Step 0: Common Assessments How will we know if students are learning what we want them to learn?

Common Assessments: Expert Jigsaw Resources Scan the resources for “Common Assessments” in your module. Decide as a team which resources you will select to review and discuss. You do not have to review all resources. For resources selected, as a team summarize and share out key points and any helpful PLC tools/resources. Be sure to summarize and share out key points and helpful PLC tools and resources. Please be sure to include what you learned about SMART goals and Common/formative assessments in your team share out (e.g., Why do we need SMART goals and Common Assessments? What PLC activities do we engage in to support these concepts?). Remember Roles and Norms

Cultural Shifts in a PLC

Common Formative Assessments: Key to Improving Schools In two years of working in collective teams, there was no gains. It wasn’t until the teams… Established a guaranteed curriculum Monitored student learning through common assessments Used the evidence of student learning to identify and solve problems through new instructional strategies …that student achievement soared.

Tight About the Right Work Collaborative teams monitor student learning through an ongoing assessment process that includes frequent, team-developed common formative assessments.

Keys to a Common Formative Assessment Process To determine if an assessment process if formative, ask: Is it used to identify students who experience difficulty in learning? Do students receive additional time and support for learning when they experience difficulty. Do students get and additional opportunity to demonstrate their learning? Do teachers use the results to inform and improve their individual and collective practice?

Why Common Formative Assessments? Efficiency: By sharing the load, teachers save time. Fairness: They promote common goals, similar pacing and consistent standards to assess student proficiency. Effective monitoring: Monitoring provides timely evidence of whether the guaranteed and viable curriculum is being taught and learned. Team capacity: Collaborative teacher teams can identify and address problem areas in their programs. Collective response: They support timely systematic interventions for students. Informed teacher practice: Individual teachers obtain the basis of comparison that enables them to identify strengths and weaknesses of their teaching.

Characteristics of Common Assessments Measure essential student learning (includes formative and summative uses) Generated/created by teachers Clearly defined essential understanding and student performance outcomes exist for every unit of instruction Include all students taking the same course or grade level assessment across classes/teachers Administered in a systematic and timely manner Allows for analysis of results within PLC Item analysis is planned and occurs immediately following each assessments Clearly defined assessment criteria exist

Characteristics of Embedding Common Assessments Assessment for Learning/Common Assessment Prompts How can student demonstrate proficiency as the lesson is being taught? Rubrics and Scales (Marzano) How can we utilize common student friendly scales to assess essential student learning?

A Key Component to Effective Leadership of PLCs at ALL Levels Unless you are using evidence of student learning to lead to better instructional practices, you are not fully engaged in the PLC process!

Two Essentials of Performance-Based Assessment Can we agree on the criteria by which we will judge the quality of student work? Can we apply those criteria consistently (inter-rater reliability)? For an example of a writing rubric for Common Core go to http://www.parcconline.org/

Defining S.M.A.R.T. Goals Specific – detailed outcomes criteria The goal should state the exact level of performance expected. Measurable – measurement criteria To achieve objectives, people must be able to observe and measure their progress. Attainable – realistic criteria Goals should challenge people to do their best, but they need also be achievable. Realistic (Results-Oriented, Relevant) – significance criteria Goals need to pertain directly to the performance challenge being managed. Time-bound – answers “by when?” criteria Deadlines help people to work harder to get a task completed.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Specific Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions: *Who: Who is involved? *What: What do I want to accomplish? *Where: Identify a location. *When: Establish a time frame. *Which: Identify requirements and constraints. *Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal. Example: A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Measurable Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience success which maintains motivation in a PLC. Always set a criteria for success: This allows you to evaluate your work and impact on student growth To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions like: How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Attainable Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Example questions: Are these steps doable? Can we find the time? What resources and supports will make this likely to happen?

S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Realistic, Results Oriented, & Relevant Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which the PLC is both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Research shows that teams choosing higher outcomes for students (rather than setting lower bars) often achieve better results

S.M.A.R.T. Goals: Time-Bound Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. Example questions: Now that we set a specific criteria for success, what is the target date? When do we want to evaluate the success of this plan? What short term progress monitoring dates can we pick? When do we want to reach our goal?

Criteria for Establishing Team SMART Goals Address all points on the SMART acronym Align team goal(s) to school and district goals. Focus on results, not activities. To achieve your goal, more students should learn at higher levels. Create a goal that fosters a collective efforts and an interdependent relationship.

Tips for Establishing SMART Goals Limit the number of district, school, and team goals (2-3 goals). Team goals should be established by teams rather than for teams. Aviod establishing goals that are too narrow or too broad. Ensure measureable targets demonstrate continuous improvement Monitor work toward a goals by creating team products directly related to the goal and establishing, benchmarks to assess progress. Celebrate progress, then establish a new goal.

The Importance of Short-Term SMART Goals “People can become so caught up in big dreams that don’t manage the current reality. Short-term goals are needed to establish credibility for a change initiative over the long haul. Major change takes time. Zealots will stay the course no matter what. Most of us want to see some convincing evidence that all the effort is paying off. Nonbelievers have even higher standards of proof. We want clear data indicating changes are working.” Kotter, 1996, pp. 118-119

Assessment Map Example When Given Given to Whom Admin Procedures Reading Pre/Post Assessments 10/1-10/7 11/14-11/19 12/10-12/15 1/30-2/5 3/1-3/6 4/14-4/19 All Students Computer-Based Formative Reading Assessments Prompts, Work Sample Performance Tasks TBD based upon PLC discussions Embedded within instruction Math Pre Post Assessments Every 5 weeks Students take pre tests during third week or prior chapter test. Test is given whole group Have participants stop and process this slide