1. ACE STRATEGY ACE THOSE ANSWERS!!
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME SCHOOLS IN NM WHO HAVE GIVEN A GREAT DEAL OF CREDIT TO ACE IN HELPING THEM MAKE AYP. I THINK ITS IMPORTANT THAT OUR SCHOOLS GET THIS TRAINING AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE IN THE YEAR. OTHER SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY ALSO STRUGGLE WITH OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS AND HOW TO SCORE THEM SO THIS TRAINING WILL BE USEFUL AND CAN BE ADJUSTED FOR ANY STATE.
ACE THOSE
ANSWERS!!

2. ACE Strategy A…Answer the question! C…Cite evidence from the text!
E…Expand your answer!
I came across this rubric when working with a group of teachers in Ohio. Their state test is very much like New Mexico’s and they were using this rubric from Pre-K to 12th grade and were very enthusiastic about the results they were getting with their kids.
It is the simplicity that they like so much. They said their students learned it very quickly. The gimmick also embraced by teachers and students is to “ACE” your answers.
The example I use here was from my class. I didn’t get the rubric until March of the last year that I taught. When I came back from Ohio, I thought I would try using it with my first graders. We were doing a unit on Fairy Tales and so after we had read “The Three Bears”, I asked my kids if they thought Goldilocks was a good little girl or a naughty little girl. Most thought she was naughty. When I asked the class how they KNEW she was naughty some of the responses I got were………”Because I’m smart” or “The story tells you” or “It’s in my head” or “My mom told me” or “I just know it”. I was surprised that so many of my kids didn’t think to go back to the story and “reference” the things that she did that they thought were naughty.
I’m usually told by mid and high school teachers that their students still do the same thing. Their answers are often… “just cuz”.

3. ACE Strategy A…Anotar la respuesta C…Contar evidencia del texto
E…Extender tu
respuesta
Some teachers appreciate getting this in Spanish also.

4. Answer the question.

5. Cite the text!!! If you are directly quoting from a text, you must use quotation marks.
Sentence starters
In the first paragraph, the author says...
In the text it states...
The text describes
For example...
The author explains...
Early in the text, the author
For instance

6. Explain/summarize your answer
Explain why you came up with your answer. How do you relate to the problem. (use knowledge of what you know.)
Summarize: Put all of the information together to make a solid summary. (Answer, Cite , and Explain, summarize)
Let’s look at an example…

7. What kind of girl was Goldilocks?
ANCHOR
PAPER
What kind of girl was Goldilocks?
A…Goldilocks was a very naughty little girl.
C…I know this because in the passage it states that
she broke into the Bear’s house, ate their food,
and damaged their chairs and beds.
E… That’s illegal and you could go
to jail if you got caught. I can relate because
I do naughty things sometimes. When I get caught,
my mom puts me on punishment.
S…Goldilocks was a very naughty little girl. I know
this because she broke into the
Bear’s house, ate their food, and
broke their stuff. That is illegal and people go
to jail for doing illegal things.
Some teachers have asked for examples of what a good paper might look like so this is a primary one. I have had middle and high school teachers who said they have used this exact example to get their student started on what ACE looks like and found it very helpful even for their older kids. I also emphasize here that they will have their own class examples of effective papers after they start using this with their students.

8. A…Amir was a chicken, but he was also a good person. He was not
What kind of person was Amir from The Kite Runner?
A…Amir was a chicken, but he was also a good person. He was not
a very loyal friend, but he did have a conscience that bothered him.
C…He was a chicken because he was too afraid to stick up for his
friend Hassan because he Was only thinking of himself and how
afraid he was of the bullies that were hurting Hassan. Then he
framed Hassan for stealing his money so that he could get him to
go away. He wanted him to go away because his conscience bothered
him every time he saw him. He felt so guilty for what he did to
Hassan that he thought about it for the rest of his life. But in the end,
he rescued Hassan’s son from the orphanage to make up for his past
mistakes.
E…I don’t think I could ever do that to my friend. I know I would
help my friends, no matter what risk it would cause for me. I
would rather be hurt than have no loyalty.
ANCHOR
PAPER
A High school anchor paper that some have embraced. This is from an AP English class. Same process as first grade example.
Answer-Red Cite-Blue Expand-Green

9. ________________ How am I doing on ACEing my reading quizzes? X GOAL
3…I expanded my answer…I added more.
2…I could cite evidence to support my answer
1…I answered the question
and got it right X
0…I didn’t get the answer correct
Quiz 1
Quiz 2
Quiz 3
Quiz 4
Quiz 5
Quiz 6
Quiz 7
Quiz 8
Quiz 9
Quiz 10
GOAL
INTERMEDIATE EXAMPLE:
This is how a 4th grade teacher had her students track their data. Every Friday when she gives her weekly spelling tests she has an ACE question on the back of the test. Note that the goal here was to get a 2 first.

