Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah School District 7-12 ELA “Guinea Pig Effort” Journey Toward Common Core Implementation 1

Overarching End Result of Our Efforts Together An Enhanced and Better Articulated EC- 12 ELA Experience for Elkhart Lake- Glenbeulah Students Created within an EC-12 Collaborative, Collegial Partnership. 2

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One of our challenges is to continue to strive toward making our curricular intentions, instructional activities, and assessment activities all part of an integrated whole. Student Learning Basic Curriculum Development Information: 3

"When eating an elephant take ONE bite at a time." -Creighton Abrams How Does Someone Eat An Elephant?

Implementable : Curriculum processes/documents that are created and completed with the end intent being…. … the work/documents will become part of the classroom, school, or district decision-making routine… …in a fidelity rich manner.

The Critical Importance of the Classroom Teacher The most PERVASIVE and SIGNIFICANT type of curriculum planning is… the daily decisions made by every teacher as he or she converts general state and/or district guidelines into instructional and assessment plans. 4

Concepts of: Informed Autonomy Tightly- Loosely Coupled 5

Tightly – Loosely Coupled Grounded in Sound Practice Standards Assessment Instruction The “What” The “How Do We Know” The “How” Tightly Coupled - Elements of - Elements of Commonality Commonality Professional Autonomy Professional Judgment Professional Expertise 6

Implementable : Curriculum processes/documents that are created and completed with the end intent being…. … the work/documents will become part of the classroom, school, or district decision-making routine… …in a fidelity rich manner.

Overview of Where We Are Headed: Alignment of the: Recommended Written Taught Tested With the: Learned Curricula 8

Student Learning (Learned) Taught Tested Alignment Curricula Recommended Written 9

Student Learning (Learned) Alignment Curricula Recommended Written Tested Taught 10

11 A means of accomplishing… Implementing the Common Core

The Common Core Standards Purportedly Are: The heart of the heart, the essence of the essence of what we want our students to know and be able to do. Focused on the most critical achievement targets for student learning. 13

The Common Core Standards Purportedly Are: Reflective of grade level benchmarks. Clearly written statements about what we want our students to know and be able to do. Clearly provide understanding for students, fellow teachers, and parents about what is expected. 14

Why The Common Core? FROM FRANTIC COVERAGE OF IMPOSSIBLE CURRICULUM TO The Common Core (Power Standards) 15

WHY COMMON CORE The number of school days and hours in those days has remained constant while the curriculum has expanded. 16

WHY The Common Core Currently, Wisconsin has 501 academic content standards that students should know and be able to do. When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. For most students and teachers, 501 is not a manageable number. 501 Wisconsin academic standards would require 15, 465 hours for students to learn K-12 vs. K-21 17

Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum “Opportunity to learn[OTL] has the strongest relationship with student achievement of all school-level factors.” RobertMarzano, What Works In Classroom Instruction? (2000). 18

Time and Viability “ A viable curriculum is unattainable without the benefit of time. The content that teachers are expected to address must be adequately covered in the instructional time teachers have available” Robert Marzano, What Works In Schools, (2003). 19

The 9000 Hour Experience Over a 13 year, K-12, period of time, 12% of all student available time is involved with teacher lead instruction. Conversely, 88% of all student available time is involved “somewhere else.” Estimation….. 15,465 hours are needed to adequately address identified standards and benchmarks. Source, Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) 20

WHY THE COMMON CORE The Common Core Standards or essential standards focus on a MANAGEABLE number. AND….. ????????????? Yet to be Determined 21

WHY THE COMMON CORE ….purportedly will help students and teachers avoid I.O.O.N. “instructional objective overload neurosis” 22

WHY THE COMMON CORE SANE MANAGEABLE EFFICIENT ARTICULATED FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS ????????????? Yet to be Determined 23

WHY THE COMMON CORE Standards – From The Coverage to Focus The Old Model: 24 State Standards District Curriculum Frantic Coverage of Every Test Objective

WHY THE COMMON CORE Standards – From Coverage to Focus 25 Potential Curriculum & Test Objectives Focused Curriculum and Assessment The Common Core Standards

OTHER COMMON CORE THOUGHTS “But we MUST cover every subject to get students ready for the next grade!” “It’s in the standards so we MUST teach it!” “If the kids miss a test item on the formula for the volume of a prism, it won’t be my fault. Hey—I covered it at 10:43 a.m. on March 23 rd.” I.O.O.N.-- “Instructional Objective Overload Neurosis.” Wisconsin’s “Next Generation of Assessment” ????? 26

THE COMMON CORE AVOIDING THE EXTREMES Extreme #1: “You can’t trust those teachers—you have to tell them exactly what to do every minute.” The COOKBOOK Mentality 27

THE COMMON CORE Extreme #2: “Just leave me alone and let me teach—only the teacher really knows what is important for kids to learn.” The ISLAND Mentality 28

THE COMMON CORE Educational leaders have as a primary calling the task of distinguishing the most critical achievement targets at each stage of a student’s educational journey. To avoid an overcrowded curriculum, educational leaders need to differentiate between those topics that are essential and those that are simply nice to know. 29 The Common Core purportedly are consistent with the above tasks but… “When the classroom door closes…”

THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS PURPORTEDLY… 1.are clearly written so students, fellow teachers, and parents know what is expected. 2.focus on the most critical targets for student learning. 30

THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS PURPORTEDLY… capture big ideas, enduring understandings, and can encompass many achievement targets. represent a balance of “VERB RIGOR” ranging from less complex to more complex. “Raise the Bar” of academic rigor. prepare students to be “college and career ready”. 31

THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS PURPORTEDLY… identify a “Core of Knowledge”, Skills, and Processes student need to acquire and be able to perform. ???????????? Yet to be Determined 32

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A Key Reflective Question The Common Core Purportedly Answers… What do students need for success—in school this year, next year, and so on 34 Readiness for the next levels of learning, Leverage, use in more than one subject. Endurance in life, career. “Next Generation of Assessment”????

THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS PURPORTEDLY REFLECT the concepts of: READINESS LEVERAGE ENDURANCE 35

The Common Core Standards Purportedly Answers the Following Questions… Endurance- Endurance- Will this achievement target provide students with knowledge and skills that will be of value beyond a single test? Leverage- Leverage- Will this achievement target provide students with knowledge and skills that well be of value in multiple disciplines? 36

The Common Core Standards Purportedly Answer the Following Questions… (Continued) Readiness for the Next Level of Learning- Readiness for the Next Level of Learning- Will this achievement target provide students with essential knowledge and skills that are necessary for success in the next grade level or next level of instruction? “Next Generation” Preparedness-Will this achievement target provide students a greater opportunity to be successful in regard to the “Next Generation”? “Next Generation” Preparedness-Will this achievement target provide students a greater opportunity to be successful in regard to the “Next Generation”? 37

THE NEXT STEP…. 38 Individual District Analysis, Individual District Understanding, Individual District Implementation, and The Common Core Who’s on First? How do you eat an elephant?