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A visual approach to understanding and designing curriculum that engages and connects students to a compelling narrative of their learning journey.

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DOK - Depth of Knowledge and Approach to Assessment 

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DOK - Depth of Knowledge and Approach to Assessment 

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Sample: Grade 6- ELA/ Writing- St. Louis (Chalk) 

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Sample: Grade 6- ELA/ Writing- St. Louis (Chalk) 

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SAMPLE UNIT: GRADE 3: PLACE VALUE & NUMBER COMPARISONS 

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SAMPLE UNIT: GRADE 3: PLACE VALUE & NUMBER COMPARISONS 

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Copy of 1_Grade 3: Place Value & Number Comparisons

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Sample: English I:  I'm a Survivor-Stories of Strength 

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Sample: English I:  I'm a Survivor-Stories of Strength 

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 English I- I'm a Surviivor: Stories of Strength 

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In November 2008, John Hattie's ground-breaking book Visible Learning synthesised the results of more than fifteen years research involving millions of students and represented the biggest ever collection of evidence-based research into what actually works in schools to improve learning.

Visible Learning for Teachers takes the next step and brings those ground breaking concepts to a completely new audience. Written for students, pre-service and in-service teachers, it explains how to apply the principles of Visible Learning to any classroom anywhere in the world. The author offers concise and user-friendly summaries of the most successful interventions and offers practical step-by-step guidance to the successful implementation of visible learning and visible teaching in the classroom.

Visible Learning for Teachers is a must read for any student or teacher who wants an evidence based answer to the question; 'how do we maximise achievement in our schools?'

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Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning

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Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning: Hattie, John: 8601401019015: Books - Amazon

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Establishing Your School or District's Reason to Map (ASCD) 

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Establishing Your School or District's Reason to Map (ASCD) 

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Sample: Grade 3 - ELA - Pennsylvania ELA 

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Sample: Grade 3 - ELA - Pennsylvania ELA 

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Center for the Professional Education of Teachers

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By ROBERTA LENGER KANG

When the back to school sales are at their peak, students and parents are picking out the cutest notebooks and the coolest backpacks. Meanwhile, educators are feeling the pressure and anxiety that comes with the start of the school year - particularly as they think about their curriculum.

Different school communities and districts have different approaches to designing curriculum. Some purchase big box curriculum sets with prescribed lessons, while others have the opportunity to design their own, which can be exciting - and also a bit daunting.

Cultivating a course curriculum is one of the most important and most complicated tasks for educators. It requires deep content knowledge and an accurate anticipation of student ability throughout the school year. Teachers need to differentiate the most important content and the most important skills in the most effective sequence - all while knowing that the decision to teach one thing is also the decision not to teach a hundred other things. The pressure to plan it in just the right way can be overwhelming.

This process will always be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be painful! In our curriculum-focused coaching projects, we support educators as they examine, design, implement, and refine customized or adapted curricula. Each educator and classroom is unique, but curriculum planning often brings up common questions. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we hear from educators as we support them in the planning process.

What goes into a curriculum map?

A well-developed curriculum map should provide an overview of the course at-a-glance. Maps are most valuable when they include a clear picture of the course goals, how those goals intersect with the content knowledge, thinking skills, relevant standards, and a plan for assessments. Here's a good checklist for a curriculum map:
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Sequence of units aligned chronologically (Unit 1, 2, 3 . . . Marking period 1, 2, 3 . . . Quarter 1, 2, 3)

Course goals (Teaching objectives, essential questions, enduring understandings)

Content knowledge (Key concepts, topics, themes, or vocabulary)

Thinking skills (Critical thinking skills, or academic skills)

Relevant standards (Reference to 2 -3 relevant standards to the unit)

Assessments (Brief description of the formative and summative assessments for each unit)

What's the difference between a curriculum map and a unit plan?

A curriculum map provides an overview or summary of the course, while a unit plan provides the details needed to develop each individual lesson. A unit plan may include specific resources to use in a particular unit, a pacing calendar that outlines the learning goals for each week or each day, lists of vocabulary words, and a plan for differentiating instruction for different learners. Unit plans tend to be longer and include more explicit plans that illustrate the arc of the unit and provide the necessary details to develop daily lesson plans.

There is a critical distinction between the curriculum map as an overview and the unit plan as the detailed guide to support lesson planning. Curriculum maps that include unit plan-level details often become massive documents that are difficult to read. They can become a dumping ground for edu-speak-jargon that doesn't really mean anything. As educators, we want to remember that these documents are tools to support and facilitate our planning process. If they don't do that, they aren't ultimately very valuable.

How much detail should be included?

When it comes to the curriculum map, we want to include information clearly and succinctly, which means we can eliminate jargon or unnecessary details. For example, it's valuable to list relevant standards on a curriculum map because it will give a picture of how all standards are being addressed throughout the school year and how they're sequenced within each unit. However, standards often have a lot of very specific, formal language. Simply copying and pasting the entire standard into the curriculum map is thorough, but not always helpful. It isn't reasonable to expect that anyone will read with that level of specificity, it isn't particularly helpful to teachers who need to see these standards broken down in the unit plan, and it can become extremely repetitive if the units utilize the same standards. In these situations, we recommend using the standard code, and summarizing the standard in a short phrase or sentence. This provides a simple and clear alignment with the standard, demonstrates the educator's understanding of the standard, and keeps the information focused and clear. The same rule can be applied in other categories as well.

How should the map be formatted?

Formatting is often a personal choice, and different people prefer different styles. We recommend using a horizontal chart with a column for each critical component, and a row for each unique unit. The value of this format is the at-a-glance nature. If we can read from left to right along a row, we're getting an overview of each unit in the course. When we can complete the curriculum map in 1-2 pages, we get a good picture of the course goals and the sequence of learning the students will experience. This allows the curriculum map to act as a touchstone planning tool for teachers, and becomes a great document to share with school leaders, parents, and even students.

Can curriculum maps be changed?

One of the things that makes writing curriculum a daunting task is the sense of its permanence. It makes sense to want to keep the curriculum fluid, as the most effective teaching is influenced by a wide range of variables like current events, student cohorts, and shifts or changes in the field. The fear of permanence can often become a justification for not creating a curriculum map. But the benefits of long-term planning, for teachers especially, cannot be underestimated.

The most effective curriculum maps are living documents that provide planning support to teachers throughout the year and communicate the intentions of the course to others (administrators, parents, students, other teachers). We recommend that teachers regularly reflect on their lessons and unit plans as they're implementing the curriculum so that they can make adjustments, remember what worked and what didn't, and update the curriculum as necessary. We revisit our curriculum over the summer or at the beginning of the school year to account for the learning of the previous year.

What are the steps I should follow to make a curriculum map?

In the curriculum mapping process, we see a relatively consistent approach that favors backwards planning, which suggests that teachers should first determine the end point (the ultimate goal or final assessment) and then plan backwards from there. This process is meant to create a clear alignment between content, skills, and instruction.

If this process works for you, use it! The problem is that this process doesn't apply to all teachers or all situations. When it doesn't work, it can create major obstacles in the development process. Our recommendation is to start with what you know, generate your ideas based on any entry point you can find, and fill in the blanks along the way. Then, reflect and revise on the plan from an alignment perspective to ensure that the planning process maintains instructional integrity.

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Cultivating a course curriculum is one of the most important and most complicated tasks for educators. It requires deep content knowledge and an accurate anticipation of student ability throughout the school year.

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To process a transaction with a Purchase Order please send to member@ascd.org

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When students clearly understand classroom expectations, they're better able to assess and improve their performance.

Photo by Allison Shelley for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action

The third-grade classroom is busy. Students are in the middle of making slime, and you can sense the level of engagement across the class. The teacher is working very hard to make sure that students are clear on the goals of learning: to understand the relationships between solids, liquids, and gases. The students can see success criteria posted on the wall and examples of successful work spread across the room. Visiting teachers are engaging in random checks of understanding to ensure that students are clear on expectations.

As part of the school's improvement process, teachers and principals are visiting classrooms and interviewing students on their understanding of the expectations of learning, the students' self assessment on their progress, and what next steps they need to take to meet established goals. The team was in the third-grade classroom and filmed student interviews; they discussed the key findings with the teacher after class.

Here are samples of two interviews of students in the same classroom.

Teacher: What are you learning?

Student: We're learning about slime.

Teacher: How do you know if you are successful?

Student: We don't want the slime to stick to us.

Teacher: What are you learning?

Student: We're learning about solids, liquids, and gases.

Teacher: How do you know if you are successful?

Student: We can define and relate each phase. Right now we're learning about solids, liquids, and gases by creating slime.

The teacher is doing great things. The question is whether all students are following the teacher's lead. Building student clarity is a constant pursuit: We never arrive, but it's worth our focus.

Clarity Research Snapshot

When students are clear on expectations of learning, they tend to double their rate of learning. Moreover, when students are clear on expectations, they have a better chance of assessing their current performance and using feedback accurately. As John Hattie explains in Visible Learning, self assessment, feedback, and student clarity yield substantial growth in student learning. Yet the implementation of this idea is extremely difficult.

