Prioritizing Standards

How do we decide what matters most?

Four Critical Questions that Guide a PLC

O 1. What are students supposed to know and be able to do? O PRIORITIZED CORE STANDARDS

O 2. How do we know when our students have learned?O COMMON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

O 3. How do we respond when students haven't learned? O INTERVENTION

O 4. How do we respond when students already know the content? O DIFFERENTIATION

Content and Language Objectives

O Teachers will be able to identify priority standards from the Utah Core Standards to guide their instruction and support student learning

-BY-O Reading and discussing an article,

learning the criteria for selecting priority standards, evaluating and analyzing standards, and coming to consensus on priorities for each grade level.

A High Impact Initiative:The Utah Core State

Standards

Accomplishment begins with a focused set of

action steps!

1. Priority Standards

Priority Standards Defined

• Very carefully selected sub-set of the whole.

• Students must know and be able to do by end of year

• Used for common formative assessments/data

Leading Researchers on Standards

Thoughts To Consider:O James Popham: “Reduce to a modest

number of truly significant skills.”O Robert Marzano: “Cut content by about

two-thirds.”O Mike Schmoker: “Half of them.”O Doug Reeves: “Those that meet the

selection criteria.”O Larry Ainsworth: “Time needed to teach,

assess, re-teach, and reassess.”

How do you decide which standards are the most important

when you realize there is no way to teach all of them?

Guiding Questions:

O Will the length of the school year afford teachers the time needed to adequately teach, assess, re-teach, and reassess students on all of the Utah Core State Standards (UCSS)?

O What knowledge and skills must I impart to my students this year so they will enter next year’s class with confidence and a readiness for success?

Safety Net Article/TaskO Read and highlight

significant ideas in the article.(5 min.)

O Share your insights from the article with nearby colleagues

O Share out any key points, issues, concerns, “A-has!” with the group

PRIORITY

Important

Nice to Know

UTAH CORE STATE STANDARDS

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“Priority Standards” are the foundation upon which daily instruction needs to be focused.

“Supporting Standards” are curricular standards which bind and connect the Priority Standards.

Guiding Questions for Identifying Priority Standards

O What do my students need for success in life? (L)

O What do my students need for success in school? (S)

O What do my students need for success on the state test or other appropriate assessments? (A)

Life Skills (Endurance; Leverage)

O Provide students with knowledge and skills beyond a single test

O Life skills are ideas that apply to other fields of learning!

Success in School (Readiness)

O What do this year’s students need so they will enter next year’s class with confidence and a readiness for success?

Floor and CeilingNo more than

70%

No less than 40%

Success on AssessmentsO What teaching

and learning is most essential so that students can show proficiency on tests and assessments?

Two Standards: One Post/One Rail

O RL.4.1O Refer to details and examples in a

text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

O RL.4.3O Describe in depth a character,

setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).

You have to teach them all, but some are more important than others.

Determining Priority Standards Graphic Organizer

Priority Standards Table

TASK

O Examine Reading Standards for Literature in the UCSS for your grade band.

O Individually mark standards under Key Ideas and Details as L, S, A

Table TalkO Talk to your team and share the

standards you pickedO Note where you agree, disagree or

where you’re not sureO The goal is to reach an initial

consensusO Record your thinking on the

Determining Priority Standards Graphic Organizer

Next Steps…O We will continue to identify Priority

Standards in grade band teams.O GOAL: Complete ELA and math

standards by the end of our sessions.

Day 2 ObjectivesO Teachers will identify priority

standards for English Language Arts to guide their instruction and support student learning

-BY-O evaluating and analyzing standards,

and coming to consensus on priorities for each grade level.

WOWs-WondersO Process

O How do we determine priority standards?O Can we have more priority standards in one area than another?O Will the priority standards be the same across grade levels and

the district?O What is the difference between readiness and assessment?

O AssessmentO Will the CRT’s and other assessments reflect priority standards?O How will this help with test scores that we are held to?

O ApplicationO Will the process work and will our teaching be more clear?O How do Special Education teachers incorporate the priority

standards for student achievement?O Why?

O Why doesn’t the curriculum department do this for the whole district?

WOWs-One Ah-Ha!O Process

O The core is going to be less overwhelming after determining the priority standards.

O Super nice to be able to focus attention to priority areas.O It is difficult to determine whether the details are

important or the central message.O Application

O Don’ t have to teach the whole thing.O Appreciate knowing things can be focused on.O Priority standards are not key concepts.

O Why?O This will make the core more manageable.O Nice to know we can synthesize most important tasks

to focus on in-depth instead of surface teaching.O We can decide what our students need at our school.

WOWs-WishesO Process

O More direction and clear instructions on selecting priority standards.

O Wish we would have had this opportunity sooner.O Application

O Wish the vocabulary wasn’t so lengthy in all subjects because students have very little background.

O Why?O Wish it was quicker and easier, but I understand that

it is worth the time.O Wish we could see the District priority list first.

It is a process not an event.

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“Priority Standards” are the foundation upon which daily instruction needs to be focused.

“Supporting Standards” are curricular standards which bind and connect the Priority Standards.

You have to teach them all, but some are more important than others.

Determining Priority Standards Graphic Organizer

Endurance: Lasting beyond one grade or course; life concepts and skillsLeverage: Cross-over application within the content area and to other content areas

Readiness for the next level of learning: Prerequisite concepts and skills students need to enter a new grade level or course of study.

External exams: Benchmarks, state and national, college and career entrance

Todays Work

Grade Levels

Grade Bands

Floor and CeilingNo more than

70%

No less than 40%

You have to teach them all, but some are more important than others.

Determining Priority Standards Graphic Organizer

6/10 = 60%

Step 1O Work in your grade level by school site. O Examine ELA UCSS for your grade.O Start with Reading for Literature .O Individually check standards as L, S and/or A .O Talk to your team and share the standards you

pickedO Note where you agree, disagree or where you’re

not sureO The goal is to reach an initial consensusO Record your thinking on the Determining Priority

Standards Graphic Organizer.

Step 2O Meet with cross school grade level.O Schools do not have to have the

exact same priority standards O Discussion Points:

O Compare and contrast the standards you have checked as L, S and/or A.

Step 3: Collaborative Grouping

O Work together as a grade band simultaneously. O Start with the highest grade in the band you are sitting with.O You may not have selected the same priority standard for

each grade level.O Discussion Points:

O Do priority standards support and build on one another; look for vertical alignment within the grade span.

O Identify gaps, overlaps and omissions between grade spans.

O Have a recorder mark the colored sheet for each grade level.O Turn in your colored sheet when completed. So we can map

out the entire school.