SESSION Ten

The standards

• The state academic standards are benchmark measures that define what students should know and be able to do at specified grade levels beginning in grade 3. The standards are promulgated as state regulations. As such they must be used as the basis for curriculum and instruction in Pennsylvania’s public schools. State requirements for curriculum, instruction and assessment may be found in the Board’s Chapter 4 regulations

Assessment Anchors

• In addition to the state academic standards, the Department of Education developed and the State Board adopted Assessment Anchors for each subject and grade level assessed by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). Assessment Anchors are a subset of the state academic standards. They define the academic content and skills that are assessed by the PSSA.

Eligible Content• Eligible Content. The column on the right-hand side of

the page, underneath• each Assessment Anchor, is the Eligible Content. This is

often known as the• “assessment limits” and helps teachers identify how

deeply they need to cover an• Anchor and/or the range of the content they should

teach to best prepare their• students for the PSSA. Not all of the Eligible Content is

assessed on the PSSA,• but it shows the range of knowledge from which we

design the test.

Standards

• 1.1. Learning to Read Independently

• 1.2. Reading Critically in All Content Areas

• 1.3. Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature •

• 1.4. Types of Writing • • 1.5. Quality of

Writing •

• 1.6. Speaking and Listening

• • 1.7. Characteristics and Function of the English Language

• • 1.8. Research

Standards

• Standards are very broad

1.1 learning to read independently1.1.3 1.1.5 1.1.8 1.1.11

a Identify the purposes and types of text (e.g., literature, information) before reading.

a Establish the purpose for reading a type of text (literature, information) before reading.

a Locate appropriate texts (literature, information, documents) for an assigned purpose before reading.

a Locate various texts, media and traditional resources for assigned and independent projects before reading.

b Preview the text formats (e.g., title, headings, chapters, and table of contents).

b Select texts for a particular purpose using the format of the text as a guide.

b Identify and use common organizational structures and graphic features to comprehend information.

b Analyze the structure of informational materials explaining how authors used these to achieve their purposes.

c c c c

Example of Assessment Anchors

Mathematics Assessment Anchor Glossary Grades 3 & 4

• Acute angle: An angle with a measure less than 90°. • Addend: Any number that is being added. • Analog time: Time displayed on a timepiece having hour and minute

hands. • Area: The measure, in square units, of the inside of a plane figure. • Array: A rectangular arrangement of objects in equal rows or columns. • Combination: A group of items. Placing these items in a different order

does not create a new combination. • Cone: A solid figure that has a circular base and one vertex. • Congruent: Having the same size and shape. • • Congruent

R5.B.1.1 Compare characters, settings and plots

Reference: 1.3.5.B

R5.B.1.1.1 Items may ask the students to compare or explain relationships among the following:

Characters: main, supporting, actions, motives and emotions/feelings;

Settings: where or when the story takes place, a detail that describes the setting, or information form the text that suggests a setting;

Plots: conflict, rising action, climax and resolution.

Note: Items may ask students to utilize story maps or Venn diagrams to show sequence, cause & effect, and/or comparison/contrast.

ASSESSMENT ANCHOR

R5.B.1 Describe and interpret literary elements within and among texts.

R5.B Interpretation and Analysis of Literature

Standard: 1.3. Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature

1.3.5. GRADE 5

 A. Read and understand works of literature.

 B. Compare the use of literary elements within and among texts including characters, setting, plot, theme and point of view

Pennsylvania Department of Education

StandardStandardStandardStandard AnchorAnchorAnchorAnchor

How to Read Assessment Anchor Coding

R3.A.1.1R3.A.1.1

ReadingReading

Grade LevelGrade Level

Reporting CategoryReporting Category

AssessmentAnchor

AssessmentAnchor

How to Read Assessment Anchor Coding

M8.E.1.1M8.E.1.1

MathMath

Grade LevelGrade Level

Reporting CategoryReporting Category

Assessment Anchor

Assessment Anchor

Which Assessment Anchors are a natural fit for your discipline? Which are essential to success in your discipline? Mark ONLY the ones that fit. Don’t “stretch”– the key is to identify only those anchors that are natural to your discipline?

Step 1: Individual course analysisStep 1: Individual course analysis

Mapping

• Not all anchors need to be ties to their specific areas, for example, you can work on a reading anchor in social studies.

• Most times it is not done this way

Social Studies “Natural Fit”Social Studies “Natural Fit”R11A Comprehension & Reading

SkillsR11.A.2 Demonstrate the ability to

understand and interpret nonfiction text, including informational, …editorials, public documents…

R11.A.2.6 Check the validity and accuracy of information obtained from reading by differentiating fact from opinion

Visual Arts “Natural Fit”Visual Arts “Natural Fit”

M5C GeometryM5.C.2 Identify and/or apply

concepts of transformations or symmetry

M5.C.2.1 Analyze transformations and/or use symmetry to analyze mathematical situations

Science “Natural Fit”Science “Natural Fit”

M5E Data Analysis & Probability

M5.E.3 Understand and/or apply basic concepts of probability or outcomes

M5.E.2.1 Predict or determine all possible combinations, outcomes and/or calculate the probability of a simple event

STEP 2: What’s the overall picture STEP 2: What’s the overall picture for the school as a whole?for the school as a whole?

