Instructional Leadership and the Iowa Core ELA Standards
Great Prairie AEABurlington: April 9, 2013Ottumwa: April 16, 2013
revised from www.achievethecore.org
Continuing our Implementation Action Planning• Knowledge to lead implementation of the Iowa Core State
Standards.
• Vision to integrate the implementation of the Common Core State Standards into broad education improvement efforts.
• (Metrics to clearly describe what successful progress in implementation looks like and facilitates a flexible cycle of change.)
• Build capacity so that all members of the education landscape are learning together.
• Stay engaged to keep informed of the latest developments and resources.
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1. Knowledge: Common Core State Standards OverviewRATIONALE, PRINCIPLES, AND SHIFTS
2. VisionAN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING FOCUS AND COHERENCE
3. MetricsCLEAR GOALS, A PICTURE OF PROGRESS, AND A COMMITMENT TO MONITOR AND ADJUST
4. Build CapacitySUPPORT A LEARNING ORGANIZATION IN WHICH LEARNING TOGETHER IS VALUED
5. Stay EngagedTHE WORK IS DEVELOPING. STAY ENGAGED AND CONTINUE LEARNING.
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Common Core State Standards for ELA/Literacy: Key Shifts
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Shift #1: Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich Nonfiction
• Much of our knowledge base comes from informational text
• Informational text makes up the vast majority of required reading in college/workplace (80%)
• Informational text harder for students to comprehend than narrative text
• Yet, students are asked to read very little of it in elementary (7 - 15%) and middle school
• CCSS moves percentages to ‒ 50:50 at elementary level
‒ 60:40 at middle school*
‒ 75:25 at high school* (*includes ELA, science, social studies)
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Shift #2: Reading, Writing & Speaking Grounded in Evidence, Both Literary and Informational• Most college and workplace writing requires evidence.
• Ability to cite evidence differentiates strong from weak student performance on NAEP
• Evidence is a major emphasis of the ELA Standards: Reading Standard 1, Writing Standard 9, Speaking and Listening standards 2, 3 and 4, all focus on the gathering, evaluating and presenting of evidence from text.
• Being able to locate and deploy evidence are hallmarks of strong readers and writers
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Shift #3: Regular Practice with Complex Text and its Academic Language
• Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is huge.
• What students can read, in terms of complexity is greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study).
• Too many students reading at too low a level (Less than 50% of graduates can read sufficiently complex texts).
• Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity from elementary through high school.
• Standards also focus on building vocabulary that is shared across many types of complex texts and many content areas.
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1. Knowledge: Common Core State Standards OverviewRATIONALE, PRINCIPLES , AND SHIFTS
2. VisionAN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING FOCUS AND COHERENCE
3. MetricsCLEAR GOALS, A PICTURE OF PROGRESS, AND A COMMITMENT TO MONITOR AND ADJUST
4. Build CapacitySUPPORT A LEARNING ORGANIZATION IN WHICH LEARNING TOGETHER IS VALUED
5. Stay EngagedTHE WORK IS DEVELOPING. STAY ENGAGED AND CONTINUE LEARNING.
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www.achievethecore.org
Visionary Leadership: CCSS as an Opportunity to Lead with Focus and Coherence
• Clear vision of college and career readiness for all students.
• Cannot be viewed as one more thing to do.
• Leadership decisions are filtered through the shifts.
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VISION
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VIDEO 1
Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
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VIDEO 2
Gorillas
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VIDEO 3
Pinwheel Discussion
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/high-school-literature-lesson-plan/
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revised from www.achievethecore.org
Key Questions to be asking:
• What do you value in PD?• How does your community know what you value in PD?• What do you look for in teacher observations?• How does your community know what you look for in
teacher observations?• How have you organized common collaborative planning
time to help teachers focus on implementation of the Iowa Core?• How are you spending:
‒ Money?‒ Time?‒ Energy?
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www.achievethecore.org
1. Knowledge: Common Core State Standards OverviewRationale, Principles, and Shifts
2. VisionAN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING FOCUS AND COHERENCE
3. MetricsCLEAR GOALS, A PICTURE OF PROGRESS, AND A COMMITMENT TO MONITOR AND ADJUST
4. Build CapacitySUPPORT A LEARNING ORGANIZATION IN WHICH LEARNING TOGETHER IS VALUED
5. Stay EngagedTHE WORK IS DEVELOPING. STAY ENGAGED AND CONTINUE LEARNING.
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revised from www.achievethecore.org
Metrics: The First Step
• Directly connected to visionary leadership.
• Everyone in the system needs clarity around the goals – what it will look like when implemented.
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Questions to Guide Early Action Steps - Shift 1
Do we have an appropriate balance of literary and informational texts in classrooms?Do we have an appropriate balance of literary and informational texts in our media center?Do we have Exemplar texts (Appendix B) available for our students?Do the texts contain accurate, timely information?Do our media center policies enhance or impede student access to these materials?
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Questions to Guide Early Action Steps - Shift 2
Have teachers and students developed a habit of “using evidence from text” to support their thinking?What instructional practices are used to allow ALL students to engage in this kind of work?Are teachers integrating all 4 strands (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening and Language) purposefully within a lesson?
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Questions to Guide Early Action Steps - Shift 3
•Are teachers familiar with using the three part model to judge text complexity? Are teachers adept at using the three part model?•Is vocabulary taught in isolation? Are students given regular opportunities to use academic language in discussion and writing?•Are hard texts assigned? Or do teachers regularly use scaffolds to work with increasingly complex text?•Are students reading for a variety of purposes and materials across the day?
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www.achievethecore.org
1. Knowledge: Common Core State Standards OverviewRationale, Principles and Shifts
2. VisionAN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING FOCUS AND COHERENCE
3. MetricsCLEAR GOALS, A PICTURE OF PROGRESS, AND A COMMITMENT TO MONITOR AND ADJUST
4. Build CapacitySUPPORT A LEARNING ORGANIZATION IN WHICH LEARNING TOGETHER IS VALUED
5. Stay EngagedTHE WORK IS DEVELOPING. STAY ENGAGED AND CONTINUE LEARNING.
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Build Capacity
• You are acting as lead learner – this content is new to everyone.
• Not an issue of compliance.
• Teachers need opportunities to learn and process these expectations – not just a new scope and sequence.
• Everyone in the system needs to respect this work for what it is, an opportunity to reform education.
• Recognize this as hard work, worth doing.
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Stages of Change
Look for people to go through the stages of awareness, application and experimentation, and ownership.
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ACTIVITY
Building Capacity for the Work
Planning for Professional Development – How are we moving closer to the target?
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www.achievethecore.org
1. Knowledge: Common Core State Standards OverviewRationale, Principles, and Shifts
2. VisionAN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING FOCUS AND COHERENCE
3. MetricsCLEAR GOALS, A PICTURE OF PROGRESS, AND A COMMITMENT TO MONITOR AND ADJUST
4. Build CapacitySUPPORT A LEARNING ORGANIZATION IN WHICH LEARNING TOGETHER IS VALUED
5. Stay EngagedTHE WORK IS DEVELOPING. STAY ENGAGED AND CONTINUE LEARNING.
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revised from www.achievethecore.org
Stay Engaged
• Unleash the potential of Common in Common Core State Standards
• Professional organizations
• State leadership
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Additional Web Resources
• Parents and Community • District-level personnel• School-level administrators• Instructional support• Teachers• Students
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