5353 Final Exam

Which two factors most influence a guaranteed and viable curriculum?

Time and opportunity to learn

Gathering data on state standards and assessments allows teachers to be able to answer which two questions regarding what is expected of their students?

What content are students expected to master, and how will that mastery be measured?

Mr. Kyle is the new principal at Matthews Middle School, where teachers have worked tirelessly for years and are frustrated by the lack of student progress. At his previous school, Mr. Kyle witnessed the powerful impact of a collaborative, focused team of teachers on student achievement. He wants to provide an opportunity for the teachers at Matthews to develop such collaboration and teamwork. The teachers have mapped out all of the required skills their students need to master on a year-long calendar. Prerequisite skills have been carefully considered. The challenge of scheduling instruction for the large number of standards and skills appears to be almost impossible. Mr. Kyle should:

show the teachers how to integrate instruction across content areas so that more than one standard or skill can be taught at a time.

Mr. Kyle is the new principal at Matthews Middle School, where teachers have worked tirelessly for years and are frustrated by the lack of student progress. At his previous school, Mr. Kyle witnessed the powerful impact of a collaborative, focused team of teachers on student achievement. He wants to provide an opportunity for the teachers at Matthews to develop such collaboration and teamwork. Several of the fourth-grade teachers have worked together for more than five years. They have built traditions and activities that both families and students enjoy. Mr. Kyle suspects that some of these traditions and activities have little direct impact on student achievement. Mr. Kyle should:

work with teachers to identify current traditions and activities that impact student achievement and those that don't.

What should serve as the basis for decision making in a school?

Accurate analysis of data

A group of four seventh-grade science teachers is collaborating on a common assessment schedule to implement in their classrooms. They decide to administer exams each Thursday that include 25 multiple-choice items and two essays aligned with the standard(s) addressed in class that week. They then plan to use the exam results as they collectively plan their lessons for the following week. After collecting the results of the first exam, what should the teachers do?

Analyze exam items that students struggled with, and identify strategies for improving student learning of the topic.

According to Marzano, what is a viable curriculum?

Curriculum that can be realistically taught in the time available

What three components must be aligned to effectively establish a standards-based learning environment?

Curriculum, instruction, and assessment

Mr. Kyle is the new principal at Matthews Middle School, where teachers have worked tirelessly for years and are frustrated by the lack of student progress. At his previous school, Mr. Kyle witnessed the powerful impact of a collaborative, focused team of teachers on student achievement. He wants to provide an opportunity for the teachers at Matthews to develop such collaboration and teamwork. Ms. Kelly is a new, first-year teacher on the Matthews Middle School staff. She is an expert in her content knowledge, but her classroom management skills are still developing. Her students appear to be making progress, but at certain times of the day, they are not on task as much as they should be. What evidence-based strategy should Mr. Kyle use to help Ms. Kelly as a new teacher improve her classroom management skills?

Encourage the experienced teachers to actively involve Ms. Kelly in their professional learning community and provide mentoring on classroom management.

Mrs. Rubio teaches fifth-grade special education students. Many of her students receive mathematics instruction in the regular classroom. Mrs. Rubio's students do well on their regular classroom work, but they are receiving low scores on classroom assessments. How can Mrs. Rubio help her students improve their mathematics test scores?

Find ways to provide more opportunities to practice the skills they are learning in mathematics class.

A group of four seventh-grade science teachers is collaborating on a common assessment schedule to implement in their classrooms. They decide to administer ongoing exams each Thursday that include 25 multiple-choice items and two essays aligned with the standard(s) addressed in class that week. They then decide to use the exam results along with other similar diagnostic assessments as they collectively plan and modify their lessons for the following week. According to the presentations, what type of common assessment should the teachers design?

Formative assessments

Mr. Kyle is the new principal at Matthews Middle School, where teachers have worked tirelessly for years and are frustrated by the lack of student progress. At his previous school, Mr. Kyle witnessed the powerful impact of a collaborative, focused team of teachers on student achievement. He wants to provide an opportunity for the teachers at Matthews to develop such collaboration and teamwork. Mr. Kyle focused his first faculty meeting on a discussion of student achievement at Matthews Middle School. He also engaged his faculty in a force field analysis. What was his purpose in using this activity at the faculty meeting?

Help the teachers brainstorm factors preventing student achievement

What does the term "unpacking a standard" mean?

Identifying the major ideas behind a standard

A group of four seventh-grade science teachers is collaborating on a common assessment schedule to implement in their classrooms. They decide to administer exams each Thursday that include 25 multiple-choice items and two essays aligned with the standard(s) addressed in class that week. They then plan to use the exam results as they collectively plan their lessons for the following week. Based on the recommendations in the Module 4 presentation, how can the 7th grade team make its common assessments more effective?

Include fewer multiple-choice items, and eliminate the essay items.

Sharing educational standards and learning content with students aids them in knowing expectations of what they must know and be able to do to:

achieve mastery of the standards.

Mr. Kyle is the new principal at Matthews Middle School, where teachers have worked tirelessly for years and are frustrated by the lack of student progress. At his previous school, Mr. Kyle witnessed the powerful impact of a collaborative, focused team of teachers on student achievement. He wants to provide an opportunity for the teachers at Matthews to develop such collaboration and teamwork. The teachers have many ideas about how to improve student achievement, and they are eager to get started. Before developing their action plan, Mr. Kyle should ask the teachers to:

gather and analyze research that supports the strategies being suggested.

A primary reason for differentiating instruction is to:

help diverse groups of students meet high learning goals.

The primary goal of a force field analysis is to:

identify controllable factors that are preventing student achievement,

Content mandated by a state or district to be taught in a particular course or grade level is known as:

intended curricula.

Mr. Bailey is a new third-grade teacher. He is fairly familiar with the standards for his grade level, but he is unclear about what students are supposed to learn at the other grade levels. He wants to do his part to support the overall instructional goals of the school. Mr. Bailey should:

locate and study second-grade and fourth-grade academic standards to find out what is expected of his students before and after they are in his class.