Grant Help Packet
Community and School Board Report
The team at Curriculum Associates is staying abreast of K–12 education and educational funding in California. In addition to ongoing conversations with district and school administrators and educators throughout the State, we have reviewed AB 85, AB 97, and other bills pertinent to the transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). We have also carefully reviewed the CDE’s CCSS Systems Implementation Plan and the requirements for school districts and charter schools around the recent enactment of the $1.25B Common Core Block Grant.
The attached Community and School Board Report template is intended to help administrators craft a plan that includes i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction as an integral component of this pivotal transition to the new standards. We created this help packet to:
· Assist you in understanding how i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction fits with the CCSS Systems Implementation Plan’s seven guiding strategies and supporting points
· Provide product narrative aligned with these overarching objectives, in a framework that facilitates and strengthens your presentation
How to Use the Narrative
Review the introduction and attachments and adapt them to fit your plan:
- The packet is structured as if you wrote it, so you want to be sure the voice aligns with the rest of your presentation.
- We anticipate that i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction will be one element of your larger transition strategy. As such, this narrative can be woven into your overall program description.
- We offer some background information that you may want to include to strengthen your rationale, but you’ll need to provide the details as they pertain to your district or charter school.
If you have any questions about this help packet or need more information, please contact Tod Diamond, Regional Vice President, by phone at 831-737-3538 or email at .
We wish you all the best in crafting, presenting, and executing your plan, and hope to be a part of your success on this vital initiative.
Rob Waldron, CEO
Curriculum Associates, LLC
i-Ready® Diagnostic & Instruction for reading and mathematics is an online solution designed by Curriculum Associates to help students achieve grade level success and to support teachers as they transition to the Common Core. The program includes an adaptive diagnostic assessment for grades K–12. Once the diagnostic is completed, i-Ready automatically generates detailed reports that provide data to measure student progress. Results also directly inform online and teacher-led instruction for students in grades K–8, as well as for students in grades 9–12 who have below-level skill gaps. By automatically placing students into individualized online lessons based on the results of the diagnostic, iReady provides differentiated instruction and ongoing progress monitoring.
Of the CCSS-aligned materials available, i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction is different in several ways that make it an ideal choice for our implementation approach. At the highest level, differentiators include:
ü Provides an integrated assessment, supplemental instruction, and progress monitoring solution on a single platform for ease of implementation.
ü Offers flexible online and print resources to differentiate instruction for a wide range of students in a variety of settings (in-class, before/after school, at home, summer school, etc.).
ü The computer-adaptive assessment diagnoses Common Core needs, provides a single growth measure for grades K-12, and supports teachers in successful implementation of the standards with at-a-glance reporting—at the student, class, grade, school, and district levels—and point-of-use instructional recommendations.
ü i-Ready for mathematics presents and reports out on all of the math domains emphasized in the Common Core: Number Operations, Algebra Algebraic Thinking, Geometry, and Measurement Data. Items develop conceptual understanding, and many require word problems/problem solving. Throughout, i-Ready focuses on applying the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice.
ü For reading, i-Ready passages at every level cover literary and informational text. Items place an emphasis on close, evidence-based reading of passages. Interdisciplinary passages feature academic vocabulary, complex text, and authentic literature—all features that are called for by the Common Core.
ü i-Ready is being used by half a million students across the country—the program has already proven successful in preparing students and teachers for the Common Core in early adopter states, such as New York.
i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction will serve as a central component of a year-long Common Core curriculum—supporting students in the classroom and serving as an integral element of professional learning and community engagement initiatives. Purchase of the program is highly cost effective, and implementation requires no local hosting, maintenance, or specialized technical resources.
Attachments:
1. Implementation Plan Matrix
2. i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction Program Description
3. About Curriculum Associates
Attachment 1: Implementation Plan Matrix
In its Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Systems Implementation Plan[1], the Department of Education identifies seven guiding strategies for the transition to the Common Core. These tactics provide the framework for our comprehensive approach to implementing the new standards, and they will also serve as part of the rubric to evaluate ongoing program efficacy. The matrix below provides an overview of how implementation of i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction fits under each strategy.
Guiding Strategy / Key Supporting Points[2] / i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction Implementation /1. Facilitate high quality professional learning opportunities for educators to ensure that every student has access to teachers who are prepared to teach to the levels of rigor and depth required by the CCSS. / · Successful implementation of the CCSS requires strong instructional leadership in every school and well-prepared teachers in every classroom.
· In order for any standards-based system to be successful, educators must possess a thorough understanding of what students are expected to know and be able to do, as well as an array of instructional strategies designed to support every student in meeting those expectations.
