Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum What is it all about?

Cycle of a Collaborative Team Step 1: Identify Power Standards What do we really want students to know and be able to do? Cycle of a Collaborative Team Step 4: Participate in ongoing data-driven decision making How do we respond when they aren't learning, or if they already know it? Step 2: Design/Use Assessments for Learning How will we know students are learning (before it’s too late)? this visual illustrates the ongoing process in which a collaborative team engages…we believe this process addresses many of the issues currently facing our district Step 3: Design & Deliver Effective Instruction What are research-based practices that will lead to student learning of power standards and beyond? © Capistrano Unified School District

Creating a guaranteed, viable curriculum is the number-one factor for increased levels of learning. (Marzano, What Works in Schools 2003)

To Improve Student Achievement Create a guaranteed and viable curriculum. Establish a limited number of power standards. Pursue clear and focused essential academic goals. Develop a compact list of learning expectations and tangible exemplars of student proficiency.

Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum Only happens when teachers--who are called on to deliver the curriculum--work collaboratively to: Study the intended curriculum and agree on priorities within the curriculum. Clarify how the curriculum translates into specific student knowledge and skills. Establish pacing guidelines for delivering the curriculum. Commit to one another that they will actually teach the curriculum. (DuFour and Marzano, Leaders of Learning, 2011)

Keep, Drop, Create Tom Many p. 65 in Learning by Doing Once a qtr. Teachers devote a meeting to analysis of the intended vs. the implemented curriculum Topics identified in essential curriculum documents & in teachers lesson plan book- Keep (yellow post it) Topics identified as essential but not in planbook-Create (green) Topics in planbook but not in essential curriculum-Drop (pink)

Four Critical Questions of Learning What is it that we expect students to learn? How will we know when they have learned it? How will we respond when they don’t learn? How will we respond when they already know it? Stress the first This is what we must do before anything else. Get consensus

Criteria for Identifying Essential Common Outcomes To separate the essential from the peripheral, apply these three criteria to each standard: Endurance: Are students expected to retain the skills or knowledge long after the test is completed? Leverage: Is this skill or knowledge applicable to many academic disciplines? Readiness for the next level of learning: Is this skill or knowledge preparing the student for success in the next grade or course? (Reeves & Ainsworth, Power Standards: Identifying the Standards That Matters Most, 2003) This is the criteria we use to select power standards

Advantages of Team Discussion of Essential Learning Greater clarity regarding the interpretation of standards. Greater consistency regarding the importance of different standards. Greater consistency in the amount of time devoted to different standards (common pacing). Common outcomes & common pacing are essential prerequisites for a team to create common assessments and team interventions. Greater ownership of & commitment to standards

Levels of Curricula at Work in School Intended: What we want them to learn Implemented: What actually gets taught Attained: What they actually learn To impact the attained curriculum in the most powerful way, make certain the implemented curriculum is guaranteed and viable. (Marzano, What Works in Schools 2003)

Assessing Our Current Reality Consider the five stages of PLC progress regarding: Learning as our Fundamental Purpose (Part 1). Individually, silently and honestly, have team members plot the point where they think the team is on the handout. Discuss: Areas of agreement? Areas of disagreement? Where can you celebrate progress? What areas are you finding problematic?

Where Do We Go from Here? Clearly Defined Outcomes What steps could you take to make progress in these indicators? Complete the “Where Do We Go from Here?” worksheet (electronic one on wiki) to plan/modify action steps with your team. Pg. 53 in conference book Everyone should determine essential skills and concepts in student friendly language (I can statements)

Team Learning Process Consult action steps. Clarify essential learnings (skills, knowledge) for each course/subject to ensure that students have access to a guaranteed and viable curriculum, unit by unit. Define unit. Identify power standards. Unwrap standards. Gain consensus on knowledge, understandings, skills. Develop multiple common formative assessment per year for each course or content area.