1. Adaptations for Struggling Learners K–5
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Leadership Pathway:
Adaptations for Struggling Learners K–5
145 min as designed
Materials:
Handout: Scavenger Hunt
Handout: Adaptation Process
Downloaded by participants as prework:
Grade 3 Curriculum Overview A Story of Units, pages (9 pgs) and the Module 3 Overview (10 pages)
Participants will likely want to refer to their SAP Focus handout from the previous day as well.
Documents are from:
Grade 3 all math curricula (scroll down past module 1):
July 2016

2. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Adaptation Session
Objectives:
Participants will be able to assess a curriculum for Focus and use across grade Coherence to guide adaptation.
Participants will be able to adapt a curriculum map for students below grade level.
Participants will be able to identify the technical problems and adaptive challenges that must be addressed in order to lead change.
Agenda:
Opening
Naming the Challenge
Curriculum Map Scavenger Hunt
Curriculum Map Adaptation
Adaptive Challenges
Reflection
Survey
1 min
Speaker Notes:
We’ll start by naming the challenge we have with struggling learners in mathematics.
What we learned about Focus and Coherence yesterday is really going to drive what happens in your schools for these children.
Since one of the answers lies in how we adapt curriculum maps, we’ll first look at one curriculum map and learn how to figure out if the scope and sequence places a correct emphasis on the major work of the grade. We want you to to be able to do this with any grade level of your own curricula back at home.
Next, you will practice making some adaptation decisions based on your identification of the major work and the prerequisites needed for below grade level students to engage in that on-grade-level work.
Last, we’ll look at this work from a leadership lens and one part of the Adaptive Leadership framework by Ronald Heifetz.

3. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Naming the Challenge
What percentage of your students are not
at grade level in mathematics?
2 min
Speaker’s Notes:
Say: Think for a moment. What percentage of your students are not at grade level, do you estimate?
Share responses with a show of hands (less than 25%, 25%– 50%, more than 50%).
We all know, though, that students don’t show up on grade level. What do we do with students who have gaps?
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4. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Avoiding the “Blanket Review”
2 min
Speaker’s Notes:
We are trying to avoid the kind of “blanket review” that we grew accustomed to in the past—spending half the year reviewing what we did last year.
Acknowledge that teachers might think teaching previous grade-level content for the first part of the year IS addressing prerequisite thoughtfully— rather than embedding prerequisites where they make the most sense coherently with the major work of the current grade level.

5. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Percentage of 8th Grade Math Lessons That Were Entirely Review, By Country (1999)
1 min
Speaker’s Notes:
In fact, TIMSS data show that in the United States, we spend a major chunk of the school year just reviewing. While all of the other data come from 1999, the asterisk indicates Japan's data came from Things have not changed very much in this country since then.

6. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 From the Appendix to the Publishers’ Criteria
“The natural distribution of prior knowledge in classrooms should not prompt abandoning instruction in grade-level content, but should prompt explicit attention to connecting grade-level content to content from prior learning. To do this, instruction should reflect the progressions on which the CCSSM are built Much unfinished learning from earlier grades can be managed best inside grade-level work when the progressions are used to understand student thinking.”
4 min
Speaker’s Notes:
Allow participants to read this to themselves.
Unfinished prior learning is best completed in context. That is, we find the places in our curriculum where unfinished earlier learning logically fits. This allows us to preserve focus and coherence.
Ask: If this is the case, what strikes you about what you and your teachers need to know and to be able to do in order to make this happen?
MAIN POINTS:
Understand the Coherence shift and how it helps students access grade-level work.
Know the prerequisite standards well or how to find them, and use them to inform grad- level instruction.
Use the prerequisites in instructional planning.
In order for you to lead or support teachers with this, it is important for you to apply what you now know about Focus and Coherence to curriculum maps. Let’s analyze one now.

7. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Curriculum Map Scavenger Hunt
You’ll look at:
The curriculum map for the year
Titles of each module
The standards associated with each module
1 min
Speaker’s Notes:
The first step is to be able to diagnose how well any curriculum map attends to the major work of the grade
Specifically, we want you to be able to determine how much time is spent on the major work standards as well as when in the school year students are immersed in the major work (early, not late).
For this activity you’ll be looking at “A Story of Units”—the curriculum map for P–5 ENY curriculum from Grade 3.
We’ll first take some time to see what is in this unit.
Hand out Grade 3 Curriculum Overview, A Story of Units, pages 34–43 (9 pgs)

8. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Curriculum Map Scavenger Hunt
The purpose of this activity is to practice analyzing a curriculum map for Focus, an essential input when making decisions about adjusting scope and sequences.
How many modules focus on major work?
How many days of instruction are needed?
What percent of the instructional year is this?
Name all modules that include major work, supporting, and additional content standards.
20 min
Speaker Notes:
Handout Scavenger Hunt. They will use the Curriculum Map that they downloaded as part of their pre-work.
You have 15 minutes. Choose your preferred way of working: alone; in pairs or in very small groups (3 or 4 people). If you are more than a pair, move together so you can track where you are in the document.
5 min - When done, share answers. Answers are as follows:
Grade 3
Scope and Sequence:
1. Five out of seven focus on major work (Modules 6 and 7 excluded)
Module 1: All OA major work
Module 2: NBT Additional cluster and MD major work
Module 3: return to all OA major work
Module 4: MD major work (geometric measurement and multiplication)
Module 5: NF major work
Module 6: MD supporting cluster
Module 7: MD supporting/additional clusters AND G major work
instructional days
3. 72%
4. Module 5: Fractions as Numbers on the Number Line; Module 7 Recognize perimeter…
Transition: Reminder of the purpose for this activity: knowing Focus is an important input when making decisions about adjusting scope and sequences.
Now that we have a good idea of what is in this scope and sequence, let’s talk about how it would be adapted for kids who struggle.
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9. Consider expanding focus on major content where necessary.
ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Adaptation Process: Scope and Sequence
Use the progressions to add prerequisite standards from prior grades to all units.
Consider expanding focus on major content where necessary.
+ X.1, Y.2
+ X.1, Z.5
+ Z.2
+ X.3
+ X.1, Z.5
+ X.1, Y.5
+ X.4, Y.5, Z.6
X = Grade Below
Y = 2 Grades Below
Z = 3 Grades Below
5 min
Speaker Notes:
The answer lies in how we use time, knowing the prerequisites, when we conduct reviews and how.
Adapting for students with gaps is a multi-step process.
Some curricula look like this— where major, supporting and additional clusters are spread throughout the year.
When we consider a scope and sequence, we start by thinking about the prerequisites for all units. Imagine, here, that “Grade X” is the year before, “Grade Y” is two years prior,” and “Grade Z” is three years below the grade you teach.
When a unit is focused on Major Content—we consider spending more time there. This slide is about thinking about what you might need to add.
Major Content
Major Content
Major Content

10. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Adaptation Process: Lessons
Adapt lessons to include prerequisite content in the context of grade-level objectives.
The prerequisite standards we associate with each unit allow us to adapt lessons and add additional lessons.
Consider adding additional lessons that address prerequisite content where necessary and appropriate.
5 min
Speaker Notes:
We are also able to adapt lessons themselves.
We use grade-level content as opportunities to review prior learning; for example, using addition of fractions with unlike denominators as an opportunity to review fraction equivalence.
If necessary, we add additional content lessons as well, where necessary and appropriate. In cases where upwards of 50% of students are not at grade level, this strategy should be emphasized more.
Ask: what structures do you already have in place to help add additional lessons to address the prerequisites?
Sample answers may include use of RTI time or Gap or Flex days. If they don’t offer those strategies, ask if anyone is using these structures to review prerequisites prior to on-grade-level work (they may only use them in response to formative assessment data).
The next slide shows an example of a curriculum that helps you with this. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

11. 4 min
Speaker Notes:
This is a screen shot from Module 1 of the Story of Units. Point out the recommendations for consolidating and omitting lessons. If you know you can omit a lesson, then you know you have room you can use to plug in the prerequisites. Also note the balance of Rigor it claims.
Let’s look at the Story of Units third grade curriculum map, tap into what we know about Coherence, and make some proposals about how to adjust it for struggling students.

12. Identify adaptations for the sequence of lessons within the module.
ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 A Pivotal Moment for Third Graders
It is late October, and you are leading a third grade team as team members plan to implement Module 3 in A Story of Units. Historically, this team has had good success ensuring that students are fluent with their multiplication and division facts, but the data indicate that a significant percentage of students struggle with applying what they know about these two operations to new or novel problems.
What do you and the team need to do to adapt this module, so these children catch up?
Identify the prerequisite standards you'd need to add to adapt this module.
Identify adaptations for the sequence of lessons within the module.
Identify adaptations for the year-long scope and sequence.
25 min
Speaker Notes:
20 min
Ask participants to take out or open the Module 3 Overview (ten pages) that they were asked to download for pre-work. Use it along with the standards and the “Coherence Map” to determine the prerequisite standards to add to Module 3.
Then consider if you would think about adding more time to this module, and why (or why not).
5 min
Ask two groups/people to share what they adapted and why.

13. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Final Points and Recommended Practices
Adaptations for struggling learners should take place within the units and lessons.
More time can be given to the units with major work of the grade, by adjusting the scope and sequence.
When a review is needed, teachers should use the prerequisites at the beginning of a lesson to prepare students for the lesson’s grade-level content.
If necessary, we can add additional content lessons as well, where necessary and appropriate.
In cases where upward of 50% of students are not at grade level, this strategy should be emphasized more.
10 min (2 slides)
Speaker’s Notes:
<Click> through each bullet point, and test for misconceptions or misunderstandings.
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14. It is not a wise practice to:
ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Final Points and Recommended Practices
It is not a wise practice to:
Conduct mass reviews of content from prior grade levels, even for students who are below grade level.
Fill in learning gaps with mnemonics and recall strategies to unfinished learning from prior grades.
10 min (both slides)
Speaker’s Notes:
<Click> through each bullet point, and test for misconceptions or misunderstandings.
Transition: We’re going to move now to leadership, and to some considerations for leaders who need to ensure mathematics is happening the way it should in schools.
IMAGE CREDITS
Preserving Focus and Coherence is essential!

