Implementing the Common Core: Set goals and monitor progress - frequently

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syracusecityschools.com

We're excited to have a guest blog post today on SmartBlog on Education: Implementing the Common Core: 4 Lessons Learned for School and District Leaders. Check out the conversation between Superintendent Sharon Contreras from Syracuse City School District (NY) and our very own, Dr. Michael Moody, CEO of Insight Education Group. Let us know how the lessons resonate in your district or state.

In addition to the four lessons in SmartBlog, we're going to going to feature additional lessons here over the next few weeks. Here's one for today.

Set goals and monitor progress - frequently. 

Dr. Moody: Be clear with educators about expectations during each step of the process, assess for effectiveness, and address gaps immediately. Be careful not to wait too long to see what is sticking and what needs more attention. After all, the worst time to find about the success of your implementation is when you get the results of the new assessments. 

Superintendent Contreras: Yes, but I would add that you need to make sure you get enough feedback to actually address the gaps.  When you set up the process for getting feedback, you need to put forth effort to not only get good information, but then to use to the information to support students, teachers and building leaders.   

One of the problems we experienced is that we didn’t develop a robust enough feedback system.  We sent out online surveys, for example, and we didn’t hear from very many teachers.  Months went by and we thought things were going relatively smoothly.   

As we dug deeper, however, we realized most teachers were struggling with implementation of the CCSS.  They were struggling with teaching more rigorous content and in aligning curriculum and instructional practices.  

In retrospect, we acknowledged that there were probably more effective ways to gather and process feedback. For example, we should have solicited feedback about implementation more often and through multiple venues like focus groups and online teacher chat rooms. Consequently, in some instances we had to completely start over with curricular and/or assessment design.  

What do you think? Have more lessons you've learned? Share it in the comments below.

Follow us on Twitter! @insighteducationgroup, @drmichaelmoody, @SyracuseSchools and @SContrerasSCSD

Syracuse City School District: A Case Study in Teacher & School Leader Effectiveness

We're excited to partner again with Syracuse City School District (SCSD) for this upcoming school year.

During the 2011-2012 school year, SCSD and Insight created custom frameworks for both teachers and school leaders. 

Together, we created a taskforce bringing key stakeholders to the table, including teachers, principals, parents, university representatives and community members, to build the frameworks. 

Including these various stakeholder’s voices was an important part of the framework development process and continues to influence revisions to the frameworks.  

In 2012, SCSD was the first district in New York to win state approval to use a custom built, Common Core-aligned teacher framework and complementary leadership framework. Implementation of the frameworks is part of a larger effort to continue supporting and growing teaching and leadership talent in Syracuse.

Building on the successes over the past two school years, Insight will support SCSD's efforts to further support talent development, create robust professional development based on teacher performance data, calibrate teacher observers, and conduct quality school reviews.

Learn more:

• Syracuse City School District: A Case Study in Teacher & School Leader Effectiveness
• Syracuse City School District Expands Partnership with Insight Education Group (Sept. 5, 2013)

The Role of Video in Teacher Observations: Are we ready? - Vote for us @SXSWEdu

Insight is headed to SXSWedu in March 2014 - and we'd love to do our really cool panel called "The Role of Video in Teacher Observations: Are we ready?" And we need your vote!

SXSWedu uses results from a public voting process called PanelPicker as one of the criteria for selecting which panels are put on the final agenda. The process empowers the SXSWedu community to have a significant voice in the programming that will take place at the conference.

We'd love it if you could give us a vote! It'll only take a couple minutes.

1. Log in to http://panelpicker.sxsw.com to create a new account to begin the voting process.
2. Once logged in, go to our panel idea "Video in Teacher Observation: Are we ready?"

Thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you in Austin!

Interview with Dr. Michael Moody: Good professional development, Common Core, and technology

Recently, Edtech Digest's Victor Rivero sat down with our very own Dr. Michael Moody, Insight's CEO, to discuss good professional development, Common Core, and the role of technology.

Victor: What does good PD [professional development] actually look like?

Michael: Good PD is about engaging teachers in a process in which they bring their own skills and knowledge to the table as a starting point for learning.  It is practical and models strategies that teachers can use in their classrooms.

Good PD gives learners time to grapple with concepts and apply new learning to their own classrooms, schools, or districts.

Importantly, PD must find its way into the classroom, meeting teachers where they are. This is most commonly referred to as job-embedded PD.  We know so much about how individuals (including teachers) learn.

Yet, we don’t often use this knowledge to build PD experiences that effectively grow teachers in their practice.  After all, we’re educators.  There is no reason that PD shouldn’t reflect everything we know about good teaching.

Victor: When people talk about ‘job-embedded’ PD, what does that actually mean?

Michael: Job-embedded PD means many things to many people, which contributes to the challenge of creating effective models.

Job-embedded PD is really about supporting the growth of teachers or administrators in their schools and classrooms, where it matters most.

“Traditional” PD is generally out of the classroom (or outside of school) and thus relies on a teacher’s ability to implement new learning without support or feedback.

If we can bring that learning to a teacher’s classroom, and use the instructional process to provide feedback and make adjustments, a teacher’s practice is much more likely to grow and improve.

Additionally, there is a lot of value in having teachers implement new strategies in their classrooms, with their students.

Victor: How are districts using PD to plan for and implement the Common Core?

