1. P ROFESSIONAL L EARNING C OMMUNITIES Stevens High School 2012-2013

2. C HAPTER 2 – S ETTING THE S TAGE FOR C OMMON F ORMATIVE A SSESSMENT Formative versus Summative Assessment Formative AssessmentSummative Assessment Assessment occurs during the learning process, and the results will be used to help students continue to learn. Used to make a difference in student learning Assessment occurs after the learning is complete and is used to give a grade or provide a final measure of student results.

3. C OMMON A SSESSMENT Assessments given by teacher teams who teach the same content or grade level – those with “collective responsibility for the learning of a group of students who are expected to acquire the same knowledge and skills” (DuFour, 2010). Common Assessments use “the same instrument or a common process utilizing the same criteria for determining the quality of student work” (DuFour, 2010). Common Formative assessments are written by teacher teams around the learning targets the team has identified as the most important ones to be taught.

4. P RINCIPLES OF PLC Begin a process of assuring equity for all the students your team serves by answering: What knowledge and skills should every student acquire as a result of this unit of instruction? Equity Your students will learn the same important learning targets no matter which teacher they have.

5. C ORRECTIVE I NSTRUCTION Instruction that occurs for some students whose assessment results indicate they have not learned a particular skill or strategy at a proficient level. Instruction that is different than the initial instruction in a way that teachers believe will help the student understand and learn the skill or strategy.

6. B ALANCED A SSESSMENT S YSTEM In a balanced assessment system, teachers have access to both formative and summative information. Balanced assessment system includes the following: Classroom assessments worksheets, clickers, exit slips, final exams, final projects Common formative assessments Tasks assessed with rubrics, common worksheets Interim or benchmark assessments Quarterly tests External summative assessments ACT, DSTEP, SAT, AP exams

7. G RADING P RACTICES Should common formative assessments be graded? Research has shown that when a grade is given, the student does not learn how to do better from that evaluation.

8. C HAPTER 3 – P OWER S TANDARDS -T HE E SSENTIAL O UTCOMES Teams must agree about what is most important for their students to learn and what it will look like when students learn it All standards are not equal in value Power standards are the basis for common formative assessments and for determining the additional time and support students need when they experience difficulty

9. M OVING F ROM I NDIVIDUAL TO T EAM D ECISIONS What do we want our students to learn? Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum Guaranteed Any student in the school will be taught the same content and to the same degree of understanding Viable Teachers have adequate time to teach the curriculum

10. P OWER S TANDARDS The critical skills, knowledge, and dispositions each student must acquire as a result of each course, grade level, and unit of instruction Teams identify standards that are most important for all students to know Teachers will still teach all of the standards, but they will emphasize the power standards in their work

11. W HAT M AKES L EARNING E SSENTIAL ? Endurance Knowledge and skills of value beyond a single test Leverage Knowledge and skills of value in multiple disciplines Readiness Knowledge and skills necessary for success in the next grade level or next level of instruction Teams look for approximately one-third of their state standards to fit one or more of these criteria

12. B UILDING C ONSENSUS AS A T EAM 1. Teachers individually review the list of standards for a subject area This step should not take a great deal of time 2. Teachers build consensus as a team about which standards are power standards The final product needs to be agreed on by everyone It is important that teams do not default

13. A LIGNING THE P OWER S TANDARDS Vertical Alignment Alignment with State Test Blue Prints

14. T IME IS AN I MPORTANT F ACTOR Once your team has created a list of power standards, it is important to decide when to teach each of them and how long it will take Pacing guides do not have to be written so tightly that teachers have to be teaching the same lesson on the same day Teams determine when to administer common formative assessments Assessments administered as close as possible in time for all students – the same day if possible. Teams can plan and execute their corrective instruction together Teachers pace their instruction in their own classrooms so they are ready to give the common formative assessment on the agreed-on day

15. U SE, R EVIEW, AND R EWRITE Teams should keep track of new understandings (which standards they have forgotten and some that should be cut) so you can revise your list for the following year

16. P UTTING IT A LL T OGETHER Unwrapping Standards Form At completion, teams ask themselves the following questions: Do you feel that your team has clear direction on the concepts and skills that will be taught and assessed? Did you get clarity on the academic language you want to reinforce in your instruction?

17. C HAPTER 4 – T HE U NWRAPPING P ROCESS – A CHIEVING C OLLECTIVE C LARITY ON L EARNING T ARGETS Standards are often written in terms that might be interpreted differently from teacher to teacher. The unwrapping process is a strategy to achieve collective clarity and agreement regarding specific learning targets contained within the standards. By identifying specific learning targets through the unwrapping process, teams will be prepared to design aligned and accurate assessment items.

