Georgia Performance Standards

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Georgia Performance Standards

• Middle School
• ELA, Math Science
• Fall 2005

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Whats Different about GPS?

• Student learning is the focus.
• Learning Goals are the same for all students.
• Standards are integrated and should not be taught
  in isolation.
• Assessments are used to guide and modify
  instruction.
• Planning is structured in units.
• The effectiveness of instruction is judged by
  whether students meet the standard.

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Not Repackaging an Old Product!
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Standards-Based Education

• Identify Desired Results
• (Learning Goals)
• Develop an Assessment Plan
• (Evidence of Learning)
• Make Instructional Decisions
• (Planned Learning Opportunities)

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Assessment

• Student Evidence
• instead of
• Teacher Coverage
• (Handout page 10)

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Highly Qualified Teachers

• Special Education
• Highly qualified in Accommodations,
  Differentiation, and Modifications
• Content Specialists
• Highly qualified in reading, or science, or math,
  or social studies.

What must happen for every student to have a
Highly Qualified Teacher throughout the day?
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VIPsVery Important Points

• All teachers must be familiar with the standards.
• Standards are revisited continuously throughout
  the teaching/learning process.
• Planning takes place at the unit level, and units
  are usually 3 to 6 weeks in length.
• Established coding procedures for unit/lesson
  plans need to be rethought.

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Assessment vs. Grading
Student 1 receives mostly As and high Bs in the
beginning but his/her performance drops off
considerably, and s/he receives an F on the final
performance test. Student 2 is erratic,
receiving an equal number of As and Fs. Student
3 is clueless at the beginning, but by the last
few sessions, s/he catches on and performs
flawlessly on the final performance. His/her
grades are, in order from the first test to the
last, F, F, F, F, C, B, A, A, A.
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Assessment for Learning

• Not all students learn at the same rate or in the
  same way.
• Assessment is ongoing and continuous.
• Assessment guides instruction.
• Assessment provides evidence of student growth
  toward the learning goals.

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Determine an Assessment Plan
Observation, Dialogue, Discussion
Tests Quizzes
Academic Prompts
Performance Tasks
Self-Assessment
Informal Checks
adapted from Understanding by Design
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An Assessment Inventory

• Assessments can also be categorized as selected
  response, constructed response, performance task,
  and informal/self-assessment.
• To determine whether or not classroom assessment
  is balanced, complete the balanced assessment
  inventory as if you were still in the classroom.
• How might this inventory assist you as you
  conduct teacher observations?

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Assessment
Not everything that can be counted counts, and
not everything that counts can be counted.
--Albert Einstein
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Research Suggests . . .

• According to Rick Stiggins, a balanced range of
  classroom assessments is effective in improving
  student achievement, not only in individual
  classrooms, but also on state or other
  standardized tests that provide program
  evaluation data.
• In fact, Stiggins refers directly to a research
  review by Paul Black and Dylan William that
  reports effect sizes on high stakes tests of
  one-half to a full standard deviation for
  students who experienced improved formative
  assessment in their classrooms.
• This gain is sufficient to improve student
  achievement on standardized tests by more than
  30 percentile points, two grade-equivalents, or
  100 points on the SAT scale (Stiggins 2002).

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Table Talk

• Identify 3 things youve seen or heard so far
• today that will impact your role as instructional
• leader.
• Be prepared to share your insights with the
• whole group in 10 minutes.

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What is Differentiation?

• Differentiation can be defined as a way of
  teaching in which teachers proactively
  accommodate curriculum, teaching methods,
  resources, learning activities, and student
  products to address the needs of individual
  students and/or small groups of students to
  maximize the learning opportunity for each
  student in the classroom.
• --Facilitators Guide, At Work in the
  Differentiated Classroom, 103.

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Making Instructional Decisions

• Differentiated instruction is the norm when
  teaching with performance standards.
• A differentiated classroom is big on
• standards, but short on standardization.
  
