Reinventing American Education Taking New Outcomes and Performance Assessment to the

Next Level in Douglas County School District

The ATCS2 I whi te papers suggest that countr ies are moving t owa rd more appropr ia te ou tcomes for the future.The reality is that the Uni ted States has no t made any significant progress t o w a r d the right outcomes for students. Wh i l e the C o m m o n Core State Standards (CCSS) is an improvement f r o m what many states and districts have focused on for the past ten years, it is not the full educational t ransformat ion we need. O n its own, even perfectly implemented, it will not and cannot prepare students in the Uni ted States t o compe te and w in on a global stage for the most sought after positions.

Assembly line education was fine ... in an assembly line world.

All one has t o do is look at the desired traits listed on a few o f our country's key employers' websites t o see the lack o f al ignment be tween the skills necessary and the targets set by the CCSS and o ther standards documents.

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In all o f these examples, each company is looking fo r people w h o are creative, risk-takers, innovators, and solut ion-or iented col laborators.

These outcomes are no t found in ou r CCSS o r even ou r state standards, and when ou r teachers and leaders look at these sites, they are the f irst t o say tha t our cur rent system is no t preparing our students fo r the i r t o m o r r o w . O u r system has not changed much since its inception dur ing the industrial revolut ion, and D C S D teachers and leaders are ready t o make the change - t o be the model our coun t ry needs.

In the Douglas Coun ty School Distr ict ( D C S D ) w e have a commi tmen t t o realign our systems t o the right ou tcomes for o u r students. W e are designing a new guaranteed and viable curr iculum (GVC) by grade level and by subject ma t t e rThe G V C is composed o f the most impor tan t ou tcomes for ou r students - both content knowledge and skills. As Tony Wagner's

research conf i rms, w e realize that there is little demand for people w h o know a lot o f informat ion. Therefore , ou r G V C moves away f r om a focus on knowing and understanding large amounts o f informat ion, and instead, moves t o w a r d f inding and using informat ion - asking students t o synthesize, analyze, evaluate, and create w i th informat ion and skills.

W e are also asking ou r teachers t o intentionally and proactively teach creativity, col laborat ion, critical thinking, and communicat ion skills in all units. W e believe that w e have historically done this w i th some skills such as communicat ion, far mo re than others, such as creativity. W e reject the idea that these skills are something you are born w i th (or not) and instead believe these skills are something that can be developed - this is an impor tan t shift in the way w e think about wha t w e teach. W e are

• , D o u g l a s C o u n t y schoo l Distr ict Learn today. Lead tomorrow.

asking ou r teachers t o teach the remaining 1 I st century skills including: financial l iteracy systems thinking, social responsibil ity global perspective, adaptability/resiliency, ethics, health and wellness, and civic responsibility where they can be naturally integrated into units - where they make sense

In addit ion, w e are teaching additional skills (and some of those listed above) th rough our commi tmen t t o student advocacy programs and restorative practices.There is no bet ter teaching oppor tun i t y than integrating student learning in real-life, relevant experiences, and w e are taking full advantage o f the learning tha t can occur during advocacy o r when a student makes a p o o r choice.

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The new D C S D outcomes and h o w they compare/ integrate w i th the skills r ecommepded by ATCS2 I is il lustrated in the table below.

World Class Outcomes

D C S D W o r l d Class

O u t c o m e s / S k i l l s A T C S

All Classrooms Implementation -taught in all grade levels and in all content areas

Differentiated Implementation -only taught and assessed where naturally integrative

Taught through student advocacy programs

Creativity/Innovation Ways ofThinking Critical Thinking • Creativity and innovation Collaboration* • Critical thinking, problem solving, decision making Communication* • Learning to learn, metacognition

Ways ofWorking Communication Collaboration

Tools forWork ing • Information literacy • ICT literacy

Living in the Wor ld Citizenship Life and career Personal and social responsibility

Financial Literacy Systems Thinking Social Responsibility* Global Perspective Adaptability/Resiliency* Ethics* Health and Wellness* Civic Responsibility*

Exploration of self - personal exploration and reflection

Exploration of opportunities - personal, finance goals etc.

Exploration of college/career pathways and personal planning

* Taught tlirough restorative practices as well as classroom opportunities.

A , D o u g l a s C o u n t y Schoo l Dist Learn today. Lead tomorrow.

