Below is the list of questions taken from the Manchester School Board’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting from August 27,2013 along with their responses. Note: We have presented these as received. We have undertaken no edits. Assistant Superintendent David Ryan is responsible for providing the answers.
QUESTIONS RE COMMON CORE FROM C & I MEETING
Submitted to the Curriculum and Instruction Committee of the Manchester Board of School Committee
August 22, 2013
Feedback from the Manchester School District is in italics. In some cases resources are provided for the reader, and in no fashion were the questions edited for publication.
—Obviously you’re proceeding in your classrooms with common core but as far as formally adopting the, what if it doesn’t get adopted in November, the rules for common core? Then what? The Common Core State Standards, aligned with New Hampshire’s existing standards and renamed the New Hampshire College and Career Ready Standards, were adopted by the State of NH Board of Education on July 8, 2010. The school district will develop curriculum that helps students achieve the highest level of standards as approved by the Board of School Committee.
—Are the parents going to get feedback? Yes.
—Why are they doing this without authorization and with all of the money that is going to be spent? Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
–Are there plans on adding/changing the common core standards in an effort to improve them? If so, will the administration offer a detailed document so the public can see this? If not, why not? Over time standards will be improved through an ongoing state-led refinement process.
–What were the specific problems with the old NH standards (GLEs)? The CCSS are highly reflective of the NH GLEs and GSEs, provide higher levels of rigor, and comprise anchor standards that align more specifically to those skills necessary for success in any post-secondary experience.
–Are there other standards that are superior to common core and if so why not focus on aligning with those standards? If not, why not? The CCSS represent the highest standards to date in our nation.
–Are these standards internationally benchmarked? If so, which countries would you point to for a comparison? Please refer to www.achieve.org/international-benchmarking as well as www.corestandards.org/assets/0812BENCHMARKING.pdf
–Does the administration believe the academic standards used in the District should be the best? Yes.
–Will the teacher’s evaluation be tied to the standardized assessment? If so, by what percentage? The Manchester School District will continue to work with the New Hampshire Department of Education as well as the New Hampshire Task Force on Effective Teaching to develop the teacher evaluation system in the Manchester School District. More information is available at http://www.education.nh.gov/teaching/documents/phase2report-draft.pdf.
–What evidence exists that common core will lead to better results? The Common Core State Standards will be “fewer, clearer, and higher” than the typical state standards as well as internationally benchmarked and aligned with college and career expectations. To that end, the development process included the review and consideration of many sources, including research studies, existing standards from the U.S and abroad, and the professional judgment of teachers, content area experts, and college faculty. There is significant research on what students need to know and be able to do by the time they graduate from high school, and in reviewing the CCSS one will see that the standards provide the roadmap. The effect of the classroom teacher and a “guaranteed and viable curriculum” to lead to achieving high standards are the two primary factors in student success, something the Manchester School District aspires to in its work.
–Has anyone looked at or evaluated the new Smarter Balance Assessment sample questions? If so, do they believe the Smarter Balance Assessment is a good measurement tool for student proficiency in English and mathematics?
Yes. Please refer to www.smarterbalanced.org and sample some of the practice items and performance tasks.
–What is the total estimated cost to the School District to implement common core?
This question continues to be researched.
–Have they done any kind of cost/benefit analysis?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
–Are there any identified flaws with the English/math common core standards? If so, what is being done to correct those flaws? If not, has anyone in the District reached out to the two content experts on the Validation Committee to listen to their expert analysis and why they refused to sign off on the math and English standards?
The response to the first part of the question is there continues to be refinement of all of the standards as they are exercised and measured. The response to the second part of the question is no.
–Will the administration commit to releasing the assessment questions to the public after students complete the testing?
The SBAC is not the property of the Manchester School District and therefore will not have the authority to release any information prior to the consent of the consortium. When provided consent, however, the Manchester School District (as will all district in the state) will have the released items as their disposal.
What non-academic questions will be asked of the students on the new assessment?
Other than standard directory information asked for on previous assessments there are no non-academic questions.
–Will parents be able to opt their children out of the new assessment?