Are all anchors adopted? Are some orphans? Where are the gaps? Is there “overload” anywhere?

What is the specific list of Assessment Anchors for each individual discipline? What specific Assessment Anchors belong to your discipline?

Looking at your school achievement profile, and looking at the “adoption” list, is there enough time to get the job done?

For example, in math…For example, in math…English Social

StudiesMath Science H/PE FCS Tech Ed Art

NONE ME1 ALL ME1 MD2 MA3 MB1 MC2

ME2 ME2 MB1 MB2 MD4

ME3 ME3 MC1

ME4 ME4

Step 3: The PlanStep 3: The PlanWhat can we do to make sure all

Assessment Anchors are taught? What can we do to make sure all Assessment Anchors are learned?

If some Assessment Anchors are orphans, what can we do to find a good disciplinary fit while insuring that all students have full opportunity to learn and meet expectations for proficiency?

What Is Mapping?

• Calendar based • Process for collecting data representative of

the operational (real) curriculum in a school and/or district

Why Create Curriculum Maps?

• Locates gaps, repetitions, areas for integration,assessments

• Authentic alignment to standards• Accountability• Communication and Reflection• We rarely have these conversations!

– Identify what occurs throughout the entire school year– A picture of students’ experience from grade to grade– Teacher expectations to parents and students

Mapping Process Can Improve School Culture

• Shared sense of purpose• Opportunity to share• Provides time to reflect• Builds Professional Learning Communities

within the school• Analyze and debate to improve• Increases test scores

Meaningful Assessments:Mapping Can Provide the Help

• Assessments clearly connected to content and skills• Balanced assessments• Assessment preparation for high-stakes assessments

– Not teaching to the test but rather teaching to the standards that will be assessed on the tests

• Does my curriculum reflect what is being tested and the vocabulary content that is presented?

• “Real World” applications

Analyzing curriculum maps can help you find the answers and build a more meaningful

and connected curriculum

What Information is collected on the Map?

• Content• Skills• Assessments• Standards• Essential Questions*

Identify Curriculum Repetitions and Gaps

• Recognize the difference between repetitions and redundancies

• Examine maps for gaps in– Content– Skills– Standards– Assessments

• Spiraling is the goal

Standards analysis

• Identifies the standards that are or are not being taught and assessed• Identifies standards and curriculum alignment• Defines what alignment really means• Provides forum for discussion of crucial standards

The Curriculum Mapping Process• Step 1: Collecting the data: each teacher creates a map

individually• Step 2: First read-through: teachers read each other’s maps

also done individually• Step 3: Small mixed group reviews: sharing findings from

editing• Step 4: Large group comparisons: sharing findings from small

group review• Step 5: Determine immediate revision points• Step 6: Determine points requiring some research and

planning• Step 7: Plan for next review cycle

Sample Curriculum Map Template

Month Essential Questions

Content Skills Assessments Standards

Curriculum Map Sample Template B

“Curriculum Mapping has been one of the most beneficial initiatives undertaken by our system. It has not only helped us to truly align curriculum, removing gaps and overlaps; it has caused us to go through a process of examining what we do and why. This process has made teaching & learning more relevant and more efficient.”— Dr. Lyle C. Ailshie, Director, Greeneville City Schools (State of Tennessee, 2000)

•How do you currently plan, record and communicate / share your

curriculum?

• Please make some notes and discuss with a neighbor.

Consider the big picture: Your students walk through the door on

the first day of school. • What do you know about them? • Can you describe what they studied and

what skills they applied in the grade prior to yours?

• Without an effective means of surveying the big picture of curriculum over time, the student is the only one who really knows the path of his or her experience in school.

What is Curriculum Mapping?

• Curriculum mapping is a process anchored in the school calendar, in which each teacher records, in real time, the content and skills taught and how they are assessed.

Curriculum mapping is a technique for exploring the primary elements of curriculum:

• What is taught.

• How instruction occurs.

• When instruction is delivered .

• Critical thinking• Reading• Numeracy• Writing• Vocabulary• General Learner Outcomes• Technology

truly reflected throughout our school curriculum in a way that is connected to Standards?

How are…

• The curriculum data:ContentSkillsAssessments are entered by month, which

adds the time-bound element to the maps

Curriculum Mapping using the analogy of a road map

• Drivers use the labels on maps to identify their driving destinations just as educators list content on their maps to identify leaning destinations.

• Motorists use the roads and highways, as indicated by the lines on maps, to get them to their destinations just as educators list skills on maps to be used to assist learners in reaching the learning destinations.

• As travelers progress through their journeys, they utilize the maps scale to assess their progress related to their destination just as educators list assessments they use assist learners in determining how close they are to their learning destinations.

• When all of this data is consolidated into a map made accessible to groups of teachers, it enables each teacher to look at the content and skills taught, as well as how the skills are assessed.

• Curriculum mapping is not an ideology or a philosophy of education. Rather, it is a tool that groups of educators use to lay out and reflect upon the path a curriculum takes over time.