· Educators will have access to professional learning opportunities that promote best practices for teaching all students, including our youngest students, gifted students, students with disabilities, English learners, and underperforming students. / · To supplement the professional learning modules under development by the CDE, we will execute a program-specific training plan aligned with the CCSS. This onsite professional development will be delivered in a format that fosters collaboration between educators across the district. It will be highly customized for our implementation approach, with explicit connections between using i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction to teach to the new standards, preparing for the SBAC assessments, and the overarching local and state goals for the transition to the Common Core.
· i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction embeds comprehensive teacher support in the highly prescriptive and detailed reports, making explicit connections between Common Core skills and deficits and next steps for helping each student achieve mastery of the standards. This embedded professional learning makes i-Ready a direct classroom application of what teachers have learned in their CCSS trainings.
· The program format is consistent, streamlined, and supports simplified implementation. Next steps for instruction—as well as step-by-step lesson plans—are essential elements that will help teachers learn the Common Core, how to teach to the standards, and how to differentiate instruction for the wide range of students in their classrooms.
· Our approach will develop teacher expertise and leadership in the Common Core through 1) sustainable student growth that leads to increased confidence that the more rigorous standards can be met, 2) ongoing opportunities for collaboration with colleagues to discuss best practices and lessons learned, and 3) customized, targeted, results-driven professional development that addresses what the new standards are, how to most effectively teach to them, and how to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners at all grade levels.
2. Provide CCSS-aligned instructional resources designed to meet the diverse needs of all students. / · Review current instructional materials and identify material that aligns to the CCSS.
· Ensure that instructional resources, including those that are developed to support student attainment of the CCSS, are designed to meet the many different needs of California’s diverse student population, including gifted students, adult students, English learners, migrant students, and students with disabilities as well as students with disabilities who are English learners.
· Revised curriculum frameworks will provide information regarding strategies for universal access, use of assessments to inform instruction, and tiered interventions for any students not meeting the CCSS.
· Students will have the opportunity to access CCSS-aligned curriculum via a variety of formats, including digital technology that will also be capable of supporting assessment administration. / · The program was specifically built for the CCSS. At multiple points in the development process, i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction was informed by review and feedback from classroom teachers, school and district administrators, university professors, and subject matter experts.
· The CCSS Performance Report shows which CCSS were assessed and the student’s understanding/mastery of each of these skills.
· iReady assessment items have been field tested for validity and reliability with more than 300,000 students across representative socioeconomic, geographic, and ethnic strata. iReady demonstrates an exemplary standard of validity and reliability—at the item level, not just the test as a whole.
· i-Ready is used across the country—including in early adopter states such as New York—in diverse student settings. It has been proven effective with English language learners and students in Special Education. The program provides numerous embedded supports for these student populations and also enables teachers to run separate reports on subgroups to track their progress and response to instruction.
· For reading, i-Ready supports foundational skill building, includes informational and literary text, emphasizes complex text and use of authentic literature, and presents interdisciplinary passages that feature academic vocabulary. Informational and literary text are presented and reported separately, and the items and lessons demand close reading and frequent interactions with text.
· For math, i-Ready covers all Common Core math domains, focuses on conceptual math understanding and procedural fluency, embeds the Standards for Mathematical Practices, and provides interactive instruction that involves word problems, problem solving, and key mathematical concepts.
· Available for students in grades K–8, downloadable instructional resources (called Tools for Instruction) guide teacher-led, standards-based instruction and intervention 1:1 or with small or large groups.
3. Develop and transition to CCSS-aligned assessment systems to inform instruction, establish priorities for professional learning, and provide tools for accountability. / · In a standards-based system, student assessment data is used to inform instructional practice and professional learning activities at the district, school, and classroom level.
· The SBAC is developing assessments for mathematics and ELA for students in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. SBAC assessments will assess all students except those with significant cognitive disabilities.
· Operational summative assessment will be administered in spring 2015. / · Curriculum Associates specifically designed and developed i-Ready Diagnostic for the Common Core, and released the program after the release of the new standards to ensure it fully addressed their depth and rigor.
· Available for grades K-12, the assessment diagnoses Common Core needs by district, school, grade, class, and student, targeting instruction at the sub-skill level. Each student’s instructional action plan is prescribed based on his or her results on the diagnostic; data-driven instructional decision making is essential to helping students make progress with the new standards.
· Instruction is available for students in grades K–8, and is also a robust intervention for high school students performing at grade level 8 or below.
· Graphical, multi-layered reports help teachers successfully implement the Common Core with at-a-glance reporting and point-of-use instructional recommendations.
· The CCSS Performance Report shows which CCSS were assessed and the student’s understanding of these skills.
