Activity Directions: Standards Alignment

1. Determine the participants. This activity could be conducted by representatives of each content area and grade range or could be assigned to professional learning communities or departments and collected by a leadership team.

2. Create online access or download and print paper copies of alignment documents for the grade level(s) and the content area(s) that will be completing this activity. The following content areas have spreadsheet versions of the standards posted on the MDE website (at the bottom of the webpage). They may be used for curriculum alignment by adding columns for Curriculum and Assessment.

a. Arts

b. English Language Arts

c. Mathematics

d. Physical Education

e. Science

f. Social Studies

3. Gather previous work done as a part of Action Overview: Learning Progressions and Current Understanding of Standards and Benchmarks in Academic Standards component.

4. Send a preview of the alignment chart to the participants and request they bring relevant documents to the meeting, such as, scope and sequence documents, and unit plans.

1. Depending on the number of people participating in this activity, the group may decide to break into pairs or they may explore as individuals.

2. Introduce the goals of the meeting, the procedure, and the curriculum alignment chart. Explain that this work is based on their current instruction. This alignment work might be revised later as we further develop the curriculum to support new instructional practices.

3. Give the following instructions:

a. For the curriculum column enter and use the following code for the Course or grade, unit, and possible lesson where the benchmark is

§ I: introduced

§ D: developed

§ M: mastered

b. For the Assessment column, enter the summative evidence of mastery. This evidence could be embedded in a project, performance, summative exam, or common assessment. Directions