|
|
|
|
Volume 15, Number 17 The Source
|
October 2, 2015
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fall Academy - November 16-17: Standards-Based Grading for School Leaders
Conference speaker Tammy Heflebower of Marzano Research Center shares practical steps and strategies for school and district leaders and their teams to guide educators, students and parents through the implementation process and become acquainted with opportunities and challenges that may arise during the transition to standards-based grading.
Standards-based grading gives students and parents useful feedback by clearly identifying what students need to know and what they still need to learn to achieve those goals. Teachers use proficiency scales to track and report students' progress on prioritized standards and report cards communicate what students have mastered, what they need to work on, and how quickly they are progressing.
During this workshop, participants will explore specific aspects of standards-based grading implementation, from identifying prioritized standards and composing proficiency scales to creating aligned assessments and revising report cards. School and District leaders will learn practical steps and strategies for guiding educators, students and parents through this work.
Outcomes and Goals - Explore concrete steps for implementing standards-based grading.
- Learn to recruit and build teams of educators to prioritize standards and write proficiency scales.
- Discover three kinds of assessments and learn how educators can use each type as an effective part of a standards-based grading system.
- Understand the unique grading challenges posed by exceptional learners and how to incorporate accommodations and modifications into grading practices.
-
Create an action plan for revising report cards to more clearly communicate student progress and achievement.
-
Formulate an implementation and communication plan to facilitate your school's transition to standards-based grading.
About the Presenter
Dr. Tammy Heflebower is a senior scholar at Marzano
Research. She is a highly sought-after school leader and consultant with vast experience in urban, rural, and suburban districts. Dr. Heflebower has served as a classroom teacher, building leader, district leader, regional professional development director, and national trainer. She has also been an adjunct professor of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at several universities. Registration Information: Iowa ASCD Fall Academy November 16th and 17th, 2015 Registration: 1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Conference: 11/16: 1:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 11/17: 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Drake University, Olmsted Center 2507 University Avenue Des Moines, Iowa Snacks and supper will be served on November 16 and a continental breakfast and lunch will be served on November 17.
Early Bird Rate: $275 for Iowa ASCD Members $320 for Non-Members
After 11/9: $320 for Iowa ASCD members
$365 for non-members
You may register by sending a purchase order or check with a list of names and their e-mail addresses to Bridget Arrasmith, School of Education, Room 123, Drake University, 3206 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50311 (FAX (515) 271-2233).
You may register on line at http://iowaascd.org/index.php/events/event-registration/
All participants will receive A School Leader's Guide to Standard-Based Grading by the Marzano Research Center.
|
|
Super Summit for Middle School Teams
The Super Power Summit is an event that empowers teams of middle school students to live an active lifestyle and to choose healthy food options, all while being advocates for school wellness. The Iowa  Department of Education encourages middle schools to send a team for an interactive day full of fun activities, empowering presentations, and networking. Date: Tuesday, Oct. 13 Time: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Location: Jester Park Lodge - Granger, Iowa Registration Deadline: Tuesday, Oct. 6 Register for the Super Power Summit here. Schools that attend will have the opportunity to apply for a $500 sub-grant to support local wellness policy efforts.
If you have any questions, please contact the Iowa Department of Education's Carrie at carrie.scheidel@iowa.gov.
|
|
Literacy: Your Turn for Feedback! Weigh in on Proposed Criteria for Summer Reading Programs in Iowa
The State Board of Education has moved forward with the formal process to adopt rules that set criteria for the intensive summer reading programs that schools are required to have in place by the summer of 2017. This requirement is part of the early literacy progression law, which aims to ensure all students are proficient readers by the end of third grade.  Board members on Sept. 17 filed notice of intended action to revise Iowa Administrative Code 281.61, which proposes eight criteria that the summer programs must meet. This notice also begins a 108-day period of public comment.