18. S TANDARDS Regardless of the state in which you teach, all standards contain two distinct elements: A set of concepts that students must ultimately know or understand (declarative knowledge – related to concepts and ideas) A set of skills that students should be able to perform (procedural knowledge – what students should be able to do with their knowledge)

19. U NWRAPPING THE S TANDARDS – S TEP O NE : F OCUS ON THE K EY W ORDS Circle the words that depict the skills; in other words, circle the things students should be able to do (which are expressed as verbs) that are contained within the standard. Underline the words that indicate the knowledge or concepts that students should know (expressed as nouns) that are the focus of the standard. By highlighting key words in the standard, you will ensure that everyone on the team is focused on the same skills and concepts.

20. S TEP T WO : M AP IT O UT What will students do? With what knowledge or concepts? In what context?

21. D EALING WITH V AGUE OR A MBIGUOUS L EARNING T ARGETS To effectively break down a standard into teachable and measurable increments, teams should discuss and clarify the sequence – identify the learning targets that are implied but not explicitly mentioned. Clarify unmeasurable targets with verb substitution.

22. S TEP T HREE : A NALYZE THE T ARGET Teams use a common framework to examine the level of thinking in order to build consensus. Bloom’s Taxonomy for Learning Marzano’s Taxonomy Webb’s Depth of Knowledge

23. S TEP F OUR : D ETERMINE THE B IG I DEAS Guiding Questions: What are the “V-8 ideas” or Aha material that we want every student to retain after our instruction? What concepts do we consider to be enduring understandings that extend beyond the instruction over time? Do any of the concepts obtained in this unit have the potential for application in other areas of life? Do these big ideas serve as culminating nuggets of information?

24. S TEP F IVE : E STABLISH G UIDING Q UESTIONS TO B E A NSWERED IN Y OUR I NSTRUCTION Guiding questions lead students to seek and acquire answers to the big ideas.

25. P UTTING IT A LL T OGETHER Unwrapping Standards Form At completion, teams ask themselves the following questions: Do you feel that your team has clear direction on the concepts and skills that will be taught and assessed? Did you get clarity on the academic language you want to reinforce in your instruction?

26. C HAPTER 5 – D ESIGNING Q UALITY C OMMON F ORMATIVE A SSESSMENTS Assessments must provide information about important learning targets that are clear to students and teacher teams. Assessments must provide timely information. Assessments must provide information that tells students and teacher teams what to do next.

27. V ALID AND R ELIABLE A SSESSMENTS Valid Assessment truly measures what the team thinks the students have learned Reliable Students who appear to have learned the concept have actually learned it Students who appear to not have mastered it truly haven't’

28. F IVE S TEP P ROCESS FOR D ESIGNING Q UALITY A SSESSMENT Decide What to Assess Decide How to Assess Develop the Assessment Plan Determine the Timeline Write the Assessment

29. S TEP O NE : D ECIDE WHAT TO A SSESS Formative assessment written around specific learning targets What targets are most likely to cause certain students difficulty? Which targets are prerequisite skills for information to come later in this unit? Which targets are absolutely necessary for students to know?

30. S TEP T WO : D ECIDE H OW TO A SSESS Consider a variety of assessment strategies Selected response Multiple-choice Matching True/false Constructed and extended written response Short/long essay Performance assessments Oral reports Demonstrations

31. S TEP T HREE : D EVELOP THE A SSESSMENT P LAN Consider each identified learning target Decide how to assess that particular target Decide how long the whole assessment will take to administer Decide the cognitive level Decide the number of items to include Recommend three as the minimum number of questions or items for a learning target Recommend four selected-response items for each learning target if they are the only item used

32. S TEP F OUR : D ETERMINE THE T IMELINE Recommend teams to write and administer formative assessments at least every three weeks and as frequently as every week, with each formative assessment written around three learning targets or less

33. S TEP F IVE : W RITE THE A SSESSMENT Test-Item Quality Checklist SHS Homepage Teacher Resources

34. R EVIEW THE A SSESSMENT B EFORE A DMINISTRATION Are the directions clear? Do students know what you are asking them to do and why?

35. S ET P ROFICIENCY C RITERIA AND D ECIDE H OW TO G ATHER D ATA Discuss what proficiency looks like Rubrics Holistic Analytic Chapter 6 Using data to design units and pacing guides