1. 2011 Preparation Course for Curriculum Writers
Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction
Thank you for stepping forward to write curriculum documents for BVSD. As a curriculum writer, you are in a position of power to specify how BVSD goes beyond the standards in our curriculum documents. You will also be getting a jumpstart on understanding the new state standards in depth and will be in a position to play a leadership role in rolling out the new curriculum documents.

2. Part One: Rationale for the current revision
Decision-making process that has led up to this training
Timeline of BVSD and state initiatives

3. Rationale for the current revision
The Colorado Department of Education (State) requires all districts to adopt curriculum aligned to the new Colorado Academic Standards by December 2011.
This is a requirement of Senate Bill 212 (CAP4K)

4. The Colorado Academic Standards were finalized in December 2010
All contents. All grade levels.

5. The Common Core Standards are essentially “national standards” in language arts and math, which have been adopted by over 40 states. Common Core exists only for Language Arts and Mathematics. State Standards were not finalized until December 2010, when the Common Core Standards were integrated into the Colorado Academic Standards.
Developed by Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center)

6. Why revise now?
Districts review and align curriculum to Colorado Academic Standards by December 2011
Again, districts are required to align their curriculum documents to these new Colorado Academic Standards by December 2011.

7. Transitional Colorado Assessment Program
Transitional Colorado Assessment Program and pilot of new summative assessment system

8. Features of the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program for 2012 and 2013:
TCAP will maintain the same general blueprint as CSAP in terms of the overall test structure and content distribution.
The TCAP will not test Colorado’s new personal financial literacy expectations or social studies.
The TCAP will not test any content standards that have shifted grades and it will not test any new learning skills

9. Features of the State of Colorado accountability test 2014:
Math, Reading and Writing to be tested every grade 3-11
Science to be tested once at elementary, once at middle, once at high
Social Studies to be tested once at elementary, once at middle, once at high

10. Timeline Summer December 2011 Spring 2012 August 2012 Spring 2014
BVSD Curriculum Essentials revised to align with state standards.
State deadline for alignment to standards
Revised Curriculum Essentials Documents made available for planning
instruction
All schools implement revised Curriculum Essentials Documents
Debut of state revised assessment system

11. Decision process
The following groups met to discuss options regarding format and sequence of revised curriculum documents.
Curriculum Coordinating Council
Principals
Elementary Curriculum Council
Secondary Content Curriculum Councils
Members of these groups then gave input via an online survey.
Why are we changing formats again? The decision was based on feedback from these groups. Teachers from every school had an opportunity to be a part of this decision-making process.

12. BVSD Survey of Curriculum Coordinating Council, Elementary Curriculum Council, Secondary Content Curriculum Councils, and Principals
Response Percent
Response Count
Adopt the format of the Colorado Academic Standards as is.
75.0% 72
Keep the BVSD Curriculum Essentials Documents format, and incorporate language from the Colorado Academic Standards.
25.0% 24

13. Timeline for 2011 January May June-July Sept Oct Nov Dec
Discussions about sequence began with
Curriculum Coordinating Council
Final decision on sequence
Final document preparation
Draft document preparation
Board
approval
Public
comment
Board
review

14. Part Two: Intro to the new Colorado Academic Standards
21st Century Skills in the new Colorado Academic Standards
Format of the Grade Level Expectations pages

15. Key Differences in New State Standards vs. the Old Standards
 Include Pre-K
 Articulated by grade level for grades K-8
 Standards are written for “mastery” 
 Integrate 21st Century Skills
What is the difference between “proficiency “and “mastery”?

16. 21st Century Skills • Critical Thinking and Reasoning
(cause and effect, analysis, logic)
• Information Literacy
(knowledge acquisition, source discernment, system management)
• Collaboration
(synergy, team resourcing, leader ship for new knowledge)
• Self-direction
(persistence, adaptability, work ethic, initiative)
• Invention
(creativity, innovation)
Handout copies of the definitions of the 21st Century Skills.
These 21st Century Skills were developed with input from higher ed and workforce representatives. They are similar to the New Century Graduate definition for BVSD.

