Using Survey of Enacted Curriculum to Compare Differences

At one of my professional learning opportunities I became aware of this awesome online tool from Survey of Enacted Curriculum.  At first, I was overwhelmed with this tool, but as I dug deeper when working with teachers, I found this tool to be extremely helpful when looking at how the content from the standards had changed and to what level of understanding students needed to have within each standard.  The tool is designed to help teachers initiate conversations with their colleagues about practice, and to inform their own school improvement decision-making efforts.
  Administrators can use the "results to plan professional development, monitor progress toward local and state curriculum reform goals, and to initiate school-level conversations among teachers about issues related to strengthening curriculum and instruction." - Survey of Enacted Curriculum.

If you have never used this tool before, follow this step by step process we used to compare and process the CCSS.

Step #1 - Do a Google search for Survey of Enacted Curriculum

Step # 2 - Scroll to the third item, SEC Online - Welcome and click.

 

Your screen should look like -

This homepage can be quite overwhelming, and may even appear that you need a login.  There are many advantages to having a username and password, but if you don't, no worries.  Everything you will need can be done without.  Look at the upper right hand of the screen.

Step # 3 - Click the button - Content Analysis

Your screen now looks like this -

Where it says, "click here", this is where we begin.

Step #4 - Choose the subject (mathematics, science, English language arts, or social studies) that you would like to compare and click "submit".  In my case, we were looking at mathematics. 

Step # 5 - The screen will automatically appear looking like

You need to change the "Sample Selection".  On the left scroll up or down to select your state and the grade level that you would like to compare.  The "Sample Selection" on the right you will want to change to CCSS and the appropriate grade level.  For the work I'm doing with the district my screen looks like:

When you have the two "Sample Selections" set, click "update"

Step # 6 - Analyze the similarities and differences between your selected state and grade to the CCSS.  This is where the fun begins.  A few things you need to know:

1.     The categories in green are "bigger picture" ideas.  In our state they would be equivalent to our benchmarks.  For example: measurement, operations, probability, etc. are pretty broad categories.  This view gives a balcony view of the big picture comparisons.  For example, I might infer the following after analyzing the following screen data -

a.     KS 3^rd grade had statistics and probability but yet there is no coverage of these topics in CCSS - 3^rd grade.

b.     No Functions are in either documents.

2.     The darker the color (white - deep orange) the more coverage or the more emphasis has been placed on that content.

a.     There is less Data Displays in CCSS than in the current KS 3^rd grade standards.

b.     Number Sense/Properties/Relationships tends to be similar although operations and measurement seems to be emphasized more.

3.     Notice that in each sample selection there are five boxes for each big picture idea.  These five boxes correlate to the level of understanding.  Scroll to the bottom of this screen. 

The further to the right of the five boxes the higher level of understanding students need to know about the content.  Many equate this to Blooms Taxonomy of information.  In our state, we refer to it as the Cognitive Category.  So if we look back at our data set

a.     If we look at "Operations" in KS there is less emphasis and the emphasis that is given is heaviest in category 2 - Perform Procedures.  If we compare that to CCSS in "operations" there is more emphasis and it falls in categories 2 - perform procedures and category 3 - Demonstrate Understanding, plus emphasis in category 4 - Conjecture, Analyze, Generalize, and Prove.  Think about how this might affect what students need to know about operations.

b.     This same is true with "Measurement" although CCSS they also have to solve non-routine problems and make connections.

4. You can go deeper in any of the big picture topics by simply clicking on the green link.  For example:  If I click on "Operations" my screen now looks like:

All I can say from the first time I saw this was WOW!  Talk about giving you another perspective and tool.  This is at a much more focused level than the big picture and broader categories.

Equivalent and non-equivalent fractions are not even introduced in our KS third grade, yet it is emphasized a lot in CCSS and the depth of understanding of multiplying and dividing whole numbers.  What a great way to get a quick perspective on the changes that will need to be made to be prepared for the CCSS in third grade math.

There is so much to this tool - Survey of Enacted Curriculum online.  I know I have only begun to scratch the surface.  Please let me know of other ways you have used this wonderful tool.