CCRS Express
Madison County Schools
Summer Reflections of the CCRS: Impact vs Implementation
During a recent meeting with our district's CCRS Implementation Team, Mr. Solley asked team members to collaborate and discuss thought provoking questions designed for planning future staff development. As educators make plans for the summer, it would be beneficial for everyone to reflect upon some of the questions that were asked, as noted below:
- Do ALL teachers know and understand the CCRS? Has instruction changed?
- Does professional development plan provide focus on teaching the CCRS?
- Do teachers have and use aligned benchmark or interim assessments as well as daily formative assessment strategies?
- How many of our students are exceeding or ready based on Aspire and Plan results?
- How many of our students are considered college and career ready?
- At the school level, do we have a plan for supporting students based on data?
- Do leaders regularly communicate with education stakeholders (including district educators) about their CCRS implementation effort and its associated priorities?
The self-assessment forces us to take a closer look at both our professional development and lesson plans through the lens of impact vs implementation. If the reexamination reveals that little change has occurred in a student's ability to master standards, solve problems, think critically, write argumentatively, or apply skills, it should drive us with urgency to fine-tune our crafts by participating in summer reading that will make us better educators. Online resources and books by credible authors are outlined below :
- There are tons of archived CCRS webinars available at www.edweb.net,
- Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner (K-5) or (6-12) by Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria Dove
- Uncommon Core by Michael W. Smith, Deborah Appleman, and Jeffrey Wilhelm
- The Core Six: Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence with the Common Core by Harvey Silver, R. Thomas Dewing, and Matthew Perini
- Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word by Barbara R. Blackburn
- High-Impact Instruction by Jim Knight
- Quality Questioning: Research-Based Practice to Engage Every Learner - Jackie Walsh
- Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies, Grades K-5 by Sherry Parrish
- How to Teach Thinking Skills within the Common Core by James Bellanca, Robin Fogarty, and Brian Pete
Upcoming Workshops
- 2015 ASCD Conference on Teaching Excellence - June 26 - 28, 2015 ; Nashville, TN; Key Topics Include: How to Motivate Reluctant Learners, Teachers as Makers: Taking Ownership of the Common Core, Core Six Strategies for Understanding and Addressing the Common Core Tapestry, and more! http://www.ascd.org/conferences/conference-on-teaching-excellence/CTE-day-one-session-descriptions.aspx
- Gulf Coast Conference on the Teaching of Writing - June 29 -July 2, 2015; Sandestin FL; Key Topics Include: Quick Writes: Using Engaging Nonfiction Texts to Meet Common Core's Range and Complexity Standard (k-8), Who Writes in Science, The W.R.I.T.E. Stuff, Just a Swingin': How Writing is Supported through Integration in the Arts and Content Areas (6-8), and more! http://www.troy.edu/searic/gcc.html
- 23rd Annual Model Schools Conference - June 28 - July 1, 2015; Atlanta, AL; Key Topics Include: Achieving Rigor, Engagement, and Discourse in the Mathematics Classroom, Grades 3‐5, Increasing the Achievement of Students with Disabilities and other Struggling Students, Transforming Units of Study in K‐12 Classrooms, and much more! http://www.cvent.com/events/2015-model-schools-conference/custom-18-7982b0b7d11e4fbd9d4bd8d06147b303.aspx?ct=59458a8c-b962-48fc-b8b3-eae7e385e2d2#PrePost
- Mega Conference 2015 - July 20 - 24, 2015; Mobile, AL; Key Topics Include: Unwrap CCRS and Define Yourself with Alabama Insight, Gifted and the CCRS, Alabama's CCRS and Webb's Depth of Knowledge, and more! http://www.alsde.edu/ofc/ols/pages/mega-all.aspx
- Learning Forward Conference - December 5 - 9, 2015; Washington, DC; Key Topics Include: Mathematics at Work: Creating a K-12 CCR Culture for All Students, With Rigor for All: Promoting Literacy Through Vigorous Reading and Writing, Building an Understanding-Based Curriculum for College and Career Readiness, and much more! http://learningforward.org/learning-opportunities/annual-conference