World Class Assessment

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W h i l e a very impor tan t and long overdue step forward, this is no t enough. The new outcomes our students need are not currently assessed, and therefore, it's not surprising tha t they have not been valued in our educational systems. Teachers have learned tha t they must p e r f o r m on the state and local tests so they have, unofficially, aligned the i r cu r r i cu lum t o those assessments - moving us far ther away than w e were f rom the ou tcomes sought by America's t o p -per forming companies. Creat ing the pet formance assessments w e need t o measure the most impor tan t ou tcomes (no t wha t is easiest t o measure) is a critical c o m p o n e n t o f ou r D C S D plan for change.

This assessment plan incorporates tradi t ional , standardized assessment as par t o f a body o f evidence regarding student, teacher and school per formance. Howeve r it does no t limit ou r understanding o f student and teacher per formance t o that which is easiest t o measure - it focuses on the most impor tan t items t o measure and measures t h e m in the very best ways out l ined in the ATCS21 work .

This is not assessment as w e have exper ienced it. Rather it also includes per formance assessment captured and measured th rough technology.This includes captur ing pe r fo rmance on v ideo, th rough simulat ions, and via v ideo-game- l ike technology. W e know that computers have the ability t o learn wha t w e know, t o challenge us accordingly, and t o show o u r g rowth over t ime, and yet, w e don ' t use this t o capture student learning on impor tan t ou tcomes that include creativity, critical thinking, and more .

Student

World Class Teaching

Finally, having the right ou tcomes and measuring t h e m well w i th new, per formance assessments are t w o o f the three key steps t o reinventing Amer ican educat ion.The th i rd is reinventing the way w e teach. In D C S D w e are moving away f rom using strategies tha t ask ou r students t o know and understand informat ion. W e know today that this produces only 5-10% retent ion long t e r m . W e spend millions o f dollars on remediat ion tha t proves this t o be t rue . Instead, w e are asking o u r teachers t o faci l i tate the o p p o r t u n i t y f o r o u r students t o analyze, evaluate, and create. These strategies produce closer t o 9 0 % retent ion long t e r m . W e are also asking t h e m t o teach skills like creativity, col laborat ion, critical thinking, and communicat ion - integrate t h e m in the teaching o f impor tan t content.

Al l o f this, selecting m o d e r n outcomes, using per formance assessment,

teaching using sustainable learning strategies, and more is measured in ou r new teacher evaluation system (CITE) and populates our new pay for per formance compensat ion system. W e are incentivizing great teaching for the 21 st century and w e are paying great 21 st century teachers mo re than good o r average 21 st century teachers - regardless o f seniority o r tenure . . .those are no longer key factors.

J L , D o u g l a s C o u n t y M%L Learn today. Lead tomorrow.

Big DATA System Components In order to accomplish our vision and the recommendations found in the ATCS21 work for a new American education system, we must have the big DATA system that modernizes and brings all of this to scale through the following components: 1. Design, build, and implement a Learning Management System (LMS) that allows teachers to select from GVC outcomes and various 21 st century skills during Stage I of their unit design.They need to be able to see not only the outcomes associated with their grade level or course, but also adjacent grade levels and courses This allows teachers to differentiate and personalize instruction to their students.Teachers should be able to see the learning progressions associated with various outcomes as necessary also. The learning management system must allow teachers to select performance assessments associated with the outcomes they have selected from the Balanced Assessment System (BAS) (there must be fluid movement between the LMS and the BAS) to populate stage 2 of their lesson design. Finally, the LMS must allow teachers to construct sustainable learning opportunities in stage 3 that can be differentiated to the individual student as necessary. The system should be "smart" and flag a low-level or unimportant learning activities or assessments and encourage the teacher to make it more challenging and/or flag a completed unit that is not aligned in all three stages - the outcomes in stage I are not assessed in stage 2 and/or not taught in stage 3.This system should send what appear to be exemplar units to leaders for "gold star" certification, and all "gold star" units should be available and searchable by teachers who are focused on similar outcomes. All of this must feed into the World Class Education Targets section of the Pay for Performance System.

