Administrative Curriculum Conversations

1. Administrative Curriculum Conversations September 30, 2008 What should standards look like in lesson plans? How do we interpret measurements codes on primary grade report cards? How do we fully access Title monies? What exactly is a formative assessment? How do we assess Algebra I?

2. Standards-Based Lesson Plans • What to look for: • Standard – Instructional Target – Strand? • Objective – What will you teach? What do you want them to know or be able to do? • Enabling Outcome/Instructional Plan – How will you teach it? What skills will you teach them to enable them to master the objective? • Assessment – How will you know if they got it? (Formative) Drives instruction for next day Did they master the objective? (Summative)

3. Standard and Strand ..\Desktop\Grade One LA.docx • Designate with a Roman Numeral • i.e. RC II & IV • Keeping the end in mind … • these are our primary instructional targets • SAT questions are generated from the National Standards

4. Objective • What you want the students to know or be able to do for the summative assessment • “To” + verb … • Reference the curriculum broad objectives; these are NOT the teacher's written objective • Teachers create their own daily instructional objectives; often aligned with standard's based textbook ..\Desktop\ALGEBRA Curriculum.doc

5. Enabling Outcomes • Details how the teacher is going to teach the objective (IOW … instructional plan/ strategy/ procedure) • Enabling outcomes are assessed every day formatively; they are assessed summatively when the instruction concludes to determine mastery of the objective • Notevery enabling outcome must be taught; depends on the abilities of the students each year and/or the content being taught; supplement or omit ..\Desktop\Grade Seven Am. History.doc ..\Desktop\Grade One LA.docx

6. Technology … A Little Shady … • Assisting in integrating technology across all content areas: ..\Desktop\Science - Tech Ex.docx BrainPop.com & BrainPopjr.com FREE TRIAL: http://www.brainpop.com/store/activate_trial.weml?id=2996773 Username: adhct Password: brainpop ($1.30/student, K-2; $1.80/student 3-8) Also available in Spanish version

7. Organization of Lesson Plans • OPTION 1: • Traditional: • Lesson Plan Book + A Curriculum Binder containing grade level curriculum of every subject responsible for teaching • OPTION 2: • Standards-based: • Curriculum/Lesson Plan Binder one binder containing both

8. The Primary Grade Report Card • Outcomes Based vs. Percentage Based • Hybrid Model: Teachers use a percentage based grade book but export grades to an outcomes based report card Therein lies the discrepancy … • Therefore, teachers have to assign a numeric percentage to the outcomes based measurement codes

9. Measurement Codes • VG = Very Good 100-90 or 100-95 • G = Good 89-80 or 94-84 • M = Meet’s Minimum Grade Level Requirements 79-70 or 83-70 • I = Improvement Needed 69 – 0

10. Weighing Grades • PRIMARY GRADES – Outcomes Based • Assessments 40% .4 • CRA, PBA, IA • Projects 25% .25 • Oral, Written, Visual • Class Work 15% .15 • Seat work, center work, group work, etc. • Independent Practice 5-10% .05/.1 • Homework: Accountability; not assessed • Life Skills 10-15% .1/.15 • Effort, participation, initiative, improvement, etc.

11. Weighing Grades • Intermediate Grades – Percentage Based • Summative Assessments 50% .5 • CRA, PBA, IA, Projects • Checkpoint Assessments 20% .2 • Skill assessments, select class work • Independent Practice 15% .15 • Homework: Accountability; • not assessed • Life Skills 15% .15 • Effort, initiative, class work, participation

12. Weighing Grades • Middle School – Percentage Based • Summative Assessments 60% .6 • CRA, PBA, IA, Projects, Labs, Oral, written, visual presentations • Checkpoint Assessments 20% .2 • Skill assessments, class work • Independent Practice 10% .1 • Homework – not assessed • Life Skills 10% .1 • Effort, initiative, participation, • overall improvement

13. Title I Monies • http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/notices/iegs/iegs.htm • Textbook Loan Program • See Handout

14. Role of Formative Assessment • Designed to provide information so that teachers can adjust instruction and students can improve performance. (O’Connor, 2002) • Most Quizzes: • Teachers give quizzes during the instructional process to see how students are doing with the learning… • If class average is 90%, teacher moves on • If class average is 30%, re-teaching using different strategies is called for • Teacher Questions • Most homework • Many worksheets • Most teacher observations • Rough/First drafts

15. Grading for Learning • Formative assessments are followed by further instruction: • Those who succeed receive enrichment • Those who need improvement participate in correctives • When students are ready, they take the summative assessment • Always RISK-FREE • Assessed DAILY

16. Bottom Line … • Assessments to inform learners about their strengths and weaknesses and to inform teachers about how successful instruction is as it proceeds = FORMATIVE • Assessments that primarily inform about achievement status of learner = SUMMATIVE

17. PROCESS vs. PRODUCT • PROCESS ≠ Formative assessment • PRODUCT ≠ Summative assessment • Process may and should be sometimes assessed both formatively and summatively • Products may be assessed formatively and summatively

18. Changing Grades • If students demonstrate achievement at any time that, in effect, renders past assessment information inaccurate, then you must drop the former assessment from the record and replace it with the new. To do otherwise is to misrepresent that achievement. (Stiggens, 2001b, 431)