************************* Be sure to check out all the webinars below. Several address literacy!
|
|
Curriculum Leads - Leaders of Data Analysis
The primary responsibility of curriculum leaders is to develop the collective capacity of the organization to assure that all students are successful. One of the eight functions of these individuals' work to assure the capacity of the system and the success of the students is their collaborative leadership in use of data to inform, implement, monitor, and evaluate results-driven decisions. As leaders of data analysis we must design and implement a systems approach for effective use of data to inform decisions. Each building leader must be able to design and implement plans and initiatives informed by data. This requires a foundation in a technology system that allows access to timely and high-quality data, so that leaders can collect, analyze, use, and report data to ensure high student achievement and accountability.
Questions that we might consider as we assure building leaders have the skills to use data appropriately to increase the achievement and accountability might include, "Have we provided the supports, including the technology, protocols, and training, to our building leaders that allow them to . . . - Continually assess the goals and adjust their building plans based on progress?
- Benchmark best practices?
- Use the technology effectively for data analysis?
- Disaggregate data to reveal gaps?
- Discuss progress with their teachers and community stakeholders?
- Use formative assessments to develop internal accountability for student learning?
- Use multiple data sources to monitor and evaluate which programs and practices work for which students?
- Teach their staff members effective data analysis and use?
- Hold themselves and their staff accountable for learning in their building?
- Share reports of student success in easy-to-understand formats with families?
- Involve students in the collection, analysis, and use of their own data?"
One of our first and most important jobs to achieve a system of accountability is to help our building leaders select and/or collect  the appropriate data for the intended purpose. We must develop their skills in looking at the data of student demographics, perceptions, student learning, school processes and programs, and teachers' characteristics, behaviors, and professional learning. We must also help them in eliminating those data that are not useful in the decision or evaluating the impact. Without data-collection criteria, these building leaders will often become data rich but information poor.
The appropriate data sets then need to be summarized and formatted in a meaningful way that will allow the building leaders to analyze the information in order to address a specific problem or challenge - or show progress toward the elimination of the problem. Efforts made by you to develop the building leaders' skills in summarizing, formatting, and analyzing data will tremendously impact the capacity of the system and the leaders' belief in data to inform decisions.
It is just as important for the building leaders to know how to communicate compelling data sets to educate others about the current reality. Principals need to know how to use data to "tell their story" and engage their students, staff, and the community in the solution. By becoming evidence-based in their conversations with all stakeholders, building leaders are able to address the needed changes, create a sense of urgency, determine improvement strategies, and celebrate progress toward eliminating the gap between the initial reality and the desired state.
As curriculum leads, we must create a system of data collection and analysis to monitor the implementation and impact of improvement strategies at both the building and district levels. We are monitoring at the district level to identify pockets of success, the leading indicators, in order to identify, share, and develop best practices in all buildings. We are also seeking to identify gaps in learning and progress, the lagging indicators, in order to provide supports for identified challenges in the district and specific buildings. As leaders of data analysis, it is our obligation to develop the capacity of our leaders system-wide to look at results, processes, organizational development, and financial data - multiple data sets that impact our students' success.
We must support building leaders in assuring data are frequently used diagnostically by teachers and building leaders to refine goals and assessments, monitor progress of students, and continually  improve instruction. We do this through data consultations with the principals. This demands clear expectations for use of data, protocols for collection and analysis of data, and modeling and feedback that increases their skills and develops their beliefs in the importance of the right data to make the best decisions.
Once the building leaders are skilled in the selection, collection, summarizing, and analysis of data, they can assist central office in developing the skills of their teachers and students in the use of data. This transparency in use of data creates a culture of safety and results in each stakeholder taking ownership in the success of students and their learning. They, too, will use the data consistently to diagnose instructional or organizational problems, weigh alternative courses of action, justify the chosen course of action, and use both formative and summative data to inform their practice and progress. Meaning and motivation for learning increase.
Data-informed leadership is the anchor for increased learning. Data become the tool for focusing learning and improving daily practice. As leaders of data analysis, we must be the captains for its regular and systemic use in our district. It is our responsibility to build a culture of inquiry and engage all educators in data-informed actions. It is our obligation to build the skills in others to frame, conduct, and interpret inquiry and subsequent actions based on data. Through the development of data and accountability literacy and data infrastructures, we shape learning and teaching for that learning. A tremendous obligation that results in tremendous rewards - highly educated students system-wide.
