PSUG National Information ExchangeUsers Helping Users

Implementing Standards

Bob CornacchioliDERO Technical Services

CEOwww.derotechnical.com

GET2BOBC@GMAIL.COMbcornacchioli@gmail.com

Agenda/Participants will be engaged in:

• Understanding Common Language• Constraints and “Givens” in PowerSchool• Best Practices- Standards are Coming!• Importing Standards using Excel• Conversion Scales• Looking at PowerTeacher Gradebook• Report Card options

www.derotechnical.com

for more resources

CEO - DERO Technical Services

Evangelist/Process Lead- Level Data

Marketing/ - ParkBench SoftwareTrainer

Director of Technology and Media Services Shrewsbury Public Schools (16 yrs)PowerSchool Administrator (6 yrs)

Bob Cornacchioli

• Traditional or Standards Grades?–Teachers have graded–Teachers will be grading

–Start Date- THIS FALL 2014–Hybrid Anyone?

• Common Core?

What is this Standard Based Movement

• Do you know?• Do your teachers know?• Do your parents know?• Does your district have Parent FAQ?• What kinds of PD has your district conducted?• How is mastery defined in your district?• What is the expectations for At-Risk population• Have you discussed Special Education students

CURRICULUM/ADMIN & TECHNICAL

Collaborate and learn the constraints

DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND

Illinois Standards Task Force - 5 Steps to SuccessKathy Dinger, Former Director of Curriculum and Instruction,

Libertyville D70, Libertyville, Illinois

http://www.derotechnical.com/STANDARDS/DingerKeystoSuccess.pdf

Change requires continual checking of your stakeholders temperature!

Parents Teachers Tech Team

Read anything by Ken O’Connor aka The Grade Doctor

Far more important than the keystroke of a grade is how the district has trained teachers in the proper techniques in determining that grade. What Ken and others are saying about student achievement is mission critical. PowerTeacher has been designed with these principles.

Learning Conversations: The Culture of Grading

Same Curriculum

Across all classrooms

Same Grading Practic

es

Across all classrooms??

Average Temperature in Myrtle Beach in the Summer?

100 100 100 100 100 Sun Mon Tues Weds Thurs

100 100 100 100 Sun Mon Tues Weds Thurs

Rick Wormeli – check out YouTube

• With teachers at your Grade Level• With teachers at your School• With teachers in the District• What does it mean for next placement?

Your Conversion Scale has been set… now what does a 4 or a C really mean?

Unwrapping the Standards

“unwrapping” – the analysis of a standard and the indicators to determine exactly what the students need to:Know (concepts) Be able to do (skills)

Develops a deeper understandingAssists in planning instruction and assessment

If using a 4,3,2,1 scale, “3” = MEETS/PROFICIENT• Has your district provided time to UNWRAP selected

standards?• District must provide time for teachers to decide what it

looks like to MEETS a given standard!• Discuss Special Education students – as no parent or

students want a report card with all “1’s”.• Do “Gifted” students use the same scale? • Have teachers decide on evidence for all other scores.

Clarity on Evidence

Other Conversion Scales

Homebound Assessment

• Avoid Confusion- Adjust Rubrics and assessments

Sending Home Letter Grades and Percentages will confuse Parents

and Students

S T A N D A R D SCHED

LE

C O U R S E S

S C L E S

IDENTIFIER

G R A E B O O K UNW

AP

STANDARDS NAMING SCHEMA

65*-75 Character Limit

Consider a user friendly schema for standard identifiers

Removing a,b,c will save time- import template and report cards

# of Reporting Periods dictates the # of characters

75

65

70

Curriculum vs. Technical Labor Cost

STANDARDS • Create the standards collaboratively- Excel• Teacher Involvement = Ownership• Provide ample time for unwarping standards• Less is more- 65*-75 character limit• Number of Standards

– Report Card vs. Curriculum Guide– Core Content vs. Specials– Essential Skills, Effort or Habits of Mind

• Assessment Per Term• Changes and Real Estate – Text vs. #• Conversion Scales- Drop Downs for Teachers

STANDARDS TIMELINE (considerations)• District initiative or single school pilot???

– Pilots can pose some issues– Invite participation from non pilot schools

• 6+ Months in advance- identify standards• Decide your scale ( avoid traditional grading- A )

• Do all teachers have rosters in PS?• Create - Import File of Grade Level Standards• Set Expectations for Comment Writing• Discuss Assignments vs Standards Assessment• Communicate with all stakeholders

May 3,2013 – Standards Finalized-uploaded to Google DocsMay 8,2013 – Onsite development of preK-5 SBRCMay 30, 2013 Onsite training of Vanguard TeachersSept 14, 2013 – Modifications to SBRC and WIDA

Should Common Core Standards Impact Scheduling?

How many courses are you planning to use for English Language Arts?Reading – Writing – Speaking & Listening - Language

Standards associated to Courses

Check Enrollment: Schools - Sections

Do you see courses in the left navigational areas?

Check ELA – do you have separate classes for READING, WRITING, SPEAKING & LISTIENING?

Homeroom has enrollment and this school has 5 sections 1st Grade

If the course exists but there isn’t any enrollment - you have to address scheduling before teachers can grade students!

