Curriculum Leaders:  Register Now for the Iowa ASCD Curriculum Leadership Academy on April 10 - 11, 2013

• Teaching for Understanding - Curriculum Strand:
  What do all students need to learn, know, and be able to do?  How do we in our building/grade level connect our teaching with the students' learning expectations identified in the Core?
• Assessment for Learning - Assessment Strand: 
  How do we know that students have learned?  How do we use assessments to assess and diagnose our students' progress in learning?  How do we adjust our instruction based on the results of the formative assessments?
• Teaching for Learner Differences - Instruction Strand:
  How do we plan and deliver instruction so that we meet the needs of all learners in our classroom?  How do we respond if students struggle or don't learn and how do we respond when students have already learned?

Cost:

• $90 if ISEA or Iowa ASCD member
• $150 for non-members
• If a school sends 4 or more teachers to the conference, the administrator comes free!
• Includes opportunities for follow-up webinars and tweet chats as well as Grade 4 and Grade 5 website of resources

Registration - Use One of the Following Methods:

• Register online with a credit card.
• Iowa ASCD members and non-members of either organization may register here.
• ISEA members should contact Lou Howell at L1313@mchsi.com for special code to register on Iowa ASCD website. 
• Mail a check/purchase order with date/name of conference and names of participants with grade level/role identified to Bridget A. Arrasmith, Drake University School of Education, 3206 University, Des Moines, IA  50311
• E-mail a purchase order with name/date of conference and names of participants and grade level/role to Bridget A. Arrasmith at bridget.arrasmith@drake.edu. 
• FAX purchase order with name/date of conference names of participants and grade level/role to Bridget A. Arrasmith at 515.271.2233.  

Location:  AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center, 3712 Cedar Heights Drive, Cedar Falls, IA  50613 

Dates:

• April 25, 2013 (8:00 - 4:00)  Grade 4: Impacting Learning in My Fourth-Grade Classroom
• April 26, 2013 (8:00 - 4:00)  Grade 5:  Impacting Learning in My Fifth-Grade Classroom

Download flyer on the Iowa ASCD website! 

While competency-based learning has a history in vocational education, a growing number of traditional high schools are now adopting competency-based programs. As is typical of any emerging field, a wide array of approaches is currently underway. This report focuses on the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators in a select, but varied group of schools that are ahead of the curve in implementing competency education (also referred to as competency-based education, proficiency-based pathways).

A team of researches for the Nellie Mae Foundation spent almost two years examining 11 high schools in New England that already had started this work and wanted to expand their efforts. The authors provide a window into the state-of-art strategies in New England and across the country. The report documents each school's experiences, highlighting the key components, benefits, and challenges of the work already completed - and left to do.

Key conclusions drawn in this report include the following:

• Competency-based approaches, as concluded in this report, have two distinguishing characteristics:
  • a clear measurable definition of mastery, along with procedures and tools for tracking that mastery, and
  • the flexible use of time.

• Many students find competency education more motivating and engaging than traditional approaches. The chance to progress at one's own pace is particularly important to struggling students.

• Time-based policies and systems from schedules to contracts to credit systems - at both the district and state levels often pose challenges for those implementing competency-based designs. But educators are finding ways to create flexibility, often starting within familiar structures but looking for strategies to support more individualized pacing.

• There is no single blueprint or well-established menu of instructional products geared for competency education initiatives, so teachers often face the benefits and the drawbacks of designing their curriculum and instruction from scratch.

• The biggest logistical challenge to creating competency-based initiatives is the lack of high-quality data and technological tools to assess and monitor student progress that are tailored to each initiative's specific approach.

Purpose:

• To expand the knowledge base of educators and others interested in competency-based education 
• To build the capacity of educators and others to transform the current system of education in Iowa to a system focused on personalized learning for each and every student

Featured Speakers:

Join us for learning and conversations with national leaders like Rose Colby, author of Off the Clock and a national consultant on competency-based education; Kathleen McCaskey and Barb Bray, consultants on personalized learning; Michael Soguero, Director of Professional Development at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center; and Tom Vander Ark (pending), author of Getting Smart: How Digital Learning Is Changing the World and founder of GettingSmart.com.

And there will be several Iowans joining the conversation and sharing their expertise:  Dr. Jason Glass, Director of the Iowa Department of Education, CBE Task Force members Jeff Herzberg of Prairie Lakes AEA and Bridget Wagoner of Waverly-Shell Rock Community School District; and Representatives Tyler Olson, Renee Schulte (pending), and Cindy Winkler.

