Four State Leadership Teams Receive $50,000 Grants to Expand Learning OpportunitiesContact:Kate Dandokated@ccsso.org202-336-7034
DENVER—Teams of state legislators, state education officials, governors’ policy advisors and statewide afterschool network directors in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Washington each received $50,000 competitive grants to support student success by effectively integrating expanded learning opportunities into state education systems. The grants are awarded through the Supporting Student Success: The Promise of Expanded Learning Opportunities initiative, sponsored by the C.S. Mott Foundation. The grants will support each state’s plan to develop, adopt, and implement state policies that integrate expanded learning opportunities—such as afterschool, summer learning, and extended day and year programs—into state education systems.

“Ensuring students are prepared to compete in a global economy remains a top priority for all governors,” said NGA executive director Dan Crippen. “NGA is happy to help provide assistance to these states as they explore options for expanded learning opportunities.”

“State legislators continue to work on policies and programs to expand students’ opportunities to learn both inside and outside of the classroom,” said NCSL executive director William T. Pound. “We look forward to seeing the different learning innovations these states develop, and working with them to share these ideas with other policy makers across the country.”

“We must provide today’s students with personalized learning experiences and environments based on individual needs and interests,” said CCSSO executive director Gene Wilhoit. “The human resources that exist in expanded learning opportunities must be tapped and seen as a key strategy for transforming the system to provide high-quality anytime, anywhere learning.”  

State activities supported by the grant will differ, but each state’s proposed plan focuses on efforts to create state policies that support the integration of state education systems and the vast network of afterschool programs and providers in each state. For example:  California will align the multiple existing funding streams to support summer learning opportunities as a key part of the state’s year-round system of academic support.Connecticut will develop and implement a statewide plan for integrating expanded learning opportunities and K-12 public schools. New Jersey will identify best practices to facilitate the implementation of the Common Core State Standards into expanded learning opportunities.Washington will create strategies for using expanded learning opportunities to close the achievement gap.In addition to the funding, grant recipients will receive in-depth technical assistance from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

NCSL is the granting organization. This is the third group of grantees. The first group of states were awarded grants under this initiative in 2007. All states with C.S. Mott funded statewide afterschool networks that have not previously participated in the initiative, were invited to submit proposals. An independent selection committee of state policy and afterschool experts reviewed applications and made award recommendations. 

Monday, August 08, 2011CCSSO Issues Statement on Administration’s Waiver AnnouncementContact:Kate Dandokated@ccsso.org202-336-7034

Washington, DC August 8, 2011- CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit issued the following statement today in response to Secretary Arne Duncan’s announcement that the U.S. Department of Education will consider state waiver proposals under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

 ”Current law is outdated, has lost public creditability, and is impeding state efforts to transition to college and career ready standards and assessments. States favor a comprehensive reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by Congress but will continue advancing education reform regardless of federal action.

 ”In the absence of immediate ESEA reauthorization states are prepared to propose waivers of current law to Secretary Duncan. These proposals will be based on state-developed Next-Generation Accountability Principles. Further, states call on the Administration to avoid being overly prescriptive in its waiver package.

 ”We look forward to seeing the specific details of the waiver package in September but will proceed with developing innovative new accountability models,” said Wilhoit.

CCSSO announced in June that 44 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to work together to improve student achievement through the development and implementation of improved state accountability systems.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2011TN Chief Outlines Statewide Teacher Evaluation System Before House CommitteeContact:Kate Dandokated@ccsso.org202-336-7034

 Washington, DC July 27, 2011- Kevin Huffman, Tennessee Commissioner of Education testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce about the role that teachers and teacher evaluation can play in the effort to build a better education system.

 Huffman’s testimony highlighted Tennessee’s plan to implement a statewide teacher evaluation system in this coming school year. The Tennessee system includes both qualitative and quantitative measures with a significant focus on improving student achievement but also factors in other performance measures and classroom observations. The scoring rubrics were field tested across the state last year with positive feedback amongst teacher and principals. Huffman outlined Tennessee’s commitment to implement the system this year and to improve the system in the future.