Data informed - all stakeholders in each and every building!
Descriptors for Leaders of Data Analysis Aligned with
Iowa Standards for School Leaders
- Designs and implements a systems approach for effective use of data (e.g., achievement, perceptual, processes, demographics, financial) to inform the improvement process. (ISSL 1a)
|
|
State Board of Education Begins Process to Adopt New State Assessment
Members of the State Board of Education voted on September 17 to start the formal process of adopting a new state assessment to replace the current state tests in math and reading taken each year by Iowa students.
Board members reviewed proposed state administrative rules that  would put in place the Smarter Balanced Assessments as recommended by a legislatively created task force of Iowans. Board members then voted unanimously to start the rule-making process required for adoption. The state's administrative rules process, which includes public hearings and reviews by a legislative committee, takes at least 108 days. Board members gave several reasons they support the Smarter Balanced Assessments, including the need to accurately measure how students have progressed in reaching expectations set by Iowa's academic standards, which outline what students in kindergarten through 12th grade should know and be able to do in math, English-language arts, science, social studies and 21st century skills.
"We need to know that Iowa schools are preparing students to be ready for the demands of college and career training," said Charlie Edwards of Des Moines, the board's president. "Iowa took a huge step years ago with putting the right state standards in place, and now we must follow that with an assessment that effectively tells us whether students are meeting those standards."
Iowa law says a new state assessment must be in place by the 2016-17 school year. Students currently take the Iowa Assessments in grades 3-8 and 11 in math and reading to meet state and federal accountability laws.
The Smarter Balanced Assessments were developed by a consortium of states, including Iowa, guided by the belief that a high-quality assessment system aligned to rigorous academic standards can improve teaching and can help prepare students for success in college and in the workplace.
State Board of Education members closely studied the task force's work and endorsed the recommendations earlier this year.
"Choosing a state assessment requires expertise to ensure that it reflects what is being taught in classrooms, appropriately measures student progress, and gives teachers and parents valuable feedback," said Mary Ellen Miller, a board member from Wayne County. "The Assessment Task Force has this expertise and invested more than a year into a recommendation that is right for Iowa."
The proposed rules will be published in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin, the state's official notice of all proposed and adopted changes to the rules in the Iowa Administrative Code. The Iowa Department of Education will hold a public hearing on the proposed rules on Nov. 3 and will accept written comments (see page 1 of the proposed rules). For more information on Iowa's administrative rules process, visit the following: |
These 30 Books Are Available to You 24/7
All Iowa ASCD members have access to these books 24/7 in 2015 and 2016. If you have forgotten your password to these resources, please contact Lou Howell at LouHowell@mediacombb.net. Check out Principal Evaluation by James Stronge. Stronge makes a case for principal evaluation that is focused on the many facets of leadership. There is much more focus on instructional leadership in education today and the impact of effective leadership on student achievement. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 covers how to build an evaluation system that is based on research-based performance standards; Part 2 details a set of performance standards, performance indicators, and a rubric for scoring behaviors and evaluating the work of the principal. Included are the 6 standards identified by the Department of Education and another standard based on the results of the principal's work; and Part 3 includes step-by-step plans for implementation, guidelines, and a list of resources.
Ensuring Effective Instruction by Vicki Phillips and Lynn Olson focuses on how teachers can grow and improve in their instructional effectiveness. The authors state that teachers must have feedback and support in order to improve. They also believe that teachers should have a voice in their professional development and their evaluations. The book shares suggestions on how teachers can collect and use feedback to help them be more effective and how districts can better support their staffs. Suggestions are based on The Measures of Effective Teaching Project (MET; http://www.metproject.org), a three-year research study that focused on "finding multiple ways to identify effective teaching and provide teachers with actionable, reliable information they can trust to continuously improve their performance (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2013a). The project was a partnership of academics, education organizations, and nearly 3,000 teachers who voluntarily opened up their classrooms to investigate better ways to identify and develop effective teaching."