10. PLAN DO ACT STUDY ACE IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR READING
I want to improve my progress on ACEing my reading questions. I have had a score of 2 for the last 3 weeks and now I want a 3. DO
I need to focus on expanding my answers in ACE. I will write something about what I think will happen next in the story OR about how the story might remind me of something that happened to me.
ACT
x My plan worked
___I need a new plan
STUDY
Yea!! I finally got a 3. I know how to do this now and so I can just keep going. It helped a lot for my teacher to show us how to expand in a certain way.
This is an example of an improvement plan made by the student based on the previous slide. Here I emphasize that the teacher was stucturing how to “expand” their answer for the class. She was teaching the “standards” of making personal connections and predictions for what the kids were reading. Her weekly PDSA’s were focused on having students demonstrate knowledge of these two standards through the expansion part of ACE. I emphasize here that without the student data to guide the way it is difficult for the students to make an improvement plan. This helps teachers who say “I do this all the time, I just don’t have my students keep the data on it”. Or, I do PDSA, I just don’t write it down.

11. How are we doing in meeting our ACE goal in 2nd period Social Studies?
Student’s Score
Answer
Answer& Cite
Answer
Cite &
Expand
HIGH SCHOOL EXAMPLE: How one high school teacher got started with one class. This ACE assessment was added to the quarterly SCA’s that the school was giving. We need to encourage teachers to do this more often than quarterly, but if they haven’t had CCI, I find it throws them into the “I can’t possibly do this weekly” mentality. This graph could be changed to say Week 1, 2, 3, 4.
GOAL: All students will make a 3 on our extended response questions by May 2006

12. How are we doing in ACE..ing our extended responses
in Language Arts?
Another example of how class data might be shared. This is baseline data from a teacher BEFORE she started using ACE and was so surprised that her students did so poorly on constructing an effective answer.
A – Answers the question
C – Cites evidence from the text
E – Expands the answer
*Percentage of students who are meeting ACE expectations

13. NM Standards-based rubric for Grades 4-9 Writing Prompt 4 points
Conventions
Language skills successfully support meaning; few if any errors in subject/verb agreement, modifiers, punctuation, capitals, or spelling
Language skills support the meaning; several errors in some or all of:
subject/ verb agreement, modifiers, punctuation, capitals, spelling
Mistakes in grammar, mechanics & usage render writing incomprehensible
Ideas
Organization
Addresses prompt
Stays fully on topic
Includes relevant information
Provides main ideas & specific, elaborated details that move beyond the obvious
Includes inviting intro, logical arrangement of ideas, & satisfying conclusions
Maintains a clear order with transitions between ideas.
Mostly address prompt
Stays mostly focused
Includes mostly relevant info
Has main idea, but details are general, obvious or brief
Includes intro, arrangement of ideas & conclusion; ideas may wander or be predictable
Provides some connection between ideas with few transitions
Addresses some of the prompt
Addresses a broad topic or focuses on a trivial point
Provides sketchy information that may be list-like
Begins or ends abruptly; arrangement of ideas is stilted or occasionally random
Rarely uses transitions
Addresses few parts of prompt
Severely digresses from topic
Includes much irrelevant information
No main ideas or does not support them; details may be repetitious
Begins abruptly with no intro or conclusion; there is little or no attempt to establish order
Does not connect ideas
Shows no evidence of purposeful organization
Is incoherent
Voice
Word Choice
Vocabulary
Sentence Structure
Presentation
Engaging
Accurate, precise vocabulary that is appropriate for audience & purpose
Contains active/precise verbs
May use imagery, figurative or striking language
Fluent, easy to read
Effective sentence variety
Readable, neat, nearly error free
Occasionally engaging
Accurate but general word choice appropriate for audience/purpose
Use of precise and general words
Familiar vocabulary w/ some striking language
Generally fluent with occasional choppiness
Some variety of sentence beginnings, structures and length
Mostly readable & neat
Somewhat bland
General words that may include occasional errors in usage
Few active verbs, but most are imprecise or colorless (is, did, go)
Familiar vocabulary & phrases
Variety of sentence beginnings, structure, or length but rambling or choppy
Readable, but somewhat sloppy
Bland
Inaccurate or repetitive words choice that is occasionally inappropriate for audience and purpose
Passive, colorless, or imprecise verbs
Vague language or frequent cliches
Incomplete or rambling
Simple, repetitive sentence beginning, structures and lengths or many sentences combined needlessly
Some unreadable parts
Isolated words, phrases or random sentences
Some teachers ask about scoring writing to a prompt and so I emphasize that ACE is a tool for scoring “open-ended” short answer and extended response questions. It does NOT replace their other writing rubrics. In “writing to a prompt” teachers should be using their “writing” rubrics…6-traits etc. that include the complete writing process. This is the 6-traits rubric used by PED in NM to score the writing prompt on the SBA. I emphasize here that their school writing rubrics school at the very least be aligned with this one. If you’re not in New Mexico, you still might show this and ask the participants if they know what rubric their state uses to score student’s writing to a prompt. I give groups time to discuss this as a table and report on “ah-ha’s”.
**Evidence of planning
(list, web, outline)
…1 point awarded
No evidence of
planning
…0 points awarded

