Windham+Middle+School


 * Standards Based- Windham M.S.**

l Not implemented yet. Started with a few teachers interested in the topic, have been planning it for a few years l Teachers/community had issues with an A/B/C, etc. What is an A for one teacher might not be for another. Wanted more consistency. Needed everyone on the same page. l Homework was a major jump off point. Who counts it? Who doesn't? Why are we all different? l Started with LA and SS "targets and frameworks" when the state introduced common assessments l Have rubrics grade-wide. No #'s on rubrics. Use terms Exceeds, Meets, P-Meets, DNM. l Easier to implement in LA and SS because of the way the classes are set up. Harder in math and Sci because the curriculum was always changing. (Math was the worst) Do not set your standards based on books because books always change l Performance indicators, content standards, etc. that are being assessed on a test are noted on the test, and all tests are filed in students' portfolios. l Trending vs. averages. Which one is better to use? l There is still only one grade, but parents and kids know what has been achieved by looking at the portfolios. Have to understand the trend. What if a kid goes back and forth btwn exceeds and p-meets, etc. l What do you do if a student met standard early in the Q, but isn't at the end of the Q? l Important for teachers to be in the same place at the same time w/ curriculum. l Homework is not averaged into the grade. Homework is part of "factors that affect achievement" along with behavior. l 8th grade has planned this for 4 years before implementing. l Vocabulary and common language is very important for maintaining consistency. l 6th, 7th, and 8th have all been meeting regularly to plan. l Math is not taught by grade level, it's taught by class. There's a Geo class, Algebra class, etc. l They are on trimesters not quarters because reporting out take so much more time. There's no computer program to give a grade at the end of a quarter, you have to spend a lot of time with the report card. You basically write a paragraph for each standard/indicator for each kid. l "Continuum vs grade level" l No answer for "What happens if a kids never meets the standard?" l What does "exceeds" look like and mean? l Wish they brought parents/community in earlier to get everyone on board. l The change is gradual (3-4 years) It's essential that everyone is teaching and assessing the same thing. Go to standards based teaching first, then standards based grading. l Teachers do a pretty good job making sure they are teaching what they should be and when, but admin. also keeps an eye on everything and questions teachers if they are too far behind or not teaching what they should be. l Must have common planning time. They commit 90 minutes/week to plan all of this.
 * 8th grade**

l Retention- how do we move students on to next level? retention does not work. l Students who scores 40% or below on NWEA have a PLP (Personal Learning Plan) to help them meet standard. l Immersion- WMS forsakes SS and SCI for more help in LA and math, if necessary. If you can't read or do math, you won't be successful in those other areas. "Standards Based Teacher" for every building that works with the kids to get them up to par in math and LA. It has survived the budget every year. l Summer school (academy) Parents are asked to send kids to help close the gap. 50-60 kids do it. $90 for the summer and it's subsidized. l Trending is key piece of standards based teacher. Over time you demonstrate what you've learned. It's all about evidence. What can you prove you have learned? l The formative assessment which monitors progress is important. The summative common assessment is vital too. They have a couple common assessment for every trimester. You have to pick and chose which performance indicators are the most important and everyone is on board with it. l Teachers are turning in their target sheets. NWEA's are very important and they use them a lot. l Common assessments, NWEA's, Standards Based, RTI is all linked together for the common goal/mission- for kids to learn, for their to be consistency, etc. l 100% of staff development, staff meetings, have been devoted to SBG and how NWEA, RTI, etc all have a role in it. l Resistance/difficulty from more veteran teachers early on because it's such a change in philosophy. Newer teachers tend to jump on board more easily. l The report card should be the last thing you do. It's all about student learning. l Community involvement- could have done more early on. Hard to get parents/community involved early on. l Parents get a list of all indicators being assessed during that trimester. l Student led portfolio conferences. Students are required to come to conferences and lead the conference and basically defend their work. Portfolios are passed on to the next year. Portfolios are aligned to state standards. l Report out 6x/year. PR's are quick and easy. Report cards are extensive and take time. l Exceeding standard does not mean doing more, it means doing better. There are many fewer "exceeds" than there were A's. l Exemplars are very important. Kids need to know what an "exceeds the standards" paper looks like before starting. l "GO Time" "Getting Organized" at the end of the day. l Applied Arts teachers are a part of a team, they go to a classroom at the end of the day to help intervene with kids that need help.
 * Principal- Hal Shortsleeve**

