Planning for Changes in Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessments

1. Planning for Changes in Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessments • 2012 Budget Presentation #1 • Newfane Board of Education • Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2. What changed? • The cut scores • Impact on AIS • The standards • Impact on testing • The assessments • Impact on test takers

3. 3-8 AssessmentsPast four years • Cut scores adjusted in 2010 • Large increases in level 1 & level 2 • Decrease level 3 & 4 • Increase need for AIS

4. Impact of changing scores • More students required to receive AIS • One subgroup identified as needing to show progress • More tension over testing - for everyone • Greater emphasis on test stamina and readiness for students

5. Sample of changes in assessment

6. Testing times and days – Grades 3 & 4

7. New Standards - Common Core State Standards • Articulate what students should know and be able to do (i.e. content and skills) • Are organized to be fewer, clearer and higher • Provide for greater depth of learning • Raise expectations to match international benchmarking • Reflect college and career readiness • Emphasize coherence, focus, and rigor

8. Impact of standards & assessments • Teachers must transform to engage students in problem-based learning or project-based learning • Computer testing is a new frontier (e.g., security, accommodations, location, retests) - all unknowns • Impact of testing on students in CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs is not known • How to produce “through course” assessments is unknown • Who will score assessments is not decided • Test fatigue • Tests used to determine, in part, teacher effectiveness

9. Sample 4th Grade CCSS Questions • Which number is least and which number is greatest? ______ 3/4, 2, 4/4, 3/5 • Write a number that is greater than 1/5th and less than 1/4th: _______ • Locate the following numbers on a number line: 2, 3 x 1/2, 3/4 + 3/4, 2 - 1/10 • 125 files were downloaded. Each file took 3/4 of a second to download. How long, in total, did it take for all files to download? Between what two whole numbers does your answer lie? ______________ • 2 1/8 = 8/8 + _______ + 1/8 • Write four fractions that all equal 7. ____________________

10. Sample 9th Grade Math items • If -(3/4)x = 1/2, then what is x? ________ • Write two different equations with the same solution as 3(y-1) = 8 _________ • One face of a cube has an area x. What is the volume of the cube? Answer in terms of x. ________

11. Sample 4th grade performance tasks for informational texts • Students explain how Melvin Berger uses reasons and evidence in his book Discovering Mars: The Amazing Story of the Red Planet to support particular points regarding the topology of the planet. [RI.4.8] • Students identify the overall structure of ideas, concepts, and information in Seymour Simon’s Horses (based on factors such as their speed and color) and compare and contrast that scheme to the one employed by Patricia Lauber in her book Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms. [RI.5.5] • Students interpret the visual chart that accompanies Steve Otfinoski’s The Kid’s Guide to Money: Earning It, Saving It, Spending It, Growing It, Sharing It and explain how the information found within it contributes to an understanding of how to create a budget. [RI.4.7] • Students explain the relationship between time and clocks using specific information drawn from Bruce Kosci- elniak’s About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks. [RI.5.3] • Students determine the meaning of domain-specific words or phrases, such as crust, mantle, magma, and lava, and important general academic words and phrases that appear in Seymour Simon’s Volcanoes. [RI.4.4]

12. Sample Reading List

13. Action steps SY 11-12 Recommend initial phase of CCSS implementation: every teacher is delivering at least one CCSS-aligned unit each semester. Math and ELA tests continue to be aligned with 2005 Standards Vendors for curricular modules in ELA, Math, and the Arts are chosen between September and January and their submissions (several exemplary units) are immediately made available to the field Summer 2012 The first 50% of ELA, Math, and Arts exemplary modules are in the field from the vendor. The nature and number of these modules is linked w/ the transitional tests to come in 12-13. Additional training on CCSS occurs (BOCES) Intensive training on the nature of the transition in the SY 12-13 tests occurs TEACHERS BUILD ALIGNED UNITS OF INSTRUCTION

14. Action steps continued SY 12-13 Ongoing CCSS rollout happens in the schools via State Network Teams (BOCES). NYS tests aligned to CCSS in Grades 3-8 ELA and Grades 3-8 Math Build assessments to prepare students for new tests Develop more units of instruction Summer 2013 Full menu of ELA, Math, and Arts exemplary units are available to support teachers as they create their new units of instruction. Ongoing training on curriculum and testing from BOCES and SED Continue to build new units of instruction – in all content areas Develop interim assessments

15. In summary • We are challenged to appropriately respond to several significant shifts in education. • The stakes are enormous - accountability for all • Many questions remain • We do know: • More reading required • Assessments require a greater depth of knowledge • We have A LOT of work to do!!