Fostering Grit by Thomas R. Hoerr identifies six steps for teaching grit: - Establish the environment: Students must feel respected and cared for, even when they do poorly.
- Set the expectations: Students need to understand that there is value in struggling, that mistakes are a means to learning. The author suggests having students record on a grit chart times they have stuck to a task and not given up.
- Teach the vocabulary: Students need to include "grit" in their vocabulary and use it throughout the day. Other vocabulary terms to include are: failure, frustration, tenacity, perseverance, resilience, self-confidence, self-image, comfort zone.
- Create the frustration by
- Knowingly give an assignment that is beyond a student's comfort zone.
- Require a student to revise and revise again until his or her work is perfect.
- Tell a student to give it a try even if the directions are not clear.
- Let families know that you will have a Grit Day when students are given difficult projects. At the end of the day, reflect on what they have learned about themselves and how they might use that in life. Students should believe that it is better to try and fail than to not try at all.
5.Monitor the experience: Teachers need to watch students carefully to monitor individual levels of frustration. Because there is no formula for teaching grit, we need to be very aware of our students' individual frustration levels and how they respond to them. "Sometimes, instead of putting down their pencils and declaring "I'm done," students may seem to still be working on a task when in fact they've quit emotionally; ...it's essential to monitor students' efforts, keep them focused on the task, and prevent them from moving on to a different activity." Asking "How are you feeling? What are you learning about yourself? Is this a good failure?" help students understand where they are and what you, the teacher, can do to help them.
6. Reflect and learn: Students should think about why they didn't give up, what they learned that will help
|
|
Personalized Learning: Learning and Teaching!
James Rickabaugh has been a featured speaker the past three years at the Iowa Summer Institute, helping all of us better understand competency-based learning and the role of personalized learning in our learners' success. The "learner" could be students in your classrooms or the adults in their own professional learning. Last month we shared the core of his "honeycomb," emphasizing the importance of "the core," which  includes learner profiles, customized learning paths, and proficiency-based progress. This time we take a look at "the cells" of learning and teaching in the personalized learning environment:
- Personal Learning Goals: How do each of your learners and educators co-develop purposeful personalized goals to provide benchmarks and add focus, clarity, and commitment to learning?
- Learner Voice Infused: Describe how your learners have significant and meaningful input into their learning experience.
- Learner Choice Incorporated: Describe how your learners have significant and meaningful choices regarding their learning experience.
- Multiple Instructional Methods/Modes: Identify how instruction offered uses a variety of methods (e.g., demonstration, discussion, simulation) and modes (e.g., face-to-face, blended, virtual) in response to learner readiness, strengths, needs, and interests.
- Cultural Responsiveness: Share examples of how your learners are provided opportunities to engage with content through various cultural lenses and perspectives and draw from their cultural background to build their learning.
- Rapid Cycle Feedback: Is your feedback frequent, timely, and "moving picture" based?
- Customized Responsive Instruction: Describe how your instruction and pacing are driven by individual learner needs and growing capacity for independent learning.
- Assessment of Learning: Identify the multiple means of assessment of learning, including performance, application, demonstration, and interaction with challenging content.
- Assessment for Learning: How do you assure there are multiple means of direct measures of learning (e.g., demonstration, conversation, dialogue, mini quiz) used to plan next steps for individual students?
- Assessment as Learning: What data are used to indicate the level of mastery is obtained while the learner is engaged in varied assessment activities (e.g., peer-to-peer, game-based learning)?
- Progressions toward Deeper Learning: How do you assure that the learners show movement over time toward more expert understanding and sophisticated ways of thinking about a concept or idea?
- Standards Guided Learning: Describe how you assure learners understand and can articulate standards, utilizing them to guide their learning experience.
Be sure to revisit the resources Rickabaugh has shared with all of us at the Summer Institute (2015). |
|
Iowa ASCD and Advocacy
We wanted to share this month some opportunities for advocacy:
- Sign up to become an ASCD Educator Advocate.