  (Tomlinson, The Differentiated Classroom, 29)

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The Road to Student Success
Although the destination remains constant, the
routes we take to reach that destination and the
time it takes us to get there may vary.
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According to Grant Wiggins

• "Good planning leaves room for the
  unplannable. You do not know what you'll be
  doing on April 11, and you're a fool if you think
  so. If you do, then the curriculum is more
  important to you than your students."
• (Grant Wiggins, "Designing and Using Student
  Reflections and Self-Assessment," ASCD Summer
  Conference on Differentiated Instruction and
  Understanding by Design, June 2005)

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Making Instructional Decisions

• Schedule planned assessments on unit calendar.
• Determine the instruction necessary to equip
  students to provide evidence of learning on
  scheduled assessments.
• Select the most appropriate instructional
  strategies for providing students access to
  learning.
• Schedule instructional activities on unit
  calendar.

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Incorporating a Variety of Instructional
Strategies

• Thinking back to your own classroom practice,
  read over the categories of instructional
  strategies.
• Mark a strategy with a if you used it
  regularly, a if you used it occasionally, or
  a if you rarely or never used it.
• How might this checklist assist you as you
  conduct teacher observations?

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Observing Teachers with GPS in Mind

• Are learning goals clear to both the teacher and
  the students?
• Are students actively engaged in their own
  learning?
• Are the readiness levels, interests, and learning
  styles of the students being addressed?
• Is assessment for learning guiding instruction to
  ensure growth for every student?

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VIPsVery Important Points

• All instructional and assessment activities
  should be designed to move students toward the
  learning goalsthe GPS.
• Students need multiple opportunities to learn
  using a variety of instructional strategies that
  incorporate a number of different modalities.
• Instruction should focus on growth for all
  students. Often the students who come into a
  classroom knowing the most, learn the least.
• Unit plans must be flexible in order to allow
  assessment to guide instruction.

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More VIPsVery Important Points

• Unit plans must be flexible in order to allow
  assessment to guide instruction.
• In standards-based classrooms, teachers create
  student-centered learning environments.
• In student-centered learning environments,
  instruction takes place when students work
  independently, in pairs or small groups,
  one-on-one with the teacher, and in the class as
  a whole.

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Table Talk

• Performance standards provide consistency in
  terms
• of learning goals, but standards are not the same
• thing as standardization. Effective
  implementation of
• the GPS precludes lockstep instruction. Discuss
• what this may mean in terms of teacher
  observations
• and evaluations.
• Be prepared to share your ideas with the
• whole group in 15 minutes.

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Science in Middle School

• 2005-2007
• Science GPS in grades 6 and 7
• Science QCC in grade 8

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Middle School Plan
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Co-Requisites in Science

• Content Characteristics
• Facts
• Characteristics Content
• Activities
• Characteristics Content
• SCIENCE

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Science Content Example

• S7L4. Students will examine the dependence of
  organisms on one another and their environments.
• d. Categorize relationships between organisms
  that are competitive or mutually beneficial.

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What is a relationship?
Mutualism? Commensalism? Parasite/Host?
Predator/Prey? Competition?
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Characteristics of Science

• S6CS5. Students will use the ideas of system,
  model, change, and scale in exploring scientific
  and technological matters.
• Observe and explain how parts can be related to
  other parts in a system such as predator/prey
  relationships in a community/ecosystem.
• Understand that different models (such as
  physical replicas, pictures, and analogies) can
  be used to represent the same thing.

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Characteristics of Science (cont.)

• S6CS9. Students will enhance reading in all
  curriculum areas by
• a. Reading in all curriculum areas
• b. Discussing books
• c. Building vocabulary knowledge
• d. Establishing context

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Sample Task

• You are a curator at an animal park. Your new
  project is to design a display depicting a major
  biome that includes how the organisms relate to
  and interact with each other.
• Your display will include
• A research narrative with facts about a minimum
  of ten organisms and their energy needs
• A food web of including all organisms from the
  narrative including arrows showing sequence of
  the transfer of food energy (See next slide)
• Examples of and explanations of sample symbiotic
  relationships including mutualism, commensalism,
  and parasitism

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You Want Proof? Ill Give You Proof! By Sydney
Harris
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Products that provide evidence of understanding

