Activity: Curriculum and Standardized Test Alignment

Description: Working alongside the math and literacy coaches, we worked with the
various grade levels to align their current curriculum to the benchmark testing that is
implemented three times a year within the county This alignment was done !ollowing
each testing cycle with all grade levels kindergarten through grade "
What went well#
Several things went well The !irst thing that went well was that the grade levels had to
look at the test So many times teachers give the test, get !rustrated with the test, and
never look at it again Since they had to sit down with us they had to look at the test and
they had to know the test
We were able to discuss trends that were observed throughout the grade level $n each
grade level we !ound that there were certain areas that were missing !rom the grade
level%s pacing guide and that teachers were not teaching because they did not realize they
were missing This was very eye opening !or the teachers because it caused them to
realized that the County pacing guides were not !oolproo! and that supplemental lessons
were necessary i! they were going to make sure to teach all standards ade&uately
Another thing that went very well is that this caused the grade levels to discuss the
standards and their curriculum This really opened the door !or true collaboration
amongst the grade levels Several o! the grade levels struggle with their ability to
collaborate and this opened the door to collaboration They were able to discuss what is
going well in their classroom and what is not Teachers were able to discuss why one
class did well with a particular standard while another class may not have done well
They discussed di!!erent strategies or di!!erent ways each teachers approached the
curriculum $t also allowed the teachers to realize how dis'ointed the curriculum may be
!rom the test and the standards in general
What did not#
The !irst !ew times that we went in to meet with the grade levels some o! the teachers !elt
like we went in to reprimand them The literacy and math coaches were the ones leading
the meetings and there were certain teachers that did not !eel like they were being
supported and they came into the meeting very de!ensive !rom the very start This
de!ensive attitude caused !or the atmosphere within the meeting to be negative( thus,
causing an unproductive meeting )uckily, we did not let the !irst meeting be the !inal
meeting We did go back and until we could break through and accomplish what needed
to be accomplished, but this took valuable time This could have been prevented had the
initial perceptions been di!!erent
*iven the chance to do it again, how would you do it better#
As $ look at the upcoming year $ de!initely think that we need to do things di!!erently $
think that we need to use last year%s tests to hit the ground running We do not need to
wait until a!ter the test to start aligning the curriculum to the standardized tests Since the
curriculum has not changed we would be able to do this *rade levels need to know what
they are teaching be!ore they start teaching They must have a road map o! where they
are going be!ore they start their trip+
The ne,t thing that we desperately need to do is to build relationships between our
coaches and our teachers This is going to be e,tremely important as we enter the -./01
/" school year because we are getting a new math coach and a new literacy coach
2inally, $ think it is important !or the teachers to come up with S3A4T goals or some
other kind o! goal !or our students based on the curriculum alignment The data needs to
driving our instruction and we need to know that we achieving our goals $n order to do
this, grade levels and5or individual teachers should set out develop goals !or students to
achieve