Civil Rights Movement 02/06/2010
 February 1, 2010, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the day the Greensboro Four held a sit-in at the F.W. Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. At 8:00 a.m. (EST), a ribbon cutting ceremony took place in Greensboro, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary and the grand opening of the International Civil Rights Museum. On February 1, I was able to tour the International Civil Rights Museum with my thirteen year old son. We saw exhibits which focused on segregated schools, lunch counters, movie theaters, churches, hotels, and public transportation. We took a tour through the Hall of Shame, which featured graphic photos and reminders of hate crimes that took place throughout our nation's history. The museum will serve as an learning laboratory for all ages. The Little Rock Nine were featured in the new museum, along with James Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi. Revisiting the Civil Rights Movement reminds us of how far we have come as a nation, but it also reminds us how far we have to go. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the court stated, "Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society.....Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." Opportunity to Learn Visiting the International Civil Rights Museum reminded me of our nation's commitment to provide free public education to all students. While we are delivering on the intent of Brown v. Board of Education, we must continue to increase each student's Opportunity to Learn (OTL). If educators agree that all students should be prepared for the next grade level and the goal is for 100% of our students to graduate, then we should develop a clear idea of how to support student achievement. Robert Marzano (2003) cited several factors which impact student achievement. He divided the factors into the following categories: School Level, Teacher Level, and Student Level. His thirty year meta-analysis revealed that the number one factor impacting student achievement is a 'guaranteed and viable curriculum.' In other words, according to Marzano's research, Opportunity to Learn is the number one factor impacting student achievement. Recently, Squires (2009) wrote, "It is of paramount importance to make sure students have the opportunity to learn more important content aligned with standards and assessments.....Further, school districts, through their curricula, have the tools at their disposal to control and ensure what students learn" (p. 133). Developing specific strategies which support Opportunity to Learn will impact student achievement. Over forty years of research supports that "access to curriculum opportunities is a more powerful determinant of achievement than initial achievement levels" (Darling-Hammond, 2010, p. 54). As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins and the courage of the Greensboro Four, we must act courageously to provide the opportunity to learn to each student in the United States and throughout the world. References: Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education: How America's commitment to equity will determine our future. New York: Teacher's College Press. Marzano, R. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Squires, D.A. (2009). Curriculum alignment: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 2010: Defining the Purpose of our Curriculum 01/09/2010
If you made New Year's Resolutions, you may have decided to change your diet, exercise more, spend more time with your family, develop a new budget, enroll in graduate school, help your favorite charity, read more books, focus on the 'main' things in your life, develop a 'seek first to understand' mindset, or other personal goals. It is not a secret that many people around the world set personal goals that they do not keep. Goal setting can be rewarding, but committing to a goal requires much more than clarifying our goal(s) on paper. S.M.A.R.T. goals are recommended by business coaches, education consultants, and numerous leadership courses. When someone makes a S.M.A.R.T. goal, it is: S = Specific M = Measurable A = Attainable R = Realistic and Results-Oriented T = Timely When students returned to school in January, it felt like a "Race to the Finish Line" for several students and teachers. Teachers were racing to cover material that will be on state high-stakes testing, AP tests, or other final exams. Students try to cram as many facts into their heads, without gaining deeper understanding and teachers continue to appear overwhelmed with the sheer amount of material that must be covered in the final three weeks of the semester. If we are going to improve teaching and learning in the new year, then we must define the purpose of our curriculum. A good starting point is to reflect on 2009? What did students achieve in 2009? What common misconceptions did students have in 2009? What instructional strategies seemed to be more relevant to this generation of learners in 2009? What goals did our department, team, school, or school district achieve in 2009? What stretch goals do we have for teaching and learning in 2010? What will we do to adjust the pacing, so we don't have a "race to the finish" each semester? How can we include more 21st century skills in our curriculum in 2010? What do we want each student to know and be able to do at the end of our course? Is our current curriculum, instruction and assessment designed