Curriculum, The New Mode of Accountability for a School District Andy Jay ArbeitmanDr. Stacie StryhalDr. Trish Burkeen De Soto 73De Soto 73De Soto 73 SuperintendentDirector of Assistant Educational SupportSuperintendent Services Missouri Association of School Administrators 2011

-We must create and communicate a shared vision -We must build structures that support open communication, interaction, collaboration, and shared decision-making among all stakeholders -We must establish “user friendly” feedback loops and processes for utilizing the data we generate -We must integrate a plan for modification and feedback into a SYSTEM that has a flexible cycle of continuous improvement! Is it not your responsibility and your district’s responsibility to know who is controlling and what is happening with your curriculum and your instructional leadership daily?

How do you view any previous change efforts within your school district? 1.Positive impact on overall student achievement. 2.Positive, but limited impact on overall student achievement. 3.No impact on overall student achievement, but positive impact on district culture. 4.Insignificant effect on district culture or overall student achievement. 5.No impact on overall student achievement, but negative impact on district culture. 6.Negative impact on overall student achievement.

How do you rate the need for change in your school district? 1.Present condition is unacceptable and immediate change is required. 2.Present condition is troublesome, but not enough to require immediate change. 3.Things could be better, but I am not completely dissatisfied with things as they are. 4.Change is needed. 5.I am not aware of any change that needs to be made. 6.No change is necessary.

How do you rate your willingness to support change in your district? 1.I am reluctant to doing anything significantly different. 2.I am willing to support change if the change does not require a significant inconvenience to the group. 3.I am willing to support incremental change implemented at a moderate pace. 4.I am willing to make difficult choices (personal and group) to bring about change. 5.I am willing to accept that change will be difficult, possibly with a long period of discomfort.

How much faith do you have in the current leadership to effectively bring about change in your school district? 1.I do not believe that the current district leadership can implement significant change. 2.Although possible, it will be difficult for the current district leadership to implement significant change. 3.I do not have enough experience or knowledge of the current district leadership to have a strong opinion. 4.The current district leadership has the strength and ability to implement significant change.

Does the district as a group (teachers, administrators, staff, superintendent, and board of education) possess the skills necessary to implement change? 1.I have serious doubts that the district as a group has the knowledge and/or skills necessary to successfully implement significant change. 2.I believe the district as a group has some of the knowledge and/or skills to successfully implement change and those who do not will be able to acquire the skills or knowledge. 3.I believe the district as a group has the knowledge and/or skills to implement significant change.

What is a System? “A system is a set of things; people, cells, molecules that are interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern of behavior over time. The system’s response is a characteristic of itself! D.H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems, 2008 A box is still a box whether it is metal, concrete, plastic, paper, cardboard, etc. We have to stop changing the box and change how we lead by getting outside of the box!

We often wonder what teachers are actually doing with the curriculum! How do we know?

How do you work on everything at once? Whatever you place your focus on must have the ability to change or to have effects on everything you do with your curriculum!

On any given day, there are at minimum- 6 different periods where teachers will teach a lesson.

If you visit a teacher’s classroom for 1 full lesson during the course of 1 teaching day, you will have observed 16% of the actual teaching taking place for that school day.

In any given week, there are at minimum 30 different periods where a teacher will teach a lesson.

If you visit a teacher’s classroom for 1 full session during the course of one school week (5 days), you will have observed 3% of the actual teaching that occurred in that classroom during that week.

In a given month, there are typically 120 different periods where a teacher will teach a lesson.

In a typical ‘quarter’, there are approximately 42 days- which translates to the possibility of a teacher teaching a total of 258 lessons to students.

That translates into approximately 516 separate lessons in a semester.

If you visit a teacher’s classroom for 2 different lessons in the course of a semester, (approximately 86 days), you will have observed 0.3% three tenths of one percent of the teaching during that semester.

This translates into approximately 1,032 separate lessons over the course of an entire school year

If you visit a teacher’s classroom on 3 different occasions over the duration of an entire school year and you see 1 lesson each time, you will have observed 0.2% only two tenths of one percent of the teaching during the year.

If you visit a teacher’s classroom for 4 different lessons over the duration of an entire school year, ( days), you will have observed 0.3% still three tenths of one percent of the teaching during the year.

Walk-Through Evaluations District-wide!

Walkthroughs

Whole System Reform -All students can learn -A small number of key priorities (hands-on assistance, walk-through evaluations, differentiated instruction, superintendent/district goals for instruction) -Locked arms leadership; stay together, stay focused, stay on the message! Students First! -Collective capacity that sustains over time -Strategies with precise goals! -Accountability! -All means All!

C MA = Missing Assignment D C B MA = Missing Assignment B A

Single grades often combine many factors, making it difficult to understand how grades were determined. Standards-based grading & reporting provides a clearer picture of all the factors contributing to grades. Families will get more information about: what students are expected to learn and what they have learned, and how their work habits contribute to their learning

LETTER4 POINT SCALE MEANING A Objective/standard mastered and surpassed A B Objective/standard met B B C Progress is being made towards meeting the objective/standard C C D Beginning to understand the objective/standard D D F0 -.9Even with help, no progress is made towards meeting the objective or standard/insufficient evidence of understanding objective/standard

Audience and Purpose  Form and point of view appropriate to purpose and audience  Anticipates audiences knowledge level of topic and concerns 4 Ideas and Content  Strong controlling idea  Relevant specific details  Complex ideas  Freshness of thought 3 Organization and Structure  Effective beginning, middle, and end  Logical order  Effective paragraphing  Cohesive devices  Varied sentence structure  Clarity of expression  Active voice 3 Word Choice  Precise and vivid language  Formal and objective tone 1.5 Conventions  Capitalization  Punctuation  Standard usage 3 Persuasive Features  Valid reasoning  Sufficient evidence  Acknowledges counterclaim fairly  Provides concluding statement 1 Persuasive Essay Rubric 4 = Objective mastered and surpassed 3 = Objective met 2 = Progress is being made to meet the objective 1 = Beginning to understand objective 0 = Even with help, no progress made to understand or meet objective Total: 2.58, C+

Report Card Math- B English- C+ Science- A Social Studies- D Math-B (3.1) Comparing and ordering rational numbers- 2.9 Using fractions, decimals, and percents to solve problems- 3.2 Using symbolic algebra to solve problems involving linear relationships- 3 Analyzing properties of right triangles- 3.1 These objectives covered average out to a 3.1, B. SBG Report Card

Standards Based Instruction Standards Based Assessment Standards Based Evaluation Standards Based Grading Differentiated Instruction

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning”

Andy Jay Arbeitman Dr. Stacie Stryhal Dr. Trish Burkeen