Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment Members: Casey Handfield, Shirley DiPasquale, Andrew Niedzwiecki, Cynthia Bazinet, Amanda Nelson, Eric Bouvier, Michael Young, & Edward Feeney

21st Century Skills & Expectations: Communication Skills Understand, manage and create effective oral, written and multimedia communication in a variety of forms and contexts. Critical Thinking Exercise sound and logical reasoning in understanding. Make complex choices. Understand the interconnections among systems. Frame, analyze and solve problems using various problem-solving strategies . Info/Media Literacy Access, analyze, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information in a variety of forms and media.

21st Century Skills & Expectations: Problem Identification, Formulation, and Solution Ability to frame, analyze and solve problems. Creativity and Intellectual Curiosity Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others while staying open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives. Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work. Self Direction Monitoring one’s own understanding and learning needs, locating appropriate resources, transferring learning from one domain to another.

21st Century Skills & Expectations: Interpersonal and Collaborative Skills Demonstrate teamwork and leadership; adapt to varied roles and responsibilities; work productively with others; exercise empathy; respect diverse perspectives. Accountability and Adaptability Exercise personal responsibility and flexibility in personal, workplace, and community contexts. Set and meet high standards and goals for one’s self and others. Social Responsibility Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind. Demonstrate ethical behavior in personal, workplace and community contexts.

Do Not Forget the Core Subjects!! English, reading or language arts World languages Arts Mathematics Economics Science Geography History Government and Civics

We will need to:

Lets try again . . . We will need to: Develop a process to ensure that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the role of the school-wide academic expectations. Identify a targeted level of successful achievement in the school-wide rubric for each academic expectation. Identify a comprehensive list of indicators for civic and social expectations that are measurable and reflect the school’s mission.

Develop a plan to ensure that all students have an opportunity to practice and achieve the school-wide academic expectations. Introduce more inquiry, problem-solving, and opportunities for higher-order thinking and the application of knowledge and skills into all course curricula, regardless of level. Ensure that all courses, regardless of level, emphasize depth of understanding over breadth of coverage.

Provide time and training for teachers to collaborate to integrate curriculum and to develop interdisciplinary programs. Use standardized test results and individual student assessment data to guide curriculum evaluation and to provide feedback to students on their progress in meeting the school-wide learning expectations.

Plan for sustained commitment of time, financial resources, and designated personnel for the development, evaluation, and revision of curriculum. Provide professional development on the use of instructional strategies that engage all students in inquiry, problem solving, higher-order thinking skills and authentic application of learning in order to increase rigor to better adhere to the mission statement. Ensure that school-wide rubrics are used to improve student instruction and assessment.

Provide professional development, time, and funding to focus on instructional strategies that: personalize instruction make connections across disciplines engage students as active, self-directed learners involve all students in higher order thinking to promote depth of understanding provide opportunities for students to apply knowledge or skills promote student self-assessment and self-reflection

Develop and implement formal opportunities for faculty to engage in discussion of instructional strategies so that such discussion becomes a significant part of the culture of the school. Develop and implement a process for assessing school-wide and individual student progress in achieving the academic expectations in the mission based on the use of school-wide rubrics. Identify indicators and compile data demonstrating student progress towards civic and social expectations.

Clarify to students the school-wide and course-specific expectations for learning for all activities. Align school-wide rubrics and course-specific rubrics for all assessments. Provide time and training in the use of a variety of assessment strategies, including formative and summative assessments and the use of specific feedback to improve student achievement. Allot time throughout the year for the purpose of collaborating, discussing student work, and revising curriculum and instructional strategies.

Communicate individual and school-wide progress towards achieving academic, social, and civic expectations. Provide adequate time and designated personnel to ensure the effective development, evaluation, and implementation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices in order to promote the school’s mission and expectations for student learning.

Provide evidence that the school's current grouping practices reflect the diversity of the student body, foster heterogeneity, reflect current research and best practices, and support the achievement of the school's mission and expectations for student learning. Provide evidence that the school 's schedule is driven by the school's mission and expectations for student learning and supports the effective implementation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Ensure that each teacher has a student load that enables him or her to meet the learning needs of individual students. Develop a plan for a formal, ongoing program through which each student has an adult member of the school community in addition to the school guidance counselor who personalizes that students educational experience, knows the student well, and assists the student in achieving the school-wide expectations for learning Provide regular district-funded opportunities for all school staff members to collaborate within and across departments in support of improved learning for all students.

So…….

Time As clearly indicated, the current school schedule will need to be revised to provide time, not only for Professional Learning Communities, but for our students to attain the 21st century skills listed above.

But how . . .

The New School on the Block Our “circle” has begun to examine: 4X4: 90 minute blocks Trimester blocks: 70 minute blocks Flex blocks and other possibilities which might meet our needs.

YES!! Yes!! You want answers!!! Yes! Yes!

Sorry, more exploration is required.