Schools and District Share 2nd Semester Happenings that Assisted with CCRS Implementation
Harvest Elementary School
ELA CCRS Faculty PD on the Instructional Shifts
- Practice with complex text
- Writing and speaking grounded in evidence
- Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction
- Reviewed tools to help with successful implementation of CCRS
- Alabama Insight Tool
- Edmodo Snapshot
- PARCC Games
- CCRS Rubrics - Lancaster (3rd grade)
- Creative writing - McConnell (5th grade)
- STAR Instructional Planning Reports, grouping students and planning for instruction to meet the standards - Erwin (IP)
- CCRS & Technology Integration - Hamilton (1st grade/Technology Integration Mentor)
Family Literacy Night - ELA CCRS Focus
- Parents were given information about ELA CCRS standards as well as tips for helping their child/children at home
- Families participated in activities centered around ELA standards for each grade level
ELA CCRS PD - "The Write Stuff"
- Teachers vertically aligned writing standards K-5
- Teachers selected/created learning targets for each mode of writing
- Teachers collaboratively planned writing
Instructional Rounds focused on student engagement
Collaboration Day: Understanding Data Reports to Enhance Teaching and Learning
5 in 25 Strategies that promoted student engagement
Reviewed Chapter 2 - "Know Where Your Students are Going"
Discussed the impact of "beginning with the end in mind" in determining knowing where your students are going
AMSTI PD - Focus: Formative Assessment and Inquiry
Reviewed a video highlighting the effective use of learning targets. Ron Berger's - Leaders of their Own Learning. Discussed what makes a learning target effective and how to use targets so students understand what they are doing and why they are doing it.
Planned to meet Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Levels 3 & 4
New Hope Elementary School
- Daily coaching activities that were designed to improve rigor, depth of knowledge, higher order questioning and best practices
Working Like Honey Bees - Teachers chose a standard that they had difficulty implementing this year (unique subject or grade level). Then, they chose an area of focus from their grade level or content area, including an Instructional Round area of focus. Teachers worked individually and together to improve while coaches moved around (like honey bees) offering expertise. Teachers reflected on the following questions:
- What materials should I gather to be better in the future?
- Do I facilitate Higher Order Thinking?
- Do I try to take my students to a deeper level of knowledge (rigor) or do I settle for what they can easily produce?
- Do I incorporate writing in a strategic manner?
Cluster wide Kindergarten Math PD - Beth Wilkerson organized PD for the southern cluster of kindergarten teachers with a focus on CCRS math standards.
CCRS Driven Connect the Dots - Professional Development where teachers met the following objectives:
- Objective 1: Faculty and staff will see the overlapping and interconnections of policies and programs.
- Objective 2: Faculty and staff will better understand the parts of various policies and programs.
- Objective 3: Faculty and staff will enjoy a team-bonding experience.
ELA and Math Checklists developed for teachers by Tanya Clements that included items such as:
PACING
- Is there a need for more writing need to take place?
- Do more real-life applications need to occur?
STANDARDS
- List your hard-to-teach and/or weak standards
- Are there standards that your students pick up quickly and you are spending too much time on them?
- Is there something that you are doing during class that does not teach a standard? A time-waster?
½ day PD that focused on Implementation of the CCRS - Teachers selected a session from a variety of titles
District 2014-2015 PD/Transition Plan
- CCRS Express Newsletter
- CCRS Blog created by Vickey Sullivan (accessible on MCBOE CCRS Website)
- Job-embedded training and coaching among individual schools (i.e. Focus Fridays, STEM Mondays, Book Studies, Data Walks, Article Studies....)
- 'Student Friendly' ACT Aspire Writing Rubrics developed for three modes by Linda Arredondo (Grades 3-8 impacted)
- Survey developed and administered to local school administrators. District staff analyzed the responses to determine areas of need int he effective implementation of the CCRS.