Let's take a look at some challenges and solutions to implementation.

Challenge 1. Novices don't really understand rubrics: Experts love rubrics because the bullet points clearly delineate the core expectations that they want students to learn. Novices don't fully appreciate the bullet points because they simply don't have a concrete example of what's written. As such, they scan the tool for items that are familiar to them: activities (such as getting into groups), tasks (such as completing six problems correctly), and contexts (such as exploring bridges). Because of this scanning for the familiar, students begin thinking about group work, assignment completion, and bridges and are therefore less likely to be any clearer on the standards they're learning about.

To focus students on the actual learning, teachers are encouraged to start with examples of great work that meets the expectations of the teacher. The more students see examples of great work in multiple contexts, the better able students are to use rubrics to evaluate their own work as well as to give, receive, and use feedback. This also makes it easier for them to focus on the core content that the teacher is after.

Challenge 2. Telling people the expectations clearly doesn't mean the expectations are clear to them: As a school leader, I have found that simply sending a clear message to people doesn't ensure that they are clear on my message. Almost every message I send must be followed up with clarifying emails, meetings with parents and/or faculty, and a series of communication check-ins. As such, developing clarity isn't one way. Clarity is interactive and built through multiple engagements.

Providing students with work samples that illustrate success

Asking students to identify the parts of the work sample that make it successful (i.e., criteria for success)

Writing out the criteria for success with students

Co-construction is an interactive process that enables students to build clarity of expectations. Co-construction is the active involvement of building success criteria with students rather than presenting success criteria to students. Here is one example of co-construction:

Use the fishbowl protocol to share their feedback, and process the accuracy of the feedback to the expectations of the lesson or unit

Begin units with discussions on what mastery looks like, and have students evaluate the differences between various levels of mastery

Challenge 3. The classroom is mostly hidden from teachers, and students give each other inaccurate feedback: As Graham Nuthall tells us in The Hidden Lives of Learners, the majority of the classroom experience is hidden from the teacher's observation. In the hidden classroom, kids typically give and receive most of the feedback to and from their peers, and most of that feedback is incorrect. To address this, we should consider having students do the following:

Students' achievement and attitude improve when they have the tools to own their own learning. As educators, it's up to us to provide those tools.

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Making Learning Targets Clear to Students

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When students clearly understand classroom expectations, they're better able to assess and improve their performance.

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Human-centered formative assessment drives long-term, holistic success for students. Because there is still confusion around this type of assessment, let's explore what it is and why it should be a part of our responsive teaching and learning cycles.

"Formative assessment" defined

As an organization, NWEA subscribes to the revised definition from CCSSO: "Formative assessment is a planned, ongoing process used by all students and teachers during learning and teaching to elicit and use evidence of student learning to improve student understanding of intended disciplinary learning outcomes and support students to become self-directed learners."

Let's take a closer look at the key phrases in that definition:

"Planned, ongoing process." Formative assessment is a continuous, low- or no-stakes, responsive process comprised of practices, methods, and tools that are selected to support all students in reaching challenging learning goals. Teachers and students collaborate to use this kind of assessment in responsive ways that positively impact learners and learning. They partner to know and respond to strengths, interests, and needs.

"All students and teachers during learning and teaching." Formative assessment is a collaborative learning process happening "with" students, not "to" students.

"Elicit and use evidence of student learning." Formative assessment processes capture levels of knowledge and skill along the learning journey so teachers and students can make small, immediate, impactful decisions to support well-being, learning-goal achievement, and self-efficacy. Using formative assessment evidence is appropriate for making decisions during the practice phases of learning; formative assessment scores are not appropriate for calculating grades or for making placement decisions.

"Support students to become self-directed learners." This type of assessment includes students as active agents in the learning journey, which fuels learning and agency in learning environments and beyond. Engaging students in goal setting is a great way to do this.

What does formative assessment look like?

Little is required to start formative assessment processes because they can begin with a variety of methods and tools. Instead of specific programs, supplies, or resources, effective processes involve partnering with students to incorporate the following five practices into cycles of responsive teaching and learning.

Clarifying learning goals and success criteria within a broader progression of learning. Students should have context for what they're learning: why they're learning it, how it connects to previous lessons and their own interests, and what success looks like. Having goal clarity, purpose, and a path promotes student motivation and agency.

Eliciting and analyzing evidence of student thinking. Whether it's capturing ideas on a whiteboard, responding to an online survey, or giving a thumbs-up or down in response to a check for understanding, an effective process centers on knowing learning goals, then gathering, interpreting, and responding to learning-goal evidence.

Engaging in self-assessment and peer feedback. This type of assessment is more than providing feedback from teacher to student. As I explained in "The importance of student self-assessment," having students reflect on their progress helps them become active participants in their learning. The process should also involve students collaborating with each other, asking questions, making observations, celebrating successes, and suggesting improvements in ways that support them in attaining challenging learning goals.

Using actionable feedback. Once learning evidence is collected, teachers work with students to ensure that they have both the time and processes to apply feedback in ways that move learning forward.

Responding by adjusting learning strategies or next instructional steps. This practice is the "why" of formative assessment. To make the process effective, we must collaborate with students to use evidence and insights to propel learners toward shared and personal short- and long-term goals.

Why formative assessment is so important

As my colleague Chase Nordengren noted, "[f]ormative assessment is [critical] for educators looking to unlock in-depth information on student learning. [...] Using strategies that expose misconceptions, support higher-level thinking within a subject, and engage students in academic discourse, formative assessment provides the real-time feedback necessary to dynamically adjust instruction to meet learner needs as they emerge and change."

In short, formative assessment helps us evaluate whether our plans and responsive "moves" are working, while there's still time to do something about it. It celebrates that learning is an ongoing process, complete with stretches of success and periods of struggle, and it helps us remember that learning is not linear but, instead, an endeavor that rewards effort, persistence, and dedication. Best of all, it helps us collaborate with students as co-partners in the entire learning experience. Together we are a learning team, one that makes anything possible.

Ready for more?

There is no shortage of information and resources available on formative assessment. For easy-to -implement, research-based strategies, check out our eBook, Making it work: How formative assessment can supercharge your practice, and our article "27 easy formative assessment strategies for gathering evidence of student learning." Our professional learning team also offers five workshops that can engage you and your colleagues in deep dives designed and delivered by expert educators.

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Reliable assessment data drives positive long-term outcomes for kids. Formative assessment is a critical part of a balanced system.

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Video (short):  From Cells and Bells to a Learning Community 

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Video (short):  From Cells and Bells to a Learning Community 

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From cells and bells to a Learning Community

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Video:  Prakash Nair on Learning Spaces 

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Video:  Prakash Nair on Learning Spaces 

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Unlocking Time: Reimagine Time in K-12 Schools 

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Unlocking Time: Reimagine Time in K-12 Schools 

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Reimagine time in K-12 schools | Unlocking Time

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Free tools and resources for school leaders, produced by Abl, to empower K12 schools to implement time strategies that fuel student-centered learning.

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What's Driving the Change to Reimagine School Schedules? 

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What's Driving the Change to Reimagine School Schedules? 

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Slow Pivots: What’s Driving the Change to Reimagine School Schedules? - Learning Personalized

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The continued goal is to make schools more agile, equitable, personalized, and aspirational for every student through how we use time to organize learning.

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Responsive Return Strategies: Schedules, Grouping, Spaces

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Responsive Return Strategies: Schedules, Grouping, Spaces

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Part 4 of a 4-Part Series
By Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Allison Zmuda

The summer of 2020 is not a vacation for many educators who continue to work tirelessly to engage with their community on how to open school for the upcoming year. Each school and district continues to receive guidance from state, ministry, and national governments which may change suddenly given the unpredictability of the pandemic. In addition, the reality of implementing governmental guidelines may conflict with staff who may have their own children and live in neighboring districts where policies could conflict.

Because of the complexity and uncertainty of how to approach the upcoming school year, agility is becoming the mantra in school response plans as decisions are being considered for a range of return scenarios:

On-site with social distancing precautions.

Clearly the initial phase of reentry to school will entail social distancing and sanitizing precautions that will change as the medical community makes headway in the treatment and prevention of the virus.

Home learning via online platforms.

The phrase Home Learning certainly is predicated on the use of on-line learning but needs to be distinguished from the fact that on-line learning can occur at a school site or any location.

Hybrid models which combine features of both on-site and online.

State education departments will be initiating policies that may provide for parents to have a choice as to whether their students are allowed to stay home or to go to the school setting. There are obvious implications for staff who have their own children in neighboring districts.

There is an array of variables that each school and district must sort through to respond purposefully and effectively. In making your moves to re-enter school this fall, we reference two laws of physics: 1) the whole is sum of the parts, and 2) form follows function. By this we mean, the four programmatic structures that have everything to do with that is possible in the learning programs created for our students. In Bold Moves for Schools: How We Create Remarkable Learning Environments (ASCD), Heidi and her co-author, Marie Alcock, detail four critical structures and their interplay as paramount in creating that quite literally shape how our curriculum and learning experiences are planned.