17. Underline where you see evidence of the 21st Century Skills
Look at the pages from the Colorado Academic Standards that you have been given.
Underline where you see evidence of the 21st Century Skills
Share with your table group.
Which 21st Century Skills did you see evidence of?
In which components of the Standards did you find them?
Handout packets of GLE pages. Each person in a table group of 4 should get a different packet. The packets are numbered.
After groups have had a few minutes to share and discuss, ask if anyone wants to share out with the whole group.

18. Components of the Grade Level Expectations (GLE) Page
Content Area
Standard:
Prepared Graduates:
High School and Grade Level Expectations
Concepts and skills students master:
Evidence Outcomes
21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
Inquiry Questions:
Relevance and Application:
Nature of the Discipline:
Give each pair an envelope. Each envelope contains one blank GLE page template with the names of the components, but not the definitions. The envelope also contains colored arrows with text printed on them.

19. Components of the Grade Level Expectations (GLE) Page
Match the definitions on the colored arrows to the corresponding components of the GLE page
Content Area
Standard:
Prepared Graduates:
High School and Grade Level Expectations
Concepts and skills students master:
Evidence Outcomes
21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
Inquiry Questions:
Relevance and Application:
Nature of the Discipline:
The text on the arrows has the definitions for each of the components of the GLE page. With your partner, place the arrows on the page where you think they belong by matching the definition on each arrow to the name of the component on the page.

20. Indicators of student mastery
Content Area
Standard:
Prepared Graduates:
High School and Grade Level Expectations
Concepts and skills students master:
Evidence Outcomes
21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
Inquiry Questions:
Relevance and Application:
Nature of the Discipline:
Name of Content Area
Topical Organization
P-12 Concept and Skill thread students must master
Concepts & skills indicating progress to PGC mastery
Once participants have placed the arrow definitions on the template, review the correct answers.
Discuss why each of these components are important.
Promote critical thinking
Indicators of
student mastery
Relevant societal context
Characteristics of Discipline

21. Part Three: Expectations for curriculum-writing Next steps
This part of the presentation is intended to provide clarity around expectations for curriculum writing.

22. Compensation:
Teachers writing curriculum documents will be compensated at curriculum rate ($24.58/hour).
The amount of budget available allows for 8 hours per teacher per course.
Some contents and grade levels may require far less than 8 hours. Some teams, especially those writing documents for elective courses may require more than 8 hours. If more than 8 hours will be needed, writers should contact their content leader.

23. Deadlines:
Each content area has an assigned a person to coordinate revisions. Deadlines for each content will be communicated by the person coordinating your content area.

24. Specifications for final products:
Templates will be provided for the following sections of the document:
Grade Level Expectation (GLE) page
Introduction/At-a-Glance page
Key Academic Vocabulary and Glossary
The GLE pages are the detailed descriptions of what students should know and be able to do.

25.       Content Area: NAME OF CONTENT AREA
Standard: The topical organization of an academic content area.
Prepared Graduate Competencies:
The P-12 concepts and skills that all students leaving the Colorado education system must have to ensure success in a postsecondary and workforce setting.
High School and Grade Level Expectations
Concepts and skills students know include:
High School Expectations: The articulation of the concepts and skills of a standard that indicates a student is making progress toward being a prepared graduate.
Grade Level Expectations: The articulation, at each grade level, the concepts and skills of a standard that indicates a student is making progress toward being ready for high school.
What do students need to know?
Evidence Outcomes
21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
Evidence outcomes are the indication that a student is meeting an expectation at the mastery level.
How do we know that a student can do it?
Inquiry:
Students actively observe and question, investigate, formulate evidence-based explanations, communicate and justify explanations, and reflect & refine ideas.
Application of the Discipline in Society and Using Technology:
Students demonstrate knowledge, skills, and concepts in real-world, relevant contexts.
Nature of the Discipline:
Students understand the characteristics innate to the discipline.     
If you are going to be writing for grades preK-8 or for the major, core content courses at high school, these GLE pages will be pre-loaded with text from the state documents. If you are writing an elective course, you will be starting with a blank template. All components of the GLE pages should be completed, with the possible exception of the Nature of the Discipline section. Please check with your content leader about whether you need to include this.

