Building a Strong Foundation Using standards to drive curriculum, instruction, and assessment

Transcription

1 Building a Strong Foundation Using standards to drive curriculum, instruction, and assessment The Bristol Warren, Burrillville, Central Falls, Cranston, Cumberland, Lincoln, Tiverton, Smithfield, Warwick, and Woonsocket Public Schools and the Segue Institute for Learning, with process support from The Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin

2 Building a Strong Foundation This District Curriculum Framework includes the scope and sequence, year-at-a-glance, and units of study documents developed by local teams of educators, with process facilitation and production support from the Dana Center. Unless otherwise noted, the content of these District Curriculum Framework documents is the property of the participating district(s). Any Dana Center tools, templates, processes, and strategies remain the property of the Dana Center, and any third-party material is the property of that content s copyright holder. It is understood that any copyrighted third-party materials have been purchased by the school district and/or school. In addition, the District Curriculum Framework documents are built on Rhode Island state standards and/or the Common Core State Standards, and/or the Next Generation Science Standards, including Rhode Island Grade Span Expectations for Social Studies Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Next Generation Science Standards. The Rhode Island standards are available at a website of the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (also known as RIDE the Rhode Island Department of Education). The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and the CCSS for English Language Arts and Literacy are copyrighted by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and are available at these CCSS are being used under the NGA Center and CCSSO Public License, available at Any excerpts of the Common Core State Standards included in this resource are Copyright National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. The Next Generation Science Standards were developed by 26 states in collaboration with partners (see in a process managed by Achieve, Inc. The NGSS are available in their entirety at and are being used under the Public License, viewable at Under the terms of this Public License, we include the following copyright notice: The NGSS are Copyright 2013 Achieve, Inc. All rights reserved. ii

3 About the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin The Dana Center works at scale with our nation s education systems to ensure that every student leaves school prepared for success in postsecondary education and the contemporary workplace and for active participation in our modern democracy. We are committed to ensuring that the accident of where a student attends school does not limit the academic opportunities he or she can pursue. Thus, we advocate for high academic standards, and we collaborate with local partners to build the capacity of education systems to ensure that all students can master the content described in these standards. Our portfolio of initiatives, grounded in research and two decades of experience, centers on mathematics and science education from prekindergarten through the early years of college. We focus in particular on strategies for improving student engagement, motivation, persistence, and achievement. We help our partners adapt promising research to meet their local needs and develop innovative resources and systems that we implement through multiple channels, from the highly local and personal to the regional and national. We provide long-term technical assistance, collaborate with partners at all levels of the education system, and advise community colleges and states. We have significant experience and expertise in the following: Developing and implementing standards and building the capacity of schools, districts, and systems Supporting education leadership, instructional coaching, and teaching Designing and developing instructional materials, assessments, curricula, and programs for bridging critical transitions Convening networks focused on policy, research, and practice The Center was founded in 1991 at The University of Texas at Austin. Our staff members have expertise in leadership, literacy, research, program evaluation, mathematics and science education, policy and systemic reform, and services to high-need populations. We have worked with states and education systems throughout Texas and across the country. For more information about our programs and resources, see our homepage at We use all funds generated through use of our materials to further our nonprofit mission. Please send your permission requests or questions to us at this address: Charles A. Dana Center Fax: The University of Texas at Austin danaweb@austin.utexas.edu 1616 Guadalupe Street, Suite Austin, TX Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of The University of Texas at Austin. The Charles A. Dana Center and The University of Texas at Austin, as well as the authors and editors, assume no liability for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this resource. We have made extensive efforts to ensure the accuracy of the information in this resource, to provide proper acknowledgement of original sources, and to otherwise comply with copyright law. If you find an error or you believe we have failed to provide proper acknowledgment, please contact us at danaweb@austin.utexas.edu. This resource was developed in Microsoft Word. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for improvements. Please contact us at danaweb@austin.utexas.edu or at the address above. June 2014 release. iii

4 Acknowledgments If you find an error or you believe we have failed to acknowledge an institution or individual s contribution to this initiative, please us at danaweb@austin.utexas.edu. Funding Support The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) is a funder and strong supporter of this work. Portions of this work are also funded in part by the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program, an education reform fund made available by the U.S. Department of Education as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Awards in the Race to the Top competition went to states, including Rhode Island, that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform. For more about the Race to the Top Fund, see www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop. Rhode Island Department of Education Staff Mary Ann Snider, chief, Division of Educator Excellence and Instructional Effectiveness and project sponsor Dr. Phyllis Lynch, director, Office of Instruction, Assessment and Curriculum and project sponsor Kate Schulz, curriculum resource specialist and project lead Diane Girard, literacy specialist Colleen O Brien, literacy specialist Peter McLaren, science and technology specialist Jennifer Solek, science and technology specialist Cherae Clark, intermediary service provider Margery Condon, intermediary service provider Pam O Day, intermediary service provider About the Building a Strong Foundation Initiative Building a Strong Foundation: Improving student achievement is a collaboration of the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin. The purpose of this collaboration is to increase student achievement in Rhode Island public schools. A number of Rhode Island school districts have elected to participate in this initiative. For more information about the Building a Strong Foundation work, see the Rhode Island Department of Education website page at InstructionalResources/BuildingaStrongFoundation.aspx. District Leadership Teams and Teacher Teams These district curriculum framework documents were developed by many individuals from each of the participating districts. Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin Staff and Consultants Patti Bridwell, project lead and professional learning facilitator, leadership Martin De Leon, consulting editor Rachel Jenkins, editor Shelly LeDoux, professional learning facilitator, science Brandi Mendez, editorial assistant Tracey Ramirez, professional learning facilitator, science Sarah Searcy, lead editor and production editor Barbara Taylor, professional learning facilitator, science iv