“In Tennessee, we think evaluation should be used for several key things. First, support teachers by providing helpful feedback in real time so that they can continue to improve their craft. Second, identify the top performers in the field so that we can study and learn from them, recognize them for their work, and extend their impact by building meaningful career pathways that allow them to touch ever-more kids. Third, identify teachers in need of improvement so that we can tailor professional development to their needs and, in the case of a small percentage who cannot reach a bar of effectiveness, exit them from the profession,” Huffman said in his testimony. 

Huffman noted the critical importance of a strong evaluation system to improving the nation’s teaching corps. “Because the national conversation has often focused primarily on evaluation as a means for removal of ineffective teachers, we too often lose sight of the way the vast majority of teachers will experience the evaluation system: as a means for feedback and professional development, and an opportunity to learn from the very best teachers.”

“CCSSO applauds Commissioner Huffman’s leadership in support of teachers and students in Tennessee,” Gene Wilhoit CCSSO Executive Director said.  “States across the country are taking the lead in this critical policy area and advancing effective systems to support and evaluate educators. As Congress considers the role of the federal government, states ask that leaders not impose prescriptive requirements on these new evaluation systems.”

CCSSO is working with 30 states in a consortium to address priority actions that will help increase the effectiveness of teaching and leading to improve student achievement and eliminate disparities. The State Consortium on Educator Effectiveness focuses on the following priorities: standards for learning, teaching, and leading; teacher and leader professional growth and support; and, evaluating teaching and leading.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2011TN Chief Outlines Statewide Teacher Evaluation System Before House CommitteeContact:Kate Dandokated@ccsso.org202-336-7034

 Washington, DC July 27, 2011- Kevin Huffman, Tennessee Commissioner of Education testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce about the role that teachers and teacher evaluation can play in the effort to build a better education system.

 Huffman’s testimony highlighted Tennessee’s plan to implement a statewide teacher evaluation system in this coming school year. The Tennessee system includes both qualitative and quantitative measures with a significant focus on improving student achievement but also factors in other performance measures and classroom observations. The scoring rubrics were field tested across the state last year with positive feedback amongst teacher and principals. Huffman outlined Tennessee’s commitment to implement the system this year and to improve the system in the future.

“In Tennessee, we think evaluation should be used for several key things. First, support teachers by providing helpful feedback in real time so that they can continue to improve their craft. Second, identify the top performers in the field so that we can study and learn from them, recognize them for their work, and extend their impact by building meaningful career pathways that allow them to touch ever-more kids. Third, identify teachers in need of improvement so that we can tailor professional development to their needs and, in the case of a small percentage who cannot reach a bar of effectiveness, exit them from the profession,” Huffman said in his testimony. 

Huffman noted the critical importance of a strong evaluation system to improving the nation’s teaching corps. “Because the national conversation has often focused primarily on evaluation as a means for removal of ineffective teachers, we too often lose sight of the way the vast majority of teachers will experience the evaluation system: as a means for feedback and professional development, and an opportunity to learn from the very best teachers.”

“CCSSO applauds Commissioner Huffman’s leadership in support of teachers and students in Tennessee,” Gene Wilhoit CCSSO Executive Director said.  “States across the country are taking the lead in this critical policy area and advancing effective systems to support and evaluate educators. As Congress considers the role of the federal government, states ask that leaders not impose prescriptive requirements on these new evaluation systems.”

CCSSO is working with 30 states in a consortium to address priority actions that will help increase the effectiveness of teaching and leading to improve student achievement and eliminate disparities. The State Consortium on Educator Effectiveness focuses on the following priorities: standards for learning, teaching, and leading; teacher and leader professional growth and support; and, evaluating teaching and leading.

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Monday, August 08, 2011CCSSO Issues Statement on Administration’s Waiver AnnouncementContact:Kate Dandokated@ccsso.org202-336-7034

Washington, DC August 8, 2011- CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit issued the following statement today in response to Secretary Arne Duncan’s announcement that the U.S. Department of Education will consider state waiver proposals under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

 ”Current law is outdated, has lost public creditability, and is impeding state efforts to transition to college and career ready standards and assessments. States favor a comprehensive reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by Congress but will continue advancing education reform regardless of federal action.

