by Hope Gallamore, SPS Secondary Reading Support Specialist and Ann Wallenmeyer, SPS Coordinator, Strategic Instruction
As our world becomes more complex, the expectations for student learning have increased. The sheer quantity of standards our students must “know and be able to do” requires a thoughtful integration of standards across the curriculum. Teachers are called to move from teaching any objectives to intentionally selecting essential national, state and district standards.
The new Missouri teacher evaluation system captures this expectation for teachers in Standard #3: Curriculum Implementation. This standard includes three quality indicators: implementation of curriculum standards, lessons for diverse learners, and instructional goals and differentiated instructional strategies.
To assist classrooms with the implementation of these rigorous standards, teacher teams in SPS meet to select aligned resources and create curriculum guides. These guides, created “for teachers, by teachers,” include success criteria, formative and summative assessments, instructional strategies, and differentiated activities. Teacher teams are also working to identify prioritized standards along with proficiency rubrics to help focus instruction around the curriculum standards. The guides are housed in Canvas for easy access: https://springfieldpublicschools.instructure.com/courses/181130/pages/curriculum.
In SPS, “learning is personal” and teachers continue to work to integrate process skills seamlessly with content by creating real-world applications that engage students. Teachers are finding additional support for student enrichment and intervention with products such as ALEKS, i-Ready, READ 180, System 44, and supplemental materials found in the current SPS adopted resources. Teams provide additional support for the workshop model, guided reading, and writing across the content areas to help differentiate learning and engage students.
The Curriculum Team continues to listen to your input as they seek additional ways to support learning for ALL students.
For your reference, this is the description of Standard #3: Curriculum Implementation:
The teacher recognizes the importance of long-range planning and curriculum development. The teacher develops, implements, and evaluates curriculum based upon student, district and state standards data. [SB 291 Section 160.045.2 (1) Students actively participate and are successful in the learning process; (2) Various forms of assessment are used to monitor and manage student learning; (3) The teacher is prepared and knowledgeable of the content and effectively maintains students’ on-task behavior; (5) The teacher keeps current on instructional knowledge and seeks and explores teaching behaviors that will improve student performance.]
Quality Indicator 1: Implementation of curriculum standards
Quality Indicator 2: Lessons for diverse learners
Quality Indicator 3: Instructional goals and differentiated instructional strategies