14. Things that have “WORKED” with kids *Post it in your room
*Teach it to your kids
*Remind them why it’s important
*Have them use the check-sheets on each reading/writing assignment
*Have them assess themselves regularly
*Have them chart their progress
*Use peer evaluators
*Show “benchmark” papers…what it really looks like to make a 3.
*Check on their scores periodically
*Give a weekly “assessment”
*Post the “class” data from the assessment
*Attach a gimmick…(collecting ACE cards)
This is a compilation of things that teachers have told me have helped to produce good results with their students.
One middle school teacher went to a casino and asked them to save cards for her. She got all the aces and gave her students an ace card when they “ACED” a quiz. She attached some sort of incentive to the card collection and said her students became “manic” about collecting those cards.
A kindergarten in a reservation school had a little ACE store where the kids could go and buy stuff with their “ACE” cards…that the teacher mimeographed.

15. You will need to designate
the following for
Your team…
*Facilitator
*Recorder
*Reporter
ACTIVITY
*Work with your grade level or department team
*TOGETHER, brainstorm possibilities to answer the following…
*Are you already using ACE? If so, how?
*If not, how could you use this rubric in your classroom or department? *How can it help you meet your class strategic learning goals
*How might it help you with processes you are already using in your class?
*How will you get your kids engaged in this process?
*How will you use some of the materials presented?
ASSIGNMENT:
*Make a sample PDSA chart that you think you could use in your class or department that would reflect learning toward ACE.
*What tools would you use to monitor progress?
i.e. bar graph, stacked-bar graph,
scattergram, line graph, other??
*Be ready to share your plans.
After going through the slide show I have groups work together to discuss the questions on this slide. I then let them choose how they want to work…alone or with a grade level or department team. Sometimes the principals have an idea of how they want them to work. Sometimes I have them make a poster to share with the participants in a way that is conducive to the size of the group….with whole group, pair and share with individual or another team, gallery walk etc.
I explain here how a PE teacher at a mid-school used ACE. He had a big ACE poster on the wall of the gym and here’s the example he gave…”After having a class play each other in basketball I ended the scrimmage 5 min. early and had the kids sit down on the floor. I told them that I don’t teach reading or writing but that I was going to support those two schools goals. I pointed to ACE and said “I know you’re using this in your other classes and we’ll use it in PE when we can.
For A…who just won the game we played?
For C…turn to someone next to you and cite evidence from the game that contributed to that team winning the game.
For E…turn to someone else and discuss what might have happened to change the outcome of the game.
An art teacher shared that she did something similar. When her students finished a project, she had them fill out a template like this…
A…do you like your work?
C…Cite evidence from the piece of work supporting your opinion of it
E…what might you change to improve the work? She had them pair and share their work with another student.
These two examples help engage those that struggle with how to use ACE if they don’t have a regular classroom.

