CIITS CADRE FAQS AND UPDATES
Volume 1, Issue 1
March, 2013
Curriculum: Where to Begin?
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1 New Interim Assessment Coming Soon
1 Curriculum: Where to Begin?
2 Roles, Roles, & More Roles
New Interim Assessment
Coming Soon to CIITS!
Educators very quickly found the
value of MAP scores being uploaded into
CIITS, and MAP was followed by Discovery
Education Assessment. If your district
administers either of these assessments
and you aren’t seeing data in CIITS, all
that needs to be done is for your district to
sign a “Data Authorization Form.” If your
district has not already submitted the
appropriate form, they can be found at:
http://education.ky.gov/districts/tech/ciits
/pages/ciits-forms.aspx
Several weeks ago, KDE asked
districts to submit to them their choice for
the next assessment to be included in
CIITS. Although arrangements have not
yet been finalized, KDE is negotiating with
Renaissance (STAR) to include their
assessments as a part of CIITS.
The RTTT curriculum goals for CIITS
for 2012-13 state that 50% of LEAs will
have created/published an aligned
curriculum, and 20% will have
created/published lesson plans. Some
have found it difficult to get started
because they are a bit confused about
the order of input, and they aren’t sure
who does what. Perhaps the best
place to begin work with curriculum is
to make sure you recognize the
vocabulary as it is referenced in CIITS.
(Note: The icons shown at the left of
each component are how items are
labeled in CIITS.)
Curriculum. In CIITS, curriculum
refers to an entire course (such as 3rd
grade science or AP American History).
It includes a course description and has
categories for placing aligned
standards, linked materials (curriculum
units), and organizers. This component
is ONLY available to someone
designated as a “Curriculum
Manager.” This should be a person at
the district level, and they create,
schedule and publish curriculum
components.
KEDC CIITS CADRE FAQ 1
Curricular Units. This represents
how a school year is divided (9 weeks,
semesters, etc.) and it can be different
depending on school level or subject.
This includes instructional units and
resources/ assessments within a course.
Instructional Units. These are
actually the linked lessons that make up
curricular units; they focus on smaller
topics.
Lesson Plans. This refers to the
instruction that addresses a theme or
topic related to an instructional unit, and
it can include resources/assessments.
You can utilize those parts of the Lesson
Plan format in CIITS that fit the needs of
your district.
Resources. These are the
materials used such as standards, books,
videos, PowerPoint presentations,
handouts, transparencies, websites,
assessments, etc.
Assessments would be
measurements of learning, including the
rubric, unit test, quiz, etc. They can be
found as a part of lesson plans,
resources, etc.
There is no absolute directive as to
where to begin your curricular work.
Many districts start with “Lesson Plan”
because it provides something to import
into the “Curriculum.” Others prefer to
create the “Curriculum” shell first so that
they will be ready to import/link anything
that comes in. (Note: While teachers
can work in most sections, only the
“Curriculum Manager” can work in all
components.
The actual “shell” design is quick
and easy, and if you need directions on
how to create these repositories for
each course, contact Vickie Elswick at
vickie.elswick@kedc.org.
Roles & More Roles
Roles were the first things we
focused on in CIITS, and we are still
tweaking them today. Two topics
related to roles that you might want to
explore are: 1) checking exactly what
roles a person has (you may not have
what you think you have), and 2)
making sure the role of CIITS contact for
your district is correct.
Checking Your Role. It is actually
quite simple to find out what your role
is, and you don’t have to contact your
IC person to do it. Simply logon to CIITS
and check the “My Account” section in
the top right corner.
Once you click on it, simply scroll to the
bottom of the page and check your
roles in the section labeled “Other Roils
and Operations.” If they aren’t correct,
then you contact your district’s IC
person to make corrections.
Checking Your District CIITS
Contact. This is the person listed by KDE
as the contact person for your district
for CIITS. If the wrong person is listed
(and it has been in some cases), your
district may not be receiving CIITS
information in a timely fashion. To
check that the person listed is correct,
you can find that list online by going to:
http://education.ky.gov/districts/tech/
ciits/Pages/CIITS-Communications.aspx
and clicking on the “CIITS Contact List”
in blue at the top right.
KEDC CIITS CADRE FAQ 2
Next CIITS Cadre Meetings:
Ashland:
Lexington:
April 11
April 16