Leadership Curriculum Module SREB Learning-Centered Leadership Program The Wallace Foundation 2008/2009 Assessing Academic Rigor to Ensure Grade- Level.

Leadership Curriculum Module

SREB Learning-Centered Leadership Program

The Wallace Foundation

2008/2009

Assessing Academic Rigor to Ensure Grade-Level Proficiency and College Readiness

Day ThreeOctober 6, 2009

West Virginia State Workshop SeriesBridgeport Convention Center

Clarksburg, West Virginia1

Do Now!

Assessing Academic Rigor 2Assessing Academic Rigor 2

Workshop Goal

• Facilitate school staff in a collaborative effort of academic press to measure and increase classroom rigor in instruction, assessments and objectives, in order to meet the demands of continued education and, ultimately, college or the workplace.


Housekeeping

• Phone calls• Texting, emails• Restrooms• Breaks• Lunch• Punctuality• Sharing• “Rule of Two Feet!”


“Ask It” Basket

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Norms

• Listen with an open mind.• Work toward solutions.• Meet commitments or let others know if you

are struggling to do so.• Embrace change when appropriate.• Respect confidentiality.


Flip Chart Strategy

LiteracyNote-takingOrganizationRelationship Building

Flip Chart ContentsYOUR NAMECHOOSE TWO :

• Family• Education• Work experience• Hobbies/interests• Clubs/organizations• My Hero• Favorites (vacations, music, books, etc.)• What I want to be when I grow up• Something funny about yourself• An interesting experience from your job• Other (your choice)

Flip Chart ContentsSELECT TWO FOR REVIEW:

• One or more of the eight dimensions of the SREB rigor rubric with some of its indicators for implementation

• One or more of the dimensions of the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, with some of the description s(or some of the 19 gerunds)

• The usefulness or value of the RBT for teachers• College readiness –definition and/or measures

of college-readiness (especially those described by Conley)

• Other (your choice of something else you learned in the June workshop that you think is important to remember)

Flip Chart Strategy: Team Share Introduce yourself to your own

school team with one interesting tidbit

Talk about ways to use flip charts in the classroom

Days One and Two OverviewUnderstanding & Applying a Definition of Rigor• Day One:

– Introduction and Overview– What is Rigor, and Why Should We Care? – Building Schoolwide Academic Press and Rigor– Monitoring Schoolwide Rigor: The Rigor Rubric and

Dashboard – Understanding the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Day Two: – Applying the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy: Alignment– Examining Classroom Practices– Homework: Take the learning back to your whole

school; gather data and implement a project of your choosing for increasing schoolwide or classroom rigor.


Day Three OverviewAnalyzing Rigor in Our Classrooms

• School Team Presentations: Building Schoolwide and Classroom Rigor

• Applying the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy for Increasing Rigor at the Classroom Level

• Aligning Units and Activities Using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Using a Collaborative Process with the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Homework: Develop and implement a unit of study of your choosing, aligned along the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy for increasing rigor at the classroom level and bring it with you to the Day Four workshop.


Day Four OverviewSustaining Our Progress• Sharing Our Progress and Future Challenges • Debriefing with Other School Teams• Peer Review of Sample Units for Level of Rigor• Sharing and Extending the Work• What Have We Learned? Action Planning


Remember: Cycle of Low Achievement


Low Expectations

Low Level Assignments/ Instruction

Poor Test Results

Less Challenging Courses

Remember: Definition of Rigor

Rigor is the expectation that students will be able to perform at levels of cognitive complexity necessary for proficiency at each grade level, and readiness for college and the workplace..

Assessing Academic Rigor

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Remember: Dimensions of the SREB Rigor Rubric

• Assessment for Learning• Collaboration• Coursetaking Patterns• Curriculum Coherence• Expectations for Student Work• Grading Practices• Instructional Strategies• Student Support


Two Dimensions of the RBT


D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1D. Metacog-nitive

Knowledge

C6 C5 C4 C3 C2 C1C. Procedural

Knowledge

B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1B. Conceptual Knowledge

A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A. Factual Knowledge

1. REMEMBER

RecognizingRecalling

2.UNDERSTAND

InterpretingExemplifyingClassifying

SummarizingInferring

ComparingExplaining

3.APPLY

ExecutingImplementing

4.ANALYZE

DifferentiatingOrganizingAttributing

5.EVALUATE

CheckingCritiquing

6.CREATE

GeneratingPlanning

Producing

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Rigor & Alignment• Alignment of instruction and assessment with

standards/objectives that are at those levels of cognitive complexity is a critical part of increasing rigor in schools.

• But---all too often---the gap between the levels of cognitive complexity in the standards and the levels in assignments increases as students progress through grade levels.


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Team Presentations

• Description of project: Goals, activities, rationale, considerations

• Findings: +/-, obstacles• Learning points: Team, individuals• Next steps• What do you think other schools can learn

from your experience?