16. You will need to designate
the following for
Your team…
*Facilitator
*Recorder
*Reporter
ACTIVITY
*Work with your team
*TOGETHER, brainstorm possibilities to answer the following…
*Are you already using ACE? If so, how?
*Are you getting student achievement results from this strategy?
*If so, how do you know?
ASSIGNMENT:
*Decide on a plan to deploy or further implement use of the ACE strategy at your school.
*If not, how could you use this strategy in your school? *How can it help you meet your EPSS goals?
*How might it help your teachers with processes they are already using in
their classrooms?
*How will you get your staff engaged in the use of this strategy?
*How will you use some of the materials presented?
*Decide on a plan to deploy use of the ACE strategy at your school.
*Be ready to share your plans with the group.
After going through the slide show I have groups work together to discuss the questions on this slide. I then let them choose how they want to work…alone or with a grade level or department team. Sometimes the principals have an idea of how they want them to work. Sometimes I have them make a poster to share with the participants in a way that is conducive to the size of the group….with whole group, pair and share with individual or another team, gallery walk etc.
I explain here how a PE teacher at a mid-school used ACE. He had a big ACE poster on the wall of the gym and here’s the example he gave…”After having a class play each other in basketball I ended the scrimmage 5 min. early and had the kids sit down on the floor. I told them that I don’t teach reading or writing but that I was going to support those two schools goals. I pointed to ACE and said “I know you’re using this in your other classes and we’ll use it in PE when we can.
For A…who just won the game we played?
For C…turn to someone next to you and cite evidence from the game that contributed to that team winning the game.
For E…turn to someone else and discuss what might have happened to change the outcome of the game.
An art teacher shared that she did something similar. When her students finished a project, she had them fill out a template like this…
A…do you like your work?
C…Cite evidence from the piece of work supporting your opinion of it
E…what might you change to improve the work? She had them pair and share their work with another student.
These two examples help engage those that struggle with how to use ACE if they don’t have a regular classroom.

17. ASSIGNMENT PLAN How will you use ACE in your classroom? DO
What will you do each
week for four weeks?
ACT
STUDY
How will you visually
monitor progress?
I have given each teacher a blank of this and let them use it. Brenda and I gave each teacher one at our SQS SCA training and had them make individual classroom plans and then had them share what they had done and their results at the follow-up training.
I have also had teams use the template from PDSA in Action and that is well-received also.
MARTY AND I FOUND OUT THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING UP EFFECTIVELY WITH TEACHERS TO SEE WHAT THEY REALLY DID WITH THEIR PLAN. NAVAJO EXAMPLE….(SHOW PICTURES HERE)…JUST FOR TRAINERS.

18. I will implement the use of ACE in my class. DO
PLAN
I will implement the use of ACE in my class. DO
Week 1…Give a baseline quiz, Post ACE, teach it to my kids, Give ACE assignments, establish a goal.
Week 2…Show anchor papers, use peer
evaluators, give 3 assignments, Give quiz.
Week 3…
Week 4…
ACT
STUDY
How are we doing?
What’s working?
What’s not working?
The kids will need to
have input here.
What do we need to change in
order to get better next week?
This is the example template I show participants before they start working.
Wk. 1 Wk. 2 Wk. 3 Wk. 4

19. We will implement the use of ACE in our classrooms. DO
PLAN
We will implement the use of ACE in our classrooms. DO
*We will divide the stories in our reading series equally among us, starting with the book we are currently teaching.
*Each teacher will design an ACE lesson
for the stories assigned to us.
*We will COPY the lessons and share them among our team.
*Our students will then have an ACE assignment each week.
*We will monitor progress toward meeting a score of a 2 first and then move toward teaching students to expand and meet a score of a 3.
ACT
STUDY
How are we doing?
What’s working?
What’s not working?
What do we need to change in
order to get better next week?
The following are slides of groups that worked together to put an implementation plan in place. These are three good examples of team work and so I usually share at least one or two of them…depending on the group
ELEMENTARY Grade Level “Team” EXAMPLE
Wk Wk Wk. 3 Wk. 4

20. We will implement the use of ACE in our classrooms. DO
PLAN
We will implement the use of ACE in our classrooms. DO
*We will first teach our students how to answer the question and site evidence from the text to support how they got their answers.
*After they have demonstrated learning of those two skills we will begin to teach them to effectively expand their answers.
*We will go through the language arts standards and divide them among us.
*Each teacher will take a standard and design 5 questions that will facilitate the use of that standard in the expansion part of ACE.
*We will share those lessons among our team so all students will benefit from the lessons.
ACT
STUDY
How are we doing?
What’s working?
What’s not working?
What do we need to change in
order to get better next week?
I LOVE the use of the standards in the expansion part of ACE in this example. The team that used this said they got fantastic results with their students.
SECONDARY “Language Arts” Team EXAMPLE
Wk Wk Wk. 3 Wk. 4