26. “Free box” (will differ among content areas)
Introduction/At-a-Glance Template
Course Description
Topics at a Glance
Assessments
This page provides a quick overview. It is intended for use not only by teachers, but also for parents as a summary of the grade-level content or the course. Writing teams will decide how to best summarize the “Topics at a Glance”. For secondary courses, there are existing course descriptions that should be copied and pasted from the Master Course Description Guide.
“Free box” (will differ among content areas)

27. Glossary of Terms Academic Vocabulary
Standard 1:
Standard 2:
Standard 3:
Standard 4:
Word
Definition
This section is essential for both classroom teachers as a reference and for interventionists and support staff.

28. Specifications for final products:
Please proofread your documents for spelling and grammar
Please follow the format (this is to maximize the efficiency of compiling the hundreds of documents that will be produced in a common format)
It is a common practice when contracting out work to provide specifications or “specs” for the people who are doing the technical work to follow. You will be our technicians, and these are some of the specs that we are requesting that you follow.
Following the format is essential to helping us preserve the internal consistency of curriculum documents. One of the most frequently heard celebrations about the Curriculum Essentials Documents released in 2009 that we heard from teachers was that the documents were consistent across grade levels and contents. We don’t want to lose that internal consistency.

29. If you add anything to the GLE page, please highlight it yellow.
Getting started…
If you are writing a document for grades preK-8 (not advanced), start with the Grade Level Expectation (GLE) pages from the Colorado Academic Standards
If you add anything to the GLE page, please highlight it yellow.
Most writers who are starting from the Colorado Academic Standards will have a relatively simple task. You will have the GLE pages from the state to start with, and your decision will be more about whether anything unique to BVSD needs to be added.
highlight it in yellow.

30. “Free box” (will differ among content areas)
Introduction/At-a-Glance Template
Course Description
Topics at a Glance
Assessments
Your next task will be to start completing an Introduction/At-a-Glance page using the template provided. A good place to start will be by figuring out how to summarize the GLE pages succinctly in the “Topics at a Glance” box. For the course description, you can start with the description from the existing Curriculum Essentials Documents, and edit it to reflect the changes. The assessments box will simply be a list of assessments that are available district-wide for this content and grade level.
“Free box” (will differ among content areas)

31. Getting started…
If you are writing a document for an advanced version of a standard course at middle level or high school, start with the Grade Level Expectation (GLE) pages from the standard level course.
We will talk about writing for advanced courses in much greater depth in the second part of the this training.

32. Getting started…
If you are writing a document for an elective course, you will most likely not have pre-filled GLE pages to start with.
Some courses will not be covered by the Colorado Academic Standards, although the standards will likely provide an important jumping off point.

33. Getting started…
If you are writing a document for an elective course, it is recommended that you start by finding the Prepared Graduate Expectations that are relevant to your course.
Prepared Graduate Expectations are those big ideas that span pre-K-12 and that students must master in order to be successful in the workforce or in higher ed.

34. From the Colorado Academic Standards
Content Area: NAME OF CONTENT AREA
Standard: The topical organization of an academic content area.
Prepared Graduate Competencies:
The P-12 concepts and skills that all students leaving the Colorado education system must have to ensure success in a postsecondary and workforce setting.
High School and Grade Level Expectations
Concepts and skills students know include:
Evidence Outcomes
21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
Inquiry:
Application of the Discipline in Society and Using Technology:
Nature of the Discipline:
From the Colorado Academic Standards
For you GLE pages, you should be able to copy and paste at least the Content Area, Standard and Prepared Graduate Competency from the state standards. If you can’t, please talk with your content area leader.

35. Prepared Graduate Statements
Finding the
Prepared Graduate Statements
Example – who has an elective course that they are writing?
Show participants how to navigate to this page and how to find the Prepared Graduate Statements.

36. Next, list the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for your course
Getting started…
Next, list the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for your course
= the concepts and skills of a standard that indicates a student is making progress toward being a prepared graduate.
Example: “Cells use passive and active transport of substances across membranes to maintain relatively stable intracellular environments.”
Brainstorm What these Grade Level Expectations would be.