Michael: It appears to me that districts are taking a variety of approaches when it comes to implementing the Common Core. In many cases, teachers are getting an overview of the new standards and the “instructional shifts” required by the standards.

However, given the significant changes in practice that are required by the Common Core, I think we’ll soon see how important a job-embedded approach really is.

Teachers need time to really “dig in” to the actual standards themselves, and have opportunities to plan lessons that reflect not only the new standards, but also the instructional strategies that will most effectively engage students.

Born and developed from this need is Insight’s online planning tool, myCore, a cloud-based platform that empowers teachers to meet the rigor of the Common Core when planning standards- aligned lessons.

Following the job-embedded PD model, myCore provides teachers with coaching support when and where they need it.  We are hearing a lot about text dependent questioning, perseverance, etc., but districts haven’t yet identified the best way to provide models of effective instruction with the Common Core.

myCore includes model units and lesson and a full year’s worth of units and lessons for K-6 teachers.

While the initial step into the Common Core is critical, it’s going to be important for districts to provide on-going, sustained PD relative to instruction.

Check out the rest of the interview on Edtech Digest »

NCSC13 Session: Aligning the Common Core State Standards, Teacher Evaluation and Effectiveness

Thanks to the many of you who attended our breakout session last week at the National Charter Schools Conference in Washington, DC. The session, "Aligning the Common Core State Standards, Teacher Evaluation and Effectiveness," was led by Insight's Maureen Sigler.

For those of you who missed it, Maureen walked the audience through the bridge between teacher effectiveness and the Common Core. Here's how she broke it down:

• Student readiness for postsecondary education and the workforce is WHY we teach.
• Common Core State Standards provide a vision of excellence for WHAT we teach.
• Frameworks and rubrics provide a vision of excellence for HOW we teach.

Download the handouts to learn more.

1. Redefining the College & Career Ready Student and Portrait of a College & Career Ready Student
2. The Insight Core Framework 

If you attended the session, we'd love to know your thoughts. Leave us your comments below or send us a message.

Teacher Evaluation and the Common Core

It seems as if the only two things we are discussing in education circles these days are teacher evaluation and the Common Core State Standards.  

On one hand, this is very exciting.  After all, how often is the entire field focused on an initiative that impacts schools across the country?  On the other hand, this is also producing some anxiety, as both of these initiatives are not only significant game-changers in terms of how we've operated for decades, but both have significant stakes attached to them.

At Insight, we've been focused on really understanding how each of these initiatives interact in order to provide a more comprehensive approach to "reform."  

And we're excited to see the Aspen Institute continue to push the conversation in Teaching to the Core: Integrating Implementation of Common Core and Teacher Effectiveness Policies.  

Importantly, the actions outlined in this publication (see page 2 for an overview of the recommendations) provide some very clear steps for districts thinking about how to integrate teacher effectiveness and the Common Core in order to maximize resources and streamline implementation.  

While this is still a big lift for schools and districts alike, it is indeed time that we bring the work of Common Core implementation into teacher evaluation systems to ensure we're all focused on what we think will have the greatest impact on the students we serve.

The Insight Core Framework

Equally exciting is the mention of the Insight Core Framework as a resource to support districts.  

After significant amounts of research, our work in districts, and conversations with practitioners in the field, the Insight Core Framework was produced as a way of pushing this conversation and providing an example of how the language in teacher evaluation frameworks can be crafted to reflect actions of teachers relative to expectations of the Core.  

We know first-hand that this work is not easy. However, we also believe that it's the right work - and with focus and resolve this work has the potential to significantly change the classroom experience for kids across the country.

Learn more about the Insight Core Framework (including core practices for effective teaching with the Common Core).

Rabbit Holes...

WARNING, this is a rabbit hole we may not get out of in this blog entry.

Regularly. Most of the time. Infrequent. Sometimes. Consistently.   As Insight continues to work across different districts, time and time again educators and practitioners have expressed caution and pause about using these words in teaching and learning frameworks.  As the world of schooling continues to trend towards reaching agreements and sound definitions about effectiveness, our work has uncovered a considerable amount of angst about the practice of teaching becoming victimm to subjectivity.

How does one measure effectiveness?  And, is there a standard tipping point that can shift a behavior or action from ‘sometimes’ to ‘consistently’?  When this question is the lever that can move a rating from ‘Not effective’ to 'meets expectations', there can be lack of trust in an observer’s ability to rate teaching in a way that is both fair and just to the practitioner. 

Accountability is a dual-edged sword.  The age of accountability has inflicted pain and cut through controversial issues like tenure and compensation.  But, accountability has also given us an opportunity to sharpen our focus on what good teaching looks like.  Teaching is not a technical exercise that follows a ‘checklist’.  Good teaching is a practice that is grounded in sound research and is demonstrated by patterns that are intentional, purposeful, and disciplined. 

Intentional. Purposeful. Disciplined. Grounded. These descriptors of powerful practice should be the goal of every teacher looking to achieve mastery in their classrooms. It is highly likely that one will progress from 'sometimes' to 'regular' to 'consistent' in order to get to a disciplined, deep practice that leads to student achievement.  Given that, these proposed words still come with a bit of subjectivity; however, when they lead to strong practice - its less questionable.  We're still in the rabbit hole but, maybe, a little less deep.