Posted 8:23 am Monday, December 08, 2008
Tyler ISD Trustees Learn More About New Online Curriculum Tool
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
The Tyler ISD school board got a deeper look into the district's new online CSCOPE curriculum tool during a special board meeting Friday.
Staff Writer
The Tyler ISD school board got a deeper look into the district's new online CSCOPE curriculum tool during a special board meeting Friday.
Led by a John Tyler High School teacher, trustees got to briefly take on the role of students, participating in a CSCOPE algebra lesson where they collected and recorded data about each other's heights and then graphed the results in an effort to help "solve a crime."
The activity was a part of the "engage" portion of a CSCOPE lesson that the teacher recently used in her classroom.
TISD teachers began using CSCOPE this school year. They spent two days this summer being trained on how to use the online curriculum as well as the "5E model of instruction," both aimed at helping boost the level of instruction in TISD classrooms.
The "5E model" of teaching is the new standard at TISD designed to engage students more in learning and help them think on a higher level. That model is embedded within the new CSCOPE curriculum. The five Es are "engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate." Teachers may still use their own lessons outside of CSCOPE, as long as they use the 5E model, officials said.
Kim Tunnell, director of curriculum and instruction for TISD, and other district officials helped trustees understand more about how CSCOPE works through the interactive presentation Friday.
Ms. Tunnell said about 300 districts in Texas are involved in some phase of implementing CSCOPE. TISD decided to begin implementing it and the 5E model after officials got out in the classrooms last year to see what was happening.
"There are two major issues that arose -- one was the lack of student engagement in learning. Kids were disengaged. ... The other was a lack of consistency across the district," Ms. Tunnell said.
She also noted the outside expectations from the state and federal levels.
"The standards are increasing, and we have to keep up with that," Ms. Tunnell said. "Every year we make gains. We're closing the achievement gap. Our problem though ... we now are below where the standards are. We cannot continue to do the same thing we've been doing and keep pace with the increase in standards."
Susan Oaxaca, a teacher with 25 years of experience from John Tyler, took the school board through an algebra activity related to scatter plots and linear functions, showing them what students experience during an activity designed to engage them.
Trustees asked Ms. Oaxaca whether the lessons and activities are engaging students more in learning. She said they are.
"I think if a teacher will really get into it and really do the engagement, really believe in what they're doing, it's good for kids," she said.
Board President Ron Vickery asked if Ms. Oaxaca felt that CSCOPE had added too much work or eliminated the creativity from her work assignments.
She said, no, but noted that it does take extra time since it's the first year of implementation.
"Next year, it will be a whole lot easier," she said.
She said CSCOPE gives teachers exactly what they need to say and covers everything. Officials also noted the curriculum's ability to help bridge the gap between new teachers and seasoned educators.
Trustee Brad Spradlin said he learned a lot from the presentation.
"I can see where it makes learning fun and teaching fun," Spradlin said. "I can see where this is going to greatly benefit us."
Spradlin asked how many years it would take before the district would see significant improvement in test scores.
Ms. Tunnell said any major systemic change such as this usually takes three to five years. Although, she also noted that for districts who have implemented it and stuck with it, they see improvement sooner.
"It depends on how quickly teachers move through that change process. It depends on the level of support and the expectation and monitoring," she said.
Only preparing students for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test is only doing "surface level teaching" and students are "going on with gaps," Ms. Tunnell said, noting that's not what CSCOPE does. Officials have said CSCOPE goes deeper into a subject area and is more rigorous for students.
And in the first year of implementation, the district may see a drop in its TAKS scores, Ms. Tunnell said.
"We may actually see a dip in our scores this year as we try to put in a foundation and involve and engage students more," Ms. Tunnell said. "Instead of doing TAKS practice, teachers are spending a lot more time on building of student concepts and learning and that's not always reflected on a standardized test."
Also during the presentation, Karen Lane, one of the district's science facilitators, walked trustees through what a teacher must do to prepare for a CSCOPE lesson and showed them the questions and tips offered in the curriculum to help teachers.
After the meeting, Board Vice President Michelle Carr said, "We've invested a lot in CSCOPE ... and this is seeing how all that investment of money and resources and time is coming together to improve learning. I'm very excited about it. I really do think we're going to see dramatic improvements for the next few years."
Officials have said there has been some resistance to the implementation by some teachers.
Ms. Carr said she has heard from some teachers, particularly at the high school level, who have complained about the change.
"This is a significant change for some," Ms. Carr said. "It's change with higher expectations. It really is requiring more time and effort because it's something new."
TISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Reid has said that when he and trustees had their "Team of Eight" training recently, they discussed having periodic study sessions on topics they felt were significant and that they needed to be more aware of, such as the CSCOPE curriculum.
Reid said he thought the presentation Friday was perfect.
"It was what our board had really asked for -- just to help them get a better understanding of exactly what was happening in the classrooms and how it was different for the teachers than it has been in the past," he said. "It helps them answer questions they get from the community and staff regarding the reasons behind CSCOPE and regarding what we believe are going to be the positive outcomes that we're going to see in the long run over this."
"We know change is really, really difficult and the more people who can grasp and understand, the easier it makes that change," Reid said. "We hope we dispel any myths out there that there might be regarding this not being a rigorous curriculum or regarding this being a test preparatory curriculum. I think you can see from what we provided, that's far from the truth. It's very rigorous."
Ms. Tunnell said after the meeting that the implementation of CSCOPE and the 5E model is going as they expected it would.
"There's movement," she said. "It's not an overnight process and it's not a quick fix. It's a journey that we're on together."
She said that they knew going into it there would be glitches, and they have made adjustments.
"Our main goal is to provide the necessary support and resources to the teachers," she said. "It is a fundamental change and a big shift. While we're holding that expectation firm, we want to make sure we're providing the resources and materials necessary to accomplish the task."
Ms. Tunnell also said they know this change is a lot of work for teachers, like "putting everybody as a first year teacher again" in terms of the time that is required, "and we've got a very dedicated staff that is willing to do that."
She added, "It's not about us. ... It's about the students and the students' learning and what's best for them. I think what you're seeing is a lot of dedicated individuals and the staff on every campus investing a lot more hours to do what's best for students, and not for TAKS, but for overall learning."
She said she wanted the presentation to the board members to "acknowledge their support, let them know the big picture of where we are, where we're going, and then reaffirm that they've made the right decision for our students in Tyler."
