MeTA musings

Members of the Iowa Department of Education’s Assessment Task Force have recommended that Iowa lawmakers adopt the Smarter Balanced Assessments as Iowa’s new state test for public and accredited nonpublic schools starting with the 2016-17 school year.  Iowa students are currently required to complete Iowa Assessments in grades 3-8 and 11 in math and reading to meet state and federal accountability laws. The Iowa Assessments (formerly Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and Iowa Tests of Educational Development) are developed by Iowa Testing Programs at the University of Iowa and used for various purposes in other states as well.

Why do we need new assessments?
"The Iowa Department of Education released a report in October 2013 that was commissioned in March 2013 to align the Iowa Assessments, Form E, to the Iowa Core/Common Core State Standards in Reading and Mathematics. The study compared Form E to a set of standards that were not used to develop Form E." (Source: Iowa Testing Programs)  Yes, you read that right: Our current state standards were not used to develop our current state accountability assessment!  The Iowa Department of Education commissioned a study to "determine the level of alignment between our Iowa Core standards and the reading and math portions of the Iowa Assessments in grades 3-8, 10 and 11."  The nearly two hundred page report released in October 2013 suggests it varies greatly by grade level ranging from under 50% to 100%.  To be fair, Iowa Testing Programs' response questions the study's methodology while acknowledging Form E was not designed to assess our current state standards.  In summary, Iowa school districts are currently in a predicament: we are required to teach state standards while being held accountable via assessments that were not designed to accurately measure the required standards.  

What are the Smarter Balanced Assessments? 
The Smarter Balanced Assessment system, initially designed to align with the Common Core ELA and math standards in grades 3-8 and 11—"includes both summative assessments for accountability purposes and optional interim assessments for instructional use—will use computer adaptive testing technologies to the greatest extent possible to provide meaningful feedback and actionable data that teachers and other educators can use to help students succeed." Smarter Balanced is one of two national assessments being developed to assess students on the common core. (The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is the competing assessment group some states have voluntarily joined.)  In addition to selected response (multiple choice) items, students will complete technology-enhanced items, constructed response items (non-multiple choice), and performance tasks.  Sample Smarter Balanced items and performance tasks are available online and the first operational testing in other states will begin in Spring 2015.

Nostalgia and economic impact: my first reaction
When I first read about the task force's recommendation I was a bit surprised.  I remember taking the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills as a third grade student at South Elementary.  We had to put prop special folders up on our desk to ensure classmates in our pod would not be able to see our answers.  We were required to use #2 pencils and to do our best filling in the bubbles as neatly as possible.  In a way, the Iowa Tests are as much a part of our state as attending the Iowa State Fair or picking up sweet corn in August along the road from a local farmer.   The Iowa Assessments are written by Iowans and administered to Iowa students annually.  Without a doubt, losing this contract would be a negative blow to Iowa Testing Programs at the University of Iowa and an economic hit to Iowa's Creative Corridor.  Like the Iowa Assessments or not, it may be hard for some Iowa educators to imagine administering an assessment that does not include the infamous introduction,

"You are now going to take a vocabulary test. Please find the section for Vocabulary on
page 3 of your answer document. (Pause). Now turn to page 1 in your test booklet. Please read the directions for this test silently while I read them aloud."

Oh, those were the days of sharpening #2 pencils and watching the clock closely to count down the remaining time left for each test!

Implications for Iowa school leaders
Nostalgia aside, school leaders should seriously begin thinking through some of the implications adopting the Smarter Balanced Assessments might have on their buildings/districts. A number of Iowa schools piloted the Smarter Balanced Assessments during the 2013-14 school year, however my understanding is that none of these buildings administered the entire battery of tests.  If Iowa legislators require the Smarter Balanced Assessments during the upcoming legislative session, several implementation questions come to mind for school leaders to consider:

• What assessments will students in grades 5, 8 and 11 complete in order to meet Iowa's statewide science assessment requirement? (Will we continue with the Iowa Assessments?  What about social studies, even though it is not required?)
• How will student "growth" be measured using the Iowa Assessments (past) and Smarter Balanced Assessments (future)?  We will be transitioning from "Not Proficient, Proficient and Highly Proficient" to Smarter Balanced Assessments' four achievement levels. (H/T Karen W.)
• Because the Smarter Balanced Assessments will all be eventually be administered online, what type of technology infrastructure (number of devices, bandwidth, etc.) will be needed?
• Will adequate funding be appropriated to school districts to purchase the Smarter Balanced Assessments?  The full suite of summative and interim assessments and the Digital Library on formative assessment is estimated to cost $27.30 per student.  This is compared to less than $10.00 per Iowa student for the Iowa Assessments.
• Because the Smarter Balanced Assessments must be administered during a twelve week window at the end of the school year, how will this impact schools who are used to administering the Iowa Assessments during the fall or midyear?
• How will schools realistically plan test schedules when the assessment is untimed? (Source pdf)
• Given the Smarter Balanced Assessments only measure the Common Core Standards and Iowa has added several additional standards to create the Iowa Core Essential Concepts and Skills, would this transition de-value our state's added standards? 
• How might any changes recommended by state standards task forces during the next several years align (or not) with the required state assessments? 

