Unpacking Standards
Matching Assessments
Tulsa Public Schools
January 11, 2012
Paul Farmer
pd@solution-tree.com
@pcfarmersr
Agenda
Professional Learning Communities
3 Big Ideas
4 Critical Corollary Questions
You’ve got Mail!
Identifying Essential Skills
Unwrapping Standards
Matching assessment methods with
learned skills
What are the
Three Big Ideas
of PLC at Work?
1. A Focus on Learning
2. A Collaborative Culture
3. A Focus on Results
Essential Outcomes for January 11, 2012
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Discuss specifics of the 3 big ideas and 4
critical corollary questions in a PLC
Learn an activity to engage stakeholders in
problem solving
Review criteria from Reeves and Ainsworth
to identify essential skills
Learn a process for unwrapping standards
Complete an activity of matching
assessments to essential skills
First Big Idea
Focus on Learning
“The very essence of a
learning community is a
focus on and a commitment
to the learning of each
student”
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2010,
Learning by Doing, Second Edition p. 11
Second Big Idea
A Collaborative Culture
“A PLC is composed of
collaborative teams whose
members work
interdependently to achieve
common goals for which
members are mutually
accountable”
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2010,
Learning by Doing, Second Edition p. 11
Third Big Idea
Focus on Rearning
“Members of a PLC realize
that all of their efforts must
be assessed on a basis of
results rather than
intentions”
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2010,
Learning by Doing, Second Edition p. 11
What are the
Four Critical Corollary Questions?
1. What do we want our students to learn?
(essential, guaranteed, and viable curriculum)
2. How will know they have learned it?
(frequent, team-developed, common formative
assessments)
3. How will we respond when they don’t learn it?
(timely, directive, systematic intervention)
4. What will we do when they do learn it?
(timely enriched content, extended activities)
Identifying Essential Skills/Concepts
1. Gather necessary resources:
– State standards
– Association standards
– District curriculum guides
– Prerequisite skills
– Assessment framework and blueprints
– Other supporting documents and information
2. Review documents
3. Determine what is most important
Identifying Essential Skills/Concepts
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Essential skills/concepts must be aligned with district curriculum
guides, state or national standards such as the Oklahoma Standards
and Common Core Standards.
Essential skills/concepts must be aligned with the association
standards for courses such as Foreign Language, Family &
Consumer Science, Music, Physical Education, etc…
Students must be prepared to demonstrate proficiency with the
essential skills/concepts on high-stakes tests.
Learning of essential skills/concepts will be assessed frequently
with teacher made common formative assessments for
students to prove mastery and when necessary to allow for
additional time and support to assure learning takes place.
Teaching to the State
Standards
Recent research reveals that
teaching to the state
standards would require
approximately 23 years.
Determining What Is Essential
1.
2.
3.
Endurance—Will this standard provide
students with knowledge and skills that
will be of value beyond a single test date?
Leverage—Will this provide knowledge
and skills that will be of value in multiple
disciplines?
Readiness—Will this provide students
with the essential knowledge and skills
necessary for success in the next unit, level
of instruction, course, grade or level of
instruction?
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many Learning by Doing 2nd Ed, 2010, Page 65
Ainsworth , Rigorous Curriculum Design, 2010 Page 40
Reeves, The Leader’s Guide to Standards 2002, pp. 49–52
Consider one item your school has
encountered as a hurdle for moving
forward in the PLC journey.
Create a description of the hurdle that
would provide a reader with enough
clarity to offer a meaningful
suggestion.
You’ve got Mail!
1. Each team writes their greatest challenge on the outside of the
envelop (no names or other identifying information)
2. The second team reads the challenge and writes a suggestion
for overcoming the challenge on one index card inside the
envelop
3. The third and fourth teams read the challenge and the
suggestion/s for overcoming the challenge then writes another
suggestion
4. The postmaster redistributes the mail to the starting team with
the challenge
Skills / Concepts
Learning / Achievement Targets
Statements of what we
want students to learn
and be able to do.
“The single most common barrier to
sound classroom assessment is the
teachers’ lack of vision of appropriate
achievement targets within the
subjects they are supposed to teach.”
Rick Stiggins
Knowledge / Understanding
“Mastery of substantive
subject content where
mastery includes
knowing it
understanding it, and
knowing how to find it.”
Possible Verbs:
Understand, describe, identify, define, label, match, choose, recall, recognize, select
Adapted from Laurie Robinson 2011
Reasoning
“The ability to use
knowledge and
understanding to
figure things out
and to solve
problems”
Possible Verbs:
Explain, analyze,(support, determine, dissect, examine, order) Compare/contrast
(discriminate, distinguish, find similarities and differences), Synthesize (blend,
formulate, organize, adapt, modify) Classify (categorize, sort, group) Infer (interpret,
conclude, predict) Evaluate (justify, support, appraise, debate, defend, evaluate,
prove)
Adapted from Laurie Robinson 2011
Performance Skills
“The development of
proficiency in doing something
where it is the process that is
important, such as playing a
musical instrument, reading
aloud, speaking in a second
language, or using
psychomotor skills”
Possible Verbs:
Observe, listen, perform, do, question, conduct, work, read, speak, assemble,
operate, use, demonstrate, measure, investigate, model, collect, dramatize, explore
Adapted from Laurie Robinson 2011
Products
“The ability to create
tangible products, such as
term papers, science fair
models, and art products,
that meet certain standards
of quality and that present
concrete evidence of
academic proficiency”
Possible Verbs:
Design, produce, create, develop, make, draw, represent, display, model, construct,
build
Adapted from Laurie Robinson 2011
Driving a Car With Skill
• Knowledge
• Reasoning
• Skills
• Products
The Process of Unwrapping
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First, CIRCLE all of the verbs. What
will students need to do?
Second, UNDERLINE all the
knowledge
components that provide content.
STAR any performance skills in the
standard.
BOX any products that will be
required for standard completion.
Below the standard, NAME any
reasoning targets that are either
explicit or implied.
“Teachers who truly understand
what they want their students to
accomplish will almost surely be
more instructionally successful
than teachers whose
understanding of hoped‐for
student accomplishments are
murky.”
W. James Popham
Assessment Methods and Effectiveness
• Selected/Constructed Response
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Multiple choice, true/false, matching,
labeling of diagram, or short answer fill‐in
items
• Extended Written Response
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An original written response
• Performance
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The ‘performance’ is the target
• Personal Communication
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Interview, conferences, oral examinations,
class discussions
Aligning Learning Targets
to
Assessment Methods
Using the Target‐Method Match Activity:
1. Each person has a number 1 ‐ 4
2. Individually read through your assigned scenario
and record your answer to each question by
marking a “Y” in the appropriate box when your
answer is “Yes.” Put an “N” in the box if the answer
is “No.”
3. At your table or in your group discuss your answers
for the ‘best’ matches.
Unpacking Standards
Matching Assessments
Tulsa Public Schools
January 11, 2012
Paul Farmer
pd@solution-tree.com
@pcfarmersr