Engage New York has a great series of videos outlining each of the 12 instructional shifts in the Common Core State State Standards.

http://www.engageny.org/resource/common-core-video-series

Thanks to Bridget C., here are some excellent videos on the Common Core and Readers/Writers Workshop from the Teachers College at Columbia University.

http://vimeo.com/tcrwp/albums

Teacher and Administrator Evaluations: 2013-2014

Hello again, Ansonia.

As you are now well aware, the SDE Commissioner's reform legislation includes many changes in state laws that pertain to our profession.  One area of particular note is teacher and administrator evaluation.  While the law and guidelines around this can be quite confusing, we have good teams of representatives from our unions and central office working on this right now.

Firstly, I'd like to thank the representatives from the two affected unions who have dedicated their after-school time to helping us get ready for this shift.  Tonight will be our second meeting of many on this challenging project.  In the end, our goal is to decide upon (or design) a system that is fair, provides meaningful feedback, and complies with the new state law.

Here is a quick review of the structure of this initiative at the state level.

The state law defines the basic elements of all plans.
Then...

The "Guidelines" from the SDE provide more 

specifics about implementation

Then...

The SDE document known as SEED provides a 

recommended way of implementing the Guidelines.

The law and guidelines lay out four areas of the evaluation and the percentage that each area contributes to the professional's summative evaluation.  These are:

• Student outcomes - 45% - We have chosen to use the SEED model for this portion.
• Teacher performance - 40% - We will propose to use the Kim Marshall model for this portion (currently being piloted by teachers in each school).
• Stakeholder feedback - 10% - We have chosen to use the SEED model for this portion.
• Whole-school student learning - 5% - We have chosen to use the SEED model for this portion.

For the teacher performance (observations) portion, we must craft a proposal to SDE that adheres to the guidelines.  We chose not to use the SEED model for this portion for a number of reasons.  Chief among which were that we had already begun to investigate and pilot Marshall before the legislation was passed; and the Marshall rubrics are simpler to use and understand than the SEED model.

I would strongly encourage all educators to visit www.connecticutseed.org to learn more about these sweeping changes.

As this process moves forward I will continue to keep you updated.  Thanks for reading.

Webb's Depth of Knolwedge

Hello,

Today, we had another excellent meeting of the system-wide Curriculum & Instruction Committee (Chaired by Sherrod McNeill).  The committee has been working on becoming more expert in the Common Core State Standards and their many implications on our work.  Today, Sherrod led us through an activity that helped us gain a better understanding of Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK).  This can best be thought of as an alternative to Bloom's Taxonomy.  This is key learning for all teachers in our school system as the CCSS are correlated with the DOK rather than Bloom's.  We saw a short, explanatory video that I strongly recommend to you.

Important links and resources for our 11/6/12 PD Day:

• District-wide Key Documents folder
• Common Core State Standards (CCSS) - Home page
• CCSS for language arts
• CCSS for mathematics
• CCSS for integration across all other subject areas
• Standards/Frameworks for all other subject areas (not to be used for LA or math)
• CCSS resources for the Arts

Key Documents for Teachers

Hello again,

In an effort to help all teachers understand our district-wide projects - but especially those who are new to Ansonia - I'm compiling a "cloud" folder which contains important guidance, communications, and directives.  This public folder can be accessed over the web without login.  I believe that you'll find the file names to be self-explanatory.  Topics include our assessment calendar and the purposes of our various assessments, Effective Teaching Strategies, differentiated instruction, and how to use our AAA software.

LINK to the online folder.

August 2012 PD Activities

Welcome back, All!

I hope that you had a fun and relaxing vacation.  We've spent the summer making important updates to curriculum documents and getting ready for the PD activities this week.  The three days that we have together this week (8/29, 8/30, 8/31) represent the most varied and complex schedule of activities that Ansonia has had in quite some time.  I hope that you will view this complexity as our effort to provide you with development activities that are relevant and directly tied to your work.  Each district administrator has played a contributory role in the development of these offerings and most will also be serving as presenters at some point during the three days.

An important change from past practice, you will be signing in within the rooms where you will have your workshops...not in the AHS lobby.  Workshops will begin promptly at 8:00, so please be sure to report to your rooms by 7:55 for sign-in.  If you wish to partake in Coffee &..., it will be available from 7:30 to 7:55.  All faculty will start each day at AHS.

