Curriculum Focal Points Whats Happening in Ohio

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Curriculum Focal Points - Whats Happening in
Ohio OMELC Session Ohio Teachers of Mathematics
Conference October 19, 2007
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What are curriculum focal points?

• important mathematical topics for each grade
  level
• cohesive clusters of related ideas, concepts and
  skills that form the foundation for further
  learning
• more than a single objective, standard,
  expectation, or indicator
• not a discrete topic for teachers to present to
  students and check off as having been mastered

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Connections

• Recognize the need for introductory and
  continuing experiences related to the focal
  points identified at other grade levels.
• Identify ways in which focal points can support
  learning in relation to standards that are not
  focal points at the grade.
• Recognize the role these topics contribute to and
  are contexts for learning important mathematics.

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Mathematical Processes

• It is essential that these focal points be
  addressed in contexts that promote problem
  solving, reasoning, communication, making
  connections and designing and analyzing
  representations.

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What are the curriculum focal points?

• Is it mathematically important, both for further
  study in mathematics and for use in applications
  in and outside of school?
• Does it fit with what is known about learning
  mathematics?
• Does it connect logically with mathematics in
  earlier and later grade levels?

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Why identify focal points?

• Identify key mathematics ideas or topics that
  should be the focus of teaching and learning
• Inform discussion of curricular expectations
• Provide a focused framework to guide states and
  school districts as they design and organize the
  next revisions of their expectations, standards,
  curriculum, and assessment programs.

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What is the purpose of focal points?

• Address curriculum, or what is taught, rather
  than instruction, or how it is taught
• Provide students with a connected, coherent, ever
  expanding body of mathematical knowledge
• Bring focus to the teaching, learning, and
  assessing of mathematics

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Is it as simple as less is more?

• The issue is not teaching more or less, its
  teaching better.
• The issue is emphasis, organization, and
  learning.
• A strong, well-defined core set of concepts and
  skills supporting learning across grades
• Developing deep understanding of important content

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Who should use Curriculum Focal Points?

• State and district leaders as they take the next
  steps in the development of future curriculum,
  instruction, and assessment materials
• Publishers as they reconsider the scope,
  sequence, and organization of textbooks and
  assessment tools

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Who should use Curriculum Focal Points?

• Teacher educators as they organize content and
  methods courses and help teachers and prospective
  teachers develop their knowledge of critical
  mathematics understandings across the grades
• Classroom teachers and instructional leaders as
  they prioritize existing lists of curriculum
  objectives, expectations, and textbook materials

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Relationship to Principles and Standards for
School Mathematics

• next step in implementing Principles and
  Standards for School Mathematics.
• an extension of Principles and Standards
• Principles and Standards describes the
  development of mathematics content across the
  grades
• Curriculum Focal Points identifies areas of
  emphasis within the mathematics curriculum at
  each grade level, prekindergarten through grade
  8.

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What this means for Ohio
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What has Ohio done?

• identified key concepts, ideas and skills when
  developing the academic content standards
• created lists of power indicators
• OMELC initiated discussion within the mathematics
  education community

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Lessons Learned

• historical contexts are often lost
• assumptions about how users would view and use
  benchmarks and indicators did not hold
• single document often does not communicate well
  to various audiences and purposes
• curricular guidance vs.. test specifications

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What is Ohio doing?

• Comparing locally-developed power standards
  with focal points
• Informing curriculum revision
• Reorganizing instruction to meet the needs of
  students in multi-level classroom
• Preparing mathematics teachers - mapping focal
  points to indicators, mapping indicators to big
  ideas.
• OMELC initiated discussion within the mathematics
  education community

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What should Ohio be doing?

• Incorporate into professional conversation and
  work
• Embrace the overarching goal rather simply
  adopting the focal points
• Looking at curriculum, instruction and assessment
  through a different lens

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What Ohio needs to do?

• Accept role and limitations of the accountability
  system(s)
• Address the checklist mentality
• Recognize the roles and needs of parents,
  administrators and other stakeholders
• Be proactive!

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Challenges and Next Steps

• Developing awareness and understanding
• Avoiding unproductive arguments
• standards vs.. focal points
• Engaging in thoughtful conversation, planning and
  implementation
• Stepping up, working together, taking risks and
  setting realistic short- and long-term goals and
  strategies

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Curriculum Focal Points and Teachers

• Think deeply about the question, What are the
  most important topics?
• Organize critical mathematics topics within
  lessons/units, a year-long plan, and from grade
  to grade
• Incorporate into classroom assessment
• Make decisions about the use instructional
  resources

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Curriculum Focal Points and Supervisors

• Think deeply about What evidence do we have
  about how well we are addressing the most
  important topics?
• Reflect in district curriculum guides, pacing
  guides and assessments.
• Organize professional development plan around
  important topics to support both teacher and
  student needs.
• Incorporate into decisions about program
  improvement strategies and instructional
  resources.

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• Teachers should not set aside good instruction to
  prepare for state tests
• Good instruction is the best preparation.

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Influence our work
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Build collaborations
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Stack the deck
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Create an acceptable balance
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Seize opportunities
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Leaders

• Recognize the opportunities
• Engage in deep, thoughtful conversation
• Roll with the punches
• Push the envelope
• Know when to hold em and when to fold em

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Catalyst

• A substance that rapidly increases a chemical
  change without being consumed in the process

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Go forth and do good!