 ”In the absence of immediate ESEA reauthorization states are prepared to propose waivers of current law to Secretary Duncan. These proposals will be based on state-developed Next-Generation Accountability Principles. Further, states call on the Administration to avoid being overly prescriptive in its waiver package.

 ”We look forward to seeing the specific details of the waiver package in September but will proceed with developing innovative new accountability models,” said Wilhoit.

CCSSO announced in June that 44 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to work together to improve student achievement through the development and implementation of improved state accountability systems.

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Reciprocal Learning and Teaching

In the Reciprocal Learning Strategy, the emphasis is on collaborative rather than independent learning. Students are taught to help one another. In this strategy, students work together as peer partners, each functioning in turn as the “doer” and the “guide” in completing the task. Peer feedback doesn’t mean students “grade” each other or score papers. Instead the goal is for students to clarify for each other what is correct or incorrect.

The Reciprocal Teaching Strategy is a dialogue between teachers and students.

Reciprocal Teaching is an instructional activity that takes place as a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of the text. In this activity, the teacher and the students take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading the dialogue. This technique can be used in all subject areas for content reading and was originally designed to teach poor readers to use reading strategies employed by good readers to enhance reading comprehension. Students interact with the text to construct meaning. Readers utilize prior knowledge and experiences, information presented in the text, and their stance taken in relation to the text to derive their interpretations. Reciprocal Teaching helps poor readers develop these skills through the use of predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing.

Some education researchers believe providing feedback is the most powerful thing that a classroom teachers can do to enhance student achievement. Peer feedback is underused, yet is highly effective and flexible.

http://www.curriculumfutures.org/instruction/a03-05.html

Reciprocal Teaching

Palincsar (1986) describes the concept of reciprocal teaching as an instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. The dialogue is structured by the use of four strategies:

summarizing question generating clarifying predicting

The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading this dialogue.

Research Base: For the past five years, Palincsar and Brown (1985) have conducted a series of studies to determine the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching. The effectiveness was evaluated by having the students read passages about 450 to 500 words in length and answer 10 comprehension questions from recall. The students completed five of these passages before reciprocal teaching instruction began and one during each day of instruction. Performance on these assessment passages indicated that all but one of the experimental students achieved criterion performance, which we identified as 70 percent accuracy for four out of five consecutive days. These results were in contrast to the group of control students, none of whom achieved criterion performance. Furthermore, teachers observed fewer behavior problems in their reciprocal teaching groups than in their control groups.” (pp. 19-20)

www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm

Developing Projects

This site from Intel: Innovation in Education describes how a unit on trade can be developed into a class project.

The Curriculum Framing Questions suggest some important connections between this online unit and the activities suggested in this module:

Essential Question: What distinguishes one community from another?

Unit Questions:How is trade important to our community? How does physical geography affect the economics of our region? Content Questions: What products do we import and export, and where do they from and go? What modes of transportation are used for trading? Part Two of this unit seems to be particularly relevant to this module:

Trade and Economics: Where did it come from? Where did it go? There is also a simulation activity in which students practice trading.

Cause and Effect

Given a set of data or other information, student must be able to establish a convincing relationship in writing of the cause and effect. For example: When writing your essay, keep the following suggestions in mind: Remember your purpose. Decide if you are writing to inform or persuade. Focus on immediate and direct causes (or effects.) Limit yourself to causes that are close in time and related, as opposed to remote and indirect causes, which occur later and are related indirectly. Strengthen your essay by using supporting evidence. Define terms, offer facts and statistics, or provide examples, anecdotes, or personal observations that support your ideas. Qualify or limit your statements about cause and effect. Unless there is clear evidence that one event is related to another, qualify your statements with phrases such as “It appears that the cause was” or “It seems likely” or “The evidence may indicate” or “Available evidence suggests.” To evaluate the effectiveness of a cause and effect essay, ask the following questions: What are the causes? What are the effects? Which should be emphasized? Are there single or multiple causes? Single or multiple effects? Is a chain reaction involved?