Schedule. How we use time to structure learning plans.

Spaces. How we organize and use spaces to engage with learners.

Learner Grouping. How we intentionally group learners to grow their interests, skill sets, and discourse.

Personnel Configuration. How we intentionally organize personnel to be responsive to what the schedules, spaces, and learner grouping demands.

The Structural Nest

We have a genuine opportunity to reconsider format decisions in preparation for re-entry to school this fall presents challenges and possibilities regarding the structural 'nest.' There is an astonishing natural beauty to a bird's nest in its form and function. The nest's structure is responsive to climate, purpose, and available resources in order to be a place where nurturing the young is possible.

Our post generates options for each structure to correspond to the three response plans in consideration by schools and districts based on what we have seen pre-pandemic and in this transition phase. We strongly advise that the format structures are not selected in isolation by schedule, space, grouping of learners, and personnel configurations, but rather orchestrated to work together for cohesion.

Possible Options for Structural Nest

Possible Options for Structural Nest - V01 Draft

Click here to Review and Download 4-Page Possible Options.

The intention of the chart above is to lay out a menu of options to inspire fresh thinking and encourage you to generate additional options with your school community.

How might you leverage some of those ideas in continuing to develop your own reopening plans? We advocate the drafting of multiple prototypes that reflect these sets of connected choices. As you imagine the possibilities of one option, continue to envision other interconnections that are now on the table. To assist, we suggest a design tool to assist such as the one we have created below:
Link to Continuum Above: http://transform.curriculum21.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Program_Structures_RD.jpg
As a design tool, we suggest that teams review and research a full range of options to coordinate schedules, the use of virtual and physical space, possibilities for learner grouping, and different ways staff can be figured. The various combinations then can be developed as prototypes whether on-site, hybrid, or fully home learning based. Certainly, there could be multiple prototypes for any one of the three fundamental approaches that might emerge. With the array of prototypes sketched out, the pros and cons and each can be weighted by a leadership team or task force. What is more, it is quite possible that there may be a start of school in one return scenarios and find that due to changes in either the spread of the virus or hopefully its elimination due to a vaccine, that a school will have to very quickly adapt to another prototype. Preparation and as stated, agility, are key to an effective response.

Conclusion

This blogpost is our last in the four-part series dedicated to developing strategies and approaches to assist schools as we grapple with COVID19's startling challenges. We have attempted to provide a connected throughline between decisions regarding establishing future forward learning goals, planning curriculum, designing learning experiences, reconsidering assessment, developing learner agency, and structuring formats conducive to implementation. Coupled with the throughline, we took a deeper dive into recommending specific actions to add to the menu of options school communities consider as they shape contingency plans for the return to school.

In writing these blog posts, we do see that there are some seismic shifts that are already having a profound impact on learning-life in and outside of school.

Communication directly between teachers, parents, and learners has become paramount.

The actual formats and methods for developing activities and learning experiences have become streamlined.

Teachers have become skillful at utilizing online learning tools.

Curriculum as we have known has now consolidated.

Meaningful, ongoing feedback for students based on formative demonstrations of learning needs to replace the old assessment checklist.

The structures of school formats are becoming more agile and adaptive.

Moving forward as of this writing, it is impossible to know how long the current crisis will last. Given the resilience and commitment of learners, parents, and educators to see it through, there is great potential for the post-pandemic education landscape. Silver lining is an uneasy phrase to use in application to a crisis as devastating as a pandemic, but we lead with realistic optimism to design a future-forward school that offers safe and brave places for students to imagine, question, analyze, create, and share.
Our Four-Part Series
Part 1: How Will We Return to School? Curriculum Choices in the Face of COVID19
Part 2: Deciding What to Cut, What to Keep, and What to Create in the Design of Learning Experiences for 2020-21 School Year. Providing a tool to assist local educators in making these important choices.
Part 3: What COVD19 Has Illuminated about the Power of Self-Evaluation to Make Assessment Meaningful
Part 4: (WHAT YOU JUST READ) Responsive Return Strategies: Crafting Fresh Approaches to Schedules, Grouping of students and teachers and Shaping both physical and virtual learning spaces.

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Responsive Return Strategies: Crafting Fresh Approaches to Schedules, Grouping of Students and Teachers and Shaping Both Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces - Learning Personalized

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Part 4 of a 4-Part Series By Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Allison Zmuda The summer of 2020 is not a vacation for many educators who continue to work tirelessly to engage with their community on how to open school for the upcoming year.

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Unlocking Time: Reimagine Time in K-12 Schools 

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Unlocking Time: Reimagine Time in K-12 Schools 

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Reimagine time in K-12 schools | Unlocking Time

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Free tools and resources for school leaders, produced by Abl, to empower K12 schools to implement time strategies that fuel student-centered learning.

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Building the Future Now: What to Cut? Keep? Create?  

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Building the Future Now: What to Cut? Keep? Create?  

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As the school year is winding to a close and everyone is desperate for a break, looking toward the opening of school next year is already causing unease. Throughout the world, educators face a critical challenge: how to design aspirational and future forward (post-pandemic) learning experiences rather than a temporary fix (triage). In our first blogpost in this four part series, we proposed the importance of beginning with input from students, parents, and teachers about what they are experiencing, what lessons they are learning, and what they will need moving into the next school year. We also looked at factors to mull over what will matter most in the planning for the year rather than jumping onto the "let's pick up where we left off" bandwagon.

How can we shape curriculum right now that will best serve our learners for the future?

This blogpost is centered on two key steps to assist decision makers, learners, and families as they make this determination: development of future forward learning goals and using those goals as a north star to examine and clarify curriculum choices. This work can provide a balcony view to clarify broader learning goals that ideally guide day to day learning choices that teachers and students make-goals that take the long view on determining the strength, approaches, life-skills, and aptitudes needed to support our learners.

For teachers in the identification, creation, and/or redesign of compelling problems, questions, and challenges that can give insight into a refreshed curriculum storyline. Otherwise we are more likely to recycle what we have immediately in front of us, to cover old material, and to miss an opportunity.

For students as they are becoming more skillful, sophisticated, and strategic throughout their school years. This is especially helpful now when students may feel increased pressure/anxiety in anticipation of pace of learning to "catch up" for what was missed.

For the school community in reaching consensus on realistic priorities will be central to our efforts. Otherwise, there may be a tendency to go for the granular, memorize some facts, scramble to construct where "we left off." It is critical to reach consensus as a school community on learning goals that will serve as a North Star to decision making.

STEP 1: DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE FORWARD LEARNING GOALS

What These Meta-Level Learning Goals Are

Future Forward Learning Goals are overarching, and transdisciplinary. We developed key criteria for these learning goals as well as a few illustrative examples.

Reasonable number and scope to capture all aspects of a learner's life. Goals should cover the range of skills, behaviors, and dispositions that we seek in the long run. We have found that limiting to 10 may be a helpful barometer (not a hard fast rule).

Apply to the range of topics and challenges that learners encounter in all corners of school life-curricular, social, and personal investigations. These lend themselves to both transdisciplinary and subject-specific tasks that can honor existing curricular choices as well as open up the design table to more meaningfully include students.

Describe desired complexity and sophistication. These goals can then be broken down in grade level bands for instruction and coaching.

Provide clarity for your target audience(s). We need to pay closer attention to how well we communicate about what we mean when we use broad generalizations. Fuzzy language implies fuzzy thinking.

The following examples that were drafted in partnership with Bena Kallick illustrate each of the key criteria listed above.

Seek to investigate challenging contemporary global and local issues by pursuing questions or a line of thinking.

Use design thinking and other processes to develop solutions, findings, prototypes, performances, and media.

Navigate through diverse sources and perspectives to make discerning and thoughtful judgments.

Generate, enrich, and craft communication through the strategic use of evidence and command of language.

Share stories, ideas, and points of view to engage others to think interdependently and potentially act collectively.

Think flexibly, take responsible risks, and listen with understanding and empathy as they engage with the world.

Establish nomenclature. It may be that your school elects to give these Future Forward Learning Goals a "name" to stake out the ownership and engagement of your community. We encourage you to do so. Whether these are your Meta Level Goals, Essential Learning Goals or North Star Learning Goals, it is important that they belong to your community and will serve as guideposts to make wise decisions moving forward.

Examine Established Learning Goals as a possible starting point. Right now is a rich opportunity to challenge our thinking about what we truly value through the process of crafting of Future Forward Learning Goals. It is not necessary to start from scratch. For example, many school communities and have crafted descriptions of what a Portrait of a Graduate should demonstrate/look like. These descriptions are in the spirit of what McTighe and Wiggins call "transfer goals"-goals that will be important not only within the life of school but also in their lives well beyond school. We know that these goals reflect college and career readiness, part of the driving force for developing these goals. There are clear meta-level learning goals embedded in IB's Approaches to Learning that serve naturally to guide decision making. There is also a rich source for essential goal setting in the introductory statements of purpose focused on life-long goals for learners in most standards whether through a national, state, or provincial organization. If you already are using one of these models reaffirm and reimagine them to reflect the times.