By now, you've already received a communication from Superintendent Merlone regarding our activities on Wednesday, 8/29.  The following details pertain to 8/30 and 8/31.

Please note that several faculty members will be attending sessions organized by Kathie Gabrielson or Bridget Calabrese.  Please refer to communications you've received directly from them for more detail.  If, by chance, you were accidentally included on a district-wide activity and also one from either Kathie or Bridget, please follow the instructions issued to you by one of them rather than the district-wide option.  Thank you.

The grid found at this LINK gives you a general overview of the activities for this week.

The following details are most pertinent for Thursday and Friday for faculty members in Grades 6-12 who have not received specific directions from Kathie or Bridget.

You will start your day in one of five rooms; the same room on both Thursday and Friday. Room assignments will be posted in the AHS lobby, but can also be viewed HERE.

On Thursday, our topic will be Looking Deeply at the Core Standards, Looking Deeply at Instruction.  This is a continuation of the "adult curriculum" found one post lower on this blog.  And on Friday the topic will be Understanding the Kim Marshall Rubrics for Teacher Observation.  One both mornings, you will have five short workshops through which you will rotate.  In each workshop you will work with colleagues and videos showing real teachers in real classrooms.  Administrators will be your facilitators.

For those who would like to preview the activities and/or have the handouts with them on a mobile device, the handouts can be downloaded below.  You will also receive hard copies of these documents.

Thursday's activity packet:  Looking Deeply at the Core Standards

Friday's activity packet:  Understanding the Kim Marshall Rubrics for Teacher Observation

Important resources for both days:

• Increasing the Impact of ETS
• Tomlinson's 5 Non-negotiables Defined

An Adult Learning Curriculum for the Common Core State Standards

This post is a basic introduction to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for teachers.  What is found below is not an exhaustive list.  As our level of knowledge about the CCSS expands, we’ll continue to edit this resource.

What are the Common Core State Standards?

• An excellent video overview explaining the roots of the CCSS

 

• Another video with more depth on how/why the standards were formed  

 

• The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.  (from www.corestandards.org)
•  Download the standards for Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and the Technical Subjects
•  Download the Mathematics standards.
• What is new about the English Language Arts standards from previous approaches?

• What is new about the Mathematics standards from previous approaches?

 

What are the primary changes from the current standards to the CCSS?

•  The Connecticut State Department of Education has produced crosswalk documents comparing the current state standards with the incoming CCSS.
• In New York, they have done an excellent job of planning this transition.  Here is an excellent explanation of "shifts" in Mathematics and Language Arts

More excellent videos on changes for English Language Arts:

• Writing to inform and make arguments
• Text-dependent questions: a major shift!
• The balance of informational and literary texts in K-5
• Literary non-fiction in grades 6-12
• Conventions of standard English writing and speaking
• Speaking and listening: the key role of evidence
• More available here

More excellent videos on changes for Mathematics:

• The big picture:  The importance of coherence in mathematics  
• The importance of mathematical practice
• Gathering momentum for algebra
• More available here

This concludes this entry.  Future posts will provide you with resources to help us have a more in-depth understanding of what changes will take place in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Thanks for reading,

Tony

More Flexibility for Teacher Collaboration in IDTs

Today, our system-wide Assessment & Data Teams Committee had an excellent meeting.  The agenda centered on making effective use of the data provided by our new AAA software.  Joe Apicella led us through excellent examples of the ways in which teachers can use AAA to write a wider variety SMART goals.

The DTL will be offering small-group training sessions for teachers nominated by principals on this topic.  We hope that this technology will facilitate teachers' aligning instruction to the needs of students as defined by our assessments.

Joe prepared an excellent HANDOUT for the meeting and I recommend it to all instructional data teams.

Differentiated Learning in Ansonia

Hello Ansonia,

I'm excited to announce that our system-wide Curriculum & Instruction Committee (chaired by Sherrod McNeil) has made some significant progress regarding our work on Differentiated Learning for all students.  As you know, differentiation is an important part of our District Improvement Plan and is not a new initiative for us.  Many Ansonia teachers differentiate instructional practices on a daily basis.

The Committee has decided that Ansonia's definition of Differentiated Learning will be the "Five Non-negotiables" from Carol Tomlinson, an internationally renowned expert on the topic.  We believe that you will find these five concepts to be clear, concise, and practical while also finding examples in your current practice.  Tomlinson has a knack for taking this complex idea and expressing it in a no-frills way that connects with educators.  She is humble, contrite, and very reflective.