15. Leading Adaptive Change
1 min
Speaker Notes:
We want to move your view of this work from the details of curriculum and lessons and back to the role of the leader. This last section of our day will be rooted in the work of Ronald Heifetz, who first mapped out the theory of Adaptive Leadership. While Adaptive Leadership, in its entirely, is a deep and complex leadership framework that we encourage every leader to study, for today, we will pull out a couple of its basic tenets to help you plan your next steps in this work.

16. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Individually Reflect and Write
When you think about the current state of mathematics curricula, planning, and instruction back at home and when you think about what you have learned in these past two days . . .
How would you describe the ideal for this challenge
and the reality as it exists now?
How wide is that gap and in what ways?
5 min
Speaker’s Notes:
Let’s start—as Heifetz always does—with diagnosis of where you want to go and where you are now.
Individual reflection and writing time.

17. “An adaptive challenge is one which the team may have
ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Technical Problem? Adaptive Challenge?
“An adaptive challenge is one which the team may have
no idea how to solve.” Adaptive challenges can only be addressed through shifts in people’s values, beliefs, behaviors, priorities, habits, and loyalties. Adaptive challenges require learning.
“Technical problems have known solutions” that can be implemented by someone, somewhere. Not easy or unimportant, but the problems are well-defined. Technical problems require resources and expertise.
“Problems do not always come neatly packaged as either adaptive or technical. Most problems come mixed, with the technical and adaptive aspects intertwined.”
Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, Marty Linskey
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
10 min
Speaker’s Notes:
Heifetz says, “The most common cause of failure in leadership is produced by treating adaptive challenges as if they were technical problems.” Let’s look at definitions of these terms and then discuss an example.
<Click> through each definition.
Let me give you an example:
A high school has very poor attendance, roughly around 70% on any given day – that is its current reality.
The school knows that its ideal is to be above 90% attendance on any given day.
So there is a 20 percentage point gap between the ideal and the current reality. It is very clear.
Ask: having heard this—what might be going on? Take two answers.
Let me give you a little more information:
Technically, they also know they have a lousy attendance system.
There is no clear process for teachers to send an accurate accounting of students present each day—much less each period. They use a handwritten list that must be delivered by a student to the office. It is unclear how often this should be done or in what timeframe.
These are all technical problems. The problems are well-defined, and they have known solutions all they need are some resources and/or expertise.
If the school takes care of all of these problems, do you think it will get to its 90% goal? Why or why not?
No—because an attendance reporting process and some jazzy software will not address the shifts needed in values, beliefs, behaviors, priorities, habits, or loyalties.
You have to address both.

18. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Individually Reflect and Write
Which parts of your challenge are adaptive? Which are technical?
Have you been applying technical fixes to the adaptive work?
In what ways are these changes adaptive for you?
What do you have to learn?
What shifts do you have to make in values, beliefs, behaviors, habits, loyalties, and/or priorities?
What will you do now?
7 min
Speaker’s Notes:
This will be a think-pair-share. First, take seven minutes to write your reflections to the following:
Now, we’d like you to reflect on the adaptive and technical aspects to making the ideal state happen for your work.
First <Click> write about the adaptive and technical aspect of your challenge. Reflect on whether you have been applying technical fixes to the adaptive work.
But we often think of change as something that others have to do, so please also reflect on <Click> the ways these changes you’d like to see are adaptive for you.
And finally <Click> set intention for what you want to do next.

19. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Pair and Share
Which parts of your challenge are adaptive? Which parts are technical?
Have you been applying technical fixes to the adaptive work?
In what ways are these changes adaptive for you?
What do you have to learn?
What shifts do you have to make in values, beliefs, behaviors, habits, loyalties, and/or priorities?
What will you do now?
15 min
Speaker’s Notes:
10 minutes—Stand and find a partner. Have a paired sharing of your reflections. We’d especially like you to share your own personal reflections on the adaptive work you must do personally.
5 Minutes— Remain standing and ask for people to share one to two reflections for the whole group to hear.

20. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5
1 min
Speaker’s Notes:
Tomorrow, we change to ELA, and we change content facilitators. Thank you for our mathematics learning these past two days. And thank you, participants, for helping us create a space where it is “safe to not know” and to ”get smarter together.”
Transition: Time for our end-of-day survey.
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21. Feedback
Please fill out the survey located here:
-Click “Summer 2016” on the top right
-Click “Details” on the center of the page
5 min
Speaker Notes:
Please fill out the survey to help us improve!

22. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 References
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23. ADAPTATIONS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS K–5 Image Credits
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