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Local Accountability Professional Development Series

After two years, the percentage of Mesquite eighth graders meeting or exceeding the standards in writing rose from 31% to 84%.

WestEd's Local Accountability Professional Development Series (LAPDS) has expanded to meet the needs of district curriculum committees and school faculties. The training services have been customized to meet the accountability needs of school districts as well as of individual schools.

District Training

Identifying and Using Essential Standards

Building Benchmark Assessments

Reviewing Benchmark Assessment Items

Monitoring Student Achievement (District Supervisors)

School Training

Using Data for Standards-Based Instruction

Monitoring Student Achievement (School Administrators)

Unpacking Standards

Developing Instructional Calendars and Curriculum Mapping

Developing Common Formative Assessments

Implementing Reteach and Enrichment Strategic Intervention

LAPDS' training services are based on research in mastery learning theory and the alignment of curriculum, lesson planning, instruction, and assessment. This alignment provides students with specific, immediate feedback and multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency of the academic standards. LAPDS training builds capacity of the district and/or school leadership team to fully implement the accountability system to improve student achievement rapidly. The rigor of the standards and assessments developed at the district and schools, using the LAPDS system, aligns with the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) item specifications and the blueprints of the district or school's state assessment.

Who Should Attend

District Training
A district leadership team made up of school district leaders in Curriculum and assessment, principals, and subject-matter experts in English language arts and mathematics. This team will set the district's essential content and performance standards and work with teachers toward data-driven, differentiated instruction.
School Training
Grade-level groups or subject teams who will work together to collaborate on setting the instructional calendar and develop common formative assessments for the same subject. In addition, site administrators and all support staff who work in classrooms should attend with the appropriate grade level/subject groups.

Goals

Agreement on district essential standards for all subjects and grade levels
Agreement on proficiency levels for each subject area, K-12, to align with the state definition of "proficient"
Agreement on district standards-based assessments to evaluate student progress toward proficiency
Development of a scope and sequence for each subject and grade level to ensure alignment with essential standards
Development of a system of standards-based lesson planning that draws on data from multiple measures, allowing teachers to adapt lessons to student needs
Agreement on the pacing and performance levels of essential standards in an instructional calendar
Agreement on common formative assessments to place students in intervention classes.

What You Learn

District Training
Identifying and Using Essential Standards (Module 1)

This training is for a district curriculum committee that recommends the academic standards that will be the foundation for a "minimum guaranteed curriculum" to be learned by all students in the district. The training helps the committee learn how to identify the standards that should be classified as essential for all students. The committee organizes the standards into an assessment calendar for the district's use in building a blueprint for district benchmark assessments. Once the committee has the assessment calendar in place, grade-level subcommittees use the instructional materials adopted by the district to create a "materials map," which helps teachers find resources to teach the essential standards. Finally, the committee develops key messages to communicate the implementation plan for essential standards and benchmark assessments in the district.

Building Benchmark Assessments (Module 2)

This training is for a district curriculum and assessment committee that develops the blueprint for the district benchmark assessments, identifies and/or reviews benchmark assessment items, and reviews the final drafts of district benchmark assessments. The training helps the committee learn how to define the uses of the assessment data based on the meaningfulness of the data to teachers. The committee then builds a blueprint for the benchmark assessment that is reliable, valid, and meaningful. The committee screens all assessment items to ensure that the rigor of the assessment is aligned with the rigor of both the state assessment and NAEP item specifications.

Reviewing Benchmark Assessment Items (Module 2)

This training is for a district curriculum and assessment committee that has the responsibility to review the items on current district benchmark assessments to audit the alignment, validity, and meaningfulness of the items to classroom teachers. The training helps the committee learn about the specifications of the state assessment, and how the district benchmark should be similar and how it should be different to accomplish the purpose of the district and inform classroom instruction. Committee members will learn about the NAEP specifications and the federal requirements that all state assessment systems align with NAEP to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind. They also will learn how to audit the curriculum taught in the district to analyze the validity of the assessment items used by the district, and how to analyze the item responses to ensure that the responses provide information to classroom teachers about the misunderstandings of students demonstrated by an incorrect response.

Monitoring Student Achievement: District Supervisors (Module 4)

This training is for district supervisors who evaluate school leadership staff. The training will help the supervisors develop a monitoring protocol for school administrators based on the Local Accountability Implementation Rubric for Standards, Assessments, and Using and Reporting Results. LAPDS staff will provide follow-up coaching for district supervisors to build their capacity to motivate and support school administrators to fully implement the Local Accountability System to help all students succeed.
School Training
Using Data for Standards-Based Instruction (Module 3)

This training is for school grade-level or subject teams that plan lessons together in collaborative groups. The training will help teachers and administrators understand the research base for mastery learning and the impact of mastery objectives on the effectiveness of the lesson plan. During the training, the teams will develop a mastery lesson plan template and sample lessons for at least three essential state standards. Teachers will learn about model products to help the student understand the performance expectations of the teacher. Teachers will develop differentiated instruction activities and lesson plans using multiple modalities for formative assessments. Using classroom formative assessment data, teachers will develop reteach and enrichment lessons to provide more opportunities for students to improve their academic achievement by at least one performance level.