I subscribe to the Iowa Department of Education's YouTube channel and after listening to the November 2014 edition, I am thankful to have watched this episode.

Under Governor Branstand's Executive Order 83, Iowa will begin this fall regularly reviewing its state K-12 standards:

The review of science standards will be followed by reviews of the other parts of Iowa’s statewide standards, which cover social studies, mathematics, English language arts and 21st century skills. Each review will follow a similar format.

I have a lot more questions than answers about what this means for Iowa's schools right now.   Here are a few questions mulling through my mind:

• What impact might this science review have on Iowa's adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards?
  
• One of the selling points to Iowa educators after adopting state standards for the first time in 2008 (and later modifying math and ELA in 2010 to align with the Common Core) was that districts would be spending less time chasing standards documents and more time focusing on quality instruction.  If any of the content standards significantly change in the near future, school leaders around the state can expect to hear an outcry from classroom teachers...and rightly so, in my opinion.  How much will the standards change, if at all?
  
• Will this be an opportunity for our state's science, social studies and 21st century skills to move towards grade-level rather than grade-span standards?
  
• How might this review process (positively or negatively) influence the movement to create state fine arts standards? 

• What will the review process look like and what type of timeline will there be for each content area? (This question will likely be answered in the near future)
  
• How might this process influence the state's assessment task force charged in 2013 to "study the state’s assessment needs and to recommend a new state assessment for public and accredited nonpublic schools"? 
  
• ...and a likely political hot topic: How might this review process impact Iowa's current involvement with the Common Core State Standards?  Presumably, any significant changes to the Iowa's math and/or English Language Arts standards that come out of the review process would require Iowa to change its status as a Common Core state.  Why?  "To allow for some state-level customization, a provision in the voluntary adoption guidelines allows states to supplement the common core standards with state-specific standards, up to an additional 15 percent," however removing standards is not allows. (Source)

Iowa Core, Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards
Information I've gathered:

• The idea of statewide standards for Iowa's high school students started in 2005.  Between 2005 and 2008, the work expanded into K-8.  (Source)
• The original Iowa Core essential concepts and skills included math, literacy, science, social studies and 21st century skills.  The skills were broken down into grade bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12).  

For the first time, students in Marshalltown were expected to learn the same things as the students in Mason City.  Iowa was the last state in the country to adopt state standards.

• In 2009, drafts of the common core state standards were released to the public.  These math and literacy standards were a result of a movement initiated by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers (Source)

• The State Board of Education unanimously approved the common core state standards in fall 2010.  Math and literacy standards previously in the Iowa Core essential concepts and skills were replaced by **grade-level standards shared by forty-four other states.  

In summary, Iowa currently has a mix of standards that are state specific and standards other states have also voluntarily adopted.  All of these standards are collectively referred to as the Iowa Core Essential Concepts and Skills.  

• Math: Common Core State Standards (with several additions), **grade-specific
• Literacy: Common Core State Standards (with a few additions) **grade-specific
• Science:  state-specific (however, a task force has recommended Iowa adopts the Next Generation Science Standards), grade bands
• Social Studies: state-specific, grade bands
• 21st century skills: state-specific, grade bands

Smarter Balanced Assessments
Information I've gathered:

• Iowa Code currently requires Iowa students to take math, science and literacy Iowa Assessments (formerly Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and Iowa Tests of Educational Development) in various grade levels for federal and state accountability requirements. 
• A task force will/may suggest requirements for a new assessment that is better aligned to state standards. 
• Iowa is a member state of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).  The Smarter Balanced Assessments are one of two assessments (PARCC is the other) currently being created to assess the common core math and literacy standards.  
• Any new assessment(s) resulting from the task force's recommendations could be Smarter Balanced Assessments, a new form of Iowa Assessments or something totally different (or we could stick with current Iowa Assessments Form E.)  (See Twitter conversation below)
• The task force is scheduled to meet through at least August 2014.
• Smarter Balanced Assessments will be ready for 2014-15, so Iowa school districts would need to know at minimum prior to the beginning of the school year if they were required to use it.  

In October, I had a Twitter conversation about the Smarter Balanced Assessments with Dr. Brad Buck, Director of the Iowa Department of Education.