The Tomlinson Five Non-Negotiables of Differentiated Learning are:

• A supportive learning environment
• Continuous assessment
• High-quality curriculum
• Respectful tasks
• Planned, flexible grouping

In the following video, the Non-Negotiables are discussed starting at minute 20.  However, the entire video is excellent and well worth your time.

The whole committee and administration agree that many of our teachers are already implementing one or all of these tenets.  However, by choosing this model, it will give us a common vocabulary with which to collaborate, share our successes, and reflect on our struggles.  In the coming months, all Ansonia teachers will become very familiar with the 5 Non-negotiables.

At our January 27, 2012 PD day, teachers will enter an important phase in our implementation of Differentiated Learning.  Each grade-level or content-area team will choose an instructional methodology that they feel is relevant to their work and that fulfills the Non-Negotiables.  There are many, many methods that can fulfill these tenets: literature circles; flexible grouping by learning style, flexible grouping by readiness level, structured student choice in format of demonstrations, and many more.  These chosen methodologies will be the focus of ongoing in-school discussions and development opportunities.

Please do not hesitate to contact the DTL with your questions or thoughts.

Data Team Effectiveness!

Hello Ansonia!  Carol Merlone and I had a chance to visit a few data teams at Mead and Prendergast today.  These weren't walk-through's, per se.....more like stop-in's.  We saw excellent examples of teachers collaboratively using data to adapt instruction to meet the needs of students.  We came away with a new level of confidence in your efforts and work together.

Connected to this topic, there were several positive comments about the new AAA software and some questions as well.  If you haven't already reviewed the quick-start documents, I think you'll find them easy to use and helpful.  Most notably, the new CFA Roster Growth Report will be particularly useful in getting ready for data team meetings.  Links to these documents are below.

All teachers in K-6 are currently using AAA.  In grades 7-9 it's currently being piloted in English and Mathematics.  If funding allows, it will be rolled out to more grades and content area.

Quick-Start Guide for K-6
Quick-Start Guide for 7-9
CFA Roster Growth Report for K-6
CFA Roster Growth Report for 7-9

Student Performance on Pre-CFAs and Fall Benchmark

Hello All,

I wanted to take a moment to communicate with you directly regarding some feedback we’ve heard about the first set of pre-CFAs and benchmarks that students have taken this month.  Several teachers from across the grade-span have posed concerns about students not doing well and “struggling” with these assessments.

I ask that you please bear in mind that the pre-CFAs measure a unit of learning before instruction has occurred.  So, these are not assessments in which we should expect all students to do well.  Instead, their use is that of a diagnostic for the teacher…to discern what instruction is needed and where less emphasis is warranted.  Please explain this to your students so as to reduce their anxiety.  If most of your students are scoring well on a pre-CFA, the DTL needs to know about this because it may indicated that the CFA is not rigorous or perhaps there is a strong overlap in the curriculum from previous years.  The pre-CFA should spark conversations between the teacher and individual students about learning needs and areas of strength.  The pre-CFA is then used to show growth against the post-CFA at the end of each instructional unit.

The approach is similar with the Fall benchmark.  The Fall benchmark is essentially a pre-assessment for the whole year of instruction.  These assessments measure content and skills for the whole school year to come.  The Fall benchmarks provide diagnostic information for the teacher similar to the pre-CFAs, but on a larger, more general scale.  Again, we ask that you communicate this to your students to reduce their anxiety.  Like the CFAs, the benchmarks should be discussed with the students as identifiers of learning to be accomplished in the coming days/units.  The Fall benchmark serves as a baseline against which to show growth on the Winter and Spring administrations.

These assessments are an example of a type of assessment that is relatively new to our profession.  For ages we have been conducting assessments of learning.  However, the pre-CFAs and the Fall benchmarks are assessments for learning that is to come.  For this reason, student performance on pre- or mid-CFAs and the Fall/Winter benchmarks should not count as a grade in the teacher’s gradebook.  Post-CFAs and the Spring benchmark may be used as a grade at the discretion of the school administrator and teacher.

Thanks for your time in reading this and please do not hesitate to contact your building administrator, lead teacher, IRC or the DTL with any questions.