As the SBAC will measure the effectiveness of the new standards and manner by which the Manchester School District is helping improve student achievement, it is highly recommended that all students participate in the assessment. Please refer to http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XV/193-C/193-C-mrg.htm for more information.
–Will parents be able to see the non-academic questions prior to their children taking the assessment?
The SBAC is not the property of the Manchester School District and therefore will not have the authority to release any test information prior to the consent of the consortium.
–Will administrators support a policy that protects the privacy of the student and suggest a new policy to the Board?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
–How does the Administration plan on involving parents in the selection of textbooks/materials,
etc.?
The Manchester School District subscribes to BOSC Policy with reference to selection of course materials. Further, BOSC Policy Instruction 145 provides a process for exception of the use of specific materials as supported by NH RSA 186:11, IX-c.
–Is the School District ‘technology’ ready to implement CCSS and the new assessments? If not, how long will that take and how much money will that cost local taxpayers?
Please refer to the September 9, 2013 IT Committee at http://manchestercommunitytv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=65bf777d66b935cfc5d96fae0d0b8385
–What is the bandwidth capability of each school and have they run any tests to check the capacity? Please refer to the September 9, 2013 IT Committee at http://manchestercommunitytv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=65bf777d66b935cfc5d96fae0d0b8385
–If the bandwidth has not been tested, why not?
Please refer to the September 9, 2013 IT Committee at http://manchestercommunitytv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=65bf777d66b935cfc5d96fae0d0b8385
–What specific actions have been taken to protect the teachers and set them up for success?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
–Does the School District have the IT staff to handle technological demands?
Please refer to the September 9, 2013 IT Committee at http://manchestercommunitytv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=65bf777d66b935cfc5d96fae0d0b8385
–What specific adaptations and accommodations are being made for the special needs students?
Please refer to http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Accomodations-for-under-represented-students.pdf.
–How are the teachers aligning their curriculum to CCSS?
Teachers will work in grade level and content level teams to redesign their curriculum units so that students achieve at the highest level. This work will be a lengthy process and does not end as curriculum is constantly assessed and refined.
–Are there additional costs to adding the broadband for the District? If so, what is the cost?
Please refer to http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Accomodations-for-under-represented-students.pdf.
–What is the timeframe for adding broadband across all of the schools?
Please refer to http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Accomodations-for-under-represented-students.pdf.
–Schools began implementing CCSS 2012-2013, are there any findings that can be share?
Not at this time as there have been no formal assessments of the CCSS and will not be until May 2015.
–Are the CCSS definition of ‘college readiness’ consistent with the requirements needed to enter a four-year university in the University of New Hampshire system? If not, what will the District do to alleviate that problem?
“The National Assessment Governing Board defines preparedness as a subset of readiness: “Preparedness focuses on academic qualifications, which are measured by the NAEP. Readiness includes behavioral aspects of student performance—time management, persistence, and interpersonal skills, for example—which are not measured by NAEP.” (Technical Panel on 12th Grade Preparedness Research Final Report, 2009). For more information please refer to http://programs.ccsso.org/projects/Membership_Meetings/APF/documents/Defining_College_Career_Readiness.pdf
–Do you agree that if a student graduates from a school that follows the ‘college and career readiness standards’ that student will not be in need of remedial classes upon entering college?
There are several factors that contribute to a student’s success and limiting it to this criterion is not reasonable. Aspiring to college and career ready standards are a good place to start for any student who wishes to be successful beyond high school graduation.
–Will the District evaluate graduates to see if they were in need of remedial classes? If so, will that information be made available to parents?
Naviance and the National Student Clearinghouse are two accessible platforms upon which the Manchester School District can track high school graduates and their measures of success. Both avenues will be explored and weighed on their merits of providing effective data. As with other reports on the school district’s performance, the data culled from either platform will be available for public consumption.
If students are graduating in need of remedial classes, what then is the course of action? Will the District then need to fund new textbooks/curriculum, etc. to alleviate this problem?
No. Curriculum is in a constant state of refinement and will continue to be improved to help address these and other issues.
