1. ALIGNING INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEMS TO COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
Ky Vu, Senior Program Officer
December 14, 2017

2. OUR COMMON CHALLENGE
Despite strong collaboration and heavy investment in standards implementation, curriculum, teacher evaluations and professional development, instructional walkthroughs across the country highlighted the following nation-wide challenges:
Teachers are not yet shifting their practice and raising the rigor of instruction

3. LACK OF ALIGNMENT TO STANDARDS
Overall, did this lesson indicate that the teacher is making the instructional shifts required by the standards

4. LACK OF ACADEMIC RIGOR

5. OUR COMMON CHALLENGES
Despite strong collaboration and heavy investment in standards implementation, curriculum, teacher evaluations and professional development, instructional walkthroughs across the country highlighted the following nation-wide challenges:
Teachers are not yet shifting their practice and raising the rigor of instruction
Large perception gap is a barrier to improvement

6. PERCEPTION GAP

7. OUR COMMON CHALLENGE
Despite strong collaboration and heavy investment in standards implementation, curriculum, teacher evaluations and professional development, instructional walkthroughs across the country highlighted the following nation-wide challenges:
Teachers are not yet shifting their practice and raising the rigor of instruction
Large perception gap is a barrier to improvement
Misaligned systems: Curriculum and assessment, observation and feedback, and professional development are not well-aligned to the Standards or even to each other

8. COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS:
OUR COMMON GOAL
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS:
Provide much-needed clarity for academic success, define rigor and content students should master
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Quality instructional materials support teachers to meet the demands of the standards and assessment help to track progress
Provides teachers clear expectations, feedback and supports.
Aligned to the standards in content and pedagogy, timely, job-embedded, delivered by peers and driven by data.
BETTER INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS
THEORY OF ACTION: Quality and aligned implementation of curriculum & assessment, observation & feedback and professional development will dramatically increase the number of classrooms that demonstrate instruction aligned to rigorous college- and career-ready standards, which in turn will accelerate student achievement

9. CURRICULUM MATTERS! COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Curriculum selection has large and statistically significant effects on student outcomes, rivaling teacher effectiveness interventions.
Source: Matthew Chingos and Grover “Russ” Whitehurst, “Choosing Blindly: Instructional Materials, Teacher Effectiveness, and the Common Core,” Brookings Institution, 2012.
Effect size* of selected interventions on student test scores
Curriculum impact is largest for weakest teachers, effectively bringing up the “floor”.
*In standard deviations
Source: C. Kirabo Jackson and Alexey Makarin, “Simplifying Teaching: A Field Experiment with Online "Off-the-Shelf" Lessons,” National Bureau of Economic Statistics, Working Paper No , 2016.
Effect size* of using well designed math lessons on student test scores at different teacher effectiveness levels

10. ADOPTING STRONG CURRICULUM YIELDS IMPROVEMENT FASTER
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Source: “Lessons Learned,” Instruction Partners, 2017.

11. AN EQUITY IMPERATIVE IN HIGH POVERTY SCHOOLS!
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
In an analysis of >1,500 middle school assignments in six major urban districts:
Less than 40 percent of assignments were academically appropriate for the grade level overall; in high poverty schools, less than a third embodied grade-level expectations.
Only 4 percent of assignments represented cognitive demand indicators beyond the application of basic skills and concepts.
Only 2 percent met indicators for relevance and choice, which are powerful mindset levers to motivate early adolescents.
Source: “Checking In: Do Classroom Assignments Reflect Today’s Higher Standards?” Education Trust, 2015.

12. COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
PROGRESS WE ARE SEEING
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Greater options for high-quality, aligned curricular materials, especially in K-8 ELA/literacy
EdReports
Louisiana Believes
Materials alignment projects:
HMH Journeys (K-5)
HMH GO Math! (K-5)
Task alignment for HMH Collections (6-12)
Some states and many districts are proactively adopting or piloting aligned materials

13. REFLECT AND SHARE Discussion questions
Have your state standards helped to build a shared vision for instructional practice aligned to college- and career readiness? Have the instructional shifts in literacy and math been adequately emphasized? How well have you communicated to and supported educators in understanding their “why” in order to close the perception gap?
What role do instructional materials play in reinforcing that vision?
How are you helping to make data about instructional materials more transparent for district leaders, school leaders, teachers and parents?

14. TEACHER EVALUATION MEETS COMMON CORE: ONE VIEW
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

15. THE REALITY FOR MOST STATES AND DISTRICTS
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Two parallel initiatives, both enormous
Independent demands, timelines, pressures
Educators forced to make a decision as to which initiative to focus on

16. OBSERVATION AND FEEDBACK NOT SENDING CLEAR SIGNALS
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Challenges with most rubrics
Overly complex with too many competencies
Too cumbersome to do well and takes too much time to complete
Buries most important competencies among several lower priority competencies
Content agnostic
Not enough focus on standards-aligned feedback
Overemphasis on teacher “moves” rather than on student work

17. WHERE WE NEED TO GO Content matters!
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Content matters!
Engagement is important, but it is not sufficient.
WHAT is being taught matters as much as HOW it’s being taught.
Time is precious – consider the tradeoffs.
Who is doing the work?

18. COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
PROGRESS WE ARE SEEING
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
More widespread use of the Instructional Practices Guide (IPG) for formative feedback

19. INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES GUIDES (IPG)
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
SAP created an observation tool that is subject and grade-specific
Designed to answer: “What do CCR standards look like in the classroom?”
Focused narrowly on the intersections of content and practice
Grades K-2
Grades 3-12
Grades K-8
Grades 9-12

20. COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
PROGRESS WE ARE SEEING
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
More widespread use of the Instructional Practices Guide (IPG) for formative feedback
Recent changes to teacher evaluation rubrics to align to the demands of college- and career-ready standards
Marzano: Reduction in the elements from 60 to 23; creation of content-specific evidences for ELA/literacy and math
Danielson: Same language in the rubric, but more explicit language to help teachers and classroom observers see clear alignment to the standards in the “look fors”; creation of “cluster” versions (generic, ELA/literacy and math) to make observation and feedback more focused and manageable
Focus on student work

21. REFLECT AND SHARE Discussion questions
What do most districts in your state use for teacher evaluation?  Do the challenges resonate with you? How has your state and/or districts worked to address these challenges?
What opportunities and challenges do you see if you were to shift to new tools, such as the ones I described, thinking in terms of both formal evaluation and informal observation and feedback? How much new observer and teacher training would be required?

22. WHAT’S MISSING IN PD Instructional coaching
COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS
OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Instructional coaching
Variability in coach skill and understanding of the standards
Coaching not always consistently applied across the district
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
Focused more on logistics and planning, rather than on standards alignment and implementation
Not focused on highest leverage activities in PLC time
PD workshops
Content missing key elements of the standards
Lack of PD for all levels of the system
Feedback and coaching not grounded in data from classroom observations

23. Q&A