Gather insight and information directly from all members of the school community. Focus on student agency-having their voices inform what they learn, where they learn, how they learn, and how they demonstrate learning-have been the heart of global conversation with personalized learning for close to ten years. During the current triage phase of our response to COVID19, parents viewed first hand the impact of remote learning had on their children. Lessons are being learned at home right now that are central to planning ahead. Now is the time to pay close attention to our learners and harvest recommendations. In our previous blogpost, we recommended Virtual School Community Summits to bring the community together. Whether the summit takes place in a virtual town hall format or whether it is organized in smaller "zoom room" discussion groups, the mix of parents, learners, and educators seems critical. Certainly thoughtful surveys that encourage specific and actionable suggestions can prove fruitful. An invitation to articulate essential high priority learning goals can be integrated into discussions and into survey forms. We also recommend following a project called #JustAskUs supported by the National Parents Union, Student Voice -Prichard Committee, High Tech High, AERO, Big Picture Learning that is developing tools and approaches to directly engage learners in contributing their voice and perspective in reimagining education now and into the post-pandemic period. The title is inspired by Heather Wolport-Gawron's book, Just Ask Us: Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement, published by Corwin. If you wish further information contact the project coordinator: Masa Uzicanin

Generate new Learning Goals. Based on our current experience in triage mode, the need for new or refreshed learning goals has gained clarity. While most schools value d the idea of growing self-direction in students with the move to full-time remote learning, the urgency of growing this capacity has become more paramount. We move d to name a specific element of self-direction, self-management as a way to move from the broader, generalized statement which, in turn, generated the following future forward learning goal.
Develop self-management skills by making choices for learning and monitoring thinking.

Take a bigger challenge and break it down into smaller, doable increments.

Set goals and monitor/revise them as needed to optimize clarity, viability, and motivation.

Experiment with time management structures to balance focus on task at hand with brain breaks, meeting deadlines, and staying motivated by my thinking.

Another example that is typically highlighted in many Graduate of a Profile statements is collaboration. To clarify this goal, we suggest bringing community voices to engage in conversation about when and under what conditions they feel they can connect and contribute most effectively.
Engage deliberately and cultivate relationships with all members of the school community to build on, better understand, and be influenced by one another's ideas and perspectives.
Collaboration is a dynamic between the way people interact and the work they need to accomplish. Many schools often focus on the management of a task to achieve a common objective rather than the relationships that invite social construction. We moved to draft a future forward learning goal that values both.

Adapt with increasing skill by communicating with others in a given network to develop more effective thinking by listening and questioning.

Recognize how positive relationships impact motivation, openness to new ideas, and connection to the work.

Adhere to norms and demonstrates respectful behaviors as one engages with others to help maintain a safe environment that invites all to participate.

STEP 2: DETERMINING WHAT TO CUT OUT, WHAT TO CUT BACK, WHAT TO CONSOLIDATE, AND WHAT TO CREATE

Armed with a thoughtful and powerful set of Future Forward Learning Goals, the following is a process for examining existing curriculum to determine what matters most for your learners. While this "weeding" may be painful for some, it is imperative that there is consensus so relieve pressure for coverage and provide more space to generate new ideas with students. We have provided the following graphic organizer to help clarify the process:

Future Forward Curriculum Planning Process

First, examine and clarify your current curriculum narrative.

1. Compile existing units of study from your curriculum. Ideally, this can be done in grade level bands (e.g., K-1, 6-8) to ensure the choices you want to make do not put undue pressure on other grade levels to capture essential content. Working in departments on the high school level is obviously important, but it is also equally important to review across a grade level to see what the challenges will be for learners attempting to juggle multiple demands.

2. Examine each one and tell a brief story (thumbnail synopsis) of that unit. Why does it exist? What is the essential learning students will be able to continue to develop and transfer when that unit is over? What are the most critical standards to be in the foreground?

3. Review the storyline through the scope of the year. Are there connections between the units? What does your curriculum value the most?

Could you cut out unit(s) of study to make room for deeper investigation and development of key concepts and skills?
Second, ask yourselves the following questions:

In any composition there is an editorial review where the question of "cutting" material is central to the whole. What matters most given the time that we have for our specific learners with our specific conditions, we must govern how we decide. The unique situation we are facing, will dictate significantly different learning conditions is a sensible element in our deliberations. (Shortened academic calendar, staggered classroom schedules, alternative attendance on-site if it occurs in your location, increased on-line learning demand).

To be clear, when cutting units it will be critical to examine standards that were emphasized in a unit. Given that standards are cultivated over time, it is likely that the faculty teams can readily identify the most critical standards that have been in the "foreground" in the design of learning experiences. It is always a concern to us when we see a unit of study with 30 standards listed (this is not an exaggeration) since these proficiencies take time to develop. Bundling standards that naturally cluster together in student learning is a natural way to align assessments. A faculty team can look at bundled and individual standards to sort out which are the most essential to their specific learners and those that are not.

Could you cut back each unit of study significantly? It is highly likely that educators have already made key decisions to cut back during this current curricular planning Triage phase of COVID19 as of this writing. Given the abruptness of moving to a total online environment over the past weeks, lesson planning may have been arbitrary and left to each teacher. Curricular decisions may have been orchestrated with others in a school, grade level team, department or the process could have reflected both approaches.

Moving forward we suggest your planning teams review the "thumbnail" story of the curriculum through the year to determine places where they may elect to cut back and distinguish the most essential from the less critical material in their units. The task is to distinguish the most essential elements in the curriculum and place them in the foreground.
Could you create a new unit or module to replace this altogether?

Skills: Given the importance of cognitive and technical skills in the long term growth of learners, teachers will want to elevate critical skills integral in supporting students within a given discipline as well as sub skills tied to Future Forward Learning Goals.

Content cuts: Materials, information, facts, subtopics that are non-essential should be cut given the larger aims and goals of the unit. The tendency to "cover" content needs to be confronted in order to move forward. Distinguishing content that directly supports and is central to the Future Forward Learning Goals and storyline might prove to be a great challenge but also a rewarding one. Of particular value will be to proactively have our learners show the connections between the key content and that storyline as the curriculum develops. In our previous we referenced The Big History Project , which takes a big picture view of key concepts through history where learners construct a narrative based on those key conceptual ideas rather than simply diving into minutiae. The approach exemplifies how your team might step back and layout the conceptual framework that is accessible to learners in any course or learning program. To be clear, the review of these cuts will be ongoing once the new school year commences whether on-site or on-line or both.

Assessment cuts: Evidence of learning is bedrock to the design of learning experiences. Coupled with meaningful feedback, our learners can progress in their development. Considerations and decisions about what formative and summative assessments will be the most revealing and helpful demonstrations of learning should be determined as a faculty both across grade levels and vertically. Certainly the impact of state or provincial requirements for public educators and education organization policies (i.e. College Board, IB) is a major factor in decision making. Bottom line, if there are cuts in the curriculum then there will be corresponding cuts in the assessments.

Could you consolidate based on units of study and personal learning progress during the remote learning time?
Have a curriculum that has been consistent for at least 2 years? You could start here.

Given the nature of your course or grade level subject area layout, if there are related and clear connections between units then combining them is possible. To consolidate means an existing unit as a teacher reviews and revises elements and activities based on past experience. Certainly to combine elements to make a more effective coherent whole. On a practical review of the scope and sequence of a year's units, we can step back and not only determine what we might cut and where we might cut back, but where we can merge units of study. Consolidation can certainly occur

It may be that a geology course in a high school begins with a look at the formation of the earth as a planet for the first unit and in the second examines oceans and the third unit looks at land. It seems that these three could be combined to shorten the time and be reframed to look at the early story of planet earth: beginnings and elements.

On the elementary level, a fourth grade ELA curriculum might have a sequence that moves from a unit on historical fiction focused on a chapter book perhaps Number the Stars by Lois Lowry , to a unit on persuasive writing on an issue. It seems plausible to combine those two and consider having students take a stand on a critical issue raised in Lowry's classic work.

interdisciplinary units of study can be a fruitful design consideration when consolidating.
Have a standards-based report card? You could start here.

