Instruction

Want to Improve Reading Comprehension? Keep Science and Social Studies in the Elementary Schools

October 1, 2019 by cliweb

It is a familiar scenario and solution. The pressure is felt to improve reading skills to score higher on standardized tests. Elementary teachers can’t extend the school day, so they borrow time from a content area which doesn’t have a state assessment or one not as often. Social studies and science take a backseat. Even though this move seems logical with the best intentions, the results are counterproductive. Since the 1990s, the amount of instructional time in science and social studies has decreased over 90 minutes per week. It is often the first place teachers look to “pull” students from if they need interventions. Unfortunately, by cutting these courses, the opportunities for developing content vocabulary and knowledge about real life is also reduced.

Why teach social studies and science? Social studies classes provide content knowledge, but most importantly, students learn the foundation for why it is necessary to contribute to society as a good citizen. Science activities are a way to capture the interest of students with fun, hands-on, and minds-on lessons. Learning activities related to science and social studies help students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills while connecting concepts to their world.

Support for the Key Shifts in English/Language Arts Standards Many states have revised their English/Language Arts Standards in recent years and have outlined key shifts from past standards. Continuing to schedule regular science and social studies classes allows opportunities to teach needed skills. The background knowledge gained from social studies and science provides the context to understand new and complex text for greater comprehension. Reading about science is no replacement for phenomenon or inquiry, but it can help build the knowledge base for “doing” science. Plus, citing textual evidence from informational text helps provide pieces necessary for accurate analysis of an investigation.

Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension English/Language Arts Standards require students to use domain-specific words in their writing and while speaking. Science and social studies classes provide opportunities for students to learn word meanings, read and hear them applied correctly in context, and use the words for communicating. Students receiving explicit instruction over the meanings of affixes and root words benefits the current class, but that knowledge is utilized by the students to become stronger readers in all classes. Vocabulary acquisition improves the comprehension of complex literary and informational text.

Student Engagement A significant, well-documented reason to keep regularly scheduled science and social studies classes, is that students love the activities these topics provide! The natural fit for collaboration and project-based learning allows students opportunities for implicit learning, developing good work habits, and applying what they learn to their lives. Learning while having fun is impactful in many ways!

Teachers are well aware of the importance of reading on grade level by the 3rd grade. If this doesn’t happen, opportunities to be successful in the future will be more of a challenge. Capturing every moment available for learning is critical. If you are interested in utilizing an integrated approach to teach more than one content area at the same time, download CLI’s FREE Civic Education Resource, Life, Liberty, Law. This resource is aligned to National Standards in Social Studies but also references ELA, Math, Science, Fine Arts, and Social/Emotional Learning Standards. Get yours at cliweb.org/resources-2.

Leaders Hungry for Details of Systemic Change

September 4, 2018 by cliweb

In July 2018, we were invited to present at the Southern Region Leadership Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi, hosted by the Mississippi School Board Association. The goal for our two sessions was to help district leaders from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas prioritize specific take-home steps for their districts to build and establish systemic leadership for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Reflecting upon the group and individual interactions both during and after the sessions, we believe that we achieved the level of interest for which we were striving! District leaders were excited about the specific implementation details for creating systemic leadership and questions for evaluating their current leadership processes for curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

While not a comprehensive list by any means, we present this list of questions to initiate and open a dialogue regarding district-wide academic processes among stakeholders within a district. These challenging questions could help an administrative team affirm or evaluate their current curriculum structures and processes. The questions are posed from a first-person perspective from within a district.

Do we have an academic structure in place to ensure that our curriculum processes are district-based rather than site-based?
Do we have a model or system of processes we follow, as a district, for alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment?
Does our current model or system of processes have a built-in reporting method so that documentation is readily available for accreditation visits or mandated reports (ESSA, AdvancED, etc.) without having to spend an extra amount of time and expense to prepare such evidence?
Have we, as a district studied change theory sufficiently to support first and second order changes within the district?
Do we need outside help to establish a systemic, shared-decision making culture for these issues?
Do we have a district-wide, board-approved policy for how curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student learning decisions are made to ensure stability when there are administrative staff changes?
Do we have a structured timeline (long-range plan) to indicate the cycle of curriculum development, resource adoption, and the writing of local assessments for every subject area?
Do we have a district-wide, representative body of stakeholders (various levels of administration, teachers, specialists, board members, community members) that meets regularly rather than leaving the responsibility to a single person to address such things as:
- Acceptable grading practices
- Assessment use (security and administration)
- Accountability requirements to assure implementation of the district curriculum
- Instructional alignment to the curriculum
- Definitions of mastery
- Use of data from assessments
What roles do the building principal or other administrators play as instructional leaders within the district?
Do we have consistency in what is taught and what is expected of students within the same grade level or course regardless of the teacher, building, or year?
How are new staff members prepared to follow the model/procedures before they begin teaching in our district?
How does the district ensure that the required use of the curriculum is put into practice with fidelity?
Do we have valid, local assessments to use as data for timely intervention for students who are struggling?

Although not exhaustive, these are some examples of questions that the Curriculum Leadership Institute Model for School Improvement provides support in answering. Click here for a rubric to determine where your district’s current strengths and weaknesses are in addressing these critical issues.