Monitoring Student Achievement: School Administrators (Module 4)

This training will help school administrators learn how to observe classroom instruction and look for evidence of mastery lesson plans and standards-based instruction. LAPDS consultants will make observations with school administrators with an LAPDS Classroom Observation Tool to record the evidence of 1) mastery objectives for the lesson, 2) the standard and performance levels expected and understood by all students, and 3) the students using model products to help them in guided practice and independent practice. School administrators will learn how to align the results from district benchmark assessments with classroom observation data and student grades to provide a clear picture of student learning.

Unpacking Standards (Module 5)

This training will help classroom teachers and administrators learn more about the concepts and skills described in state content standards. They will learn to break down the standards statements into component parts: concepts, skills, knowledge process, and cognitive process. After understanding the components of the standard, teachers will develop the overarching "Big Idea" for the standard to help students develop an understanding of the concepts and skills that will endure beyond the classroom. Finally, teachers will develop "Essential Questions" to help the student understand how the knowledge of the standard will be applied in everyday life.

Developing Instructional Calendars and Curriculum Mapping (Module 5)

This training will help classroom teachers and administrators learn how to organize the implementation of the essential standards so that students have the opportunity to master the standards with immediate, specific feedback to improve their performance. Teachers put the start date and end date for mastery lessons for a specific standard on the calendar. They agree on the end date to give the students a common formative assessment to evaluate each student's performance. Teachers share the results of this assessment with the grade level/subject team. They schedule immediate reteach and enrichment lessons on the standard over the next few days in strategic intervention classes.

In addition, teachers learn how to keep a journal of the successes and challenges of teaching the standards by making a curriculum map throughout the year. They keep a journal of both the time spent on classroom instruction for each standard and student performance on the assignments from the lessons related to the standard. Journal notes are shared at the grade-level or subject-team meeting to compare the experience of all teachers teaching the same curriculum using the same instructional calendar. Teachers consider the common formative assessment results compared to the time spent teaching the standard when they adjust the instructional calendar for the following school year.

Developing Common Formative Assessments (Module 6)

This training will help classroom teachers develop common formative assessments. Doing so will help them evaluate student mastery of the essential standards. Teachers learn to develop assessments that are reliable, valid, and meaningful. They use the model products and sample items from state assessments to provide guidance for the rigor and type of items most appropriate to evaluate student learning. Teachers learn to use the results from the assessments to re-group students for specific feedback to address misunderstandings and gaps in foundational skills. Teachers also learn to develop lessons to address student needs and improve student learning by at least one performance level after reteach or enrichment instruction.

Implementing Reteach and Enrichment Strategic Intervention (Module 6)

This training will help grade-level or subject teams and school administrators develop strategic intervention classes based on the mastery learning theory of immediate, specific feedback. The LAPDS Intervention Program is designed to meet the requirements for an effective Responsiveness-to- Intervention (RtI) strategic intervention. It ensures that the curriculum in the strategic intervention classes teaches the same grade-level standards as in the core curriculum. Teachers and administrators learn to collaborate to re-group students based on the results of the common formative assessment for intervention classes.

The curriculum in these intervention classes is developed collaboratively by the team of teachers and includes enrichment lessons, proficient lessons, and foundation lessons on a specific standard. The students are grouped for instruction based on their performance on a common formative assessment. Students with similar performance are grouped together for intervention lessons. The training helps teachers and administrators develop the logistics and implementation plans to set up and operate the LAPDS Intervention Program.

Who Facilitates Your Learning

LAPDS consultants have extensive experience in curriculum, assessment, standards-based instruction, and leadership at the school, district, and state levels. They customize the training program to fit the needs of the district and/or school to implement high-quality professional development for teachers and administrators.

Research and Resources

Core works in standards and accountability by Douglas Reeves and Grant Wiggins are the foundation of this professional development. When districts focus on their self-identified "essential" standards — the shorter list to which all teachers and students are held accountable — chances improve that students will learn the standards to a proficient level (Reeves, 2001). Backwards planning using state, local, and formative classroom assessment data is the best way for teachers to know which standards and which students need more attention (Wiggins, 1998).

Each module has specially designed workshop materials containing relevant research, activities to apply the research, and processes to develop the district list of "essential" standards, benchmark assessments, and assessment calendar. In addition the district receives key resources developed by the New England Comprehensive Assistance Center, Robert J. Marzano, and Kate Jamentz.

Cost for the Training

The cost for each day of service per consultant is $3,220 including consulting services, materials, and travel. The training and coaching services will be developed specifically for each district/school based on an assessment of needs. LAPDS staff will recommend a program of training that will build the capacity of the district/school to fully implement the local accountability system.

Sample District Program (available for schools also)

Identifying Standards — 2 days
Benchmark Assessments — 3 days
Item Review — 3 days
Monitoring Student Achievement — 2 days

Sample School Program

Standards-Based Instruction — 3 days
Monitoring Student Achievement — 2 days
Unpacking Standards — 2 days
Instructional Calendars — 2 days
Common Formative Assessments — 3 days
Reteach and Enrichment Intervention Classes — 2 days