Prioritizing Curriculum

2. Planning For Understanding

3. The Problem with Standards

4. The Usual Solutions

5. Power Standards Power standards are those standards and indicators that are critical for student success. ��those standards that, once mastered, give a student the ability to use reasoning and thinking skills to learn and understand other curriculum objectives.� Douglas Reeves A carefully selected subset of the complete list

6. Power Standards Robert Marzano studied the McRel standards and found 3,500 benchmarks (indicators) spread across fourteen different content areas. �You would have to change schooling from K-12 to K-22. The sheer number of standards is the biggest impediment to implementing standards.� Douglas Reeves actually suggests cutting the full set of standards back by at least a third: �My rule of thumb is seven to twelve Power Standards per subject per grade. If you have more than that, then you can�t possibly assess them every month or every quarter�If you can only assess a standard once a year, it�s not really a Power Standard.�

7. To select your Power Standards, start by asking: What do students need for success�in school, in life, and on the state test? Power Standards

8. Eye the E.G.�s Sunshine State Standards (Florida) Language Arts LA.190.2.1.7Analyze, interpret, and evaluate an author�s use of descriptive language (e.g., tone, irony, mood, imagery, pun, alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion), figurative language (e.g., symbolism, metaphor, personification, hyperbole), common idioms, and mythological and literary allusions, and explain how they impact meaning in a variety of texts

9. Eye the E.G.�s Sunshine State Standards (Florida) Language Arts LA.190.2.1.7Analyze, interpret, and evaluate an author�s use of descriptive language (e.g., tone, irony, mood, imagery, pun, alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion), figurative language (e.g., symbolism, metaphor, personification, hyperbole), common idioms, and mythological and literary allusions, and explain how they impact meaning in a variety of texts

10. Eye the E.G.�s Sunshine State Standards (Florida) Language Arts LA.190.2.1.7Analyze, interpret, and evaluate an author�s use of descriptive language, figurative language, common idioms, and mythological and literary allusions, and explain how they impact meaning in a variety of texts

11. Eye the E.G.�s Sunshine State Standards (Florida) Language Arts LA.190.2.1.7Analyze, interpret, and evaluate an author�s use of descriptive language, figurative language, common idioms, and mythological and literary allusions, and explain how they impact meaning in a variety of texts

12. Thinning the Herd

13. Identification Criteria Endurance Is this content important and useful life-knowledge? Are these skills important and useful life-skills? Leverage Will this material help students succeed in other subject areas? Readiness Will this material provide knowledge and skills necessary for success at the next level of learning

14. Focus Does Not Mean Elimination All standards must still be taught. HOWEVER: Some aspects of standards (the e.g. parts) can safely be trimmed Some standards or aspects of standards (the e.g. parts) may need only a passing mention or a brief mini-lesson, rather than a primary focus Some standards or indicators can be rolled up and combined with others Some standards may be teachable through homework or other activities

15. Identification Matrix

16. The Skills Ladder Where the state supplies indicators or descriptors that clarify specifically what should be taught at each grade, these can guide your curriculum mappers and writers Where the state does not supply grade-specific language or clarity around what exactly needs to be taught, curriculum mappers need to supply it Why? Because one person is probably not going to be doing all of your mapping or curriculum writing. If there is no Master Plan, the pieces will not fit together

17. The Skills Ladder

18. Big Picture, Small Pictures

19. Try it Out Identify Power Standards for Civics and Government Build a ladder of skills and content from grades 7 through 9 Ground Rules: There are no standards for Civics at grades 7 or 8. Assume that the content here can be taught at any point from grade 7 through 9. Assume that the grade 7 history course covers world history from the first human settlements through the Medieval period. Assume that the grade 8 history course covers American history from colonization through the Civil War None of these standards are tested by the state, at any grade level