Team Presentations - Feedback Protocol

• Praise: Ideas that are promising; positive feedback

• Question: Questions to clarify or expand upon something

• Polish: Suggestions and ideas for consideration (may be posed in the form of questions)

Use planner page 9 and Notes page (p. 32)


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BREAKSREBSREB

Review Activity: Using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

Decide the RBT code for the objectives, the activities and the assessment of the economics unit Money: Kids and Cash.

Planner pages 9-11

Two Dimensions of the RBT


D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1D. Metacog-nitive

Knowledge

C6 C5 C4 C3 C2 C1C. Procedural

Knowledge

B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1B. Conceptual Knowledge

A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A. Factual Knowledge

1. REMEMBER

RecognizingRecalling

2.UNDERSTAND

InterpretingExemplifyingClassifying

SummarizingInferring

ComparingExplaining

3.APPLY

ExecutingImplementing

4.ANALYZE

DifferentiatingOrganizingAttributing

5.EVALUATE

CheckingCritiquing

6.CREATE

GeneratingPlanning

Producing

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Evaluating Alignment - Algebra Unit

1. Use the poster-sized taxonomy matrix and pages 12-13 in your planner.

2. Review Algebra Unit (Handout) 3. Write the number of each element on a color-coded

sticky note. 4. Determine correct RBT cell for each element and

place note on the RBT poster. 5. Discuss follow-up questions on page 14.6. Be prepared to share out your ideas on how to

improve the alignment and level of rigor of the unit.Assessing Academic Rigor

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Algebra Unit Follow-up Questions

1. Look at the overall alignment of the elements in this Algebra Unit. How would you rate the alignment? Strong or weak? Why?

2. What advice would you give this teacher for improving the alignment and level of rigor of this unit?

3. How could this alignment activity be used/adapted as a professional development activity during common planning time back in your schools?

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LUNCHSREBSREB

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Using Collaborative Protocols

• What is a protocol? A structured process with clear goals and

steps---like the one you just used.• See planner p. 15-21.• Let’s take a deeper look at one collaborative

protocol: the tuning protocol (planner p. 22-23).

• Next let’s model the tuning protocol and the RBT as a tool for reviewing a lesson plan.

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Protocols for Looking at Teacher Assignments and Student Work

• A protocol consists of agreed upon guidelines for a conversation, and it is the existence of this structure -- which everyone understands and has agreed to -- that permits a certain kind of conversation to occur -- often a kind of conversation which people are not in the habit of having.

• Protocols are vehicles for building the skills and culture necessary for collaborative work. Thus, using protocols often allows groups to build trust by actually doing substantive work together.

Popular Protocols http://www.lasw.org/methods.html

• Art Shack • ATLAS Learning from Student Work • Charrette • Collaborative Assessment Conference • Constructivist Protocol • Consultancy • Describing Students' Work • Slice • Standards in Practice • Tuning Protocol

Standards in Practice

• Standards in Practice (SIP) has been developed by the Education Trust as a "quality control tool" for analyzing and improving the quality of instruction provided to students. The SIP process is typically used, in bi-monthly meetings of small teams of teachers, guidance counselors, parents.

• The process calls for a close examination of teachers' assignments and student work against a relevant standard or set of standards.

The Tuning Protocol

• The Tuning Protocol was developed by the Coalition of Essential Schools as a means of providing teachers feedback on the authentic assessment systems they were engaged in developing.

The Tuning Protocol

• A teacher, or team of teachers, presents samples of student work and the context for the work (assignment, rubric) and a focusing question about which he or she would especially welcome discussion.

The Tuning Protocol

After carefully reviewing the work, participants provide "warm" and "cool" feedback on the work while the presenter listens in silence, who then reflects on what she's heard. The Tuning Protocol may be facilitated by someone from inside or outside the group using it.

Raising Expectations for Teacher Assignments

• Question levels• Types of activities• Essential questions• Ties to standards• Reflection

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BREAKSREBSREB

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Using Collaborative Protocols

• Next let’s practice the tuning protocol and the RBT as a tool to review a lesson plan.

• Planner pages 24-26• Discuss what the group learned about using

the protocol.• Discuss what the group learned about raising

the rigor of activities.

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How to expand the protocol: Evaluating your students’ performance

• Share the assignment and scoring guide.• Distribute papers.• Use the tuning protocol with both the assignment

and the student work.• Discuss what the group learned about student

performance.

Do your teachers all understand proficiency?

How can you replicate this process in your school?

Action Planning

• How will you engage the entire staff?• What strategies will you try first? Next?• How will you inform people? Get people

organized?• What is your action plan for the next month,

before the next session in December?• What will be your action plan for the rest of

the school year?

Homework between Days Three and Four

• Practice using the taxonomy on some standards.• Create your own case studies. Individually,

develop a unit related to one or more of the analyzed standards.

• As a leadership team support each other using the tuning protocol to give each other feedback.

• Bring the case study materials to the December session. See planner page 29.

Exit Tickets


Leadership Curriculum Module SREB Learning-Centered Leadership Program The Wallace Foundation 2008/2009 Assessing Academic Rigor to Ensure Grade- Level.

Documents

classroom rigor

schoolwide rigor

increasing rigor

classroom slide

definition of rigor

sreb rigor rubric

academic rigor11 slide

choice slide