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**CCSS math standards are broken down by grade level in grades K-8, however they are grouped together as one 9-12 grade band.  CCSS literacy standards are broken down by grade level in grades K-8, however 9-10 and 11-12 are grouped together as grade bands rather than by individual grades. 

Here in Iowa, we're fairly new to the "state standards" movement.  We've jumped on board the math and literacy common core movement and have standards for science, social studies and 21st century skills.

One of my roles as district curriculum lead is to help teachers better understand the connections between curriculum, instruction and assessment and how it all relates to state and federal accountability.   We have a few upcoming deadlines in which the state of Iowa is requiring all school districts to move away from historically locally created standards and benchmarks in order to adopt the new state standards.  Like it or not, gone are the days of local control in the area of what each student should know and be able to do!   With this shift comes a bit of anxiety (and rightly so, in my opinion) on the part of teachers across the state.  It may sound something like...

"Oh, no!  I used to teach ________ in Algebra II, now I have to teach it in Algebra 1.  Help!!!"

or

"Have you read the standards?  How will I ever have time to teach all of this content?"

Here are my typical responses:

• There is no such thing as the "Common Core Police,"at least literally speaking. The department of education will not be sending people around the state to visit classrooms for the purpose of ensuring every single state standard is taught.  The "teeth" I've seen in other states (and it appears to be the way Iowa is headed as well) comes from the state assessments tied to the standards.
• Given that assessments are the built-in accountability measure for ensuring students learn the state standards, it is reasonable to suggest that not all state standards will be assessed on the standardized tests.  Time constraints realistically limit the number of standards that can be assessed on these instruments.

"If the state standards are truly to be the basis for all instruction in the state, then educators must decide which standards at each grade level are the most critical to be taught.  Since teachers cannot possibly teach all the state standards, let's decide on the state standards that students absolutely must learn and then do everything to ensure students learn these identified standards" (Crawford, 2011, p. 16)

I want to begin by first talking a little about my out of state teaching experience and what was taught there. What was taught there was what was mandated by legislation, Kentucky Core Content. For every grade level there were a set of standards that were supposed to be taught. In addition to the standard there was also key vocabulary, suggested activities, and DOK (depth of knowledge) levels. As a first year teacher I really appreciated this resource. I didn't have to worry about what I was teaching but instead could focus all of my attention on how I was teaching it. This experience helped me grow as an educator and I discovered that what I was teaching wasn't always as important as how I was teaching it. What I was being told to teach was very similar to what gets taught here in Iowa. 

When I moved back to Iowa and began teaching here my focus switched from how I was teaching to what I was teaching, which I found to be a pretty big waste of my time. Since I have been back over half of the in-services I have attended have focused on what we are teaching. We argue, we debate, feelings are hurt, people are mad and nothing ever gets accomplished. I have been involved in curriculum mapping in both districts I have taught in and feel that for the most part it has been a total waste of time. What if instead of fighting about what we were teaching we were working on teaching it in effective ways. WOW, what a concept. If the Iowa Core isn't implemented I will be very disappointed. Tell me what to teach and I will make sure that I teach it to the best of my ability.
Dr. Pace asked what influences what gets taught and I wish I could say, what students need, what benefits them the most, and what they are interested in, but I can't. What gets taught for many classrooms is what is in the textbook, what the teacher has taught for the past 20 years, what is interesting to the teacher, and sometimes what is easy. Oh, and if anybody asks what the standards say. If only we could find where we put them. I don't mean to be cynical but this is an area of great frustration for me. 
For other classrooms this isn't the case. What gets taught often times is what we are currently learning about as a staff through professional development. What teachers feel students need to know, based on assessments. What the standards say should be taught. What resources are available to teachers and students and what various stakeholders feel is important.
In my classroom I try to follow the districts' standards and benchmarks however, in the area of science this can be difficult because these concepts and ideas are being taught in fourth grade and sometimes even third grade. I try very hard to let the students' questions and interests help guide what gets taught. For science, I use an inquiry based approach to teaching and learning. I love it and so do the students. 

With so much talk about the upcoming education summit here in Iowa, the number of Iowa educators spending time on Twitter this summer seems to be growing exponentially.  I'm a big fan of connecting with educators from around the globe via social media tools, but there's something special about keeping up with what's going on at the state level.  How might a person interested in connecting with other Iowa educators keep up or get started?  Here are a few tips that have worked for me.

Follow one of the many Iowa education hashtags.