- Mark your calendar for February 11 when Iowa ASCD provides training in advocating for learning as well as an opportunity to go "on the hill" for learning!
Registration is $50 for members of Iowa ASCD and $90 for non-members. Upon registration you will receive access to tools for advocacy and influence, including talking points for major issues (e.g., competency-based instruction, teacher leadership, readers by third grade, kindergarten readiness, instructional time, teacher and principal evaluation, professional learning), sample letter and telephone script for contacting your legislators, and a rubric to evaluate your skills in advocacy. Iowa ASCD will also provide you with contact information about your legislators so that you may schedule visits "on the hill" as part of this opportunity.
Bring a parent/community member (he/she attends free!) and you will receive a $100 certificate to any Iowa ASCD conference.
A block of rooms has been reserved for February 10th at the Embassy Suites Hotel Des Moines Downtown - 101 E Locust St, Des Moines, IA 50309 (Phone: 515.244.1700). Be sure to ask for the Iowa ASCD block of rooms.
|
|
Featured Website: The Institute for Habits of Mind
Bena Kallick and Art Costa are the founders and co-directors of The Institute for Habits of Mind. Their mission is to transform schools  into learning communities where thinking and Habits of Mind are taught practiced, valued and infused into the culture. The Habits of Mind are dispositions that empower creative and critical thinking. Habits of Mind International has an outreach around the world. They have a growing team of affiliates, each representing the power of the habits in classrooms, schools, and communities. They have certified Habits of Mind Learning Communities of Excellence each committed to the Habits of Mind as central to a thoughtful learning environment. Their Institute offers professional development through virtual media, workshops, consultations, and conferences. There are sample assessments, including I Can Statements for seventh/eighth graders and rubrics for PK-K-3 graders. The site also provides a list of books for students at elementary, middle school, and secondary schools, to explore and give examples of Habits of the Mind. Each list is categorized by the Habit of Mind emphasized. There are also video clips of two schools work with Habits of Mind. |
Competency-Based Learning - A Few More Resources
- Starting an online learning program can be an overwhelming process. To assist you in your efforts, iNACOL has built a webpage that compiles a multitude of resources for guidance.
- Google Apps for Education - The Fresh Air Curriculum: Chris Aviles discussed in this free webinar going beyond digital curriculum and using Google Sites for communications, expectations, curriculum, lesson plans, assignments and evidence of learning for students and parents. If you're working to personalize learning at scale through technology, watch this webinar to learn how to develop a one-stop learning roadmap and gamify your classroom. Chris discussed:
- The problem he was trying to solve and the design process he used;
- The content, resources, and materials being used to gamify the class, and how the class is setup;
- How it's going thus far, what he's learned from failure and iteration; and
- How students are gaining agency over their learning and how they're feeling about it.
- Realizing the Promise - Making Personalized Learning Accessible for All Learners: Using blended and online learning to create personalized learning environments can provide the least restrictive, most tailored education for students with disabilities. However, new learning models must be designed with all learners in mind to realize that promise. Watch this webinar for a conversation with national experts on making blended and online learning accessible to students with disabilities, and ensuring the personalized learning environments that they create are equitable. From course access quality reviews, to assessment policies, to new learning model design and implementation, this webinar addressed topics of interest to both policymakers and educators.
- Making Mastery Accessible was developed in partnership with Springpoint and is supported by Carnegie Corporation as a follow-up to Making Mastery Work. It can help you navigate terminology, and there are lots of resources from other schools so you can see how they have organized their schools, what they have developed as overarching competencies, and access lots of teaching resources. There are also tools developed by reDesign to help you think about your process of conversion. For example, there are a number of design tools including readiness, adoption process, and grading policies.
