Aligned Teaching Resources: Benchmarking Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards
- 1. Aligned Teaching Resources January 2015 Findings across states from SREB’s Benchmarking State Implementation of College- and Career-Readiness Standards, Aligned Assessments and Related Reforms
- 2. 2| Contents Aligned Teaching Resources How have state departments of education fostered local educators’ use of high-quality instructional resources that are aligned to their state’s new college- and career- readiness standards? Criteria Colorado Louisiana Maryland Types of tools Who developed them? Vetting alignment Empowering educators Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards page 3 page 4 page15 Participating states Findings across states Highlights from leading states Methodology More about these reports page 11 page16
- 3. 3| Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Participating states Louisiana Maryland Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee West Virginia Other regions Colorado New York Pennsylvania Florida participated in preliminary (March 2014) but not final reports. This SREB project supports states in the monumental task of implementing higher statewide standards by tracking progress and bringing states together to learn from and collaborate with one another. SREB region Alabama Delaware Georgia Kentucky Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
- 4. 4| What tools has the department made available? Guidance Seven states — Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New York and Tennessee — provide extensive resources for educators and parents, such as: • toolkits • guidebooks • curriculum frameworks • communication tools • information about the standards • planning guidance Sample instructional plans: ELA and math, K-12 Five leading states Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and New York offer sample instructional plans that address all standards for an entire school year for all grade levels. • instructional strategies and activities • techniques for differentiating instruction for diverse learners • formative assessment tasks • other classroom resources Sample instructional plans: Literacy in history/social studies, science, technical subjects, 6-12 Colorado, Georgia, Maryland and North Carolina offer extensive sets of sample instructional plans and resources for these subjects. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards All 14 states provided these types of tools, to varying degrees. • Guidance • Sample instructional plans • Resources for differentiating instruction • Formative assessment • Models of teaching and learning in action Notable state efforts are listed here.
- 5. 5| What tools has the department made available? Resources to help differentiate instruction for diverse learners Maryland and New York have the most robust set of resources for helping teachers address the particular strengths and needs of bilingual students, English learners, students with disabilities, advanced learners and struggling learners. Formative assessment tools In addition to model formative assessment items, which most states furnish, Georgia and North Carolina each offer a series of online professional learning modules to help teachers learn to use the state-provided resources and to employ formative assessment practices in their classrooms. Models of teaching and learning in action Four states offer extensive libraries of videos showing exemplary teaching and learning in classrooms — Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and New York. Three states offer sample student work resulting from instruction on the new standards — Kentucky, Louisiana and New York. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards All 14 states provided these types of tools, to varying degrees. • Guidance • Sample instructional plans • Resources for differentiating instruction • Formative assessment • Models of teaching and learning in action Notable state efforts are listed here.
- 6. 6| Where can educators access tools? All 14 states provide educators with access to online, on-demand, aligned instructional resources and materials to support classroom instruction aligned to the new standards. Each state has either a dedicated website or pages on the state department of education’s website. A few states also use wikis. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Resources are online and on-demand. See the full SREB report, Aligned Teaching Resources, for links to state websites.
- 7. 7| Who developed the resources? Partners and vendors Most of the departments have worked with partners and vendors to develop or obtain some resources. Common partners: regional education service agencies, Literacy Design Collaborative, Mathematics Design Collaborative, higher education representatives, PARCC, Smarter Balanced, Achieve, SEDL, Student Achievement Partners, and public broadcasting. Common vendors: Among the many vendors states have worked with, the two most common are Thinkfinity and Pearson. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Thirteen states in the study developed their own resources and materials, often in conjunction with local educators, partners and vendors. Educators Four states have involved educators heavily in their resource development and vetting processes — Colorado, Louisiana, Maryland and Tennessee. Notable: In Colorado, the state Department of Education acted as convener, providing guidance, professional learning and facilitation for local educators to develop resources and materials. Materials from the process are posted in the state archive.