4. Collaborate with parents, guardians, and the early childhood and expanded learning communities to integrate the CCSS into programs and activities beyond the K–12 school setting. / · Educational programs that extend beyond the K–12 school day will infuse the CCSS to support student attainment of the standards.
· Parents, guardians, and the after school/expanded learning communities of all students will understand how CCSS will successfully support their students’ education and how they can participate in shaping local implementation.
· Provide professional development to district administrators, school principals, and after school program directors on how to collaborate to incorporate, into after school/ expanded day programs, activities that enrich the CCSS-related learning initiated during the regular day. / · Teachers may assign online instructional modules to their students as homework, and students can work with their parents, guardians, or care providers to complete the lessons.
· i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction may be implemented as part of a before or after-school program or in summer school.
· Lessons are scaffolded, and students can use the contents and features to explain to their families what they are learning about a standard. For instance, after students have completed a lesson, a homework activity could be for them to walk their parents through what they learned. Parents could then comment on what they learned from their child through a journal sheet sent back to school. This provides valuable opportunities to integrate the CCSS into the home setting, and also strengthens the home/school connection overall.
· At the end of each instructional lesson, the graded quiz provides data that populates the Response to Instruction Report. This report is a valuable tool to review with students and their families, to show how standards-based instruction is impacting their mastery of the new standards. This report also informs next steps to address specific challenge areas.
· Curriculum Associates offers complimentary recorded and live training webinars that foster increased teacher understanding of the Common Core State Standards in general, as well as specific goals and objectives of the i-Ready implementation in their schools and district. This knowledge will readily translate into more effective, informative communication between school and home, at parent-teacher meetings, community forums, and other avenues of connection. Anyone may view these web-based trainings.
5. Collaborate with the postsecondary and business communities and additional stakeholders to ensure that all students are prepared for success in career and college. / · More students will be better prepared to transition from high school to success in postsecondary education and engagement in a career with full implementation of the CCSS.
· Stakeholders will have an agreed upon and clear understanding of the purpose of high school and the definition of career and college readiness.
· Fewer students will need remediation upon entering post-secondary programs, and industries will be able to fill positions with a high-quality skilled labor force. / · i-Ready covers 90% of the testable CCSS for reading and math. By working through this rigorous, comprehensive program, students learn the skills emphasized within the Common Core as essential to college and career readiness.
· Interim and embedded progress monitoring and assessment opportunities allow teachers to track how students are progressing with instruction, and explicit teaching guidance is provided to support students who are struggling with a concept.
· By providing research-based instruction, tracking progress, addressing learning challenges, assessing growth at regular intervals, and providing plenty of opportunities to practice, the program enables teachers to catch and remediate skills deficiencies early on.
· The consistent structure and user-friendly format of i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction builds CCSS confidence and fluency of both students and teachers.
6. Seek, create, and disseminate resources to support stakeholders as CCSS systems implementation moves forward. / · Proper and adequate funding will support implementation activities.
· Technology will be readily available for LEAs to employ at any level as a resource for instruction and assessment.
· Updated monitoring tools and associated resources will be available. / · Curriculum Associates is committed to staying abreast of the evolving standards and will revise i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction as necessary and practical to maintain alignment with the Common Core.
· The program is available via an annual Software-as-a-Service licensing fee of $29.99/student per subject. This fee includes both the diagnostic and instruction. Diagnostic only licenses are $5.99/student per subject. Multi-year, volume, and site license pricing is available. The license includes account management, unlimited support, and all program maintenance/updates/upgrades during the term.
· With the recent Common Core Block Grant funding legislation signed into law, we expect to receive approximately $200 per student to continue our transition to the new standards. i-Ready is highly cost effective, sustainable in the near and long term, and will provide us ample funds to use on other elements of our implementation plan, such as technology and additional professional development.
7. Design and establish systems of effective communication among stakeholders to continuously identify areas of need and disseminate information. / · The CCSS Systems Implementation Plan will serve as a guide for implementation activities and as the guiding document for LEAs in the development of their own local plans.
· Comprehensive, user-friendly systems will be in place to continuously elicit feedback and identify needs and ensure the delivery of timely and useful information to the field. / · The CCSS Systems Implementation Plan is the foundation of our local implementation plan.
· We intend to mirror the statewide communication initiative at the local level, hosting regular forums during which educators can share best practices and lessons learned. These forums—both live and online—will cover topics related to all aspects of our Common Core implementation, including i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction.
· Curriculum Associates will post California-specific Common Core program materials (e.g., brochures, correlations, emerging case studies) on the company’s California Resource Center website.
Attachment 2: i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction Program Description