21. We will implement the use of ACE into our math instruction. DO
PLAN
We will implement the use of ACE into our math instruction. DO
*We will divide the math standards equally among us.
*Each teacher will design 1 ACE lesson for the standard assigned to us.
*We will COPY the lessons and share them among our team
*Our students will then have an ACE assignment for each math standard.
*We will use the NMSBA rubric to score these lessons,
making sure that we teach it to our kids.
*We will monitor progress toward meeting a score of a 3
(proficient) first and then move toward teaching students to construct advanced answers and meet a score of a 4.
ACT
STUDY
How are we doing?
What’s working?
What’s not working?
What do we need to change in
order to get better next week?
MATH EXAMPLE
“Teacher Team”
Wk Wk Wk. 3 Wk. 4

22. Connecting
To CCI
I developed these slides after I saw Marty do this training as an SQS public workshop and also sat in on herTrain the Trainer. This might be something helpful and I made it an elementary example since the CCI uses a mid-school one. (Tara)
I have not used these slides yet, but could be used for coaching after the teachers have had CCI or perhaps combined with it…whatever works?

23. Mark’s strategic learning goal
Workbook Page 18
Setting Classroom Learning Priorities
Publishing and posting strategic learning goals…
Mark’s strategic learning goal
100% of our class will meet or exceed the 3rd grade math standards by May 2007…
Our Measures:
*Scoring 80% or better on our school SCA Math Test
*Scoring 80% or better on our Chapter Tests
*Reaching a rubric score of proficient (3) or higher on opened-ended math questions.
Animated Slide
Facilitator Notes:
Mark’s strategic learning goal meets all the requirements of the SMART criteria.
I put the focus goal in red here to show that it is that measure that these slides will focus on. I would emphasize here that you might have several measures for the strategic goal.

24. TEMPLATES
I USUALLY MAKE A PACKET OF THESE TEMPLATES FOR EACH GRADE LEVEL OR DEPARTMENT TEAM. I WILL ALSO BURN THESE FOR THE SCHOOL TO USE.

25. Short Answer Responses
When answering short answer responses, use the ACE strategy:
*A – answer the question
*C – cite evidence from the text
*E – extend your answer
**You may receive a total of three points for each response. You need to keep track of your progress by recording your score on the grid. Put an x on your score for each assignment.
Story
Date A C E
Points
*Check means the student could perform
the expectation.

26. ACE…..your math questions
NMSBA Rubric
Score ____
Standard:_______________________Benchmark:_____________________
Question:_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Answer:
Computation:
Explanation:_______________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________

27. How am I doing in ACEing my reading quizzes
3…I explained my answer…I added more.
2…I could cite evidence to support my answer.
1…I answered the question and got it right.
0…I didn’t get the correct answer.
Quiz 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

28. PLAN DO ACT STUDY ACE IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR READING ___My plan worked
___I need a new plan
STUDY

29. SHORT ANSWER RESPONSES
*You may receive a total of
3 points per answer
*Use the ACE strategy….A-Answer the question
C-Cite evidence from the text
E-Expand your answer
Assignment
Date A C E My
Score
Peer
Evaluator Score
Teacher Score

30. ACE Improvement Plan
Name_____________ Date____________
Subject____________
PLAN:_________________________________________
DO:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
STUDY:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___My plan worked!
___I need another improvement plan!

31. Passage to read…. Question to answer…
ACE ASSIGNMENT
Passage to read….
Question to answer…
A______________________________________________________________________________
C______________________________________________________________________________
E______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THIS WAS DEVELOPED BY A SPECIAL ED TEAM BECAUSE THEY WANTED THEIR STUDENTS TO HAVE JUST A QUICK PARAGRAPH TO READ AND ONE QUESTION TO ANSWER. THEY ALSO SAID THEIR STUDENTS NEEDED THE STRUCTURE THAT THIS TEMPLATE GAVE THEM. I’VE HAD HS TEACHERS WHO LIKE IT ALSO AND SAID THEIR STUDENTS NEEDED IT AT FIRST ALSO.

32. “MATH” PROBLEM SOLVING GRAPH
Advanced 4
Proficient 3
Nearing 2
Emerging 1
Activity 5 6 7 8 9 10
GOAL

33. ________________________________________ ACE Score-___
I answered the question…………………….___yes ___no
I supported my answer from the text…..___yes___no
I expanded my answer……………………………….___yes___no
Name____________________
STUDENT SELF-EVALUATION OR PEER SCORING GUIDE
ACE Score-___
I answered the question……………………………___yes___no
I supported my answer from the text…..___yes___no
I expanded my answer……………………………….___yes___no
Name____________________
________________________________________