to help us develop the kind of student(s) who can meet the course goals and contribute to society? Resources for Educators: Team S.M.A.R.T. Goal-Setting Plan (A great resource) All Things PLC Curriculum Development: What Should Students Know and Be Able to Do Blog Archives Five Questions For Curriculum Developers Blog Archives Determining Curriculum: A Non-Negotiable to Increasing Student Achievement Blog Archives This week, I had the privilege of attending the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. At the pre-conference, I attended a full day session with Ken Kay, President of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Kay asked the following question: Are we intentional about teaching 21st century skills? This question is much more difficult to answer than "Are we teaching 21st century skills?" The follow-up question K-12 curriculum developers need to ask is "Which skills are we teaching and how does our school and school system measure progress towards predetermined goals?" Other Key Questions shared by Ken Kay: 1. Will students leave our school district with skills that add value to their employer and to the workforce? 2. What skills will we need to teach students in order to help them "add value" to their employer or to the workforce? 3. How do you take a school system that is teaching core subjects/content and help the teachers make the transition to teaching 21st century skills in the core subject areas? 4. If you decided that students need to become 'globally competent,' what steps would teachers and administrators need to take? 5. What is the current reality in our school district? Do teachers say they are teaching 21st century skills? Is an assignment in the computer lab still considered a lesson which reinforces 21st century skills? Do teachers reinforce skills as students move upward through the school system? Additional Resources for K-12 Curriculum Development: Route 21 - Resources for 21st Century Skills Route 21 - Rubrics and Implementation Tools The MILE Guide: An Online Self-Assessment Tool for Schools and Districts West Virginia Department of Education - Teach 21 If We Can, Should We? 10/04/2009
A good activity for teacher teams is called "If We Can, Should We?" See Examples Below: If we can build a guaranteed and viable curriculum, should we? If we can meet as a vertical team once per month, should we? If we can raise student achievement through curriculum alignment, should we? If we can gain greater clarity about 'what' to teach by unpacking the standards, should we? If we can help more students through differentiated instruction, should we? If we can help students develop critical thinking skills through writing essential questions, should we? If we can improve curriculum development and instruction through data analysis, should we? If we can develop a rigorous curriculum through teacher collaboration, should we continue to work in isolation? The goal is to have teacher teams develop the questions, rather than having a list of questions for the teacher teams to answer. There are multiple variations that teacher teams can use with this activity. While the questions may sound like someone is challenging the group or individual members of the group, the intent of the activity is to help teachers begin a conversation which has the potential to improve teaching and learning. When we begin to realize that our collective efforts can drastically improve each student's future, it is worth the time and effort to have this initial conversation. A good follow-up activity is to begin developing SMART Goals. SMART Goals will help teacher teams stay focused and will require a commitment to action. How to L.E.A.D. Teams 09/26/2009
 Fran Rees (1991) wrote How to LEAD Work Teams: Facilitation Skills. While this book was not written for the field of education, it has resources that can improve our collective efforts as curriculum developers. Curriculum development is a collaborative effort and it requires multiple perspectives. This article will describe how Rees’ book can help school districts as they continue to develop, revise and reflect on the curriculum in K-12 schools. Our school district has embraced the professional learning community model. A professional learning community consists of a group of teachers who meet on a weekly basis to identify what each student should know and be able to do. In an elementary school, a team could consist of each third grade teacher in a building. At the secondary level, a team could be all of the Algebra teachers in a high school. Ongoing reflection and scheduled team meetings help teachers learn strategies which are effective. Curriculum development and craft knowledge are shared in team meetings and through teacher blogs and emails. Teaching is a profession where one teacher is assigned a classroom of students. Traditionally, teachers have worked in isolation, preparing lessons for students and assigning letter grades based on student achievement of the determined learning outcomes. Rees’ (1991) research shares how teachers should approach team meetings. How to L.E.A.D. Teams Leaders can use a simple four-step model: L ead with a clear purpose E mpower to participate A im for consensus D irect the process In the absence of a clear purpose or identified learning goals, students are not given the opportunity to learn essential concepts and skills which will prepare them for the next level of learning. It is comfortable and safe for teachers to come