l Important to strike the balance btwn having a consistent learning experience for all kids and letting teachers have independence and do what they are good at. l Content pace slowed down because it took so long to introduce all of the new terminology, etc. l Student weaknesses are greatly magnified because of the standards based approach. l Time to work with colleagues has been essential. 2 times a week is for curriculum time, 3 times a week is for team time. l Teachers pretty much do everything the same, pretty much down to the same lessons at times. l One common assessment for each trimester for each class. The rest of the time is set up for teachers to do more of their individual thing. l Standards based vs. standards referenced came up again. Kids who do not meet or exceed still move on in standards referenced. Immersion, Go Time, RTI are all supposed to help with kids not meeting standards. l Kids understand what formative and summative assessments are. Those terms are a part of the classroom every day. l Issue as to how many times a kid can redo and assignment over the course of the quarter. l "In the end is the child independently . . . " l The rubrics are very important. It really keys the kids in on what they have to do. l Have used portfolios and student based parent/teacher conferences for a long time- find it effective. Summative assessments go in the portfolio, three assessments stay in portfolio for the next year. It's important that the summative assessments and portfolios show the whole process, not just the end result. The reflection is a very important part of the process for the kids. l Time and paperwork are major issues for the teachers. Design and management are important. Time to collaborate and talk about these things is vital. l Teachers record a lot more data in the classroom than is being reported out on report cards. l Reporting out 3 grades per subject, not just one, which is a lot more work. l Standards based is different from school to school. Each is going to be different. l Teachers feel more that they know what standards they are teaching.
 * 7th Grade**

l Progress reports are hard because everything is boiled down to one grade which doesn't represent all that is/isn't being learned. l Applied arts is not Trimesters, they are different lengths, but are 5 days/week l Trending is not used by Applied Arts teachers l Don't currently use IC for data management, only as a place to post quarter grades and progress report grades.
 * Applied Arts Teachers**

l Started by talking about grading practices- effort, homework, etc. l School board questioned why there were so many kids getting Honors and High Honors, but fewer were meeting and exceeding standards on MEA's l Discovered that there wasn't consistency in grading, so the hope was that SBG would get everyone on the same page. l Can't roll out the SBG report card for years- have to do your homework as a district first. l The report card should not be the end all be all. It's a small piece of the puzzle. l Important to get your curriculum in order first and get all of your standards and indicators in order. l Curriculum is and continues to be the driving force and the biggest struggle because it is always changing. l Another struggle is the "exceeds" standard. It should always mean above and beyond, not more. l They (WMS) use language only and not numbers. They don't think that they are compatible, and they didn't wouldn't parents and kids to average numbers to determine achievement. l Explain "Trending" by using the parachute example. l Homework isn't counted in the grade, but completing it is still expected. l On the report card, some parents are looking at the M for meets or E for exceeds, they are more interested in the teacher comments, which are narratives. l How SBG affects teaching- backward design- what exactly is it that we want students to learn? l What exactly/how much do teachers have to record. WMS 6th grade believes in "less is more". l Teachers do much more observational assessing and give a lot more oral feedback. l Still use a lot of descriptive rubrics too. l All big projects/summative assessments are done in school because that is the only way to prove that the student has actually done the work. That evidence goes in the portfolio. l GPA issues are big for parents even as early as 6th grade) l Report card is and should be simple. Only the standards but not the performance indicators. l You are teaching and assessing all of the performance indicators, but only reporting on the big content standards. l There are trimester standards, but what about year-long standards? l 6th grade teachers think SBG is making a difference and teachers and students are both upping the ante and raising the bar. l Professional development is better from people in the building(s) rather than bringing in an "expert."
 * 6th Grade**