Generating new curriculum units responsive to the learners and to the zeitgeist is an option that seems particularly relevant. Certainly new units could be interdisciplinary derived from a reconsideration of your existing layout for the school year. A deliberate lens from multiple subject areas on common topics, problems, issues, and themes could provide a fresh perspective for learners. We strongly recommend the development of phenomena-based learning supporting inquiry into emergent problems and issues in a students life. These might be framed on a personal, local, or global level but what is key is there is an immediacy to the situation. (NOTE: Interdisciplinary units emerge from the natural connections we see "between disciplines", that is between the subjects. Phenomona-based is not anchored in our traditional school day but transcends the notion. We are not suggesting one is "better than the other", rather we hope to provide a menu of options as units are generated) .
A key organizing focus could be phenomena-based given the emergent issues regarding the pandemic. Whether an individual unit or a series of units, learners could examine the impact personally, locally, or globally. Certainly developmental considerations need to be primary here. Here are some examples:

On all levels, learners can document and share their experience both from the onset of the restrictions and the closing of on-site school to the present in their transition to school (whatever form that might take). The unit could be COVID19: My Story, Your Story, Our Stories

Secondary students can dive into an examination of the pandemic and/or consider specific angles. For example, as contemporary historians they might develop an annotated timeline since the first reports in November 2019 from China to the present. As journalists they could "cover" certain angles on the pandemic in a series of articles: the point of view of essential workers, impact on a range of families in the community or, the challenge to local government and decision making. Clearly, an area of fascination for all of us is the scientific research and scramble to develop treatments and a vaccine and certainly for our learners that could be covered in an empirical style.

Elementary students might engage and develop service based learning projects to thank local health care and essential service providers. Whether in the form of written communication or in a short video message, gratitude is appreciated and it is important to display. What is more, it may be possible to actually provide concrete support to members of the local community as the adaptation and easing into functional society occurs.

Leading Future Forward Curriculum Analysis, Revision, and Reimagining

This process needs to be implemented with all deliberate speed to develop a solid draft that functions as a rudder to help steer turbulent waters of where, when, and how learning happens in 2020-21. In teaming configurations whether grade level, grade level clusters (i.e.-K-2, 3-5, 9-10), department, or interdisciplinary teams, teachers can meet to review their upcoming plans. Likely to be virtual in nature, these formal reviews will be focused on making collective proposals on what to cut out, cut back, consolidate, and create informed by the Future Learning Goals. Using a collaborative decision making model, leadership in a school or district can coordinate these efforts, document them and share them. Transparency is critical.

Here are two possible starting points to begin the review process:

If your school utilizes curriculum mapping on a software platform, your teams can make a deliberate and formal walkthrough of your units and scope and sequence to make determinations about what to cut out, cut back, consolidate, and create.

Examine curriculum vertically to identify primary areas of fluency that are vital when students engage in more ambiguous and complex problems. For example, in math: Performs multiplication with multi-digit whole numbers.

Teams may want to utilize standards to inform grade level decisions and coordinate vertical choices. What is in the foreground of our subjects given the need to prioritize without putting undue pressures on other grade levels.

Pay particular attention to growing skill development either within a subject or transdisciplinary. For example, here is a sample from a Grade 1 Writing Report Card. The same focus areas are repeated on the report card through Grade 6.

Writing is focused; purpose is clear.

Writing includes details and descriptive words.

Writing is organized.

Writing demonstrates basic sentence structure.

Writing uses grade-level conventions of standard English.

Consider how these focus areas support one to draft a Future Forward Learning Goal in formal communication. For example: Crafts a purposeful and polished text in a given genre for a target audience.

Then, grade level or vertical department teams can make informed choices as to what genres to pay attention to both timeless and familiar ones (e.g., poetry, fairy tales, informational statements) as well as contemporary ones (e.g., interviews, emails, virtual chats).
Part 2: Part 3 (COMING SOON): Assessment and the Return to School: Engaging Student Voice, Self-monitoring, Meaningful Demonstrations, and Feedback Part 4 (COMING SOON): Responsive Return Strategies: Crafting Fresh Approaches to Schedules, Grouping of students and teachers and Shaping both physical and virtual learning spaces Building the Future Now: Deciding What to Cut, What to Keep and What to Create
Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead

Decisions on curriculum matters have never been easy. Educators know that there are certain units of study and learning experiences that are particularly satisfying to teach and are hard to let go. There can be sharp differences of opinion on what matters most for learners between members of a grade level team or department. Conversely, there are great opportunities for collaboration and responsiveness to the needs, especially now, as we work through these decisions. Perhaps there is guidance in looking to the Latin root word for curriculum, which means a path to run in small steps. The familiarity with this path creates ruts that become deeper and make it more difficult to see with fresh eyes. As school faculties lay out a reimagined path in partnership with their learners and families, the opportunity it to leverage specific expertise in service to common and aspirational learning goals. Moving forward into the months ahead, future forward learning goals and a collaborative planning process will inform our choices on what to cut, what to keep, what to create in the curriculum.

In our next blogpost, Part 3 in our series*, we will consider the most meaningful demonstrations of learning to consider as students return to school in light of our future forward learning goals. How might we meet the challenge of determining their readiness to return both academically and emotionally? What types of feedback and grading makes sense as we review student formative and summative assessment? How will we develop self-navigating and self-monitoring skills that have already proven to be critical in remote learning?

*NOTE: We will explore the range of options and key considerations that school leaders, learners, and families might examine as they move forward in our four-part blog series on the Transition.

Part 1: How Will We Return to School? Curriculum Choices in the Face of COVID19.

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Building the Future Now: Deciding What to Cut, What to Keep and What to Create - Learning Personalized

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As the school year is winding to a close and everyone is desperate for a break, looking toward the opening of school next year is already causing unease. Throughout the world, educators face a critical challenge: how to design aspirational and future forward (post-pandemic) learning experiences rather than a temporary fix (triage).

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Designing Authentic Assessments: U. of Chicago

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Designing Authentic Assessments: U. of Chicago

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Authentic assessments involve the application of knowledge and skills in real-world situations, scenarios, or problems. Authentic assessments create a student-centered learning experience by providing students opportunities to problem-solve, inquire, and create new knowledge and meaning.

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Elements of Authentic Assessments

There are several elements to consider that make an assessment more "authentic" (Ashford-Rowe, 2014; Grant, 2021; Wilson-Mah, 2019;), including:

Accuracy and validity - The accuracy of the assessment refers to how closely it resembles a real-world situation, problem, disciplinary norm, or field of study. The assessment validity refers to the alignment of grading criteria to the learning objectives, transferable skills (e.g., communication, critical thinking, etc.), workforce readiness skills, and disciplinary norms and practices.

Demonstration of learning - The outcomes of an assessment should allow students to demonstrate learning in ways that reflect their field of study, for example, a performance or a product that is authentic to their future career. Or the assessment should allow for student choice based on interests and skills; for example, one group of students decides to create a podcast to demonstrate their learning in general education coursework.

Transfer of knowledge - The assessment should provide the transfer of knowledge from theory to practice and from one task or experience to another. For example, students writing a blog post about a scientific principle that was demonstrated in current events replacing a traditional essay or paper on the scientific principle.

Metacognition - The process of reflecting on learning should be purposefully planned for students to make connections to prior knowledge, experiences, and different subject areas. For example, metacognition can be encouraged in authentic assessments by asking students to evaluate their progress, self-assess their product or performance, and reflect on their thought processes and learning experiences during the authentic assessment.

Collaboration - The assessments should provide opportunities for interaction that are aligned to the real-world situation. For example, if the task is typically completed by a team in the field, then the assessment should be completed collaboratively by a group.

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Flexibility - The assessment should provide flexibility in the timeline and due dates for meeting project benchmarks and deliverables to align with real-world tasks. For example, if the task would take a few weeks to complete while working full time then the timeline in the course should reflect this timing to ensure authenticity and manageability.

Environment and tools - The environment and tools used to provide the assessment should be like the environments and tools in the students' field of study or aligned with a real-world situation. For example, students taking a graphic design course utilizing software that is used in their field to create typography, logos, etc., or medical students practicing authentic tasks in a simulation room to mirror a hospital room.

Authentic assessments can also be referred to as alternative assessments or performance-based assessments. All of these assessments are considered "alternatives" to traditional high-stakes tests or research papers, and are based on the constructivist theory where students actively construct new meaning and knowledge.

Also, it is important to understand that authentic assessments can be used to assess students both formatively (during instruction) and summatively (when the instruction is over). Want to learn more about formative assessments or summative assessments? Please visit the Assessment & Grading Practices teaching guides in the Resources section of the CATE website.

Authentic assessments can be designed using different teaching methods like inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, problem-based learning, scenario-based learning, or design-based learning. Select each of the headings below to learn about how these teaching methods can support your design of authentic assessments.

Inquiry-based Learning

Problem-based Learning

Scenario-based Learning

Project-based Learning

Design-based Learning

Impact of Authentic Assessments
Authentic assessments have the potential to improve student self-efficacy (belief in own capacity), performance, and learning.

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Self-efficacy and confidence - in a review of research completed on fifteen studies of project-based learning, 90% of the students reported improved confidence and were optimistic that they could implement project-based learning in future careers (Indrawn, 2019).

Higher grades - In a general education writing course, students who participated in scenario-based learning showed consistently higher averages (one to two letter grades higher) than students who did not receive scenario-based learning (Golden, 2018).

