How will classrooms change?

Status Report on NC Race to the Top (RttT) Implementation & Reform AgendaBriefing for NCASCDDr. Rebecca Garland, Chief Academic OfficerNCDPI February 8, 2012

How will classrooms change? Evaluation & Accountability Instruction and Assessments Standards Instruction will help students achieve the standards; Assessments will be meaningful and will help students and teachers; Educators will be meaningfully evaluated; Schools will be held accountable for graduating students ready for college and career Students will be taught different and better content and skills • “Clearer and Higher Expectations” • Common Core in ELA and Math • ex Focus on informational reading and writing • ex More real-world application in math • Essential Standards • ex Physical science in early grades • Instructional Improvement System • A one-stop landing spot for instructional resources and assessments to help teachers diagnose need using data • Support of formative assessment practices • Learning maps • Summative Assessments • New State Assessments (12-13 & 13-14) • SMARTER Balanced (14-15) • Computer Adaptive Testing • Performance Tasks • Teacher Evaluation • Evaluation based built on meaningful discussions and focused on practice improvement for all • Inclusion of a measure of student growth in all evaluations • Professional Development Initiative to improve practice • New Accountability Model • Based on College and Career Ready Expectations - including the ACT/PLAN/EXPLORE suite • Updated data reporting • Flexibility around No Child Left Behind (in progress)

Overview Common Core Implementation New Assessments – NC; SBAC Explore, Plan, ACT – College Career Promise Transition Courses Instructional Improvement System Accountability & ESEA Flexibility Teacher Effectiveness Initiatives

Goal of RttT: Advance Core Education Reforms

RttT Overall Goals (by June 2014) In process – currently refining metric targets Overall RttT Goals DPI Goal? SBE Goal? Gov.'s goal? Increase the high school graduation rate Produce more career-, college- and future-ready graduates, as measured by performance on the SAT, ACT, Accuplacer, Compass, and other relevant assessments Increase the number of graduating seniors who complete challenging capstone courses, including AP and IB 1 ü ü ü 2 ü ü ü 3 ü ü ü

RttT Overall Goals (by June 2014) In process – currently refining metric targets Overall RttT Goals DPI Goal? SBE Goal? Gov.'s goal? Increase achievement in all grades, as measured by state assessments, NAEP results, and other relevant indicators Improve the 118 low-performing schools and 23 low-performing districts so they are all above the current low-performing criteria Reduce the achievement gap by making larger gains for lower performing subgroups 4 ü ü ü 5 ü ü ü 6 ü ü ü We are aligned on the goals for RttT and for NC over the next four years

Common Core Implementation Regional Institutes & Technical Support Toolkits & Online Modules Local Initiatives Partnerships Core to College CCSSO

Common Core ELA Instructional Shifts Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary

Building Knowledge through content-rich nonfiction & informational texts Across History, Science & Technical Subjects Focus on Knowledge about content K-5 – 50/50 balance between literary and informational texts 6-12 – more focus on non-fiction Rationale: Workplace reading is informational

Reading & Writing Based in Evidence from Text Shift from Narrative Writing to persuasive and critical writing Not a focus on student’s experiences but analysis of what a student can read and understand from text Students should be able to answer text-specific questions, particularly inferences based on evidence from text

Regular Practice with complex text & its rich academic vocabulary Focus on text complexity and frequent practice will build a staircase to career and college level reading Focus on academic vocabulary and multiple/nuanced word choice important in Common Core ELA

Shifts in Math Common Core Focus strongly where the standards focus Coherence: think across grades and link to major topics within grades Rigor: require conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application with intensity

Focus strongly where the standards focus Restrict instruction only to the skills that are covered in the standards Students will gain strong foundational standards Many familiar activities will be erased from classroom instruction

Coherence: think across grades and link to major topics within grades Learning progressions in math - linking the same topics across grade spans Building on foundations – for example, linking multiplication & fractions across spans – not topic driven Nothing new but an extension of previous learning Nothing an end to itself

New Assessments 2012-2013 New End-of-Grade Assessments in Reading and Mathematics in Grades 3-8 New Science Assessments in Grades 5, 8, and Biology New End-of-Course in Algebra I/Integrated Math 1 & English II

New Assessments 2014-2015 Smarter Balanced Consortium Assessments on Common Core Grades 3-8 and Grade 11

Assessment Vision High School End-of-Course Assessments 3-8 End-of-Grade Assessments Formative Assessment, Benchmark and Continuous Checks for Understanding 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 11 K Start of Schooling Measure of Readiness Graduation Formal Check for Readiness in 8th Formal Check for Readiness in 10th Formal Check for Readiness in K-5

Career and College Promise Dual Enrollment Program for Juniors & Seniors 3 Options – College Transfer, Career & Technical Certificate or Degree, Cooperative Innovative Program Eligibility & Continuation Requirements

CCP Eligibility & Continuation 3.0 Weighted GPA And/Or Principal Recommendation Pre-requisites, including testing requirements 2.0 GPA for continuation Must adhere to pathway courses

CCP College Transfer Pathway Humanities and Social Sciences Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Life and Health Sciences Business and Economics

CCP Career & Technical Pathway Aligned with CTE Clusters Programs identified by Community Colleges Available online and on campus Programs approved by System Office

And for those students not ready… Transition Courses through SREB partnership of multiple states…funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Alignment with IHEs for remediation free upon successful completion of courses

Accountability State and Federal

New State Accountability Model K-8 – Based on performance & growth on state assessments High School – Performance & Growth on Graduation Rates; Assessments; ACT College Readiness; Math Rigor; Career Readiness No School Designations – Reporting against standard

ESEA Federal Flexibility Principles College and Career Expectations for all students State-Developed Differentiated Recognition, Accountability, and Support Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership Reducing Duplication and Unnecessary Burden

ESEA Flexibility – Federal Accountability Setting New AMOs Decreasing Achievement Gaps by 50% over seven years Same benchmarks for sub-groups across state Ex. 30% proficient; 70% gap; reduce gap by 35%; growth 5% per year for 7 years

ESEA Flexibility Annual AYP report by subgroups Priority, Focus and Reward Schools Local flexibility around sanctions Local flexibility around extended learning opportunities Federal negotiations with states

How will classrooms change?