–Will administrators commit to holding a public hearing on how common core will be implemented in the District? If so, will they commit to presenting all information including information that is critical of common core so information is transparent to parents and residents?
The manner by which the CCSS will be implemented, as with other issues pertaining to curriculum, instruction and assessment (CIA) in the Manchester School District, will be available to the public through the Manchester School District website. As for other information described above, there exist communication models and platforms already in place for this purpose.
—Are we turning our elementary schools in Spanish as a second language classrooms?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—What data is going to be collected on the students from the common core? How will it be warehoused? The data from the annual assessment will be used to identify areas of strengths and challenges in our curriculum and instruction and help inform how to improve.
—Autonomy of teachers?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—To the questions presented by Ms. Sandblade, what is factual and what is fictional on those questions? Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—You want to work with the Board, is it a policy you want to work on or is the State mandating these kids take this test?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—If Joe Jones says he doesn’t want his child taking that test and he doesn’t believe in it and they’re not taking it, what happens to that child that day if they do go to school?
Assuming that the last part of this question was to read “does not go to school,” the student would be marked absent to note that the child is not present in school or at an approved school activity.
—Is that a factual statement or have the standards actually been developed and sent down by the State that we have to align our District with?
Please refer to http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/curriculum/index.htm
—What is it, House Bill #80, or whatever it is, that’s up there that they keep talking about that has to go through…….what is that that’s up there?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—There was a State law passed last year or the year before that allows parents to opt out of certain curriculum. How does that pertain to common core?
The Manchester School District subscribes to BOSC Policy with reference to selection of course materials. Further, BOSC Policy Instruction 145 provides a process for exception of the use of specific materials as supported by NH RSA 186:11, IX-c. CCSS are standards and not curriculum nor instructional materials.
—If I’m a parent and I say I don’t want my child involved in common core, what happens? Do we have to set up a separate curriculum for that student? What happens with that law?
The Manchester School District designs its curriculum to help its public school students achieve the academic standards that are in place. In terms or responding to the part of the question asking about “the law,” it cannot be answered without more detail about the context of the question and identification of “the law.”
—Some of the concerns that were brought up about the books that would be read, if a parent comes in and says ‘I object to my child reading that book’ what do we do? Give them an alternative book to read or how will that wok in the classroom?
The Manchester School District subscribes to BOSC Policy with reference to selection of course materials. Further, BOSC Policy Instruction 145 provides a process for exception of the use of specific materials as supported by NH RSA 186:11, IX-c. The selection of an alternative text would be done collaboratively so that the text would have a comparable Lexile band (level of text complexity).
—My question is if these books are going to help our teachers why isn’t the district offering these books to all the teachers?
The Manchester School District will work with school principals and teachers through an ongoing professional development system that instructs and informs all staff on the design of curriculum, implementation of the state standards, and expansion of an instructional repertoire. Professional staff will be provided with ample literature to read about these and other topics.
—There is one book in particular that she said was very helpful for her understanding and aligning the common core, is that something with professional development? Are we going to give our teachers the tools that are necessary to do their job?
The Manchester School District will work with school principals and teachers through an ongoing professional development system that instructs and informs all staff on the design of curriculum, implementation of the state standards, and expansion of an instructional repertoire. Professional staff will be provided with ample literature to read about these and other topics.
—Do you believe that the money we have for professional development is going to be enough to get the teachers up to speed on this?
Much of the expertise we need to provide high level professional development can be found within the Manchester School District. The organization of the professional development system is a critical component to the success of the district well before and after the inception of the CCSS, so this remains an ongoing priority at the current level of funding.
—How does a teacher get 33 students up to speed by the time they have to leave the 2nd grade or the 4th grade or whatever grade they’re in? Do you believe that this is going to help?
The Manchester School District is continuing to reduce the number of students in each classroom so that classroom teachers can spend the appropriate amount of time personalizing student learning.
—Who actually started this? If it’s such a good thing, why aren’t there some people taking credit for having conceived these ideas?
Please refer to http://www.corestandards.org/resources/frequently-asked-questions.
