Using the Region 10 Informed Instruction Vertical Alignment Tool

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Using the Region 10 Informed Instruction
Vertical Alignment Tool

• Aligning Curriculum, Instruction Assessment for
  Success by All Students

Dana Kelley Division of Instruction dana.kelley_at_re
gion10.org
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INFORMED INSTRUCTION VERTICAL ALIGNMENT TOOL

• A new Region 10 product for assisting districts
  and campuses in curriculum and instructional
  alignment

http//www.ednet10.net/InformedInstruction/index.h
tm
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What is alignment?

• Write your own definition.

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Why Alignment?

• A clear target understood by both the student
  and teacher, assessed in a clearly understood
  manner has the best opportunity of being achieved.

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Why Alignment?

• When an unclear target such as a topic or
  general competency is practiced in a manner that
  is not aligned with the high-stakes assessment,
  students often master objectives at lower levels
  of rigor or thinking and are highly frustrated
  when their achievement is under expectations.

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The Cost of Misalignment

• Poor student achievement
• Under prepared students
• Fewer students meet expectations
• At-risk populations are in jeopardy

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In your district, what is the source for what
teachers teach?
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For those who use the TEKS as the source, what
are the advantages and disadvantages?

• Advantages
• Aligned to TAKS
• Its the law
• Aligned to textbooks (somewhat)
• Some are very specific (know these dates write
  for various purposes including to inform,
  persuade, entertain

• Disadvantages
• Some Vague
• Some Ambiguous
• Written in terms some teachers may not understand
  
• Some leave content wide open for selection

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Horizontal Alignment

• The insurance that curricular objectives,
  instruction, and assessment (whether local or
  high-stakes) are matched across each grade level,
  throughout your district.

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Horizontal Alignment

• What do we teach?
• How do we teach it?
• When do we teach it?

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Using the Region 10 Informed Instruction
Curriculum Alignment Tool for Horizontal Alignment

• Teacher to teacher alignment within grades
• Alignment to high stakes assessments (TAKS,
  district assessments, etc)
• Building common vocabulary

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Process for Horizontal Alignment

• Are all teachers within a grade level aligned
  with district or state outcomes?
• Region 10 has
• examined released tests and information booklets
• clarified the TEKS with examples definitions
• written performance descriptors that inform
  the TEKS

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Horizontal Alignment

• Instruction

TYLER TRIANGLE
Curriculum Assessment
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Vertical Alignment

• The insurance that curriculum objectives are
  specific and build one upon another to insure
  that prerequisites are mastered, gaps are
  eliminated, and there is an increasing
  sophistication and rigor to teaching concepts,
  processes, and skills across the grades.
• Vertical alignment culminates in a common goal
  met for all students after successful completion
  of a program.

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Process for Vertical Alignment

• Align student expectations across grades
• Find and fill gaps
• Align assessments across grades
• Increase expectations with regard to rigor and
  sophistication year to year
• Clarify redundancies
• Build upon prerequisite skills
• Build a common vocabulary K -12

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Traditional Approach to Alignment

• Posting on chart paper
• Writing clarifications and
• performance descriptors or sample assessments
  from scratch
• Looking at grade before and grade after
• Aligning student expectations by number to other
  grade level expectations by number

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Alignment Using the Region 10 Informed
Instruction Alignment Tool

• Gaps found by sorting the database by
• Concepts
• Skills
• Processes
• Sample clarifications examples definitions
• Sample performance descriptors aligned with
  released TAKS Information Books
• Word lists for common vocabulary

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Clarifying the TEKSThe First Step in Horizontal
Alignment
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Examples
TEKS SE Delineation

• What is vague?

• What are essential examples?

• Could there be multiple
• interpretations?

What is the important vocabulary?
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Examples from TEKS INCLUDINGStatements
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Clarification of TEKS Student Expectations

• including indicates that the list of elements
  following this word must be taught however,
  other related elements may also be taught
• such as indicates that the elements following
  these words are examples and not an absolute list
  of what could be taught
• any skill or concept in brackets is not tested,
  but provides further clarification

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Social Studies Example

• 5.2(A) identify the contributions of significant
  individuals during the revolutionary period,
  including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington
• Add Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Henry, Madison,
  and Paine to align with the 8th grade TAKS
  testable TEKS (8.4B)?

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Examples from TEKS SUCH ASStatements
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Social Studies

• 8.23A Analyze the leadership qualities of elected
  and appointed leaders of the United States such
  as Abraham Lincoln, John Marshall, and George
  Washington and
• Add Thomas Jefferson, LBJ, FDR, others?

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Social Studies Example

• WG 12.(C) evaluate the geographic and economic
  impact of policies related to the use of
  resources such as regulations for water use or
  policies related to the development of scarce
  natural resources.

Others needed?
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TEKS WITH NO EXAMPLES
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Social Studies

• 3.4B compare how people in different communities
  adapt to or modify the physical environment
• Such as building houses, schools, roads and
  parks.
• Use communities of Galveston, Texas, and Las
  Vegas, Nevada.

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Vertical Alignment
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The Essence of Curriculum

• Concepts
• Content
• Processes
• Skills

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Questions for Vertical Alignment

• Where concepts appear in more than one grade,
  what is the common vocabulary?
• Where content appears in more than one grade, how
  are resources used differently?
• Where processes appear in more than one grade are
  a common set of process steps being used?
• Where skills appear in more than one grade, does
  the skill escalate in sophistication and rigor as
  you go up the grades?

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Determining Cause and Effect
Grade 6
Grade 5
Grade 4
Grade 3
Grade 2
Grade 1
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Processes to Achieve Vertical Alignment

• Teachers or curriculum leaders work alone or with
  a partner on their own grade levels.
• Modify clarifications and performance descriptors
  to align with TAKS, district expectations,
  resources, etc.
• Teachers then sort by concept, skills, process to
  inspect alignment and make modifications where
  needed.
• Once gaps are identified, they can be filled with
  local objectives or by further clarification

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Spiraling Content and Skills
Six Weeks
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What is the Current Status of Your Districts
Curriculum?

• What does your data suggest about your
  curriculum?
• Where are you in the process development,
  updating, monitoring?
• What are your goals?
• How do you plan to accomplish them?
• What is your timeline?
• How much time, money, support will you dedicate?

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Additional Information

• Presenter Dana Kelley 972-348-1148
• dana.kelley_at_region10.org
• www.ednet10.net/socialstudies
• Curriculum Assessment Kerry Gain
• 972-348-1480
• kerry.gain_at_region10.org
• Asst. Director Jan Moberley 972-348-1426
• jan.moberley_at_region10.org