- MCBOE CCRS Website is available at https://www.madison.k12.al.us/departments/instruction/studentassessment/Pages/CCSS.aspx
- CCRS Implementation Team attended SDE Quarterly CCRS Meetings
- The CCRS implementation Team shared the activities they learned from the SDE Quarterly CCRS Meetings with the instructional leaders, of each school, in Assistant Principals' meeting
- Assistant Principals shared the CCRS activities learned in their 'CCRS Turn Around' AP meeting with their faculty
- Instructional Rounds continued in elementary schools with a focus on rigorous lessons (fine-grained evidence) and active student engagement/collaboration
- NMSI (formerly LTF) training - Individual grade level binders created by Shannon Pitts, Tina Hamlet and MCBOE Instructional Department. Binders contains: Table of Contents, Madison County Pacing Guide, CCRS Domain Plan with CCRS listed and tagged with the lessons that address that specific standard, All of the NMSI lessons listed in the domain plan, Formative assessment question that correspond to the NMSI lesson
The Public Review of the Alabama CCRS
Although the College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) were implemented in Alabama schools three years ago, controversy surrounding the new standards continued to swirl during the 2014-2015 school year. Senate Bills, like SB 101, that recommended termination of the CCRS implementation ignited opponents and it appeared as though the scale of abolishment was imminent. However, the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) realized that the CCRS have the capacity to provide progressive change in American education. So, they listened to the public at large and took action!
To address the outcries from opposers of the CCRS, the ALSDE formed an English language arts and mathematics Course of Study (COS) committee, during the fall semester, that allowed the PUBLIC to review the English language arts and math standards. The review was available for 12 weeks and allowed participants an opportunity to offer feedback on standards by grade level. Approximately 1,170 standard, equaling 82 percents, were reviewed with users clicking 'Agree' on a chosen standard(s). Approximately 250 standards, equaling 18 percents, were reviewed, with users clicking 'Disagree' with the ability to comment on a chosen standards. Feedback generated from the activity was reviewed by the state mathematics and English language arts Course of Study (COS) committee. The only comments that were considered for action were those of academic substance that were tied to a specific standard.
English Language Arts Standards Review
There was unanimous agreement that no action should be taken on the majority of the comments from the public review. There were two recommendations from 128 disagreeing comments. The comments fell into three main categories of concern related to the standards.
- Grade-level placements of the standards: There were many suggestions for moving standards to a higher grade level. The committee felt this is an indication of a lack of understanding about the increased rigor which leads to college and career readiness and about how the standards build from one grade level to the next.
- Local implementation of the standards: There were several comments about instruction (how the standards are being taught, materials, etc.) and about assessments. The standards state the expectations for what students should know and be able to do by the end of each grade level. Both instruction and assessment are local decisions.
- Lack of understanding regarding the meaning of the standards: Some comments did not address the content of the standard. Some questioned the value of certain literacy standards which the committee felt are critical skills (e.g., naming characters, setting, main idea, supporting details, retelling the story, naming the author and illustrator).
Mathematics Standards Review
After careful review there was unanimous agreement by the Mathematics committee that no actions were needed on any of the comments from the public review. No action by this committee affirms the quality of the current COS for Mathematics. Additionally, the committee believes the COS is well written and standards are appropriately placed to ensure students become college and career ready.
eLearning's Summer 2015 Semester
eLearning's Summer 2015 semester begins on June 3, 2015. Approximately 50 different courses will be offered and interested persons can review the course listings at http://elearning.alsde.edu. As always, the courses are entirely online and completely FREE. Registration should occur through STIPD.
The EDU55xx courses are designed for school and district leaders - each of which can lead to an ACLD-approved PLU with additional project work and completion of a 3-week follow-on showcase course later in the year. Each semester, courses are offered in the academic disciplines for Elementary and Middle School along with 21st Century Classroom courses as follows:
- EDU1104 Fit, Healthy, and Ready to Succeed (Pre-K-2)
- ELA2411 Reading Comp in ES
- ELA3411 Reading Comp in MS
- HIS3713 Internet and History - Terrorism
- MTH2513 Algebraic Thinking is ES
- MTH3513 Geometric Measurement (6-8)
- SCI2880 Inquiry in the Science Classroom (3-5)
- SCI3661 Earth Science for K-2
- SCI3880 Inquiry in the Science Classroom (6-8)