-
Illuminating Standards is a project to help people see how they can use project-based learning and performance tasks to help students meet the standards set out in the Common Core. It's been developed through a partnership with Expeditionary Learning and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (check out the home page, as there are a lot more resources available there). There are great videos about how to teach standards using project-based learning and student voice/choice. You will also find projects and examples of student work at each grade level. Both sites have a lot of material, so you might want to dedicate an hour or have a team of people look through to find out what might be most useful in your work right now. See also:
|
|
Webinars for Your Learning
Iowa ASCD seeks to keep you informed about webinars for your learning and the learning of those with whom you work. Check out the following; many of these support the work in your collaborative time and definitely help with implementation of The Core!
- Title: Seven Strengths for Reading Success
- Presenters: Pam Allyn, Ernest Morrell, and Donalyn Miller
- Providers: ASCD and Scholastic
- Date: October 27 at 3:00 P.M. CT
- Register Here
-
- Presenters: Donalyn Miller and Anne E. Cunningham
-
Providers: ASCD and Scholastic
-
Date: November 9 at 6:00 P.M. CT
-
- Title: Teaching Students to Reflect on Personal Learning
- Presenter: Starr Sackstein
- Provider: ASCD
- Date: November 19 at 2:00 P.M. CT
- Register Here
- Presenters: Donalyn Miller and Kwame Alexander:
-
Providers: ASCD and Scholastic
-
Date: November 30 at 6:00 P.M. CT
-
|
|
Check It Out!
Check out the following:
- A belated congratulations to Iowa ASCD member Theron Schutte from Bettendorf Community School District who was selected as a LELA Fellow last April by the Lexington Institute. The LELA fellowship is an exciting and highly selective 6
 -month program designed to expose district superintendents to personalized learning and facilitate the first steps to implementation. The Lexington Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Founded in 1998, its major areas of focus include education, national security, energy and logistics. Please visit lexingtoninstitute.org/category/education/ to learn more.
- Have a student seeking public service - how about the United States Senate Program? Deadline for the application is today, October 2.
- Check out SHAPE America for their back-to-school resources to keep kids moving to boost their learning. There are resources especially for teachers and administrators, college and university professors, future professionals, and parents!
- Be sure to consider nominating a potential Presidential Scholar. Applications are due by October 15. The director of each state education agency has the ability to nominate up to 10 students, five male and five female, for consideration in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, which honors superior high school seniors. If you have an outstanding high school senior, consider a recommendation to Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise by Oct. 15.
- Check out these opportunities to learn more about the new science standards. The first event is on October 20 in Iowa City when the University of Iowa and Grandview University will host a day of learning from national experts on the new science standards in Iowa. This day is intended for leaders (e.g., administrators, curriculum leaders, teacher leaders, professors, and AEA consultants) who will partner in the rollout and implementation of the standards. Click here to register for the Oct. 20 Iowa Science Standards Kick-off.
-
The Iowa Department of Education's Team Nutrition has partnered with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation to bring a two-hour workshop to elementary schools to promote school wellness through nutrition education and physical activity. The workshops will  include school wellness strategies and implementation resources. The workshops can be held during a staff in-service day or they can be held during the school day while utilizing substitutes for lead teachers. Grants totaling $500 for substitutes are available. Click here for an application.
- Remember to renew your membership for 2015 - 2016. Beginning January 1, 2015, all Iowa ASCD members have had access to 30 on-line books 24/7 for the entire year and next year, too!
- Consider an institutional membership for your building, district, or AEA. The fee is $25 per person when you enroll at least 20 people at one time. Great benefits! Contact Lou Howell for more information.
- Are you a student in a graduate program? If so, you may get a membership for three years for $45. Contact Lou Howell for more information.
- Are you a student in a pre-service program? If so, you may get a one-year membership for $15. Contact Lou Howell for more information.
|
|
 Stay current with learning! Follow Iowa ASCD on Twitter! We would like to follow you on Twitter as well. If you are willing to share your "Twitter Handle" with us, please leave your information on this site. |
 Iowa ASCD is the source for developing instructional leadership and translating research into daily practice. Serving more than 1500 educators - teachers, principals, superintendents, directors of curriculum, technology specialists, college professors, AEA staff - Iowa ASCD strives to develop the collaborative capacity to impact the learning of each and every student in Iowa. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
