Various PowerPoint Slides Shared By Larry Ainsworth

Presented byCenter for Performance Assessment

www.makingstandardswork.com(800) 844-6599

Powerful Practice #1: Power Standards

Prioritizing the Standards to Focus on the Essentials

Larry Ainsworth, Power Standards: Identifying the Standards That Matter the Most, 2003

The Teaching-Testing Dilemma

So Many Standards, So Little Time! How Do We Effectively Teach and Assess Them All?

Deciding What To Teach Within Time Allotted

“Given the limited time you have with your students, curriculum design has become more and more an issue of deciding what you won’t teach as well as what you will teach. You cannot do it all. As a designer, you must choose the essential.”

Heidi Hayes Jacobs, 1997

Time and Viability

“In the current era of standards-driven curriculum, viability means ensuring that the articulated curriculum content for a given course or given grade level can be adequately addressed in the (instructional) time available.”

Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools,ASCD, 2003, p. 25.

Consider These Facts5.6 instructional hours per day X 180 days = 1008 hours per year X 13 years = 13,104 total hours of K-12 instructionMcREL identified 200 standards and 3093 benchmarks (indicators) in national- and state-level documents across 14 different subject areasClassroom teachers estimated a need for 15,465 hours to adequately teach them all

More Years In School ?

“To cover all this content, you would have to change schooling from K-12 to K-22…The sheer number of standards is the biggest impediment to implementing standards.”

Robert Marzano, Educational Leadership, Sept. 2001, p. 15

Time Actually Devoted to Instruction

Varies widely from a low of 21% to high of 69%Taking highest estimate of 69%, only 9042hours are actually available for instruction out of the original 13,104 hours totalCan 200 standards and 3093 benchmarks needing 15,465 hours be taught in only 9042 hours of instructional time? No!

Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools,ASCD, 2003, pp. 24-25.

But We Have To Do It All!

The Old Model:

State Standards

District Curriculum

Frantic Coverage of Every Test

Objective

The New Model – From Coverage to Focus

State Standards

Potential Curriculum and Test Objectives

FOCUSED Curriculum and

Assessments

Power Standards

Power StandardsPRIORITIZE the standards by distinguishing the “essentials” from the “nice to know”Teach the “nice to know” in the context of the essentials!Critical message for everyone to remember: prioritization, not elimination!Power Standards provide FOCUS for both instruction and assessment

Selection and Alignment

Selection of Power Standards based on criteria of endurance, leverage, andreadiness for next level of learningPower Standards vertically aligned from one grade to the next, one course to the next, until there is a K-12 vertical “flow” of standards

Power Standards Steps

Step 1: Make initial selections based on professional judgmentStep 2: Reference state test requirements and state test dataStep 3: Modify selections as neededStep 4: Vertically align standards K-12Step 5: Acquire feedback from all sitesStep 6: Revise, publish, distribute

“Unwrapping” The Standards

A Simple Process to Make Standards Manageable!

Larry Ainsworth, “Unwrapping” the Standards, 2003

The “Unwrapping” Standards Process

1. “Unwrap” standards and indicators to identify important concepts and skills to be taught

2. Represent the “unwrapped” concepts and skills on graphic organizer of choice (outline, bulleted list, concept map, etc.)

The “Unwrapping” Standards Process

3. Identify Big Ideas (important understandings) you want students to realize… and remember!

4. Write Essential Questions to focus instruction and guide assessment

Student-Worded Big Ideas About Writing

1. Narratives (fictional writings) need a specific setting and vivid details to advance plot. (teacher)Stories need a place to happen with details that keep readers interested. (student)

2. Non-fiction writing develops a main idea with supporting details. (teacher)Details make true stories more real. (student)

Student-Worded Big Ideas About Writing

3. Different kinds of writing communicate information for a variety of purposes and audiences. (teacher)

Writers need to know how to communicate in different ways for different people. (student)

Task Four (Detailed): “Typical Day in the Wilderness”

LetterWrite a letter to a friend or family member telling them about a typical day in your life in the wilderness. Include historical content you have learned.Include as many parts of your day as you can. Use all five of your senses as you describe the day to help the reader imagine it. Use correct letter format with correct spelling and mechanics.

Task Four Scoring Guide“Proficient”

Correct form of friendly letter is usedLetter is time-sequencedLetter includes morning, afternoon, and evening activitiesDescription of day includes meeting of basic needsDescriptive language includes use of all five sensesLetter includes historical content

Task Four Scoring Guide“Exemplary”

All proficient criteria met PLUS:Letter includes comparisons and contrasts to “big city” lifeLetter includes personal meaning derived from experiences

Task Four Scoring Guide“Progressing”

Parts of friendly letter missing, specifically_________________________Following information is out of sequence__________________________Letter leaves out portion of day_______Certain basic needs not addressed, ___________________________________Descriptive language needed for following senses____________________Letter needs historical content__________

Task Four Scoring Guide “Not Yet Meeting Standard(s)”

Task requirements not metMissing one or more of following:

Completed friendly letterTime-sequencingDay’s activitiesHow basic needs metDescriptive language for all five sensesHistorical content

Two Kinds of CriteriaQuantitative criteria

“More is better”Proficient = 3 supporting detailsExemplary = 4 or more supporting details

Qualitative criteriaProficient = Identifies main characterExemplary = Relates main character to self or another character in story, noting similarities and differences

How Often To Use Rubrics?

Whenever the assigned task has multiple directionsWhenever there are likely to be several levels of student proficiencyDon’t “over-rubricize!”

Rubric Websites

Rubistar.4teachers.orgwww.edhelper.comwww.teach-nology.comhttp://myt4l.comwww.discoveryschool.comwww.bcps.org/offices/lis/modelswww.trackstar.com

Excellent Books About Standards-based Grading

Transforming Classroom Grading, Robert Marzano, ASCDDeveloping Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning, Thomas Guskey, Corwin Press

Classroom Instruction That Works—The 9 Strategies

1. Similarities and Differences2. Summarizing and Note Taking3. Effort and Recognition4. Homework and Practice5. Nonlinguistic Representation6. Cooperative Learning7. Setting Objectives, Providing Feedback8. Generating and Testing Hypotheses9. Cues, Questions, Advance Organizers

Marzano, Pickering,Pollock, ASCD, 2001

Center for Performance Assessment

www.MakingStandardsWork.com

(800) 844-6599