Unpacking+the+Standards

UNPACKING THE STANDARDS (Notes taken by Nancy Alibrandi from a meeting with Steve Chamberlin, Michael Bessette, and Deidre Smith)

1. What does it mean to unpack the standards? Resources: Power Standards Slideshare (click on the following link or see Slideshow at the bottom of this page) []. Book [|Power Standards: Identifying the Standards that Matter the Most] by Larry Ainsworth, Douglas B. Reeves

2. What does it mean in the Hopkinton School District to unpack the standards? Recommendations:
 * The math committee began by using the approach described in the resources above using the New Hampshire State Standards: http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/curriculum/Math/documents/K-12MathematicsFramework_000.pdf
 * The intent was to go through them all and identify the most important ones; and then translate those standards in language everyone would understand, including students
 * After 3 hours they found they didn't get very far; the process was too laborious, and the committee would not have enough Summer Curriculum time to accomplish their task to create Power Standards for Math
 * They decided instead to look at the strands (or major areas) from K-12 such as Numbers and Operations; Geometry and Measurement; Functions and Algebra; Data, Statistics and Probability; Problem Solving, Reasoning and Proof; Communication Representation & Connections
 * Starting with Kindergarten they went through the strands discussing the major themes
 * The committee (and district) has staff with lots of experience; many have taught at multiple grade levels - they know intuitively what the important items are; they debated when topics should be introduced, reinforced, mastered; looked for redundancies and talked about at which grade level those topics were developmentally appropriate to be taught
 * A less experienced staff would need to review all the State Standards to complete the unpacking process. This is time consuming and therefore costly. In Hopkinton, it makes more sense to refer to the State Standards if needed - but to trust our expertise; honor the teacher experience and knowledge we have in this district; have open conversations; and to make use of the resources we have. [This does not mean ignore the standards...it means use the knowledge you already have about the standards to prioritize what is most important for your students to know]
 * What should a graduate know and be able to do by the time they leave Hopkinton? What should a student know and be able to do to be successful in the next grade? What are the make and breaks? What things are we not willing to negotiate? On what can we compromise? Then talk about the measures...How will we know they can do it?
 * **Fewer, Higher, Cleare****r** is the basis for the new National Core Standards - this should be our mantra when developing Power Standards/Competencies
 * Find and discuss redundancies/gaps - teach the right content at the developmentally appropriate age - it's more efficient
 * It was helpful when we defined a minimum expectation of time spent on reading and math; need to do this for other areas
 * **It is acknowledged that the unpacking process will be slightly different depending on the subject area involve****d**.

This is the experience of the Writing Committee: The Writing Committee came to common ground over time. It looked at our knowledge and skills in writing in Hopkinton and our beliefs about what is important. The committee members were to told to respect the opinions of others but also told to make sure they expressed their own. It took 5 months to hash out various thoughts, opinions, ideas, share findings from research. The committee came up with a list of Recommendations for Further Actions which formed the basis for decision-making and a "To Do List" (e.g. buying resources, changes on report card, etc.).

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