Transcript Instructional Rounds As A System to Achieve Instructional Rigor in

Instructional Rounds As A System
Approach to Achieve Instructional
Rigor in Every Classroom & Every
School
August 9, 2013
Presented by Manolo C. Garcia, Principal
Edwin Markham Elementary School
Vacaville Unified School District
“What distinguishes professional learning
communities from support groups where teachers
mainly share ideas and offer encouragement is
their critical stance and commitment to
inquiry…teachers ask probing questions, invite
colleagues to observe and review their teaching
and their students’ learning, and hold out ideas
for discussion and debate.”
– Jonathon Saphier
RIGOR
“[38 High School Principals] tried to analyze these
[classroom demo] videos together, they rarely agreed on
what they thought instruction should look like – in
particular, they disagreed on what teachers and students
actually do in rigorous classrooms…one of their typical
activities was to rate the rigor in a classroom, on a scale
from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) after watching each video.
In nearly every case, there were as many principals who
would rate a classroom as 1 as who would rate the same
classroom a 5.”
Source: John E. Roberts, Instructional Rounds in Action (Harvard Education Press, 2012)
What is RIGOR?
• Hard/Difficult
• More Challenging
• Higher Levels of Blooms (Depth of Knowledge,
DOK)
Rigor is much more…
“Rigor is a quality of instruction that requires students
to construct meaning for themselves, impose structure
on information, integrate individual skills into
processes, operate within but at the outer edge of their
abilities, and apply what they learn in more than one
context and to unpredictable situations.”
Source: www.mindstepsinc.com/rigor/
Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Levels
Smarter Balanced Depth of
Knowledge Goals for Items
Current
Assessments (CST)
New SBAC
Assessments
Mathematics
ELA/Literacy
DOK3
DOK4
DOK3
DOK4
< 2%
0%
20%
2%
49%
21%
43%
25%
Source: Yuan & Le (2012); Herman & Linn (2013), from Linda Darling-Hammond Assembly
Testimony, 3.6.13
2007/2008
2008/2009
Learning
Walks
Data Analysis to
Collaboratively
Analyze and
Improve First
Good Teaching
2009/2010
Coaching
thru Lesson
Scripting
2010/2011
Universal
Access
Explicit Direct
Instruction (EDI)
& Excellence for
Every Learner
(ExcEL)
Lesson
Study Pt. 2
BoardMath
Lesson
Study Pt. 1
Our school’s journey…
Instructional
Rounds
Data Teams
2011/2012
2012/2013
What is Instructional Rounds?
A Collaborative Process
• Observe. Take notes on what you see and hear related
to the host school’s problem of practice.
• Describe. In teams, describe what you saw, using
specific, nonjudgmental language.
• Analyze. Look for patterns across classrooms, giving
names to categories and patterns.
• Predict. In light of your group’s evidence, predict what
students are learning.
• Next level of work. What should the school do or learn
next? What should the observers do or learn next?
Source: John E. Roberts, Instructional Rounds in Action (Harvard Education Press, 2012)
What Instructional Rounds is NOT
• NOT “Walkthroughs,” “Learning Walks,” or “Drive-bys”
– Rounds is descriptive, analytic, inferential
• NOT A Teacher Evaluation Tool
– No assessment of individual teachers
– Separate the person from the practice; focus on the practice
• NOT An Implementation Check
– Rounds focuses on patterns of practice, not compliance with
directives
• NOT Training for Supervision
– Rounds focuses on collective learning, rather than individual
supervisory practice
• NOT A Program or Project
– Rounds is a practice, designed to support an existing
improvement strategy at the school or system level
Source: John E. Roberts, Instructional Rounds in Action (Harvard Education Press, 2012)
Markham Elementary’s
Rounds Overview
Purpose
Participants
Parameters
Observer Function/Responsibility
Debriefing Rounds
Summarizing the Experience
Challenges to Implementing Rounds
“[Instructional Rounds]…disrupt the typical patterns of interaction
between adults in the schools. Disrupting these patterns activates
organizational problems that few school systems have any
experience in solving – problems that ultimately have to be solved
if they are to improve.”
•
•
•
•
The Problem of Frequency
The Problem of Symmetry
The Problem of Reciprocity
The Problem of (Not) Talking About Race
Source: John E. Roberts, Instructional Rounds in Action (Harvard Education Press, 2012)
References & Resources
Elizabeth A. City, Richard F. Elmore, Sarah E. Fiarman, and Lee Teitel, Instructional
Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning,
(Harvard Education Press, 2009)
John E. Roberts, Instructional Rounds in Action (Harvard Education Press, 2012)
Richard DuFour & Robert J. Marzano, Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and
Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement (Solution Tree Press, 2011)
www.mindstepsinc.com/rigor/
Networking Opportunity:
Manolo C. Garcia, Principal
Edwin Markham Elementary School
101 Markham Ave.
Vacaville, CA 95688
[email protected]
(707)453-6230 Ext. 106