Engagement and retention - authentic assessments have shown improved student engagement and learner retention through participation in authentic assessments.

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Direct evidence - authentic assessments provide direct evidence of students' learning and skills for instructors and students to better understand the learning taking place and plan the next steps for instruction and learning.

Student diversity - authentic assessments allow students to demonstrate their unique abilities, lived experiences, interests, and social identities.

Real-world artifacts - authentic assessments provide students with authentic tasks that can be utilized in professional portfolios, resumes, or interviews.

Workforce Readiness and Graduate Attributes

Authentic assessments' impact has also been viewed through the lens of workforce readiness and graduate attributes. For example, in a project-based learning experience, 78% of students reported that the experience prepared them to be workforce ready because of the real-world practice they received through the authentic assessment (Indrawn, 2019).

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Several graduate attributes have been identified as outcomes of authentic assessment participation (Foss, 2021; Indrawn, 2019; Karunanayaka, 2021; Elliott-Kingston, 2018; Murphy, 2017; Rowan, 2012), including:

Open-mindedness - students who participate in authentic assessments learn to be receptive to the diversity of ideas and multiple perspectives.

Comfort with ambiguity - students who participate in authentic assessments learn to live with uncomfortableness as they construct new knowledge and meaning.

Ability to engage in an iterative process - authentic assessments provide students with opportunities to ideate, evaluate, and reflect on ideas and learning. Students develop effective problem-solving skills through this iterative process that includes idea incubation.

Creativity - authentic assessments positively reinforce students' creativity through the inquiry process.

Learn to fail - authentic assessments provide formative feedback to help students build resiliency and strengthen their self-efficacy even when faced with failure.

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Take risks - authentic assessments encourage student risk-taking, and the instructor provides a safe and supportive learning environment for taking risks.

Search for multiple answers - students learn how to brainstorm ideas and develop numerous solutions to address problems.

Internally motivated - authentic assessments support students' internal motivation by providing opportunities for student choice based on their interests and future careers. Students develop metacognition and self-regulation skills as they reflect on their motivations, interests, and learning.

Take ownership of their learning - authentic assessments foster student ownership and autonomy. Students develop scholarship and a commitment to life-long learning through participation in authentic assessments.

Leadership - authentic assessments foster leadership, professionalism, and decision-making skills as students self-direct their learning and performance.

Citizenship and empathy - in many cases, authentic assessments ask students to reflect on an audience, end-user, or global community when solving a problem or designing a product. These experiences help to foster citizenship and empathy.

Considerations for Authentic Assessments
There are several variables that you should consider as you begin to design an authentic assessment:

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The education and experience level of students - consider how you will support students who may not have the professional skills yet to complete the authentic tasks (see the Student Success during Authentic Assessments in the HOW section of this guide).

The subjectivity of authenticity - consider how you will ensure that the designed assessment is authentic to the students. Please note that authenticity is subjective in nature; this means that what one person views as authentic might not be regarded the same by another (see the Elements of Authentic Assessments in the WHAT section of this guide for ways to make your assessment more authentic). Will you provide students with an opportunity to give you feedback to improve authenticity? Will you engage with practitioners in the field to ensure the authenticity of scenarios, problems, or prompts?

Complexity - consider how you will ensure that the assessment's level of complexity is aligned to the learning objectives, course outcomes, and real-world situation, problem, or field of study.

Instructor's role - consider how you will interact with students during the authentic assessment (see the Student Success during Authentic Assessments in the HOW section of this guide). How will you ensure that your role supports the education and experience level of your students? Will you provide guidance, facilitation, or direct instruction during the authentic assessment?

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Student ownership and choice - consider what level of student responsibility and choice that will be present in the authentic assessment. Will students have minimal responsibility if you are using direct instruction, or will the students have higher levels of responsibility if you are guiding student-directed inquiry? Will students have the opportunity to choose how they will demonstrate their learning with a final product or performance?

Formative feedback - consider how students will receive formative feedback during the authentic assessment. Who will provide the formative feedback (instructor, TA, peers, or self)?

Manageability - consider the manageability of the authentic assessment regarding class size and course modality.

In large class sizes consider incorporating authentic assessments through partner or group work to reduce grading and feedback time as well as encourage communication and collaboration skills of students.

In online courses consider incorporating asynchronous peer review to provide opportunities for student interaction and feedback.

Alignment of assessments and instruction - consider how you will utilize authentic learning instruction to support student achievement in authentic assessments. For example, if using design-based learning during a group assignment then consider utilizing design thinking during your lectures and activities.

There are numerous types of products and performances to choose from when designing an authentic assessment. This is not an all-encompassing list of authentic products or performances, but more of a starting point for ideas. Instructors should also consider allowing students or groups to brainstorm ideas for products or performances and self-select a format.

Writing for an Actual Audience

Performances

Design of Products

Creation of Products

Other Types

A well-planned and communicated authentic assessment will help improve student performance and student satisfaction during the authentic assessment.

Communication of Authentic Assessments

Expectations and Grading for Authentic Assessments

Facilitation and Guidance during Authentic Assessments

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Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence

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Authentic assessments involve the application of knowledge and skills in real-world situations, scenarios, or problems. Authentic assessments create a student-centered learning experience by providing students opportunities to problem-solve, inquire, and create new knowledge and meaning.

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Ed Leadership article:  Storyboarding Your Curriculum

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Ed Leadership article:  Storyboarding Your Curriculum

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When curriculum is laid out like a journey, students become curious and engaged.

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Examples of Essential Questions - Beyond Classroom

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Does music create culture, or vice versa?How is math an art form?Is life always balanced?Is fair always equal? Is equal always fair?What does it mean to be human?Because we can, should we?Who is an American?How can learning about other cultures teach us about our own?What does Dr. Seuss have to...

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A Giant List Of Really Good Essential Questions

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Essential questions are ‘essential’ in the sense of signaling genuine, important and necessarily-ongoing inquiries.

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Big Ideas originate with the educator who thinks deeply, in advance of any instructional planning, about what the end learning goals for students should be for that particular instructional series or unit of study. The teacher then guides students to discover these Big Ideas for themselves through daily instruction and related learning activities. This "backwards planning" approach to standards-based, instruction-assessment design is an intentional way of aligning standards, assessment, curriculum, and instruction.
Topical Big Ideas-A Pathway to Broad Big Ideas (Excerpted from Book, pp. 67-68)

Big Ideas can be topical ("Fractions represent quantities less than, equal to, or greater than one whole," applicable to math only), broad ("People can justify their own conclusions with data," applicable to several content areas), or both ("Objects can be compared and classified by their different attributes," applicable to math and science).

Topical Big Ideas relate primarily to a particular unit of study, a related series of lessons, or a section of the standards. The following topical Big Idea in reading is specific to standards that emphasize story elements and how they are arranged: "All events in a story-present, past, and future-play a strategic part in its conclusion."

Broad Big Ideas are the generalizations derived from one area of study that connect to many standards and even several subject matter areas, such as "Research brings together divergent viewpoints."

Big Ideas-whether topical, broad, or both-help students scaffold their understanding so they can eventually make further generalizations and connections to other learning within a subject area and to other subject areas as well.
Create the Essential Questions
Essential Questions are engaging, open-ended questions that educators use to spark student interest in learning the content of a new unit of study or series of related lessons about to commence. Even though plainly worded, Essential Questions carry with them an underlying rigor. Responding to them in a way that demonstrates genuine understanding requires more than superficial thought.

Along with the "unwrapped" concepts and skills from the Priority Standards, educators use the Essential Questions throughout a series of related lessons or a unit of study to sharply focus curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Teachers pose open-ended Essential Questions at the beginning of the lessons or unit to engage students to discover for themselves the related Big Ideas.

The goal is for students to be able to respond to the teacher's Essential Questions with corresponding Big Ideas stated in their own words! We know that what lasts is what we realize and conclude on our own. When students independently discover the Big Ideas for themselves (a discovery guided by their teacher), they are far more likely to retain those understandings long after instruction ends.
Attributes of Effective Questions (Excerpted from Book, p.83)
"Here are a few attributes or characteristics of effective questions to keep in mind when you and/or your colleagues are drafting and refining your own Essential Questions:

Cannot be answered with a "yes" or "no"

Have no single obvious right answer

Cannot be answered from rote memory (simple recall of facts)

Match the rigor of the "unwrapped" Priority Standard

Go beyond who, what, when, and where to how and why"

Examples of Essential Questions with Corresponding Big Ideas
Big Ideas and Essential Questions can be generated from standards in all content areas and all grade levels. Here is a representative sample of Essential Questions with corresponding Big Ideas (in parentheses) from English Language Arts and mathematics.

How can you convey a central idea when writing informative or explanatory texts? (You can convey or explain a central idea by supporting it with details and relevant content.)

What makes a summary of informational text effective? (An effective summary of informational text is free of personal opinions and judgments.)

How does an author of informational text convey a personal point of view? (You can convey or explain a central idea by supporting it with details and relevant content.)