5 WestEd Staff and Consultants Jack Bareilles, consultant, WestEd Nicholas Hardy, WestEd, senior program associate Kevin Perks, WestEd, district services program associate Carol Soucy, consultant, WestEd WestEd, a nonprofit research, development, and service agency, works with education and other communities at the local, state, and federal levels to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults. Whether it s research, evaluation, policy support, or technical assistance, WestEd works to find the best answers to enduring challenges and emerging questions in education and human development. For more information about WestEd and its programs and services, see its homepage at v

6 Building a Strong Foundation School Year Introduction Overview Purpose: Increase student achievement in mathematics, English language arts, science, and social studies by aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment to the Common Core State Standards and/or other relevant standards. Objectives 1. Implement the guaranteed and viable curriculum every day, in every classroom, for every student. 2. Provide targeted support for self-nominated school districts to carry out the work of alignment within their system. 3. Develop a network of intermediary service providers (ISPs) to build capacity and infrastructure to sustain the alignment work. Actions Teachers, building leaders, and central office staff will a. Collaboratively generate standards-aligned scopeand-sequence documents and associated units of study. b. Engage in systemwide study of the standards and district-developed curriculum documents. c. Identify and implement support structures and tools for leaders to increase their ability to support teachers in implementing the district curriculum. Roles and Responsibilities The Rhode Island Department of Education will provide supervision and oversight to ensure that project work is aligned to the state s overall plan for increasing student achievement in the core content areas. Central office staff will provide monitoring and support of curriculum development and implementation, ensure building leader participation in professional development, collaborate with teacher writing team members and Dana Center staff, and ensure that the work of the initiative is aligned to the district s overall plan for increasing student achievement in the identified content area. Building leaders will ensure teacher participation in professional development, provide opportunities for teachers to share the curriculum framework documents with grade level/department colleagues, and put structures in place to support and monitor the implementation of the curriculum. Teachers will attend and actively participate in professional development and share the curriculum framework documents with grade level/department colleagues to plan and implement instruction aligned to the standards and curriculum documents. The Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin will provide technical expertise and on-site support for planning and implementing this work, facilitate the initial alignment work, and help local school districts build capacity in their systems throughout this project. vi

7 Developing the Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum Research 1 concludes that implementation of a guaranteed and viable curriculum plays a critical role in improving student achievement. Guaranteed means that every child in every school receives essential instruction every day; viable means that the curriculum can be taught in the amount of time provided. The District Curriculum Framework documents being developed with support from the Dana Center by your district or consortium of districts outline the guaranteed and viable curriculum and define the essential knowledge that all students must learn in the content area at each grade level and in each course of study. In developing the District Curriculum Framework documents, careful attention is given to the amount of time necessary to teach these essential knowledge and skills. This guaranteed and viable curriculum for your district or consortium of districts is developed through careful study of and alignment to the state or Common Core State Standards. This process of starting from the standards to identify essential student learning is referred to as backloading. The backloading process supports the development of the scope-and-sequence document for each grade level or course. Teacher representatives from every grade level and course taught in the district collaborate in grade-span teams to determine which standards will be taught in each quarter for each grade level or course from kindergarten through grade 12. In addition, the teacher teams cluster standards into big idea groups called units of study. The teacher teams, working in collaboration with Dana Center staff, make the decisions about which standards best cluster together for each unit and in what sequence the units should be taught. Teacher teams make these decisions based on the relevant standards, as well as on research. 2 Components of the District Curriculum Framework The purpose of the District Curriculum Framework documents is to support quality implementation of the standards every day, in every classroom, for every student to ensure grade-level and subject-area alignment and coherence across the district. These framework documents try to identify which standards are taught, when, and for how long. The framework documents also try to clarify standards and describe the implications of the standards for each grade level or course. The District Curriculum Framework documents do not provide daily lesson plans, eliminate the need for lesson planning, or re-create the teacher s edition of classroom resources. Rather, the framework documents provide a workplan that directs the instruction delivered in every classroom in every school in the district. The District Curriculum Framework consists of the following sections: Section A: Scope and Sequence: This section includes the relevant standards taught in each unit of study, organized by quarter. Section B: Year at a Glance: This section lists the title of each unit of study for that grade or course along with the number of days needed to conduct the unit. 1 See, for example, Chapter 3, A Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum, pages in Robert J. Marzano s What works in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, This research includes resources such as Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, A Research Companion to Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Beyond Numeracy, Benchmarks of Science Literacy, and the Atlas of Science Literacy. vii

8 Section C: Units of Study: These instructional units outline specific student outcomes aligned to the standards. These units are the heart of the District Curriculum Framework documents. Each unit of study provides detailed information to support lesson planning and is structured in two main sections: Overview: Each one-page unit overview lists the total number of days needed to teach the unit and defines expectations for student learning by articulating the content to be learned and the practices to be integrated. The overview ends with a list of the Essential Questions that students should be able to answer by the end of the unit. Written curriculum: This section lists the specific parts of the standards to be taught during the unit. The Clarifying the Standards subsection provides an analysis of the ideas taught in the grade level(s) before and after the grade level or course being taught. This subsection also clarifies what should be learned in the current grade level or course and reports important findings from research and the standards that support teachers in narrowing the idea in the standards to the content taught in the grade level. viii