• #iowacore is used by scores of teachers, administrators and education agency consultants to talk about ideas, articles and outcomes related to this statewide initiative involving state standards, pedagogy, leadership and community connections.
• #iowa1to1 is popular with nearly 10% of the school districts in the state implementing a 1:1 student computer initiative.
• #IaCopi is relatively new and is a way for educators to track work in the Iowa Communities of Practice and Innovation program that started this summer. 
• #iowatl is a hashtag used by forward thinking teacher-librarians.  
• #iaedsummit will heat up in Iowa later in July once the summit kicks off in Des Moines.
• #iaedfuture tracks ideas related to the governor's world class schools proposed legislation

I'm not a big fan of #edchat.  Personally, I think it's difficult to solve the education system's problems in 140 characters and given so many different local contexts.  This isn't to say I think it isn't for everyone, but it's just not for me.

At the request of some folks in Iowa, I've helped start a weekly #iowacore chat.  Each week, we discuss a topic related to a statewide initiative called the "Iowa Core."  I view this time as an hour of information gathering.  We recently talked about Outcome 6, so I gathered some resources to share with the group.   Because the Iowa Core has created a common language around the "what" and "how" of Iowa schools, it's closing the geographical gap for us here in the heartland.  I can learn about the processes and current improvement goals from schools in all corners of the state.  I get most excited about the opportunity to connect outside of the hour reserved each week to talk about Iowa Core.  Whether it's emailing Bridgette or Brad a day later or Skyping with Karl the next week, there's more to #iowacore than the 140 character conversations (although our future Department of Ed. head provided some memorable humor!) because these are colleagues I can count on at anytime to share what's working in their district up the road or across the state.

Once upon a time, Iowa districts created their own local standards and benchmarks.  While local control seemed like a good idea, it was a potential headache for curriculum directors and teams to agree on what should be taught at each grade level and discipline.  Iowa is a little "behind the times" when it comes to embracing statewide content standards....until recently.

Educators are deeply entrenching themselves in the Iowa Core (that is unless, it's dropped, but that's a different topic of discussion) as a result of a new state mandate that includes both what and how.  In other words, Iowa school districts now have a framework for what essential skills and concepts all students should learn and how the instruction should happen:

Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, each district was required to complete a "self study" (more information here) based on the six outcomes of the Iowa Core.  This permits districts to annually review their work in each of the six areas.  Each local education agency chooses which outcome(s) to focus on in a given year, however several alignment-related deadlines have been mandated by the legislature.

In general, I think the Iowa Core is a really great idea and am thrilled to be leading my district's professional development right now rather than several years ago when it seemed to be raining initiatives in Iowa.  I do have a bone to pick with Outcome 6 and that's the reason I'm writing this post.  Before the nasty comments come in, I should say that I've previously shared this information with two members of the Iowa Core statewide network, so in my opinion, this is not an unfair public rant. :)

The purpose of outcome six is...

Educators implement effective instructional practices to ensure high levels of learning for each and every student.

Sounds good so far.  When digging deeper into the self study for outcome six, things get a little shaky.  Target 6a says:

Educators deepen their understanding of the Iowa Core’s characteristics of effective instruction through collaborative teams.

and the action steps are...

• 6.a.1 - Educators form and maintain collaborative teams.
• 6.a.2  - Educators acquire awareness of the characteristics of effective instruction.
• 6.a.3  - Educators engage in dialogue about practices that support the characteristics of effective instruction. 
• 6.a.4 - Leadership Team facilitates a process to determine the degree to which practices that align with the characteristics of effective instruction are in place in classroom instruction. 

Target 6b says:

Educators study and implement instructional practices that support the characteristics of effective instruction.

and the action steps are...

• 6.b.1 - Leadership Team makes decisions about how to strengthen the district/building professional development plans to address the Iowa Core. (See Outcome 5.)
• 6.b.2 - Educators engage in professional development that follows the Iowa Professional Development Model (IPDM) to implement instructional strategies, models, and/or approaches supportive of the characteristics of effective instruction (see Outcome 5).
• 6.b.3 - Educators implement with fidelity selected instructional strategies, models, or approaches that demonstrate the characteristics of effective instruction.

To summarize, teachers should be forming and maintaing collaborative teams so that they can deepen their understanding of the Iowa Core's characteristics of effective instruction. It all sounded fine and dandy until I took a step back and compared this to what I knew about Rick and Becky DuFour's professional learning communities (pdf) philosophy.  The three big ideas of a professional learning communities are....

1. Focus on learning. (What do we want students to learn? How will we know if they have learned? What will we do if they already know it?)
2. Build a collaborative culture. (Teachers working together are more effective when working in isolation)
3. Focus on results. (Results rather than intentions.  Results are based on student learning)

 Have I taught if my students haven't learned?

Any of this make sense?

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Thanks to everyone who was able to make the first #iowacore chat on Twitter.  Our next one will take place on Monday, January 17, 2011.  Your input is appreciated to set the time and topic.