37. Next, list the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for your course
Getting started…
Next, list the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for your course
= the concepts and skills of a standard that indicates a student is making progress toward being a prepared graduate.
Example: “Stylistic and thematic elements of literary or narrative texts can be refined to engage or entertain an audience .”

38. Getting started…
Next, complete the components of the Grade Level Expectation page for each GLE
Evidence outcomes
Inquiry Questions
Relevance and Application
Nature of the Discipline

39.       Content Area: NAME OF CONTENT AREA
Standard: The topical organization of an academic content area.
Prepared Graduate Competencies:
The P-12 concepts and skills that all students leaving the Colorado education system must have to ensure success in a postsecondary and workforce setting.
High School and Grade Level Expectations
Concepts and skills students know include:
High School Expectations: The articulation of the concepts and skills of a standard that indicates a student is making progress toward being a prepared graduate.
Grade Level Expectations: The articulation, at each grade level, the concepts and skills of a standard that indicates a student is making progress toward being ready for high school.
What do students need to know?
Evidence Outcomes
21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
Evidence outcomes are the indication that a student is meeting an expectation at the mastery level.
How do we know that a student can do it?
Inquiry:
Students actively observe and question, investigate, formulate evidence-based explanations, communicate and justify explanations, and reflect & refine ideas.
Application of the Discipline in Society and Using Technology:
Students demonstrate knowledge, skills, and concepts in real-world, relevant contexts.
Nature of the Discipline:
Students understand the characteristics innate to the discipline.     
Remember that there is a template for that on the webpage.

40. Getting started…
Finally, complete the Intro/At-a-Glance page and Academic Vocabulary/Glossary pages

41. Give it a try…
Elementary – practice creating Topics at a Glance from the GLE pages and editing the course description (use handout/go online)
Secondary courses covered by standards - practice creating Topics at a Glance from the GLE pages and editing the course description (use handout/go online)
Elective courses – practice finding Prepared Graduate Competencies and brainstorming GLEs (use handout/go online)

42. Next Steps: Timeline for 2011 January May June-July Sept Oct Nov Dec
Board
approval
review
Final document preparation
Public
comment
Draft document preparation
Final decision on sequence
Discussions about sequence began with
Curriculum Coordinating Council

43. Questions?

44. Advanced Courses

45. Advanced Courses
What are your best hopes and worst fears?

46. Advanced Courses
What are you currently doing to make your advanced course deeper and more complex than the standard course?

47. Definitions:
“Acceleration” – Skipping courses to access higher grade level content earlier. For example, taking Algebra I as an 8th grader.
“Advanced” – Advanced courses go beyond the curriculum expectations of a standard course offering. For example, Biology versus Advanced Biology.

48. Clarifications:
Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses are determined by national curricula. In BVSD, we have courses that are not AP or IB, but which have the title “Advanced.”
BVSD does not have courses identified as “Honors”. Honors is a course identifier from several years ago that schools should no longer utilize.

49. Building our own common understanding of “advanced”
Please read the two brief selections from the book Content-Based Curriculum for High-Ability Learners by VanTassel-Baska and Little

50. Discuss these questions with a partner:
What does it mean to “make more advanced curricula available at younger ages?”
What should be the role of curriculum documents in differentiating learning for students with advanced academic needs?
What are the challenges and opportunities regarding state standards and their relationship to the curricula for advanced courses?

51. Criteria for Advanced Courses:
Purpose: To inform the work of the curriculum writing teams who will be aligning CED to the new standards and developing CEDs for courses that do not currently have them, including advanced courses.
Audience: Curriculum writing teams who have been trained specifically to write advanced course curricula.

52. Advanced Course Descriptor:
Purpose: To provide a broad definition of an advanced course in the BVSD, one that can be applied across all contents and grade levels. This definition will be our public statement of what advanced courses look like in BVSD. This definition will be imbedded in the CED for all advanced courses.
Audience: Anyone reading a CED.

53. Examples: Advanced Biology – draft GLE page
Advanced Algebra II – draft GLE page
How do the extensions on these pages provide additional depth and complexity without introducing content from high level courses?

54. Practice:
Go to the State Standards online and find a GLE page that would be in the standard level of the course for which you are writing an advanced curriculum.
How would you add extensions to this GLE?

55. Questions?