At Lakewood High School, teachers have been engaged in Literacy and Math Teams since last year to examine the common core and highlight instructional shifts. These team members are responsible for reporting back to departments and helping colleagues design activities that align to the common core. Many teachers, however, want to see the End of Course exams and the new PARCC assessment before evaluating and changing current curricula.
We've taken this plunge in Ohio and, at least I feel, we seem to be so far behind that it will require a Herculean effort to catch up. Administrators are facing changes in evaluation standards with the new OTES and OPES while new teachers are facing the 4-year Resident Educator program to earn a teaching license. Ohio has also effectively changed its "grading" system for schools; this effort has and will put pressure on administration to prove their worth in their schools. It seems like there is just no end.
So the common core? What are the next steps?
- Teachers must own the changes they want to make and see in their classrooms. Now is not the time to have the "this is what we've always done" mentality.
- School Leaders must look to department leaders as avenues for effective professional development around the common core...no more whole school sit and get! Individualized PD is essential!
- Department leaders must change their roles to instructional leaders for their departments and work with colleagues to ensure the "shifts" are understood and are being implemented.
- School Leaders must stay diligent in identifying changes that need to be made in existing curricula, praise effective teachers, and highlight useful strategies for instruction.