—What will happen if a student doesn’t achieve the kinds of things that are being said that students will achieve under common core? What will happen if they don’t achieve those ideals?
Students will have the same support as current students that receive intervention and remediation of concepts and skills not mastered within the first or second experience.
—And who will decide? Who decides when a student fails or doesn’t achieve? And more importantly, what then is done? If a student doesn’t achieve something, who comes in and says that student didn’t achieve it so now you must do this or that? Who?
The assessment of the standards will be measured by the SBAC while the student’s measure of academic performance will be measured by the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher, in concert with other teachers in the district, sets a level of expectation for mastery of subject content and skills through the assessments they administer to students. Assessments are both formative and summative and thereby continue to give the classroom teacher information about each student’s progress toward mastery.
—But aren’t these things that we could decide right here? Forget about what common core says, these things are so valuable, why weren’t we always doing it?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—Is there something that you could do or we could ourselves? What is there from common core that’s going to add something what we couldn’t already do ourselves?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—Who measures? Are you, we, going to measure the students’ achievement or is it someone from the outside that will be measuring?
The assessment of the standards will be measured by the SBAC while the student’s measure of academic performance will be measured by the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher, in concert with other teachers in the district, sets a level of expectation for mastery of subject content and skills through the assessments they administer to students. Assessments are both formative and summative and thereby continue to give the classroom teacher information about each student’s progress toward mastery.
—Is the Administration going to offer a public presentation to parents?
Yes. The Manchester School District will be developing an implementation timeline that includes a communication plan for all stakeholders.
—What is the cost associated with implementing the common core; technology, teacher training, etc.?
This question continues to be researched.
—What is the cost associated with not implementing common core? Is there a financial risk to not implementing?
There will always be a cost to improving student achievement regardless of the name or origin of the standards in place. As to how much improving student achievement costs is a question that continues to be researched.
—We have to take this to get the $21million? Is it our district or is it statewide with the $21 million and we get a portion of it? So, the District would lose out on the whole $21 million if we don’t accept common core? Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—What I want to make sure I understand is are those prescribed texts that are listed there or are they examples and how would a teacher be able to customize the list of books that a 2nd grade reader would be reading based on that child’s interest?
The texts in Appendix B of the CCSS are exemplar texts based upon levels of complexity and not content. The list of exemplar texts can be found at http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf. These texts remain examples. Teachers who choose to have students read other texts simply need to match levels of complexity according to Lexile bands.
—How are we going to know if we have succeeded? This is something that is a question we’ve been asking for a long time and I think that is something that we as a Board need to have some more broad-based data to understand if we were to implement say the grade 2 reading curriculum for a year. What’s the difference? What do we see?
The Manchester School District will continue to monitor growth using all sources of data available, including results from the NECAP and SBAC. Measuring the effectiveness of instructional programs such as a reading or math program is common and will continue to be assessed
—If we compare what the expectations are, let’s say with 2nd grade reading as an example, what is stated now versus the old GLEs, how vastly different are they? How different is it?
Please refer to http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/curriculum/documents/faq-ccrs.pdf.
—Are we implementing this is September or not?
The work of aligning our curriculum to the CCSS began in August as approved by the BOSC. The draft curriculum guides were developed by a team of teachers and administrators in the district and are posted in the Curriculum page of the Manchester School District website. Ongoing curriculum work is necessary at all levels and teachers are prepared to move forward with the full realignment.
—That’s been a sour subject around the Board since we implemented Everyday Math so is that part of the curriculum as far as how they’re going to align the 5th and 6th grade in math?
Question is unclear and cannot be answered at this time.
—Is the testing going to change where it’s going to follow that child so I’d be tested in the 3rd grade and I don’t know if they’re going to get tested in the 4th grade or how it would work so you can compare the same child instead of comparing 2 different individuals?
The SBAC is a computer-adaptive test and responds to the student’s level of performance. Students are assessed in Grades 3-8 and 11 and data from the assessments will be used to not only measure growth diagnostically for the student but also programmatically for the delivery of curriculum. Please refer to http://www.education.nh.gov/growth/index.htm for more information.