Photo Credit: Jamie Street

End-of-the-Year Checklists

May 4, 2015 by cliweb

Here it is! The end of the school year is looming large on the horizon ahead of us. The push is accelerating to make sure tasks and documents are complete before teachers leave for the summer, and that everything is arranged so that planning and organizing can occur for the next school year.

Because it is a time for celebrations and adjustments, the list of details seems overwhelming in the rush to close the year. For a district implementing the Curriculum Leadership Institute (CLI) Model for curriculum, instruction, and assessment, there are step-by-step checkpoints that should be reviewed annually to assure nothing is overlooked.

Governance – Curriculum Council (CCC) Checklist

	Tasks	Notes
	Curriculum documents slated for draft implementation are scheduled for completion, review, and interim approval.
	Curriculum documents validated and revised through implementation data are completed and scheduled for CCC and school board approval.
	An audit for effectiveness of working groups has been completed, evaluated, and priorities for improvement established.
	The end-of-year summary of activities report is prepared for communication to the school board, district as a whole and community.
	A schedule of work for next year has been completed and shared with participants.
	The district mission, mastery definition, curriculum policy and regulations, and grading decisions have been reviewed and possibly revised based on discussion and feedback.
	CCC and SAC memberships are updated for the next school year.

Curriculum – Subject Area Committees (SAC) Checklist

	Tasks	Notes
	Curriculum documents are completed for implementation next year.
	Validated curriculum documents are stored securely, shared with teachers, and given public access.
	Resources have been identified and requested.
	Professional development needs have been shared with CCC for planning.
	Schedule of work activities and tasks to be completed for next year have been shared with teachers.
	Validated curriculum documents are now considered to be final, so are recorded and carefully stored.

Instruction – Teacher and Building Principal Checklist

	Tasks	Notes
	Instructional planning evidence (from IPRs) is completed according to CCC guidelines and available within the district.
	Resource recommendations are complete.
	Professional development has been requested, if necessary.
	All feedback for curriculum validation has been provided to the SAC.
	Plan time for pacing guide review or completion has been established.

Assessment – District Office and Building Principal Checklist

	Tasks	Notes
	Common assessments are complete and ready for validation by teachers.
	Validated common assessments are stored securely and will be shared with teachers according to CCC guidelines.
	Validated common assessment scores have been collected, reviewed, and stored for use in discussions and decisions by instructional teams.
	All feedback for assessment validation has been provided to the appropriate SAC.

Not All Teaching Practices are Created Equal

February 2, 2015 by cliweb

Have you and your colleagues ever been told by an administrator that test scores need to be improved because current results aren’t good enough? Afterward, did you find yourself thinking there is nothing that can be done without support from parents, or that today’s kids just aren’t motivated enough? Or perhaps you told yourself that kids seem to have a sense of entitlement; that they believe they shouldn’t need to work so hard to get what they want.

These are common frustrations we hear from educators around the country, and those attitudes are in some ways valid. However, instead of finding reasons why student performance on assessments cannot be improved, we as teachers need to focus on what we can control.

In his book, Visible Learning for Teachers, John Hattie reported findings from a study conducted to determine which variables have the greatest effect on student learning. While the study found things teachers cannot change in a student’s learning behavior, there was evidence teachers can have a positive effect by focusing on student responses they are able to influence through good teaching techniques and demeanors. Below are three of Hattie’s suggestions:

Student Self-Reported Grades

Hattie found the most effective strategy teachers can include in their lessons is self-reporting grades. In that technique students identify how they expect to do on their work. He found that when students predict how they will do on an upcoming assessment or project, they will try to do better than their prediction. Further, when students actually perform better than they thought, their confidence is heightened. An extension of this approach is to have students evaluate the quality of their learning at the end of the day. Another valuable review and retention activity is to have students write questions about the content of a day’s lesson, to be saved and asked the following day.

Teacher Credibility

Some of Hattie’s findings are not directly related to teaching methods. He also found that a student’s perception of teacher credibility has a big effect on how much they learn. Interestingly, Hattie found that a teacher’s in-depth knowledge of subject content had little effect on student learning, which means deep subject expertise is not necessary to make a profound effect on student perceptions and academic growth. What does impress students and cause them to learn more completely are (1) the appearance of being highly organized, (2) articulate speaking skills, and (3) regularly moving around the room to answer questions or clear up confusion.

Classroom Discussion

A recurring idea throughout Visible Learning for Teachers is that educators overuse lecture as a teaching strategy. On average, teachers talk for approximately 70 to 80% of the time. This is not an effective strategy, especially for at-risk students. Providing brief nuggets of information followed by discussion prompts are more effective methods for getting ideas across. Breaking classes into small groups of three or four gives every student a chance to participate in the conversation. Then the larger class comes back together to share their groups’ thoughts and ideas.

Being an effective teacher is not a simple task because it takes time and thorough thought and reflection. It is easy to become defensive about our instructional practices, which is understandable because we genuinely work hard to meet student needs. Keep an open mind and try including one or more of these strategies in your instructional planning to get the biggest bang for your buck. You may begin to see improvement in those test scores your administrator keeps reminding you about.