• Signs for display
• Major biome, organisms listed by kingdom
• Choose an example of an organism from each role
  in the ecosystem (predator, prey, producer,
  consumer, parasite, host, scavenger, decomposer),
  explain the role of that organism and its energy
  (food/nutrient) needs.
• Diagram of energy pyramid depicting organisms
  with arrows showing sequence of energy flow.
• Show examples of symbiotic relationships from the
  biome. (commensalism, mutualism, competition,
  parasitism)

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Pay attention that you are scoring the evidence
of what you want the student to know and be able
to do. How good is good enough? Dont get
confused by criteria that sounds good but doesnt
match the goal.
Far Side Gallery by Gary Larsen
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Sample Rubric
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ELA in Middle School

• GPS in grades 6, 7, and 8

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Power Standards in ELA

• RL1 Comprehension and Interpretation ?
• RL2 Vocabulary
• RL3 Fluency
• RC1 1,000,000 words
• RC2 Discusses topics related to content
• reading
• RC3 Content vocabulary
• RC4 Puts reading in context

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Power Standards in ELA

• W1 Organization, structure, and context
• W2 Competence in a variety of genres ?
• W3 Research and technology to support
• writing
• W4 Writing process
• C1 Usage and mechanics
• LSV1 Verbal interactions S-T S-S Group
• LSV2 Media literacy ?

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Determining Learning Goals for an ELA Unit
Reading
Unit
Listening, Speaking, and Viewing
Writing
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Math in Middle School

• Math GPS in 6th Grade
• Math QCC in 7th and 8th grades

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GPS Phase-in Plan
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Test Alignment

• Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT)
• Test alignment is completed during
• Year II implementation for each content area and
  grade level.

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Grade 7 Math Assessment Timeline

• 2005-2006 School year
• Grade 6 math CRCT will assess the GPS.
• Grade 7 math CRCT will assess the QCC.
• 2006-2007 School year
• Grade 7 math CRCT will assess the GPS.

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High School Course Chart
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ALGEBRA

• Students will investigate relationships between
  two quantities.
• They will write and solve proportions and simple
  one-step equations that result from problem
  situations.

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Standard

• M6A2. Students will consider relationships
  between varying quantities.
• a. Analyze and describe patterns
• arising from mathematical rules,
• tables, and graphs.

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THE WAVE
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Announcements

• Materials are on the way to your schools!
• A sixth grade framework has been added to the GPS
  mathematics site!

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http//www.georgiastandards.org

Training Materials
Standards
Frequently Asked Questions

NEW! Framework
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Teaching for Understanding

• In order to provide evidence of understanding,
  students must be able to apply acquired knowledge
  and skills to new situations.
• Culminating performance tasks allow students to
  provide evidence of understanding.

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Performance Tasks . . .

• . . . generally occur over time
• . . . result in tangible products or observable
  performances
• . . . involve meaning-making
• . . . encourage self-evaluation and revision
• . . . require judgment to score
• . . . reveal degrees of proficiency based on
  criteria established and made public prior to
  the performance
• . . . sometimes involve students working with
  others

-Marzano, Pickering, McTighe
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VIPsVery Important Points

• Assessment and grading are not the same thing.
• Students should be assessed on nearly everything
  they do, but its generally unwise to over-grade
  or to assign grades before the learning process
  is complete.
• Students do not all learn at the same rate or
  achieve the learning goals at the same time.
• Averaging to determine final grades does not
  provide an adequate picture of student growth.
• Students who learn conceptually perform
  significantly better on standardized tests.

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Table Talk

• Performance standards require that we rethink our
• assessment and grading practices, but these
• practices are deeply embedded in the culture of
  our
• schools. Determine 2 or 3 things that you might
  do
• in your schools to begin to align your grading
  policies
• with the underlying principles of standards-based
• education.
• Be prepared to share your ideas with the
• whole group in 15 minutes.

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Your questions?
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Contact Information

• Alice Smith
• Director of Reading and Middle Schools
• alismith_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• 404-651-7274
• Alicia McCartney
• Reading and Middle Schools
• amccartn_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• 706-296-6610
• Marlee Tierce
• Science
• mtierce_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• [phone]

• Claire Pierce
• Mathematics
• cpierce_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• [phone]
• Peggy Pool
• Mathematics
• ppool_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• [phone]