- 8. 8| How do states ensure alignment to standards? Explicit alignment criteria States took one of two approaches to establish criteria to gauge the extent of alignment of materials. 1. Elected to use the EQuIP/Tri- State Rubrics, developed by Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Achieve: Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and West Virginia. 2.Developed their own criteria, or adapted criteria from tools such as the Instructional Materials Evaluation Tool or Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards: Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee. Robust vetting processes Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania established rigorous review criteria and explicit guidance for reviewers. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Example: Pennsylvania's Quality Review Process handbook Examples: Kentucky and North Carolina's multistage reviews Louisiana's involvement of teacher leaders across the state These state departments of education established a multistep process involving reviewers from the school to the state level. Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania conduct vetting entirely through online instructional improvement systems. All states in the study have established a formal process for vetting instructional resources and materials. (Mississippi’s is in development.)
- 9. 9| How do states ensure textbooks are aligned? Aligning textbooks Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia departments furnished state-level review panels or district decision- makers with tools to help them gauge alignment of products to the standards. Tools included the Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards, the EQuIP/Tri- State Rubrics and IMET. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Notable: The Louisiana State Department of Education developed an informal rolling review process to broaden the resources reviewed and provide ongoing guidance as new materials are submitted. Ratings are three-tiered: full alignment, partial alignment or lack of any quality alignment. More > Most state departments of education play modest roles in review and adoption of textbooks and other instructional materials selected at the local level. In a few states, the department has no role.
- 10. 10| Empowering Educators All 14 states in the study offered some training for teachers on how to select and design high-quality teaching tools aligned to the state’s readiness standards. Extensive training Five states offered extensive training and support, reaching large numbers of educators across their states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. . In most states, the state department of education trained district or school leadership teams, who then worked directly with teachers. Most states also offered some training directly to teachers, through summer academies, for example. Most states use the EQuIP/Tri- State Rubrics as a basis for this training. Six states — Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — use the Literacy Design Collaborative and Mathematics Design Collaborative frameworks. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards How has the state supported educators so they can develop and select their own high- quality, aligned materials?
- 11. 11| Leading states Aligned teaching resources Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Leading states are noted for the most compre- hensive array of tools and efforts to empower educators. Their work offers models other states may find useful. All 14 states have made strides in aligning teaching resources to their readiness standards. Leading states with the most comprehensive array of tools and most extensive efforts to empower educators to find their own resources are Colorado, Louisiana and Maryland. They stood out based on the following criteria. Extensive resources The state department of education provides educators access to: • an extensive set of instructional resources and materials for English language arts and math, K-12, and for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects, grades, 6-12 • comprehensive sample instructional plans for all standards for a school year in English language arts and math K-12 and at least some of the literacy standards in grades six through 12 Formal vetting process and criteria The state department of education established rigorous criteria and an explicit, systematic vetting process for determining the quality and extent of alignment of resources it provides. Empowered educators The department provided extensive training and support for educators to learn to design and select their own high-quality teaching tools that are aligned to the state’s readiness standards.
- 12. 12| Highlights from leading states Colorado The District Sample Curriculum Project To generate a statewide resource bank of instructional resources aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards, more than 500 educators participated in training on the new standards and how to develop aligned instructional unit plans. They then developed more than 700 sample unit overviews for math, ELA and literacy in other content areas. The following year, educators from 116 districts developed more than 100 full instructional units based on the unit overviews. Literacy Design Collaborative and Mathematics Design Collaborative Focusing at the district level, these frameworks support teachers as they develop learning experiences that integrate literacy skills in all disciplines and increase student understanding of math. The department, the Colorado Education Initiative and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored 13 districts initially and are developing plans to scale statewide. Content Collaboratives The department convened volunteer K-12 educators, along with assessment experts, to review assessments from vendors and districts and ID those with high alignment to the standards. More than 300 have been added to the state’s online assessment bank. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Colorado educators developed sample instructional plans with models for all of the standards for an entire school year K-12 in English language arts and math and 6-12 in content-area literacy.