to consensus when they meet. Most teachers do not wish to end a meeting with conflict or a debate. This model is not saying that teachers should avoid debate or that consensus is the only goal of a team meeting. Teachers without a clear purpose and groups with a single leader may not be increasing student achievement simply by coming to consensus. Another valuable chapter in this book is chapter three which is titled, Getting People to Work Together. As teachers begin to work together on building-level teams and district wide committees, team building skills and facilitation skills will become an important component of professional development. We must keep in mind that teachers value collaboration, but the culture in education has taught us to work in isolation. Additional Team Resources: Five Dysfunctions of a Team Professional Learning Communities Purpose Driven Curriculum References: Rees, F. (1991). How to lead work teams: Facilitation Skills. San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer and Company. Those Kids 08/28/2009
Have you ever sat in a meeting with teachers and administrators and heard the term "those kids." If you have heard someone utter, "those kids," then it is likely that you have also heard the following phrases: "That group"; "They have been that way since elementary school."; "That side of town"; "They don't act like the other students." As we begin the school year, I am frightened to think that a group of teachers would say "those kids" when referring to my own children. If it is inappropriate to say about my children, then it is inappropriate to voice about other people's children. In the book titled, Other People's Children, Lisa Delpit (1995) wrote, "If we do not have some knowledge of children's lives outside the realms of paper-and-pencil work, and even outside of their classrooms, then we cannot know their strengths. Not knowing students' strengths leads to our 'teaching down' to children from communities that are culturally different from that of the teachers in the school. Because teachers do not want to tax what they believe to be these students' lower abilities, they end up teaching less when, in actuality, these students need more of what school has to offer" (p. 173). Questions for Educators to Consider: 1. Do teachers in your school use the term, "Those Kids"? 2. Is it addressed by the team, or do we all secretly feel like that is the best we can expect from "those kids"? 3. Do students live up to the teachers' expectations? 4. Do our perceptions of students impact curriculum planning and instruction? 5. Do all students receive the (written curriculum) Key Concepts and Key Skills when teachers have lower expectations for one student or for a group of students? 6. If we treat "other people's children" like our own children, does it change our views towards the curriculum, instruction and learning goals? 7. How can we change our school culture to a culture where "those kids" become "our kids"? (See DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008). If teachers and principals believe the impetus for student learning remains outside of their influence and there is nothing they can do to overcome these external variables, the idea of school improvement will undoubtedly seem futile, if not downright ridiculous. (DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008, p. 59) Make a collective decision to eliminate the term "Those Kids". References: Delpti, L. (1995). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press. DuFour, R., DuFour, R. & Eaker, R. (2008). Revisiting professional learning communities: New insights for improving schools. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. Analyzing a District's Curriculum 07/31/2009
As we begin a new school year, teachers will develop lesson plans and units of study based on a curriculum. Some school districts still allow each individual teacher to develop curriculum, while other districts have established a common curriculum. According to English (2000), “curriculum is any document that exists in a school that defines the work of teachers by identifying the content to be taught and the methods to be used” (p.2). The following list will assist collaborative teams in identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses within a school as teachers and administrators continue to develop curriculum and assess student understanding of key concepts and skills. A general awareness of each of the curriculum types listed below can assist teachers and administrators in increasing student understanding and raising student achievement. 1. Written The written curriculum specifies what is to be taught and is produced by the state, the school system, the school, and the classroom teacher. The written curriculum will have little impact on student achievement unless it becomes the taught curriculum or more importantly a ‘guaranteed and viable’ curriculum (Marzano, 2003) which is agreed upon by a team of teachers. 2. Taught The taught curriculum is what teachers actually teach in the classroom. Traditionally, the written curriculum (state and local documents) has not matched the taught curriculum among teachers within a school. Jacobs (1997) wrote, “If there are gaps among teachers within buildings, there are virtual Grand Canyons among buildings in a district" (p. 3). 3. Assessed The assessed curriculum provides valuable feedback about each student’s understanding of essential content, concepts and skills. If the assessed curriculum is not aligned with the written curriculum then teachers, students and parents will have a difficult time assessing the student understanding. “The extent to which any test is useful in reteaching any given curriculum is the extent to which that test does indeed measures the curriculum in the first place" (English, 2000, p. 65). Recommended Reading 07/25/2009