How do I determine if my answer is reasonable? (Mental math and estimation strategies help me determine the reasonableness of an answer.)

What kinds of strategies can you use when solving word problems? Why are they useful? (Diagrams, models, and equations help visualize and solve word problems.)

Why learn math formulas and algorithms? How can they help us in real life? (The different math formulas, algorithms, strategies, and skills are all tools to simplify the problem-solving process.)

To see over 60 K-12 examples of how to "unwrap" Priority Standards with Big Ideas and Essential Questions, here again is the Amazon link to the book: https://tinyurl.com/yzs9mxwb

Thanks for reading! For more information about the "Unwrapping" Priority Standards, Big Ideas, & Essential Questions virtual workshop, please click on this link and/or email Larry at larry@larryainsworth.com.

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Big Ideas originate with the educator who thinks deeply, in advance of any instructional planning, about what the end learning goals for students should be for that particular instructional series or unit of study. The teacher then guides students to discover these Big Ideas for themselves through daily instruction and related learning activities.

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Big Ideas

The Big Ideas are the concepts or principles central to the lesson. They anchor or connect all of the smaller

ideas in a lesson.

Facilitate the broadest acquistion of knowledge

Are the keys that unlock a content area for a wide range of learners

Allow educators to focus their resources on the essential elements in a lesson

Leads to assessment of important learning outcomes

Kammeenui and Carnin, 1998

An idea is if it helps us make sense of lots of otherwise meaningless, isolated, inert, or confusing facts. A big idea is a way of usefully seeing connections, not just another piece of knowledge. It is more like a lens for better looking than something additionally seen; more like a theme than the facts of the story... A true idea doesn't end thought, it activates it. It has the power to raise questions and generate learning. - Grant Wiggins

Science: All matter is made up of three universal particles.

Math: Patterns exist in math. Numbers or objects repeat in predictable ways that allow us to explore relationships and make generalizations.
Social Studies:
English Language Arts: In the transformation from oral language to the written word, universal truths of human nature were formalized.

Essential Questions

Questions are Essential when they:

are important enough to argue about

are at the heart of the subject

cause students to wonder or think more deeply

recur - and should recur

raise more questions then they answer

thought provoking and sustain engaged inquiry

often raise important conceptual or strategic issues in the subject

can provide an organizing purpose for meaningful & connected learning

Sample Essentail Questions

Learning Objectives

When setting objectives:
E3T Module

Framing The Learning

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Engage Expand & Encompass Through Technology

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Engage, Expand and Encompass Through Technology

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Big Ideas The Big Ideas are the concepts or principles central to the lesson. They anchor or connect all of the smaller ideas in a lesson.

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Book: Essential Questions (McTighe and Wiggins) 

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Book: Essential Questions (McTighe and Wiggins) 

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Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding

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Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding [McTighe, Jay, Wiggins, Grant] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding

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 Curriculum Mapping Checklist for Chalk - TFSD

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Curriculum Mapping with Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs

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In this free webinar series, Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs will walk you through what it takes to create, manage, and review curriculum maps throughout the year to maximize students' potential for success.

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Ed Leadership article:  Storyboarding Your Curriculum

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Ed Leadership article:  Storyboarding Your Curriculum

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When curriculum is laid out like a journey, students become curious and engaged.

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Center for the Professional Education of Teachers

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By ROBERTA LENGER KANG

When the back to school sales are at their peak, students and parents are picking out the cutest notebooks and the coolest backpacks. Meanwhile, educators are feeling the pressure and anxiety that comes with the start of the school year - particularly as they think about their curriculum.

Different school communities and districts have different approaches to designing curriculum. Some purchase big box curriculum sets with prescribed lessons, while others have the opportunity to design their own, which can be exciting - and also a bit daunting.

Cultivating a course curriculum is one of the most important and most complicated tasks for educators. It requires deep content knowledge and an accurate anticipation of student ability throughout the school year. Teachers need to differentiate the most important content and the most important skills in the most effective sequence - all while knowing that the decision to teach one thing is also the decision not to teach a hundred other things. The pressure to plan it in just the right way can be overwhelming.

This process will always be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be painful! In our curriculum-focused coaching projects, we support educators as they examine, design, implement, and refine customized or adapted curricula. Each educator and classroom is unique, but curriculum planning often brings up common questions. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we hear from educators as we support them in the planning process.

What goes into a curriculum map?

A well-developed curriculum map should provide an overview of the course at-a-glance. Maps are most valuable when they include a clear picture of the course goals, how those goals intersect with the content knowledge, thinking skills, relevant standards, and a plan for assessments. Here's a good checklist for a curriculum map:
​

Sequence of units aligned chronologically (Unit 1, 2, 3 . . . Marking period 1, 2, 3 . . . Quarter 1, 2, 3)

Course goals (Teaching objectives, essential questions, enduring understandings)

Content knowledge (Key concepts, topics, themes, or vocabulary)

Thinking skills (Critical thinking skills, or academic skills)

Relevant standards (Reference to 2 -3 relevant standards to the unit)

Assessments (Brief description of the formative and summative assessments for each unit)

What's the difference between a curriculum map and a unit plan?

A curriculum map provides an overview or summary of the course, while a unit plan provides the details needed to develop each individual lesson. A unit plan may include specific resources to use in a particular unit, a pacing calendar that outlines the learning goals for each week or each day, lists of vocabulary words, and a plan for differentiating instruction for different learners. Unit plans tend to be longer and include more explicit plans that illustrate the arc of the unit and provide the necessary details to develop daily lesson plans.

There is a critical distinction between the curriculum map as an overview and the unit plan as the detailed guide to support lesson planning. Curriculum maps that include unit plan-level details often become massive documents that are difficult to read. They can become a dumping ground for edu-speak-jargon that doesn't really mean anything. As educators, we want to remember that these documents are tools to support and facilitate our planning process. If they don't do that, they aren't ultimately very valuable.

How much detail should be included?

When it comes to the curriculum map, we want to include information clearly and succinctly, which means we can eliminate jargon or unnecessary details. For example, it's valuable to list relevant standards on a curriculum map because it will give a picture of how all standards are being addressed throughout the school year and how they're sequenced within each unit. However, standards often have a lot of very specific, formal language. Simply copying and pasting the entire standard into the curriculum map is thorough, but not always helpful. It isn't reasonable to expect that anyone will read with that level of specificity, it isn't particularly helpful to teachers who need to see these standards broken down in the unit plan, and it can become extremely repetitive if the units utilize the same standards. In these situations, we recommend using the standard code, and summarizing the standard in a short phrase or sentence. This provides a simple and clear alignment with the standard, demonstrates the educator's understanding of the standard, and keeps the information focused and clear. The same rule can be applied in other categories as well.

How should the map be formatted?

Formatting is often a personal choice, and different people prefer different styles. We recommend using a horizontal chart with a column for each critical component, and a row for each unique unit. The value of this format is the at-a-glance nature. If we can read from left to right along a row, we're getting an overview of each unit in the course. When we can complete the curriculum map in 1-2 pages, we get a good picture of the course goals and the sequence of learning the students will experience. This allows the curriculum map to act as a touchstone planning tool for teachers, and becomes a great document to share with school leaders, parents, and even students.

Can curriculum maps be changed?

One of the things that makes writing curriculum a daunting task is the sense of its permanence. It makes sense to want to keep the curriculum fluid, as the most effective teaching is influenced by a wide range of variables like current events, student cohorts, and shifts or changes in the field. The fear of permanence can often become a justification for not creating a curriculum map. But the benefits of long-term planning, for teachers especially, cannot be underestimated.

The most effective curriculum maps are living documents that provide planning support to teachers throughout the year and communicate the intentions of the course to others (administrators, parents, students, other teachers). We recommend that teachers regularly reflect on their lessons and unit plans as they're implementing the curriculum so that they can make adjustments, remember what worked and what didn't, and update the curriculum as necessary. We revisit our curriculum over the summer or at the beginning of the school year to account for the learning of the previous year.

What are the steps I should follow to make a curriculum map?

In the curriculum mapping process, we see a relatively consistent approach that favors backwards planning, which suggests that teachers should first determine the end point (the ultimate goal or final assessment) and then plan backwards from there. This process is meant to create a clear alignment between content, skills, and instruction.

If this process works for you, use it! The problem is that this process doesn't apply to all teachers or all situations. When it doesn't work, it can create major obstacles in the development process. Our recommendation is to start with what you know, generate your ideas based on any entry point you can find, and fill in the blanks along the way. Then, reflect and revise on the plan from an alignment perspective to ensure that the planning process maintains instructional integrity.

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Cultivating a course curriculum is one of the most important and most complicated tasks for educators. It requires deep content knowledge and an accurate anticipation of student ability throughout the school year.

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How to Make Your Questions Essential - G. Wiggins 

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How to Make Your Questions Essential - G. Wiggins 

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Essential questions rarely arise in a first draft. Here’s how to construct good ones.

