This stage of the standards revision process focuses on the monitoring and adjustments needed at the district and/or school levels to successfully implement standards. It is important to remember that the developed implementation plan isn’t a rigid document, and should be updated when new information is uncovered. Given that this stage typically occurs at the onset of implementation, it is desirable to have a significant amount of resource flexibility and support that can be applied.
See the Scale Up Overview section below for additional overview information.
Return to the Standards Review and Revision Toolkit Overview
Scale Up Items to Consider:
- Monitor current progress and adjust implementation timeline as necessary.
- Conduct needs assessment to determine the required supports (e.g., time, resources, materials, training, etc.) for successful implementation and consider tiered support options.
- Develop a transition plan/schedule for statewide assessments and other accountability systems and support districts in revising district wide assessments.
- Continue to provide staff with professional learning opportunities.
- Develop infrastructure to support implementation across the state.
- Create a research-based vision for teaching and learning in collaboration with stakeholders that shows a commitment to the expectation that all students can achieve success.
- Create communication tools for districts and schools to use with local audiences (example: Illinois Teacher Voices Videos).
- Collaborate with practitioners, content organizations, and higher education institutions to identify gaps and translate the standards into underlying skills that can be understood by a wide audience.
- Develop and share tools and examples that clearly articulate the characteristics of successful academic performance that can be used to align and improve curricula (example: Colorado Transition Action Planning Guide).
- Continue to collect feedback from stakeholders.
- Implement communication plan to ensure system wide knowledge of changes.
- Identify mitigation strategies for possible negative effects of standards changes.
- Commission a validation study for new assessments, curriculum, and professional development.
- Conduct a satisfaction survey or evaluation of process and product and disseminate survey results to appropriate personnel (example: California Common Core State Standards Implementation Survey).
- Collect feedback on alignment between standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
- Monitor instructional practices for evidence of effective standards-based instruction, differentiation, and intentional planning to ensure benchmarks are reached for all students.
- Create tools to help districts and schools review data at each level (e.g., classroom, team, school, and district) to help refine instruction as needed.
- Complete an assessment item analysis to determine the extent to which items are aligned to the grade-level standards and benchmarks (example: Texas Independent Evaluation of the Validity and Reliability of STAAR Grades 3-8 Assessment Scores: Part 2).
- Continue to examine, discuss, and create a culture that supports standards-based education.
- Bring stakeholders together to analyze data collected and refine polices/procedures as needed. Consider evaluating:
- Effectiveness of standards implementation;
- Effectiveness of professional development at multiple levels (team, school, district); and
- Resource allocation.
Scale Up Resources:
- Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL)- Year 1 State Report: Massachusetts
- C-SAIL – Year 1 State Report: Ohio
- C-SAIL – Year 1 State Report: Texas
- Council of the Great City Schools Calendar of Questions
- Council of Chief State School Officers Whitepaper on Evaluating Alignment in Large-Scale Standards-Based Assessment Systems
- Progress Monitoring in an Inclusive Standards-based Assessment and Accountability System
- What Supports do Teachers Need to Help Students Meet Common Core State Standards for Mathematics?
Scale Up Overview
This stage of the standards revision process focuses on the monitoring and adjustments needed at the district and/or school levels to successfully implement standards. It is important to remember that the developed implementation plan isn’t a rigid document, and should be updated when new information is uncovered. Given that this stage typically occurs at the onset of implementation, it is desirable to have a significant amount of resource flexibility and support that can be applied.
In the scale up stage, there is increased focus on analyzing content area standards at a deeper level to refine the developed training and resources supporting implementation. Districts and schools will want to establish or review their infrastructure to support implemented changes. A local needs assessment may need to be conducted to determine the required supports (time, resources, materials, training, etc.) for successful implementation of the standards. It is important to conduct active monitoring of progress with regards to initial implementation and adjust as needed so accurate timelines and budgets are maintained.
Districts and/or schools should continue communicating with students, families, and stakeholders about all changes according to the developed communication plan. Adjustments to timelines, events, assessment schedules, professional development offerings, and curriculum are all examples of topics that stakeholders will want the most current information on. If possible, collect local stakeholder feedback on proposed changes before implementing any changes. Adjusting the established communication plan based on feedback and results is critical as standards implementation progresses. It is especially vital for the district to communicate and introduce a clear transition plan to educators, parents, and other stakeholders to ensure that appropriate supports are in place regarding the phasing out of old standards and the phasing in/assessment of new standards.
Engage a wide variety of stakeholders in the adaptation of existing tools or the development and dissemination of new tools and evaluations, in order to help identify and select appropriate materials based on rigorous research-based practices that link to student learning, clearly define intended learner results, and demonstrate connections to effective learning strategies. Collaborate with practitioners, state content organizations, and institutions of higher education to identify gaps and translate the standards to help ensure a clear and common understanding and to determine the underlying skills in the standards. Consideration should also be given to continuing the provision of professional learning opportunities to help staff effectively support implementation of the standards and understand any shifts that may occur with assessments due to any changes in standards. Make sure teachers are aware of all professional development opportunities offered and why the content will improve student learning.
At the state level, collection and analysis of data regarding standards ensures adherence to Federal peer review requirements and can also generate documentation to address the requirements. One example of this type of collection/analysis would be to conduct an independent validation study for new assessments based on the revised standards. At all levels, continual collection and analysis of data throughout the implementation process can help ensure the needs of all stakeholders are being met and provides valuable input on the progress of implementation. Collected data can range from data on the effectiveness of professional development designed to support implementation, to review of feedback regarding emerging needs and opportunities. States and/or districts should bring stakeholders together to analyze the data collected. Doing so builds buy-in and creates “champions” for the potential changes.