And Andrea Stewart, teacher in the Muscatine Community School district, will be one of several, sharing how it is delivered in the classroom.   

Sessions will include among others:

• Define:  What is a competency?
• Design:  How do we design and assess competencies?
• Deliver:  What does it look like in my classroom?  

Mark your calendars now!   June 26 an 27!  Register for the Conference on the Iowa ASCD web site.  The fee is $250 for Iowa ASCD members and $295 for non-members. You may also  . . .  

• Mail a check/purchase order with date/name of conference and names of participants to Bridget A. Arrasmith, Drake University School of Education, 3206 University, Des Moines, IA  50311.
• E-mail a purchase order with name/date of conference and names of participants to Bridget A. Arrasmith at bridget.arrasmith@drake.edu. 
• FAX purchase order with name/date of conference and names of participants and grade level/role to Bridget A. Arrasmith at 515.271.2233.   

The recently released Iowa Early Learning Standards are for everyone who loves, cares for, and educates young children. The standards are a resource to help support and enhance children's learning and development, as well as inform policy and decision makers. In addition, the standards are a tool to help share information among families, caregivers, child care professionals, family support professionals, health care professionals, teachers, and others who care for or work with children.

The Iowa Early Learning Standards are divided into two age groups, infant/toddler and preschool, within seven content areas of learning and development. Infants and toddlers cover the time period from birth until three years of age and are detailed in Section III; infants include children from 0-18 months and toddlers 18-36 months. Preschool covers the ages of three through five years and are detailed in Section IV.

Each content area reflects universal aspects of growth and development for young children. The areas of development are inter-connected and encompass the development of the whole child. Although the emphasis and titles of the areas differ somewhat from those in the K-12 Iowa Core, they are intended to provide a strong developmental foundation that represents the needs and capabilities of infants, toddlers, and preschool age children.

Within each of the seven content areas the standard, rationale, benchmarks, examples of benchmarks, and adult supports are identified. These components are defined as follows:

• standard - expectation of what an infant/toddler or preschool age child should demonstrate;
• rationale - highlights a description of the standard and the research that supports it;
• benchmarks - define the skills and behaviors infants, toddlers, or preschool age children develop to demonstrate the standard;
• examples - how children might practice and/or demonstrate the identified benchmarks; and
• adult supports - provide a list of recommendations for practice that can be used to contribute to the care, learning, and development of infants, toddlers, and preschool age children using developmentally appropriate strategies. All the recommended adult supports should incorporate English and each child's home language.

In Section II of the IELS document, you can find information on several essential considerations within early care, health, and education. The considerations include the following:

• The Importance of Children's Health and Well-Being
• The Role of Caring Adults and Communities
• The Importance of Embracing Diversity
• The Importance of Play in Learning
• The Role of Technology and Interactive Media
• The Role of Assessment
• Understanding School Readiness

The revised Iowa Early Learning Standards (2012) can be found on the Early Childhood Iowa website at http://www.state.ia.us/earlychildhood/files/ECI_SITE_FILES/IAearlylearningstandards.pdf.

Michael Fullan reminds us that if leadership is to be effective, it has to ...

1. Have an explicit "making-a-difference" sense of purpose,
2. Use strategies that mobilize many people to tackle tough problems,
3. Be held accountable by measured and debatable indicators of success, and
4. Be ultimately assessed by the extent to which it awakens people's intrinsic commitment, which is none other than the mobilizing of everyone's sense of moral purpose.

Goleman identified six leadership styles:

1. Coercive-the leader demands compliance. ("Do what I tell you.")
2. Authoritative-the leader mobilizes people toward a vision. (Come with me.")
3. Affiliative-the leader creates harmony and builds emotional bonds. ("People come first.")
4. Democratic-the leader forges consensus through participation. ("What do you think?")
5. Pacesetting-the leader sets high standards for performance. ("Do as I do, now.")
6. Coaching-the leader develops people for the future. ("Try this.")

Fullan advocates that two of the six styles negatively affect cli mate and, in turn, performance. These are the coercive style (people resent and resist) and the pacesetting style (people get over whelmed and burn out). All four of the other styles can have a significant positive impact on climate and performance.

Check out Michael Fullan's Leading in a Culture of Change to learn how we can use the four, especially through implementation, to achieve the performance and the confidence of your staff as you move the major changes in education today.

Re-culturing, not reorganizing, is the name of the game!