Presentation to the California Educational Research Association December 2, 2011

CORE California Office to Reform Education

CaliforniaEducationPartners

Presentation to the

California Educational Research Association

December 2, 2011


California Education Partners

CORE’s Essential Questions

• How can we accelerate school district reform so more students are on a meaningful trajectory to college and career?

• What new approaches will lead to individual and collective sense of efficacy for our teachers, a real culture of continuous improvement for our districts, and deeper and more meaningful instruction and learning in our classrooms?



Out of Race to the Top Round Two…

• CORE was born• A partnership of

• Clovis• Fresno• Long Beach• Los Angeles• Sacramento• Sanger• San Francisco Unified School Districts

• 15% of the State’s student population• 23% of the State’s English Language Learners



CORE Demographics

One in six California students attends school in a CORE district.



3rd Grade ELA Scores All Students



3rd Grade ELA ScoresEnglish Learners



8th Grade Algebra IAll Students



8th Grade Algebra IEnglish Learners



The Need for CORE

• Despite pockets of improvement, urgent need for improved student achievement

• State-level quagmire• Districts struggling in isolation• Need for combined expertise and

leveraged resources• Need for peer-to-peer learning

opportunities to reap benefits of professional collaboration at scale



CORE’s Role

CORE provides the framework and support for purposeful collaboration between districts to identify, implement, and scale effective strategies so that students are prepared for college, career, and successful futures.



CORE’s Theory of Change



The Innovation

Through its programs, CORE is developing meaningful, new knowledge, practice, and tools for the field, which, if successful, can eventually be scaled throughout the state and beyond.



Current Focal Programs

I. Standards, Assessment & Instruction: Common Core Standards at scale

II. Talent Management: Teacher and leader evaluation systems

III. Additional opportunities: Collaboration, College and Career Readiness Framework, budget analysis, secondary reform strategies



2011-2013 Program Goals



Research Agenda/Questions for the Field

• What does an effective inter-district partnership look like?

• What social and structural elements are needed to promote effective partnerships?

• How do districts learn from each other?• How do cross-district partnerships support

innovation?• Which innovations work, how, and under what

conditions?• What policies will build effective district-to-district

partnerships that improve student achievement?



CORE Standards, Assessment and Instruction

The purpose of the SAI initiative is to help increase college and career readiness by:•Supporting the effective district implementation of the Common Core Standards

•Building teacher capacity to engage in formative assessment, analysis and instructional improvement •Developing and piloting Common Core-aligned assessments, instructional tools and resources



SAI Leadership Team Established

Senior instructional leaders from each CORE District (32 total: 3-8 per district)Leverages wide array of expertiseRepresents a unique, job-alike professional networkInformed by nationally renowned Common Core expertsMeets monthly, with interim conference calls as needed



SAI Leadership Team: Key Program Objectives



SAI Objective 3: Collaborative Action

Cross-District Design Team will be established in 2012 and charged with identifying and/or developing innovative, Common Core-aligneda)formative assessments b)instructional tools and resourcesc)analytic PLC processes

School-based pilot teams will field test these tools and resources and provide Design Team feedbackBased on that feedback, design teams will refine tools and resources and upload them onto online digital platform for widespread distribution



Impact on Curriculum

• Less lock-step reliance on textbooks Text-books be helpful guides, but they can’t tell a

teacher how to react to a spontaneous classroom situation or learning need

• Open Educational Resources (OER) There are not likely to be Common Core textbooks

per se—schools will need to identify, refine and/or develop highly effective teaching resources



Impact on Assessment

• Increased use of Formative Assessment The Common Core requires teachers to continually

collect and analyze performance data to determine a) Where students are along a “learning progression”

b) What it will take to help get them to the next level

Supporting inquiry-based formative assessment and analysis should be the primary purpose of grade-level professional Communities of Practice (aka PLCs)

It will require significant assessment tool and resource development and PLC capacity building



Impact on Instruction

• Deeper Learning By narrowing the scope, the Common Core enables teachers

to engage students in a deeper exploration of key concepts This allows opportunities for the sorts “project-based

learning” that students tend to find more meaningful

The Common Core emphasizes higher order thinking, skill application and problem solving

In Math this includes not only getting the right answer, but understanding why an answer is correct (or incorrect)

In ELA this includes a greater emphasis on informational reading and expository writing



CORE Talent Management

The purpose of the TM initiative is to help increase college and career readiness by working collaboratively to improve:1.Pipeline 2.Recruitment and selection 3.Early career mentoring and tenure 4.Professional learning and evaluation 5.Distributed leadership and succession planning 6.Issues around placement, compensation and retention



Talent Management 2011-2012 Goals

Shared understating/information around robust assessments of principals and teachers 1.Develop multiple measures for assessment resource bank2.Implement data management systems for teacher and principal assessment 3.Communicate effectively with stakeholders about teacher and principal assessment 4.Establish and advocate a policy framework



Multiple Measures for Assessment Resource Bank

Identify goals for the evaluation system and a related theory of action

• Identify and develop the measures that could be included (the information to be collected) for both the development and evaluation of educators, such as:

• Value-added (i.e., academic growth over time) metrics to incorporate student growth• Standards-based assessment protocols

• Determine how much weight might be assigned to each measure• Determine a process for equity across grades/subjects• Determine how and when the educator assessment information could be collected and presented

• Develop a plan for managing the change process, including attention to:• Infrastructure for policies and procedures (what needs to change and who has the authority to

do so?)• Infrastructure for data management (what needs to change to provide the information

desired?) • Infrastructure for time and job responsibilities (including observer training to support meaningful implementation of observation protocols) (what are the biggest challenges and who has the authority to address them?)

• Determine responsibility for educator growth and development



Policy and Lessons Learned

• Federal Opportunities• Waiver

• State Opportunities• 2012 Election/Ballot

• Partnership



CORE’s College and Career Framework



Questions?

Rick MillerExecutive DirectorCalifornia Office to Reform Education (CORE)1130 K Street, Suite 250Sacramento, CA 95814(916) [email protected]

Documents

Presentation to the California Educational Research Association December 2, 2011