A COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF THE KEY
SHIFTS IN THE MA CURRICULUM
FRAMEWORKS AND THEIR IMPACT ON
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, ASSESSMENT,
AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
Learning, Teaching, and Leading
Boston Public Schools
April 26, 2012/Elementary Session
Agenda
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Overview of Shifts and Common Assessments
Applying the Shifts to Our Work Ahead
Text Complexity
Text Dependent Questions
3 Shifts in ELA/Literacy
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1.
2.
3.
Building knowledge through content-rich non-fiction
and informational texts
Regular practice with complex text and its
academic vocabulary
Reading, writing and speaking grounded in
evidence from text
English Language Learners and Text Complexity
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“…(ELL) instruction is usually pitched at a lower level
than instruction provided for English proficient
students…(and) texts used….are usually less
complex, less informative, and less demanding…As
a result such texts rarely if ever provide any
exposure to the kind of language students need to
learn and use in carrying out academic work”
(Wong-Fillmore)
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Current and Future Assessments and
the Key Shifts in ELA/Literacy
(Adapted from Sue Pimental)
Assessments
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From State Assessments That:
To Common Assessments That:
• Measure ELA only
• Measure literacy across
disciplines
• Emphasize narrative fiction
• Emphasize informational texts
Shift 1: Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich
Informational Text
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Much of our knowledge base comes from informational text
Makes up vast majority of required reading in
college/workplace (80%)
Informational text harder for students to comprehend than
narrative text
Yet students are asked to read very little of it in
elementary and middle school (7% to 15%)
Standards moves percentages to 50:50 at elementary level
and 75:25 at secondary level
Assessments
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From State Assessments That:
To Common Assessments That:
• Focus on reading skills—on
what students can do with
what they read
• Focus on complexity of
what students can read too
• Assess literary terminology
• Measure academic
vocabulary
Shift 2: Regular Practice with Complex
Text and Academic Vocabulary
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Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is
huge
What students can read, in terms of complexity is greatest
predictor of success in college (ACT study)
Too many students reading at too low a level (<50% of
graduates can read sufficiently complex texts)
Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity
from elementary through high school
Standards also focus on building general academic vocabulary
so critical to comprehension
Assessments
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From State Assessments That:
To Common Assessments That:
• Use de-contextualized
writing prompts (narratives)
• Include text-evidence based
writing prompts
• Emphasize selected
response items
• Emphasize technologyenhanced evidence
questions
Shift 3: Reading and Writing Grounded in
Evidence from Text
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Most college and workplace writing is evidence-based and
expository in nature (not narrative)
Ability to cite evidence differentiates student performance on
the National Assessment
Writing Standards ask students to respond to evidence-based
writing prompts (inform/argue)
Speaking and Listening standards require students to prepare
for and refer to evidence on ideas under discussion
Reading standards require students to respond to textdependent questions with evidence-based claims
ELA/Literacy Assessment
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2011 - 2012
2012 - 2014
2014-2015
Partial Implementation
Near Full Implementation
Full Implementation
MCAS
Focus on standards
common to former
and new Frameworks
MCAS
Focus on standards
common to former
and new Frameworks
PARCC Assessment
Will also assess selected
standards from the former
Frameworks not included in the
new Frameworks
Will also assess selected
standards from new
Frameworks not included in
former Frameworks
WIDA (ACCESS)
Assessment for ELL’s
C-I-A & Professional Learning
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Aligning Curriculum- Instruction- Assessment
Understanding the shifts, what must we do to revise our
ELA/Literacy curriculum? What opportunities are there to
teach literacy in other subject areas and expand access to
content knowledge?
 How must we teach differently?
 What about assessments?
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Professional Learning
Lever to change and sustained student improvement
 Quality: Every minute is critical
 How must we work in different ways?
 What current collaborative practices yield continuous
improvement?
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Curriculum Support
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Create text-dependent questions to accompany main reading
selections in adopted ELA anthology programs with
accompanying writing tasks for selected texts
Elementary: Substitute some reading selections with sufficiently
complex non-fiction texts aligned with the Social Studies
curriculum
Create text-dependent questions and exemplars of close
reading for ELA instruction and content area instruction that
lead to common writing assignments grounded in evidence
from the text (emphasize the importance of a shared
responsibility for literacy)
Instruction Support
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Methods of teaching a close reading of texts to ensure all
students have access to sufficiently complex texts in
ELA/Literacy and across disciplines
Ensure students are moving up efficiently in leveled texts
Use of common rubrics in the Common Writing Assignments to
reflect text types in the Standards (narrative, informational,
argument) and guide instruction
Targeted on-site support will be provided based on school
need
Assessment Support
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Predictive assessments: Trend analysis to determine
instructional options for re-teaching and intervention
Student work to assess and inform instructional
practice
 Common
Writing Assignments using a common rubric for
writing
 Curriculum-embedded classroom assignments
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Diagnostic assessments: Match intervention to need
Productive Mindset for Transformation
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“Professional [learning]- what little is invested is too
often spent on forms of training aimed at improving
things at the margins rather than developing
structures aimed at causing teachers and
administrators to think differently about their work
and work differently because of what they come to
think”
(Schlechty)
ELA/Literacy Shift ‘Look For’ Indicators Aligned to
Teaching Standards
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Example from MA Educator Teacher Rubric
Indicator II-D. Expectations: Plans and implements
lessons that set clear and high expectations and
also make knowledge accessible for all
students.