This site, www.delmar.edu/engl/wrtctr/handouts, reminds us that simply seeing cause and effect is not sufficient and suggests the following steps when writing a cause and effect essay: Clearly distinguish between cause and effect Develop your thesis statement Find and organize supporting details Use appropriate transitions

Cause and Effect Paragraphs

In a cause and effect paragraph, causes explain the effect of what is described in the topic sentence. In other words, effects are the main ideas of the paragraph and causes are the supporting details. The chart below shows this relationship. The chart is a graphic explaining a paragraph about the growth of cities.

EFFECT(Topic Sentence)CAUSES(Supporting Sentences)Cities have grown very large. [There are several reasons for this.] Factory jobs attracted people.(Cities have grown very large.) Better schools attracted families to move to the city.(Cities have grown very large.) Places of leisure, entertainment, and culture made city life appear more interesting.

For more examples of how to write cause and affect paragraphs, you will find the following website to be very useful: lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/cause.html

KWLH Technique

Students learn more efficiently when they know the goals of a module and/or lesson. If students are aware of an intended outcome they know what to focus on. Critical thinking and production are enhanced when students have clear goals or targets as reference for their efforts.

In order to engage in problem-solving or analyzing issues that will assist them in accomplishing their goals, students need to gather new information and link it to what they already know. This process is referred to as “constructing meaning.” Finding out what prior information students have about a topic/subject helps them bring meaning to any new information acquired. One strategy they can use to help them construct meaning is a strategy called the KWLH technique.

K – Stands for helping students recall what they KNOW about the subject. W – Stands for helping students determine what they WANT to learn. L – Stands for helping students identify what they LEARN as they read. H – Stands for HOW we can learn more (other sources where additional information on the topic can be found).

The KWLH Technique is just one of many graphic organizers that help students organize their thinking for decision-making and problem solving. This site will provide you with information on a number of other strategies: http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers

KWLH Strategy

The KWLH teaching technique is a good method to help students activate prior knowledge. It is a group instruction activity developed by Donna Ogle (1986) that serves as a model for active thinking during reading.

K – Stands for helping students recall what they KNOW about the subject.

W – Stands for helping students determine what they WANT to learn.

L – Stands for helping students identify what they LEARN as they read.

H – Stands for HOW we can learn more (other sources where additional information on the topic can be found).

Source: http://www.ncrel.org

Using the KWLH Strategy

The KWL strategy developed by Donna Ogle, is a good method to activate prior knowledge and to help students organize information for learning. However, many teachers use the KWLH version, which puts a special emphasis on how we can learn more from other sources of information. Reminder: K – what we know W – what we want to learn L – what we learn H – how we can learn more from other resources This site provides additional information on the procedural steps for using the KWLH strategy

http://www.msu.edu/course/cep/886/Reading%20Comprehension/7Learn_Serv_Proj_KWL.html

Jurisprudential Approach to Teaching Social Studies

According to several studies, students taught using a jurisprudential approach will develop a greater interest in contemporary issues and increased skill in analyzing these issues.

This approach, according to Shaver1, may be used to involve students in an in-depth analysis of public policy issues. The approach is based on the following assumptions: <ulControversy over public issues is inevitable because different people have different views of the world as a result of their different backgrounds (ethnic, religious, socio-economic, family, etc.). Important social values (values or principles for judging worth) that people hold may conflict with each other in specific cases. (For example, in a zoning issue a person's freedom to use land he owns as he pleases may conflict with the general welfare in one or more ways.) There is an analytic perspective that is useful in analyzing issues and in making decisions with regard to them. The perspective includes these elements: Consciousness of differing points of view or frames of reference. Knowledge of how to use language with some precision. (This involves being aware of the meanings of words, of how some words have emotional attachments, of how the same words may have different meanings for different people, and of how to resolve disputes over the meanings of words.) Knowledge of how to determine and validate factual claims. Knowledge of identify, define, and weigh values relevant to the issue. Knowledge of how to make a reasoned decision, taking into account language problems, factual uncertainties, and value discordances. ¹Shaver, J.P., Social studies. In Cawelti, G. (ed.) (1995). Handbook of research on improving student achievement. Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service, 147-48.