of Grade 2 Response to Literature. Also read the Assessment Task and Teacher’s Notes. • Match the Performance Indicators for Grade 2 Response to Literature to the example(s) of student work. • What kind of instruction is needed so students can produce work that shows the Performance Indicators for Response?

6. Performance Indicator Progression Option 1 Discussion: • What other kinds of student work might be collected to show evidence of the performance indicators for Response. • What instructional strategies might teachers use to teach Response?

7. Performance Indicator Progression Option 2 Discussion: • Compare the grade 2 and grade 3 Performance Indicators for Response. • What differentiates the grade 2 from the grade 3 Performance Indicators? • What kind of instruction is needed so students can produce work that shows the Performance Indicators for Response?

8. Instructional Guide (Overview) • Organized by area: Reading and Literature, Writing, Oral Communication • Organized by grade levels K-12 • Connects a standard, benchmark, performance indicator to one example of an instructional task and one example of an instructional strategy or activity

9. Instructional Guide Assessment Task The assessment task is designed prior to teaching. The task sharpens the focus of instruction because it embodies what we want students to understand and be able to do. The assessment task guides our decision making about what content to emphasized in instruction.

10. Instructional Guide Instruction “Most likely, the familiar and favorite activities and projects will have to be modified in light of the evidence needed for assessing targeted standards [benchmarks, performance indicators].” (Wiggins, McTighe, Understanding By Design, p. 17)

11. Instructional Guide Instructional Activity “The teaching methods and resource material are chosen last, mindful of the work that students must produce to meet the standards.” (Wiggins, McTighe, Understanding By Design, p. 17)

12. Instructional Guide Preview the Instructional Guide • Go to the Reading and Literature section. • Locate the Response section for Grade 2. • Read across the page identifying the standard, benchmarks, performance indicators, assessment tasks, instructional strategies. • Take note of the instructional strategy suggested in the guide for Response and the strategy used by the teacher(s) whose student work(s) we just looked at.

13. Instructional Guide Considerations: • Standards and benchmarks are not a curriculum. They are used to guide the development of curriculum. • The Instructional Guide gives one example of an instructional task and activity. It is neither comprehensive nor definitive—a teacher who carries out an activity and assessment task should not assume that the performance indicator(s) have been met. • Tasks and activities—in reality—should and can address a number of standards and indicators simultaneously.

14. Parting Shots As we use these tools, remember: • One size does not fit all. We must acknowledge a continuum of learning rather than a schedule. • We must guard against reducing the standards to subskills that are separable, when the realities of language learning and use are complex and interrelated.

15. Parting Shots “Quality education for all students can happen if it is fostered by local conversations. If the standards start discussions about what matters in the language arts, if they result in changes for better teaching and learning, if they result in literate students, then a major intent of the standards will have been fulfilled.” (Language Arts Content Standards, p. 1)