 II-D-3. Access to Knowledge (Proficient):
Consistently adapts instruction, materials, and
assessments to make challenging material
accessible to all students, including English
learners and students with disabilities.
 ELA/Literacy Look-For: Quality of Text(s)- Is
there a text(s) under discussion and is the text(s)
of sufficient complexity and quality, where
quality of text selection includes different
considerations in different disciplines, such as
coherent contribution to knowledge? Where
appropriate, over the year, is there an
appropriate balance of informational and
literary text?
Instructional Leadership as the Lever to Ensuring Student
Success in Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks
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Knowing, messaging, supporting, and monitoring the
instructional shifts
Integrate ELA/literacy shifts with teaching standards
Use student and teacher data to provide feedback
to teachers and create strategic plan for
professional learning
Create collaborative groups to analyze
data/student work, plan and observe instruction
A Closer Look at Text Complexity
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A measurement of how challenging a particular text
is to read based on quantitative and qualitative
factors
Lexile frameworks weigh word length, frequency
and difficulty as well as sentence and text length
and text cohesion
Qualitative factors, such as multiple meanings,
knowledge demands, vocabulary and
unconventional text structure can increase the text
complexity
Quantitative Measures and the CCSS
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New Lexiles Ranges from elementary to high
school
Grade Band
Old Lexile Ranges
CCR Lexile Ranges
2-3
450-725
420-820
4-5
645-845
740-1010
6-8
860-1010
925-1185
9-10
960-1115
1050-1335
11-CCR
1070-1220
1185-1385
Measuring Text Complexity
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Appendix A in the CCSS identifies the following factors as
determining text complexity:
Quantitative measures look at factors
impacting “readability” as measured by
particular computer program.
Qualitative measures examine levels of
meaning, knowledge demands, language
features, text structure, and use of graphics as
measured by an attentive reader.
Reader and Task considers additional
“outside” factors that might impact the
difficulty of reading the text.
David Pook
“Does not rely on students possessing
background knowledge or experiences to
answer the question; instead it privileges the
text itself and the information students can
extract from it.
It is critical that a text dependent question
originate from the text itself”
(Pook)
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A Closer Look at Text Dependent Questions
Reading Series Questions and Real Texts
What book was Miss Franny
reading when the bear came into
the library?
What did the men say when they
were teasing Miss Fanny?
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Was there ever a time where
an animal scared you?
Will Opal and Amanda ever be
friends?
Should Ms. Franny have felt
embarrassed?
Explain how reading the story
made you feel about visiting a
library?
Reading Series Questions and Real Texts
What book was Miss Franny
reading when the bear came into
the library?
Will Opal and Amanda ever be
friends?
Was there ever a time where
an animal scared you?
Should Ms. Franny have felt
embarrassed?
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What did the men say when they
were teasing Miss Fanny?
Explain how reading the story
made you feel about visiting a
library?
Text Dependent Questions
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Yet an equally important feature of text dependent
question is that they should be framed as open ended
and not leading questions, as genuine learning only
happens when students can engage in an authentic
conversation about the text instead of the questions
(or teachers) providing the right answer immediately.
(Pook)
Reading Based in Evidence
What do we learn about Ms. Franny
in the first paragraph?
The sequence of questions
should not be random but should
build toward more coherent
understanding… that build
gradual understanding of its
meaning.
Achievethecore.org
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Embarrassed means to feel
ashamed or uncomfortable. A
student might feel embarrassed if
he/she fell in the lunch room and
everyone laughed at them. Why is
Ms. Franny embarrassed?
On page. 32, what details about Ms.
Franny reveal something that she
and Opal have in common?
Reading Series Questions and Real Texts
This author has won prizes for her
books. Why? Find a part of this story
you think could win a prize.
In Because of Winn-Dixie Opal tells
about her experiences after moving to
a new town. Think about a time that
you were a newcomer to a place or
situation. Now use vivid words to write
a memoir about that experience.
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Ask students to do research on wildlife
and plant life in Florida and how to
safeguard libraries from “unwanted
visitors”
Writing Based in Evidence
Culminating Task:
How do Ms. Franny and
Opal become friends?
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Play-Doh
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Toys!: Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions
Don L. Wulffson
Lexile 920
Common Core Appendix B
Grade 4-5, Informational Texts
Play-Doh
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Use the paper titled
Text Dependent
Questions and the CCSS
Create 3 text
dependent questions.
Questions may refer to:
Word/phrase
 Sentence
 paragraph
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Share
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Place a marker next to each complex text
dependent question.
Next Steps
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As you visit classrooms observe the questions
teachers are using.
How often are students actually interacting with the
text?
How often are teachers using text dependent
questions?
How often do students provide text dependent
answers.
Both questions and answers must be text dependent.
CCSS Resources
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Common Core State Standards
(http://www.corestandards.org/)
PARCC Model Content Frameworks
(http://www.parcconline.org/parcc-contentframeworks)
Student Achievement
Partnershttp://www.achievethecore.org/)
Council of Great City Schools
(http://www.cgcs.org/domain/72)
Aspen Institute (http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policywork/education-society)