2. Design, build, and implement a balanced assessment system consisting of formative, interim, and summative assessment choices that authentically measure the outcomes we value from the GVC and 21 st century skills. We agree with the rubric approach to assessing 21 st century skills in White Papers I and 4.This system must also allow for teachers to design and use their own assessments and/or input student performance data into the system based on an assessment they have developed and used.The white papers agree that teacher-designed assessments are part of a balanced assessment approach and should be part of a larger data set that demonstrates both the growth and the achievement of the student in "real­time." Assessment should not be an event, rather; as in Finland it should be a natural part of the learning process. We require an assessment system that is multifaceted and flexible in order to meet the needs of different teachers and different students. The quality of the assessment items is critical. In fact, we have already begun field testing interim assessment items in

Build it. Teachers need a Learning Management System (LMS) that allows them to differentiate and personalize instruction to their students, to select performance assessments associated with the outcomes they've selected.

Measure it. Design a balanced assessment system (BAS) that authentically measures the outcomes we value and allows teachers to use their own assessments and input student performance data.

Evaluate it. Collect teacher and student performance data from both the LMS and BAS to evaluate the quality of the teaching units developed as well as the growth and achievement of the students

Reward it. Our Pay for Performance (P4P) system will allow DCSD to pay a highly effective teacher more than an effective one, based on the outcomes we value most -rather than the outcomes that are most easily measured,

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grades 2-8 math and reading. We are committed to performance assessments that require students to synthesize, analyze, evaluate, and create to demonstrate learning. We are focused on fewer, more rigorous questions that examine the process as well as the product the student uses. We are also interested in video-game and/or simulation technology that allows us to measure student growth and achievement through performance. Like the LMS, the BAS system needs to be smart. Many of the assessment items found in the white papers align to our hopes and expectations for rigorous, open-ended opportunities for students to demonstrate knowledge and skills. 3. Systemically collect teacher and student performance data from both the learning management system and the balanced assessment systems to populate important data fields in the pay for performance system. For example, we need to know the quality of the units developed in the LMS as well as the growth and achievement of students through the BAS.This will allow DCSD to pay a great physics teacher more than a good physics teacher based on the outcomes we value most - instead of the outcomes most easily measured. While most of the White Papers focused on the necessary 21 st century skills and then the various approaches to assessment -- including technology needs etc., we feel taking the next step to systemic implementation is very important, as we are merging all of this thinking, ours that converges with the information found in the White Papers, into our teacher evaluation and compensation systems. We are also moving it into our HB7hiring systems. We believe that this will lead to systemic transformation, and we hope that it begins a conversation with higher education on teacher and leader preparation that is a key part of the work in other leading countries.

Doug las County School Distric f t l_earn today. Lead tomorrow.

Summary

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The work found in the five ATCS2 White Papers aligns perfectly to the goals and plans of the Douglas County School District. We believe there is great convergence, as we have taken the recommendations on 21 st century skills and the associated performance assessments and systemically integrated them into our larger, district plan for change - work that is currently underway.This includes student learning and assessment as well as teacher and leader hiring, evaluation, and compensation. We want to be the U.S. implementation and demonstration site for the ATCS21 work and recommendations In order to do this, we require a "Big DATA" system to tie all components mentioned above together and provide both the "front-end" user interface necessary to make this system "come to life" for teachers, leaders, students, and parents and the "back-end" data collection side for key information and accountability systems. We believe a system focused on the right outcomes with the capability to both assess and teach them authentically, like those outlined in ATCS21, will be a national model that can change American Education - produce the best prepared workforce on the planet and continue to be an economic engine for the country. We are determined to do this work no matter what because it is what our students, teachers, and community, and country need. After one year of implementation work, it is clear that to bring this to scale quickly, we need partners in the technology sector who can both fund and lend expertise to the technological build out of this BIG DATA system, More specifically we are asking for your partnership in building the first in the country BIG DATA system to support an education transformation.

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Unique and Scalable We have colleagues looking at pieces and parts of changing education throughout the country, however; after a fairly thorough environmental scan we believe we are the only American education system completely reinventing itself from top to bottom.Therefore, we are not asking to reinvent the wheel. We are asking to take the best ideas from ATCS21, and beyond, and partner in creating the systems to bring them to life.

Finally, we have the support of many leaders in education and believe they are very interested in partnering with us on this project - bringing this model to scale in Colorado and throughout the country. We are not asking for an investment in one school district. We are asking for an investment in America.