Description
It is no secret that meeting the AYP goals mandated by NCLB is a considerable challenge for many educators. Even some of the wealthiest, highest-performing schools and districts have not been able to make enough annual yearly progress with some of their student subgroups. Faced with decreased funds and other potential penalties, school leaders are scrambling to find new education models to significantly and quickly raise achievement levels of academically struggling students. However, even the most highly-touted school reform guides do not to include classroom practices and the most prestigious curriculum-instructional programs do not address infrastructure issues which can determine success or failure. Concerned that many districts will fall short in their efforts to improve student performance using imbalanced approaches, the authors present a comprehensive, three-pronged approach for raising achievement levels. This resource shows school and district leaders how to begin a strong overall reform project by first incorporating the following essential elements: standards-based curriculum, best practice techniques for instruction delivery and assessment and a series of capacity-building processes to integrate reforms into the daily operation of each school Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Our Journey Through School Reform Enter Instructional Design The Purpose for This Book The Five Parts Who Should Buy This Book Part I. School Reform Is All About What Happens in the Classroom 1. Instructional Design as the Catalyst for Successful School Reform The Eight Core Elements of Successful School Reform How Does Instructional Design Integrate With Successful School Reform? Three-Year Time Frame 2. Performance Indicators: The Passkey to Standards-Based Curriculum What’s in the Name? The Criteria for Valid Performance Indicators How the Standards Are Organized Not Classroom Ready, but That’s Okay Using Standards to Strengthen the Learning Culture and Increase Expectations The Process of Developing Performance Indicators Frequently Asked Questions and Related Issues What to Do During the Pilot of Performance Indicators “Are We There Yet?” Summary Part II. Planning 3. Curriculum Mapping Not a New Concept Features and Physical Layout of the Curriculum Map The Instructional Design Aproach to Curriculum Mapping Teacher-Administrator Accountability Frequently Asked Questions About the Curriculum Mapping Process Ensuring a Successful Rollout of the Curriculum Maps The Three-Year Time Frame 4. Unit Planning: Rationale and Format Introduction The Unit Plan Format for Instructional Design Considerations in Developing Unit Plans Frequently Asked Questions About Unit Plans The Three-Year Time Frame Part III. Best Practices in Unit Planning and Delivery 5. Unit Planning: Motivation and Information Introduction Motivation Information Bloom’s Taxonomy Summary 6. Unit Planning: Learning Constructs Introduction Organizational Patterns Writing Summary Note Taking Math-Problem Analysis and Problem Solving Vocabulary and Context Clues Graphic Organizers Levels of Questioning Similarities and Differences Summary 7. Unit Planning: Delivery Strategies Introduction Lecture or Explanation Demonstration Guided Discussion Inquiry, or Formulating and Testing Hypotheses Learning Circles Socratic Seminar Action Research Advance Organizer Summary Part IV. Assessment 8. Unit Planning: Assessment and Culmination Introduction Assessment Culmination Summary Part V. Capacity-Building 9. Capacity-Building to Integrate Classroom Reform Into the Deep Culture of Each School Introduction Benchmarking How the Data Should Be Used by Teachers and Administrators Building Leadership Teams Administrative Stewardship Collaborative Observations Summary Appendix A: Ohio Summary of Results Appendix B: River Bend Local Schools Appendix C: Various Methods to Determine Mastery of Performance Indicators Selcted References Index