**Windham Middle School**

8 th Grade Team
 * Spent this year preparing and making frameworks and targets…
 * Started with a group of teachers interested in the topic and talked about grading
 * Tried to think about grading differently
 * Read and discussed books for year and a half
 * Discussed homework philosophy
 * How to measure homework
 * People giving consistent grades
 * School was concerned that students in my class weren't having the same experience in others
 * Standards referenced versus standards based
 * Survey found big discrepancy in grading
 * Frameworks for language arts and history
 * Started with common assessments
 * Getting exemplars…
 * Rubrics are grade wide
 * We don’t do 4,3,2,1 anymore… we use words (exceeds, meets, etc.)
 * Language arts and history… easier b/c history is sequential and LA is process
 * Harder for science and math… primarily b/c MLR is changing
 * Caution on math… don't base standards based on textbook
 * We report out by standard, not performance indicators
 * Use data or work to decide trending…
 * If a portfolio is set up by standards… they make personalized goals according to content standards…
 * Trending is evidenced in the portfolio… all they need is one grade… use the conferences to document the continuum.
 * If given multiple opportunities, the final assessment is really that they’ve met it
 * Homework.. What is the role of homework? Should not be averaged in, which is why we have factors that affect achievement…
 * Trying to meet vertically… but has been hard…
 * Switch to trimesters b/c of the amount of work… you’re also putting in comments about why a student did or didn’t meet standards… reporting out takes more time
 * Formative assessments drive my teaching... I don’t put them in the grade book
 * Make sure the common assessments that dictate meeting standards are high enough that they prove something
 * RTI model involves everyone…
 * We write a narrative for every student… we are responsible for 40-50 kids…
 * We struggled with what exceeds looks like…
 * Exceeds isn’t doing more… it’s doing it to another level
 * Our change was very gradual… we’ve all gotten on the same page with curriculum, we report out on standards, we teach the same standards, common vocabulary, establish framework early on…
 * Standards based teaching first
 * Good strategy to role out 6 then 7 then 8 then 9

7 th Grade Team
 * Started by creating frameworks… essential learnings
 * Committee of teachers… we wanted every 7 th grader to have the same experiences and same knowledge while respecting individual teachers…
 * Social studies is pretty text book based… took book tests…. And then labeled each question
 * Some assignments fall into multiple categories and this is the hardest part… this is where all the work came in….
 * Start the year teaching the students what the standards are…
 * Feedback to parents and kids was very specific… the skills they were lacking in was so obvious
 * When students aren’t meeting, we tie in with RTI (via go time)… we work on those skills with kids…
 * We have time 40 minutes per day on average as a team of teachers…
 * We design our assessments together…
 * Math is strait forward… we have a text book…
 * We talked about how we are standards referenced, not standards based… we will use RTI process next year for students not meeting standards
 * Immersion program and summer academy…
 * We had three parent forums about grading
 * We wrote narratives about what is what to meet in your subject area, what was it like to meet in reading, in writing, etc.
 * Parent said, “My daughter seems more motivated…”
 * We use the vernacular of formative and assessments so that kids can understand
 * By the end, is the child becoming independent... you’re partially meeting if you still need this much assistance…
 * Partially meets… you have failed some of the material…
 * Kids are keener and keener about what the rubric says…
 * The summatives are the proof for next year’s teacher…
 * Great benefit of students reflecting on their work…
 * Kids need the performance indicators… but for us, it can just say reading….
 * Report card has content standards…
 * We only report out on trimester standards…
 * We know what we’re aiming for now… we know what we want them to know at the end of the trimester… and the kids know too….
 * To meet the standard you have to prove it, so it’s a lot more rigorous
 * It’s really hard for the child who works really hard and continues to not meet standards

Applied Arts
 * We’re very fractured … we don’t communicate with the other teams…
 * Progress are reports are hard because your boiling down all info. into one grade.
 * My son got one question wrong and got a partially meets
 * Some are in trimesters, applied arts are by quarter…
 * If a student isn’t meeting standards, and its a quarter class, the teacher needs to contact parents…
 * Applied arts are not using trending…

6 th Grade Team
 * Where were we with consistency and grading practices… what factors in the recipe in grading
 * Then presenting data to staff…
 * Points off, late work, etc. Norm referencing …
 * An A in one class didn’t mean an A in another
 * We knew we had to do some professional development
 * This happened five or six years ago…
 * We made sure we didn’t get the report card up and rolling first…
 * The report card should be meaningful but it’s about all the pieces that come before…
 * Curriculum needed to be in place… people needed to understand the standards…
 * Curriculum still is the driving force… we continue to revise and reflect…. There are still some inconsistencies
 * To develop common assessments that will give us the consistencies
 * The ability for kids to exceed… how do we make it available to kids… it’s not about reading an additional book, it’s about understanding something at a deeper level
 * Explain to parents that not every assignment will be able to exceed…
 * We decided to use language only… we feel the systems are not comparable… we wanted to get parents out of that traditional line of thinking … with numbers is the tendency to average…
 * Instructional strategies… backward design… planning for formative checks along the way… determining how much is enough evidence to collect…
 * Feedback… orally in class… I’m doing far more formative assessments than ever.
 * Kids are do more reflecting / self assessment
 * To include this in a portfolio (and clear guidelines)
 * Traditionally, when parents questioned a grade, I could simply punch in the grades and take the average… Now its about a look at the evidence….
 * Year end standards versus quarter or trimester standards….