1. Essential Learnings
All students will be productive and responsible citizens in a competitive world.

2. SASD Student Learning Plan
By end of Second Semester – 2010/2011
Identify and align building essential learnings with Common Core Standards and 21st Century Skills
Building teams will identify/develop common formative assessments for 50% of the essential learnings

3. Student Learning Plan + PLC
To achieve the Student Learning Plan goal, the PLC framework will be utilized
Continued focus on Student Learning, Collaboration, and Results

4. A Shift in Purpose
Learning By Doing p. 187

5. A Definition…
Essential Learnings: Knowledge and skills that teachers will ensure all students will learn.
(8-10 per semester)
Don’t think of essential learnings as minimum standards,
but as the items that a student MUST know to be
successful at the next level. These are items that
teachers will continue to teach and reassess until they
are learned.
The goal is to collaboratively create a guaranteed and viable curriculum (Larger Effect Sizes)

6. The Power of Collaboration
Collaborative cultures facilitate commitment to change and improvement - Fullan & Hardgraves
In “learning enriched” schools teachers worked together more than in “learning impoverished” schools - Rosenholtz
Ashton and Webb found that the main benefit of collaboration is that it can reduce teachers’ sense of powerlessness and increase their sense of efficacy.

7. Collaboration in Determining Essential Learnings:
Promotes clarity of what the essentials are and what they mean (G)
Promotes consistent priorities (G)
Is crucial to the common pacing required for formative assessments (G)
Can help establish a curriculum that is viable (V)
Creates ownership of the curriculum among those who are called upon to teacher it (G, V)

8. Creating A Guaranteed Curriculum
This collective inquiry is a professional responsibility of every faculty member —members of a PLC can neither ship this question off to someone else to answer, nor disregard their colleagues (Dufour, et. al)
Teams work together to build shared knowledge regarding essential curriculum

9. Curriculum overload results in two significant barriers to student achievement:
Too many teachers make coverage of the curriculum a priority. The ability to say, “I taught it” becomes the primary objective, while student learning becomes secondary
The overload forces teachers to make decisions about what they will teach and what they will exclude. If done on an individual level rather than as a grade level team, there is no “guaranteed curriculum” to assure all students have access to the same knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

10. Viable Curriculum
Marzanno, et. al (1999) studied the 49 state standards documents and concluded that teaching the content in those documents would require 71% more instructional time (about 10 additional years of school)
Reeves (2002) asserts that not all standards are created equal; some are simply more important, or more powerful, than others.
As teams work to clarify what is essential, they also work to identify curriculum content that should be eliminated.

11. Separating Essential from the Peripheral
Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
Essential
(Endurance, Leverage, & Readiness)

12. Establishing Essential Learnings
Reeves offers a three-part test:
Endurance: retention of skill/knowledge/understanding is critical throughout a student’s academic career and life.
Leverage: Proficiency in this skill/knowledge/understanding is critical for student learning in other areas of the curriculum and in other disciplines.
Readiness In order to achieve success at the next grade level or course, it is critical students learn this skill/knowledge/understanding.

13. When Identifying Essentials….
Essentials must align with the Model Academic Standards
Essentials must align with 21st Century Skills
Ensure students are well prepared to demonstrate proficiency on WKCE and required district common assessments

14. Pertinent Resources Model Academic Standards 21st Century Skills
Proficiency levels on district common assessments
Other resources…. see handout

15. Locating the Pertinent Resources
Alpha Web

16. Documenting the Essentials
Essential Template –– see handout
Assessment Administration Calendar - TBD

17. How Will Work Be Completed?
Team Meetings
Whole Group – Meetings TBD
Vertical Team Meetings - TBD

18. Beginning the Work Each team will need to:
Establish team norms
Determine roles and responsibilities (minimally will need to address facilitation, note taking, and team contact person)
Meeting notes need to be turned in to the administrator overseeing the group. Indicate any questions, or if other supports are needed – see handout

19. Questions??