 As we begin preparing for another school year, teachers and administrators will benefit from reading one or more of the following resources. Are You a Graduate of the John Wayne School of Leadership? By Peter M. Smith Dealing with the Challenging Employee By John Baldoni Good to Great – Short Video Clips and Excerpts from the Book By Jim Collins How to Create a Shared Vision Statement By Dan McCarthy Nelson Mandela: His Eight Lessons of Leadership By Richard Stengel On the Frontier of School Reform with Trailblazers, Pioneers, and Settlers By Phillip Schlechty Our Iceberg Is Melting – Dealing with Change By John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber Team Leaders in a Professional Learning Community By Robert Eaker and Janel Keating The Culture Builder By Roland Barth Triangle Leadership Academy - Tools for Leaders After you read an article, feel free to post your thoughts on the K-12 Curriculum Development blog. Have a great school year! Common Sense 07/15/2009
 Common Sense was published anonymously by Thomas Paine in January 1776. The purpose for this small pamphlet was to encourage change and to urge the American people to form their own government. The purpose of this article is to offer some common sense advice which will impact K-12 education in any country. IN the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader (Paine, 1776). Education:
described how student achievement increases when one or more of the processes or viewpoints are implemented. For example, Marzano (2003) shared, the number one factor impacting student achievement is a guaranteed and viable curriculum (p. 22). “Standards alone cannot change these realities. Instead, successful change occurs when all aspects of the local curriculum are linked to standards through a purposeful, coherent system of process and products” (Carr & Harris, 2001, p. 1). Wiggins and McTighe (2007) wrote, “Schooling at its best reflects a purposeful arrangement of parts and details, organized with deliberate intention, for achieving the kinds of learning we seek” (p. 9). Please feel free to share your Common Sense recommendations for K-12 education. References: Carr, J.E., & Harris, D.E. (2001). Succeeding with Standards: Linking Curriculum, Assessment, and Action Planning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Marzano, R.J. (2003). What working in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Paine, T. Common sense (1776). The Library of Congress. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm028.html Wiggins, G. & McTighe, G., (2007) Schooling by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Curriculum Renewal 07/03/2009
 By July, most school systems have received data from student report cards, state testing results, feedback from parents/guardians, and student portfolios which demonstrate the student's growth from the beginning of the school year until the last day of school. What processes will teachers and administrators use to improve the written and taught curriculum in the upcoming school year? What strategies should be developed to provide additional support to struggling readers? According to Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, and Flowers (2004), "Most change initiatives that end up going nowhere don't fail because they lack grand visions and noble intentions. They fail because people can't see the reality they face" (p. 29). A tool for identifying the realities faced by a school and one which will help your team determine 'next steps' is a SWOT Analysis. A SWOT Analysis looks at and defines the strengths and weaknesses of the internal environment of the school or school system, as well as the opportunities and threats within the environment external to the organization or organizational unit. Once educators have identified the existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, they can build plans to support student achievement. Instructional priorities will based on the outcomes of the SWOT Analysis, rather than focusing on 'what worked' last year. Educators will notice that what is perceived as a threat for the upcoming school year could also be a new opportunity. "Systems don't change by themselves. Rather, the actions of individuals and small groups working on new conceptions intersect to produce breakthroughs" (Fullan, 1993). Resource: SWOT Analysis Template (See attached document) References: Fullan, M. (1993). Change forces: Probing the depths of educational reform. London: Falmer Press. Senge, P., Scharmer, C.O., Jaworski, J., & Flowers, B.S. (2004). Presence: An exploration of profound change in people, organizations, and society. New York: Doubleday. 
| AuthorSteven Weber is the Director of Secondary Instruction for Orange County Schools in Hillsborough, NC. Weber has served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and state department of education consultant in Arkansas and North Carolina. He consults school systems in aligning their curriculum and in unpacking curriculum standards.  ArchivesMarch 2010 CategoriesAll | ||
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