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Designing Authentic Assessments: U. of Chicago

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Designing Authentic Assessments: U. of Chicago

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Authentic assessments involve the application of knowledge and skills in real-world situations, scenarios, or problems. Authentic assessments create a student-centered learning experience by providing students opportunities to problem-solve, inquire, and create new knowledge and meaning.

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Elements of Authentic Assessments

There are several elements to consider that make an assessment more "authentic" (Ashford-Rowe, 2014; Grant, 2021; Wilson-Mah, 2019;), including:

Accuracy and validity - The accuracy of the assessment refers to how closely it resembles a real-world situation, problem, disciplinary norm, or field of study. The assessment validity refers to the alignment of grading criteria to the learning objectives, transferable skills (e.g., communication, critical thinking, etc.), workforce readiness skills, and disciplinary norms and practices.

Demonstration of learning - The outcomes of an assessment should allow students to demonstrate learning in ways that reflect their field of study, for example, a performance or a product that is authentic to their future career. Or the assessment should allow for student choice based on interests and skills; for example, one group of students decides to create a podcast to demonstrate their learning in general education coursework.

Transfer of knowledge - The assessment should provide the transfer of knowledge from theory to practice and from one task or experience to another. For example, students writing a blog post about a scientific principle that was demonstrated in current events replacing a traditional essay or paper on the scientific principle.

Metacognition - The process of reflecting on learning should be purposefully planned for students to make connections to prior knowledge, experiences, and different subject areas. For example, metacognition can be encouraged in authentic assessments by asking students to evaluate their progress, self-assess their product or performance, and reflect on their thought processes and learning experiences during the authentic assessment.

Collaboration - The assessments should provide opportunities for interaction that are aligned to the real-world situation. For example, if the task is typically completed by a team in the field, then the assessment should be completed collaboratively by a group.

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Flexibility - The assessment should provide flexibility in the timeline and due dates for meeting project benchmarks and deliverables to align with real-world tasks. For example, if the task would take a few weeks to complete while working full time then the timeline in the course should reflect this timing to ensure authenticity and manageability.

Environment and tools - The environment and tools used to provide the assessment should be like the environments and tools in the students' field of study or aligned with a real-world situation. For example, students taking a graphic design course utilizing software that is used in their field to create typography, logos, etc., or medical students practicing authentic tasks in a simulation room to mirror a hospital room.

Authentic assessments can also be referred to as alternative assessments or performance-based assessments. All of these assessments are considered "alternatives" to traditional high-stakes tests or research papers, and are based on the constructivist theory where students actively construct new meaning and knowledge.

Also, it is important to understand that authentic assessments can be used to assess students both formatively (during instruction) and summatively (when the instruction is over). Want to learn more about formative assessments or summative assessments? Please visit the Assessment & Grading Practices teaching guides in the Resources section of the CATE website.

Authentic assessments can be designed using different teaching methods like inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, problem-based learning, scenario-based learning, or design-based learning. Select each of the headings below to learn about how these teaching methods can support your design of authentic assessments.

Inquiry-based Learning

Problem-based Learning

Scenario-based Learning

Project-based Learning

Design-based Learning

Impact of Authentic Assessments
Authentic assessments have the potential to improve student self-efficacy (belief in own capacity), performance, and learning.

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Self-efficacy and confidence - in a review of research completed on fifteen studies of project-based learning, 90% of the students reported improved confidence and were optimistic that they could implement project-based learning in future careers (Indrawn, 2019).

Higher grades - In a general education writing course, students who participated in scenario-based learning showed consistently higher averages (one to two letter grades higher) than students who did not receive scenario-based learning (Golden, 2018).

Engagement and retention - authentic assessments have shown improved student engagement and learner retention through participation in authentic assessments.

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Direct evidence - authentic assessments provide direct evidence of students' learning and skills for instructors and students to better understand the learning taking place and plan the next steps for instruction and learning.

Student diversity - authentic assessments allow students to demonstrate their unique abilities, lived experiences, interests, and social identities.

Real-world artifacts - authentic assessments provide students with authentic tasks that can be utilized in professional portfolios, resumes, or interviews.

Workforce Readiness and Graduate Attributes

Authentic assessments' impact has also been viewed through the lens of workforce readiness and graduate attributes. For example, in a project-based learning experience, 78% of students reported that the experience prepared them to be workforce ready because of the real-world practice they received through the authentic assessment (Indrawn, 2019).

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Several graduate attributes have been identified as outcomes of authentic assessment participation (Foss, 2021; Indrawn, 2019; Karunanayaka, 2021; Elliott-Kingston, 2018; Murphy, 2017; Rowan, 2012), including:

Open-mindedness - students who participate in authentic assessments learn to be receptive to the diversity of ideas and multiple perspectives.

Comfort with ambiguity - students who participate in authentic assessments learn to live with uncomfortableness as they construct new knowledge and meaning.

Ability to engage in an iterative process - authentic assessments provide students with opportunities to ideate, evaluate, and reflect on ideas and learning. Students develop effective problem-solving skills through this iterative process that includes idea incubation.

Creativity - authentic assessments positively reinforce students' creativity through the inquiry process.

Learn to fail - authentic assessments provide formative feedback to help students build resiliency and strengthen their self-efficacy even when faced with failure.

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Take risks - authentic assessments encourage student risk-taking, and the instructor provides a safe and supportive learning environment for taking risks.

Search for multiple answers - students learn how to brainstorm ideas and develop numerous solutions to address problems.

Internally motivated - authentic assessments support students' internal motivation by providing opportunities for student choice based on their interests and future careers. Students develop metacognition and self-regulation skills as they reflect on their motivations, interests, and learning.

Take ownership of their learning - authentic assessments foster student ownership and autonomy. Students develop scholarship and a commitment to life-long learning through participation in authentic assessments.

Leadership - authentic assessments foster leadership, professionalism, and decision-making skills as students self-direct their learning and performance.

Citizenship and empathy - in many cases, authentic assessments ask students to reflect on an audience, end-user, or global community when solving a problem or designing a product. These experiences help to foster citizenship and empathy.

Considerations for Authentic Assessments
There are several variables that you should consider as you begin to design an authentic assessment:

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The education and experience level of students - consider how you will support students who may not have the professional skills yet to complete the authentic tasks (see the Student Success during Authentic Assessments in the HOW section of this guide).

The subjectivity of authenticity - consider how you will ensure that the designed assessment is authentic to the students. Please note that authenticity is subjective in nature; this means that what one person views as authentic might not be regarded the same by another (see the Elements of Authentic Assessments in the WHAT section of this guide for ways to make your assessment more authentic). Will you provide students with an opportunity to give you feedback to improve authenticity? Will you engage with practitioners in the field to ensure the authenticity of scenarios, problems, or prompts?

Complexity - consider how you will ensure that the assessment's level of complexity is aligned to the learning objectives, course outcomes, and real-world situation, problem, or field of study.

Instructor's role - consider how you will interact with students during the authentic assessment (see the Student Success during Authentic Assessments in the HOW section of this guide). How will you ensure that your role supports the education and experience level of your students? Will you provide guidance, facilitation, or direct instruction during the authentic assessment?

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Student ownership and choice - consider what level of student responsibility and choice that will be present in the authentic assessment. Will students have minimal responsibility if you are using direct instruction, or will the students have higher levels of responsibility if you are guiding student-directed inquiry? Will students have the opportunity to choose how they will demonstrate their learning with a final product or performance?

Formative feedback - consider how students will receive formative feedback during the authentic assessment. Who will provide the formative feedback (instructor, TA, peers, or self)?

Manageability - consider the manageability of the authentic assessment regarding class size and course modality.

In large class sizes consider incorporating authentic assessments through partner or group work to reduce grading and feedback time as well as encourage communication and collaboration skills of students.

In online courses consider incorporating asynchronous peer review to provide opportunities for student interaction and feedback.

Alignment of assessments and instruction - consider how you will utilize authentic learning instruction to support student achievement in authentic assessments. For example, if using design-based learning during a group assignment then consider utilizing design thinking during your lectures and activities.

There are numerous types of products and performances to choose from when designing an authentic assessment. This is not an all-encompassing list of authentic products or performances, but more of a starting point for ideas. Instructors should also consider allowing students or groups to brainstorm ideas for products or performances and self-select a format.

Writing for an Actual Audience

Performances

Design of Products

Creation of Products

Other Types

A well-planned and communicated authentic assessment will help improve student performance and student satisfaction during the authentic assessment.

Communication of Authentic Assessments

Expectations and Grading for Authentic Assessments

Facilitation and Guidance during Authentic Assessments

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Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence

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Authentic assessments involve the application of knowledge and skills in real-world situations, scenarios, or problems. Authentic assessments create a student-centered learning experience by providing students opportunities to problem-solve, inquire, and create new knowledge and meaning.

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Formative assessment

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work

help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic

submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture

turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

CONTACT US to talk with an Eberly colleague in person!

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Formative vs Summative Assessment - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University