Tony

An excellent personal story about cultural differences

Bridget, Mike and I had a chance to attend a seminar on multicultural education this summer.  One of the excellent resources we used was this TED video.  It is well worth 20 minutes of your time.

TED VIDEO

Very neat video!

The call-to-arms type of video has become familiar to us in public education.  Lots of people have made convincing video presentations about the ways in which our profession needs to change and advance.  This is another in that genre but I think the mode of presentation is particularly unique.  Thanks to Betty T. for passing it along.

http://www.schooltube.com/video/2cb4889891b0c637f8f8/RSA-Animate-Changing-Education-Paradigms

Classroom Walk-through's for 2011-2012

The new school year is off to a great start.  It's great to see the enthusiasm on the faces of the students, teachers, and administrators.  Tomorrow, Carol and I will begin our executive walk-through's.  These will mostly take the same form as last year...with one key difference.  This year we will do a mix of announced and unannounced visits.  We want to give Ansonia teachers a chance to show off their talents.  It's not likely that when we visit a school that we'll get into every classroom.  Last year we did a total of 102 visits and we want to meet or exceed that number this year.

The protocol we'll use remains largely unchanged since last year. We're still focusing on the observance of Effective Teaching Strategies, middle- and higher-order thinking skills, and student-centered learning activities.  Our focus remains unchanged because we continue to center our attention on our three-year district improvement plan.

Thanks,
Tony

Summer Leadership Institute: Resources

Resources for the CAS Summer Leadership Institute are available at the following links:

Handout

PowerPoint

Where did the school year go?

Unbelievably, the school year is over.  Thanks to all teachers and staff for their efforts in making a difference for Ansonia's kids.  Here's the last newsletter of the year from the desk of the Assistant Superintendent.

We're Not Making This Stuff Up!

As we close Teacher Appreciation Week, I'd like to extend my thanks to all Ansonia teachers for their daily efforts on behalf of the community's children.  We know and understand the fact that teaching here can be more challenging and provides less monetary reward when compared with some other Connecticut school districts.  Your talents and dedication are recognized by all of us.  In my short time here, I've seen teachers continue to grow in their ability to collaborate and make effective, data-informed decisions about teaching and learning.

I wanted to use this post to help re-ground myself (and perhaps you as well) in the fact that our system-wide initiatives and methodologies are not flights of fancy or any one person's opinion on what schools should be doing.  Thanks to CALI, we have gotten training in some of the most up-to-date and solidly supported methods for improving curriculum, instruction, assessment, and collaboration.  The research done by the Leadership and Learning Center is international in its scope and outlines what works best for schools of all types.

I'd encourage you to view some of the videos found at the link below.  You will see that, while we continue to grow and improve, we are working toward the faithful implementation of practices that have been scientifically shown to improve learning for all students...making the professional work of teachers more rewarding in the process.

Again, I thank you for your work and hope that you enjoy some of these short video clips from Dr. Doug Reeves.

Tony.

Click the link to see the menu of videos.  VIDEO LIBRARY LINK:
In particular I recommend these topics:

• "Transforming a System:  The Norfolk Story" - near the bottom of the page, School Improvement Category
• All of the videos in the 90-90-90 Schools category
• "Getting Accountability Right"
• Both videos in the Assessment category
• All of the Instruction category

Congratulations, Larry DiPalma!

Congratulations to Larry DiPalma, Principal of Prendergast School, on being named the Connecticut Elementary School Principal of the Year!  We're all proud of you!

Valley Independent Sentinel Article

Science Resources

Here are some great science resources passed on by Liz B. at the CSDE.

Below are a few exciting ideas for motivating students to learn science. Please share with colleagues who may be inspired!

·        Unexpected Motivational Payoffs of Science Competitions: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/04/06/27is-competitions.h30.html?tkn=MVNFB77Dh6k1V9WY0T3O5SjOqr7Uz6zY1FkM&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

·        One example of project-based learning in science: http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/04/06/high-school-students-to-launch-stratosphere-mission.aspx

·        School vegetable gardens teach about plants, soils and nutrition: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/04/school-gardens-created-under-new-usda-project/

·        K-12 teachers interested in learning about meteorology and using real data in the classroom should read more about on-line/in-person credit-bearing courses developed for teachers by the American Meteorological Society. The program is called “DataStreme” (http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/DataStremeFrames.html), and the Connecticut course leader is Jim Backus,jbackus8746@charter.net.