All standards associated to HR is not recommended

Mass enroll students into each core content area & specials using dependent sections

Create an Excel Import File

ELA.3.07< What do you think .07 represents?

Create an Excel Import File95003 < The course this standards are associated to?If you have multiple schools- do they do they have the same course #’s?

NEW Best PracticeState Reporting – Associate different content standards to courses

Create an Excel Import FileAllowassignments < False- Will not be seen in the Gradebook- TRUE visible** IncludeComment < MOST are FALSE, only the comment standard is TRUEConversionscale < Internal PS #’s – represents pull down options**

** if blank – can’t grade!

**

Conversion Scales

Habits of Mind/Effort

Proficiency LevelsGrades 1-8 / MCAS

Proficiency LevelsFor K

Conversion Scale #?

• Gen Table (6)

• Search for “scale”

Or install Jason Springel’s customization

STANDARDS by TERM

Standards Associated to Courses

Elementary teachers teach all core subjects So why not tie them all to HR?

Are you going to have specialists grade? Art – Music – PE – Library – World Languages

Only those teachers who are scheduled in PowerSchool can access their students.

Final Grade Entry For Teachers

In Gradebook, If all standards were tied to HR, they would run from here

to the Atlantic Ocean Remember – 95003??

Associating standards to specific courses can reduce or eliminate scroll RIGHT.. Just switch classes and reveal content specific standards

Access: PowerTeacher Gradebook• Will the Art, PE, Music, Media, Computer,

Band, Chorus… teacher be grading students?• If YES – they must have rosters in PS

Next Steps• Communication with:

– Teachers - expectations for comments– Parents – how to interpret 4,3,2,1/your scale(s)– Specialists going to grade? Schedule?

• Create Standards– # of standards per content area per term (C vs T)– Create the Conversion Scales ( GEN(6) table ID # ) – Create excel import file for PS– Altering Rubrics / Common Assessments

• Create Sample Report Cards before EOY

BEST PRACTICES: CULLING STANDARDS

1. Less is More! In the Gradebook & on the Report Card

2. Grade Level teachers review all available standards (CC,SS,&LS) and CHERRY PICK

3. Consider CC Sub-Category headers4. Discuss/Decide which will be on the report card and

which will only be in the gradebook5. Wordsmith any standard over 65/70/75 characters6. Choose standards that lend themselves to being easily

associated to an assignment- not all do!

Download Web Gradebook and Standards PPT

Grade Value of Conversions Scales

When teachers assess a standard more than once associated to multiple assignments, PTG averages these scores. Grade Value can’t be ZERO as seen earlier in this presentation. Round Up Scale – Cut off Scale = 50% of the Grade Level Delta

Grade Value of Conversions ScalesDepending upon which standard based educator your curriculum folks have read, the concept of AVERAGE isn’t part of the standards movement.

YET the Gradebook has to apply some sort equation in order to convert scores to these Grade Labels 4,3,2,1.

Feedback from districts to Pearson has resulted in a new version (2.6) of PowerTeacher with the installation of PS 7.5. Averaging of standards scores assigned to multiple assignments is now becoming clearer.

PowerTeacher Gradebook is still evolving!!!!

Controlling Web Gradebook

If defined as PT Admin** - School Usage – Site Specific!!

Calculations

Using PT Admin- your district will have to set policy on grading standards. The Gradebook will have to be set per school to look: •Default setting for final grades•Allow teacher modifications OR NOT•Calculations for Most Recent Scores

Essential Question – Will categories be assessed?

IF YES – The LIST PARENT of the SUB STANDARDS must be the Category

IDENTIFIER LIST PARENT

Training Teachers to Grade• Final Grade Entry** (RW will not work)

• Specialists vs. HR teachers • 5 mins. with a PPT presentation• Google PowerTeacher Gradebook- lots of

resources• Web Gradebook – A bit more time

( JING Movies/Atomic Learning/Mastery in Minutes/Google?)

• Comments- Comments- Comments

Version 7.03 Comment Length can be

set at the District-List Standards-for all your comment standards

“Straight quotes” with “Smart quotes”

If teachers use Word for pasting into the gradebook, special characters (like “quotation marks”, apostrophes’ and - dashes) can end up printing incorrectly on the final report card.

Word – Tools- Auto Correct- AutoFormat as you Type and REMOVE the √ from Straight quotes with smart Quotes

This only works if you change this setting BEFORE you typed them in- SORRY!

Have you thought about Report Cards?

• Parent Portal – access to grades – list form• NOT DYNAMIC – all must be custom made• Object Reports vs. Report Works (Dynamic- CC)• Summative• Multi-page requires duplex printers

• http://schools.shrewsbury-ma.gov/egov/docs/1251933966124.htm• http://www.derotechnical.com/REPORTCARDS/REPORTCARDS.html

PowerSource Community

New Option Available Now?

Standards Grades Search Tool Customizations Monday Session 4, Tuesday Session 7

Within seconds, all the students who were under performing in that grade and the selected term appear on the scree and can be exported!

Administrators want %... now they can!

Each standard in given grade level and term display as a row. Click on the row and you get….

?

Q & A

Bob CornacchioliDERO Technical Servicesbcornacchioli@gmail.comget2bobc@gmail.com www.derotechnical.com