Changing Landscape Writing Professional Development SMARTER Balance Assessment Consortium Common Core State Writing Standards

Private Think Time  What is writing?

Writing is a process of communication that uses a conventional graphic system to convey a message to the reader.

Trip Plan  Exit 1: National Alarm  Exit 2: Writing Data  Exit 3: Common Core State Standards  Exit 4: Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium  Exit 5: Professional Development Plan  Exit 5: Measureable Goals

Turn and Talk  What is the national alarm all about?  How is it affecting our schools ?

National Alarm  70% of 4-12 grade students are low-achieving writers.  Every school day, more than 7,000 students drop out of high school.

National Alarm

Turn and Talk How is this national alarm affecting the workplace?

Writing in the Workplace  Thirty-five percent of high school graduates in college and 38% of high school graduates in the workplace feel their writing does not meet expectations for quality.  Writing remediation costs American businesses as much as $3.1 billion annually. (Writing Next, 2007)

Turn and Talk  How is Bend La Pine’s test scores compared to the state?  For students with special needs?

Writing Data

Turn and Talk  What is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)?  How does it relate to students with special needs?

Common Core State Standards  The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).  The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

Turn and Talk  What is the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC)?  How does it relate to students with special needs?

SMARTER Balance Assessment Consortium  The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium is developing a comprehensive assessment system for mathematics and English language arts / literacy aligned to the Common Core State Standards with the goal of preparing all students for success in college and the workforce.  Developed in partnership with member states, leading researchers, content expert experts, and the authors of the Common Core, content specifications are intended to ensure that the assessment system accurately assesses the full range the standards.

Turn and Talk How can professional development support… -national alarm in writing -adoption of the CCSS -implementation of SMARTER Balance Assessment Consortium For students with and without special needs?

Professional Development Action Plan  Deliver CCSS Writing ‘Slim Curriculum Guides.’  ‘Unpack’ the CCSS ‘slim curriculum guides’ onto curriculum maps.  ‘Unpack’ curriculum maps onto unit and individual lesson plans using best practices in grade level professional development, professional learning community (PLC) teams.  Support teachers in a monthly studio building rotation.

Workshop Model LinkModel Private Think Time Turn and Talk Give It A ‘Go’ Share Out

Professional Development Action Plan To support effective instrumentation, professional development supports may be housed as an on-line resource.

Increase the number of teachers who attend professional development in writing by 50% each year ( , ) Increase the number of teachers who attend professional development in CCSS ‘slim curriculum guides’ by 100% in one year ( ) Increase the number of teachers who attend professional development in ‘unpacking’ CCSS in writing by 100% ( )

Increase number of students who meet or exceed Oregon State Writing Rubric expectations

Collect Writing samples in grades 3, 4, 6, 7 & 10 Score using 6-traits, holistic scoring, and/or correct word sequence Share the results with the district writing coordinator Based on assessment scores, plan professional development

11 th grade students will take the OAKS writing assessment each February and transition onto Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC) assessment by 2014.

Turn and Talk  How will this be communicated with teachers?

Communicating Goal to Teachers District Writing Coordinator will compile assessment data and include it in the district- wide annual report. District-wide annual report will include suggestions for grade level/site based professional development in-services. Professional development to support writing instruction. Studio support for teachers to develop writing strategies across grade level curriculum.

Turn and Talk  How will this be communicated with parents?

Communicating Goal to Parents Communicating With Parents Parent Night Parent-Teacher conferences (share student writing samples, CCSS/SBAC parent letter/web link ) Parent Letter Parent Hyperlink

Writing Action Plan PSU Writing Workshop course SPED Writing Next PD days Share WW presentation model with general education teachers and leaders Support teachers across the district in implementation of writing strategies with high effect size Use data to implement WW and studio models to implement writing strategies with high effect size across the district curricular content

2009-Present School Years  Portland State University Professional Development in Writing Workshop, backward design (LPES, TRS, Summer trainings) School Year  Special Education professional development days allocated to utilize Writing Next best practices for (a) roll out of plan (b) summarizing (c) sentence combining (d) prewriting strategies.  Professional development includes K-12 special education teachers and teaching assistants.

Prioritize all Professional Development Days for school year to : (a) unpack CCSS into curriculum maps (b) Studio model support (c) Assessment administration and scoring. (d) Videotape and house professional development on line.  Develop year long writing scope and sequence based on CCSS for K-12 (curriculum map, unit plans, lesson plans, assessment).  Provide specialized support based on individual building needs.  Develop writing work samples for grades 3, 4, 6, 7, & 10.  Train teachers on how to use studio model to implement (a) Writing Workshop (b) Step up to Writing (c) 6 Traits (d) systematic approaches with curriculum scope.  Train teachers on how to use holistic, 6 traits rubrics and correct word sequence for scoring.  Support IEP goal writing.

 Develop year long writing scope and sequence based on CCSS for K-12 (curriculum map, unit plans, lesson plans, assessment).  Provide specialized strategy support based on individual building needs (as measured by data).  Develop writing work samples for grades 3, 4, 6, 7, & 10.  Train teachers on how to use studio model to implement (a) Writing Workshop (b) Step up to Writing (c) 6 Traits (d) systematic approaches with curriculum scope.  Train teachers on how to use holistic, 6 traits rubrics and correct word sequence for scoring.  Norm CWS data for district.

Prioritize all Professional Development Days for school year to: (a) Support Writing Workshop studio model (a) Support Writing Workshop studio model (b) Assessment administration and scoring (b) Assessment administration and scoring (c) Best practice in strategy instruction across content curriculums (c) Best practice in strategy instruction across content curriculums (1) as measured by Writing Next effect size (2) dictated through data needs (2) dictated through data needs (d) Videotape and house professional development on line

 Conduct professional development day to articulate annual plan  Integrate Writing Workshop into the Language Arts Curriculum (ie., Houghton Mifflin, Open-Court, EMC).  Continue to grow mentor text supporting units of study  Continue to grow the student-teacher conference model  Continue to support in studio model implementation.  Based on test scores (student needs), professional development will be administered to develop student learning.

K-12 CCSS Writing Standards K-12 Writing Workshop presentation model ( school year). Provide 1 credit Portland State University K-12 Writing class to support professional development (summer ). Use CCSS to implement best practice backward design on building level curriculum maps, unit plans and individual lesson plans in K-12 building grade level professional learning community’s Include special education, educational assistant’s, speech and language pathologists, speech and language pathologist

Improve writing skills 11 th grade students meet and exceed intended writing benchmarks Writing benchmarks align to standards and assessment Writing curriculum integrated into daily instruction- al time Increase teacher fluency with both CCSS and SBAC House professional develop- ment tools on line

Private think time… Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world, indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!” - Margaret Meade