Assessing Academic Rigor to Ensure Grade-Level Proficiency September 29, 2009 Moderator: Diana Rogers, Regional Coordinator Presenter: Cindy Wheeler, HSTW/MMGW Coach School Improvement Webinar Series

Your moderator and presenter Cindy Wheeler 5 years HSTW/MMGW Coach 30 years educator/administrator State Praxis III Evaluator Diana Rogers 9 years HSTW/MMGW Regional Coordinator/Coach 30 years educational consultant

Questions? To ask about the content, type a question in the Q&A panel and send to All Panelists.  Questions will be addressed at the end of the presentation For technical problems or any other questions, type in the Chat panel and send to the Host.

Your webinar sponsors

Webinar Outcomes Describe what is meant by academic rigor Understand the gaps in state standards and students meeting proficiency on high stake tests. Demonstrate how to use the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) Describe a few collaborative processes for analyzing student assignments, assessments and student work Explain classroom and s chool-wide practices that increase academic rigor

Poll: What is academic rigor?  a) Additional homework assignments  b) Increasing honors, gifted and AP courses  c) Difficult content  d) Grading policies that narrow the range for an A from to  e) All of the above  f) None of the above

Academic rigor is… …the expectation that students will be able to perform at levels of cognitive complexity necessary for proficiency at each grade level, and readiness for college and the workplace.

Why do we need to improve rigor? Grade inflation in classrooms Widening gaps between assignments, assessments and standards in schools Proficiency gaps between states on high stake tests

How do states assess academic rigor? Results of high-stakes tests provide little help in understanding current levels of rigor experienced by students.

What are the gaps in state standards? Most state standards fall below the “proficient” standard, and many are below the “basic” standard as measured by NAEP.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, June NAEP score equivalents of states’ proficiency standards for reading, grade 8:

Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2007, June). NAEP score equivalents of states’ proficiency standards for mathematics, grade 8: SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, June 2007.

What are states doing? School leaders are correct in looking to rigor to improve learning and performance on state tests.

How do we begin to look at increasing academic rigor? Increasing the complexity of thinking. Move students beyond simple recall to think using more challenging cognitive processes. Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating

Revised Blooms Taxonomy (RBT) Cognitive Process Dimension BasicProficientAdvanced Knowledge Dimension 1. Remember 2. Understand 3. Apply 4. Analyze 5. Evaluate 6. Create A. Factual A1A2A3A4A5A6 B. Conceptual B1B2B3B4B5B6 C. Procedural C1C2C3C4C5C6 D. Metacognitive D1D2D3D4D5D6

Here’s a Geometry Standard Analyze the characteristics and properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes. Source: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Standard: Where does it go on the RBT? GEOMETRY Analyze characteristics and properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes (B4). Cognitive Process Dimension BasicProficientAdvanced Knowledge Dimension 1. Remember 2. Understand 3. Apply 4. Analyze 5. Evaluate 6. Create A. Factual A1A2A3A4A5A6 B. Conceptual B1B2B3B5B6 C. Procedural C1C2C3C4C5C6 D. Metacognitive D1D2D3D4D5D6 B4

Here’s one student Assignment for the Geometry Standard Students will identify three-dimensional shapes.

Assignment: Where does it go on the RBT? GEOMETRY Students will identify three-dimensional shapes (B2). Cognitive Process Dimension BasicProficientAdvanced Knowledge Dimension 1. Remember 2. Understand 3. Apply 4. Analyze 5. Evaluate 6. Create A. Factual A1A2A3A4A5A6 B. Conceptual B1 B2 B3B4B5B6 C. Procedural C1C2C3C4C5C6 D. Metacognitive D1D2D3D4D5D6 B2

Here’s a summative student Assessment for the Geometry Standard Calculate the area of the given two- dimensional geometric shapes.

Assessment: Where does it go on the RBT? GEOMETRY Calculate the area of the given two- dimensional geometric shapes (C3). Cognitive Process Dimension BasicProficientAdvanced Knowledge Dimension 1. Remember 2. Understand 3. Apply 4. Analyze 5. Evaluate 6. Create A. Factual A1A2A3A4A5A6 B. Conceptual B1B2B3B4B5B6 C. Procedural C1C2C4C5C6 D. Metacognitive D1D2D3D4D5D6 C3

Lack of Alignment Cognitive Process Dimension BasicProficientAdvanced Knowledge Dimension 1. Remember 2. Understand 3. Apply 4. Analyze 5. Evaluate 6. Create A. Factual B. Conceptual C. Procedural C3 D. Metacognitiv e Assessment C3 Standard B4 Assignment B2

Poll: Have you used any of these collaborative processes for examining student assignments, assessments and student work using the RBT?  a) Critical Friends Groups (CFG)  b) Professional Learning Communities (PLC)  c) Work Faculty Study Groups (WFSG)  d) Not at this time

What collaborative processes do high performing sites use with the RBT?  Critical Friends Groups (CFG)  Professional Learning Communities (PLC)  Work Faculty Study Groups (WFSG)

How would a school begin… First, provide teachers with training and practice in using the RBT. Second, monitor the use of the RBT to align the curriculum to the standards at each grade level. Third, adopt school-wide practices to increase academic rigor and monitor the implementation K-12.

School-wide practices to increase academic rigor: 1.Assessment in the Classroom 2.Collaboration 3.Coursetaking Patterns 4.Curriculum Coherence 5.Expectations for Student Work 6.Grading Practices 7.Instructional Strategies 8.Student Support

Resources available Book:  A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing, (2001) Anderson & Krathwohl Websites:  National School Reform Faculty (Critical Friends)  Southern Regional Education Board

Questions? To ask about the content, type a question in the Q&A panel and send to All Panelists. Questions will be addressed at this time Or an response will be sent to you after the webinar.

Question How can I find out about professional development opportunities on Critical Friends or other protocols for examining student assignments, assessments and student work?

Question Are there any rubrics or tools for assessing the school-wide practice mentioned during the webinar?

More Q & A Questions and responses

Contact Us If you have questions or would like to learn more about assessing academic rigor, please contact us: Diana Rogers, Moderator Cindy Wheeler, Presenter

Next webinar in the series Developing Effective Leadership Teams Don Washburn, HSTW/MMGW Coach October 20, 2009 from 11:30 – 12:30 ET

Thank you for participating! Reminders… To register for future webinars or watch archived webinars by Before you leave today’s webinar… Please complete the webinar survey