- 13. 13| Highlights from leading states Louisiana Sample instructional plans The Louisiana Department of Education collaborates with a committee of 60 Teacher Leader Advisors to create and vet materials for the online Teacher Support Toolbox. Resources include model scope and sequence documents for ELA and math that cover an entire year of instruction for every grade pre-K through 12. The department provides instructional guidebooks by grade level, with illustrations of effective instruction and model unit plans. Guidebooks also include remediation strategies for every standard to support teachers of diverse learners. Additional resources Louisiana also provides online formative assessment bank includes items for grades 1 through 11, aligned samples of student work, and videos of exemplary instruction, developed in partnership with the Teaching Channel. To select materials from external sources, the department uses rubrics adapted from the Instructional Materials Evaluation Tool. Teacher Leader Cadre The department’s Teacher Leader Cadre initiative included one or two teachers from every school in the state in 2013. By summer 2014 the initiative expanded to offer more than 6,500 spaces. Teacher leaders receive intensive professional learning on how to assess alignment of materials and develop aligned lessons. Teacher leaders then work with peers in their schools to build local capacity to design and select high- quality curricular resources. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards To foster local educators’ use of teaching resources aligned to standards, the state provides extensive resources online in its Teacher Support Toolbox. Louisiana Department of Education Academics website >
- 14. 14| Highlights from leading states Maryland Collaboration The department collaborated with educators across the state and partners such content-area experts, higher education institutions, Maryland Public Television and the Maryland Business Roundtable. The department worked with district leaders to select teachers to write the Maryland College and Career-Ready Curriculum Frameworks, which identify essential skills and knowledge. Instructional toolkit The department is developing an extensive, online instructional toolkit with model units, lesson plans and assessment resources for every standard pre-K through 12 in math, English language arts, and literacy in social studies, science, and technical subjects. All instructional plans in the toolkits incorporate strategies for differentiating instruction for diverse learners, and the the department offers 250 intervention modules. The department provides videos of exemplary instruction and is developing formative and interim assessment tools. Educator Effectiveness Academies Each summer, 2011 to 2013, leadership teams from every school in the state received intensive professional learning on using rubrics to develop aligned instructional plans, with follow-up during the year. Participants then lead curriculum development and alignment work in their schools. The department trained teachers on the EQuIP Student Work Protocol for collaborative examination of student work. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards The Maryland State Department of Education provides extensive materials aligned to its College and Career-Ready Standards through its Blackboard Learn and School Improvement websites. The department provides extensive training to build educator capacity to select and design materials.
- 15. 15| Methodology SREB examined efforts of state departments of education to support implementation of college- and career-readiness standards, assessments and related reforms. Researchers looked at how states provided guidance, tools and support for teachers and for school and district leaders. SREB worked with a point person in each of the 14 state departments of education. Timeframe The SREB reports reflect state efforts and plans between 2010 and summer 2014. These January 2015 final reports replace preliminary ones published in March 2014. A team of SREB researchers and consultants gathered information from: Reviews of publicly available information: Researchers reviewed state policy documents and reports, state department of education websites, and other sources such as U.S. Department of Education reports. Interviews: Researchers interviewed leaders from state departments of education, state boards of education, unions, higher education, and business and community organizations, as well as legislators’ and governors’ staff, teachers, principals and district superintendents. Each state department reviewed drafts to ensure accuracy. Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
- 16. 16| Full reports More information Kim Anderson, Director Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards 404-875-9211 Kim.Anderson@SREB.org Aligned Teaching Resources | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards Find all reports at SREB.org/1600 > Six detailed final reports were published in January 2015. Slide documents of report highlights, like this one, are also available for each report. Cross-State Findings Trends across the states, perspectives from the field and suggestions for moving forward Details on each state's efforts in five areas: Timeline and Approach to Standards and Assessments Aligned Teaching Resources Professional Development Evaluation of Teachers and Leaders Accountability
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