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Partnerships to Improve Curriculum
![partners[1].jpg](/portals/0/aboutBSD/partners[1].jpg)
A Unique Opportunity
Six organizations have partnered with the district to improve the curriculum and the ways in which we support students in preparing for a smooth transition from grade 12 to grade 13. Partners that have evaluated our curriculum and made recommendations for changes are the College Board, Standards for Success, TIMSS National Research Center, Bellevue Community College, Achieve, and the University of Washington. What follows is a brief description of each organization and its connection to our efforts in Bellevue.
Research that was done in conjunction with three of the partners -- College Board, Standards for Success and TIMSS -- was funded by the Bellevue Schools Foundation.
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The College Board
Thanks to the College Board partnership, all of Bellevue's middle schools are using a College Board language arts curriculum called SpringBoard. SpringBoard was developed by a team of colleges and universities, national academic organizations, educational experts, and is based on their research as well as the College Board's own extensive research. It is designed to expand access to rigorous academic work. At the heart of the SpringBoard curriculum is the “Standards and Proficiencies for College Success, which creates the framework for the program. These standards provide a set of statements and expectations for the skills in reading, and writing that enable a student to be successful in first-year college work. The SpringBoard program also offers on-demand diagnostics that enable teachers to readily assess student progress. The initiative includes content-specific professional development for teachers. The professional development also includes teaching strategies emphasizing critical thinking and problem solving.
Standards for Success
Standards for Success developed Knowledge and Skills for University Success, the result of a two-year study in which more than 400 faculty and staff members from twenty leading research universities participated in extensive meetings and reviews designed to identify what students must know and be able to do to succeed in entry-level courses at their institutions. The standards, in combination with samples of syllabi, course assessments, and samples of student work, provide a road map of the content knowledge and habits of mind that are valued by these universities.
Dr. David Conley, the Director of Standards for Success, has aided the district in examining its curriculum in the context of the standards. Standards for Success addresses six disciplines: English, mathematics, social sciences, natural sciences, world languages, and the arts. Standards for Success and the College Board have an agreement that enables the College Board to use the Success standards for future development of their programs including the PSAT, SAT, and Advanced Placement. Our work with both organizations, then, should be complementary.
Standards for Success
TIMSS National Research Center
Located at Michigan State University, TIMSS National Research Center is dedicated to using the research associated with the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study to improve mathematics and science education in the United States. Dr. William Schmidt, Director of the Center, has studied Bellevue's K-12 mathematics and science curricula by comparing our student performance (grades 3 through 12), teacher responses, and curriculum standards and materials to those of nations that have scored at the top of TIMSS assessments. According to Schmidt, American students perform poorly on international comparisons because our curriculum is “a mile wide and an inch deep.” His extensive analysis of our current program will provide a road map for making both our mathematics and science program among the best in the world.
Learn more about the latest results (Spring '04) of Dr. Schmidt's work with Bellevue Schools on our page devoted to the TIMSS partnership.
TIMSS National Research Center
BCC and UW
We have begun work to align our standards to those of BCC and the UW in order to ease the transition for our graduates between grades 12 and 13.
UW faculty and Bellevue's high school English teachers have engaged in focused conversations to identify shared expectations for curriculum coverage, skill development, and student performance. Together they designed a senior writing course that allows students to meet the UW's expectations for entering freshman.
The most recent partnership between the district and the UW is one that focuses on brain development and learning theory. Read more about the work being done with the nation's leading expert on this topic.
In a partnership with BCC, the district has administered college math placement tests to high school juniors and seniors and used the results to make changes in our curriculum as well as to steer some students into math support programs and additional math courses.
visit
Bellevue Community College website
visit
University of Washington website
Achieve and its initiative, The American Diploma Project
Achieve was created by the nation's governors and business leaders to help states prepare all young people for postsecondary education, work and citizenship by raising academic standards and achievement in America's schools.
“Achieve has developed a number of initiatives dedicated to raising standards and achievement in the nation's schools. The initiatives provide tools to help educators, policymakers and parents ensure that our students are empowered to reach new academic heights in the classroom and achieve limitless success beyond the classroom.
Achieve is helping states on multiple fronts — making sure their efforts to raise standards truly lead to higher student performance. These fronts include:
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benchmarking
standards and tests to the best;
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serving as a resource of information, analysis and advice for state leaders — through
policy brief
s
and links to additional resources
;
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helping to develop model standards, tests and curriculum materials, starting with the Mathematics Achievement Partnership.”
*taken from the Achieve website
Achieve and its partners, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and Education Trust, have created an action agenda for states, postsecondary institutions and the federal government with specific steps that must be taken for the high school diploma to count as a document that truly attests to students' readiness for college and the workplace.
Action agenda items include the following:
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Anchor academic standards in the real world
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Require all students to take a quality college and workplace readiness curriculum
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Bridge the gap between high school and college.
These recommendations are a perfect fit for what Bellevue is trying to accomplish with its other partners, which is why Achieve agreed to become our partner even though the organization normally works at a state and federal level.
Check out the
Achieve
web page and the American Diploma Project as described on the Education Trust web page.
Why Taking Advantage of These Opportunities Made Sense for Bellevue
At the heart of our school improvement efforts has been the development of a coordinated and comprehensive K-12 curriculum with standards meant to enable all students to succeed in college. We have made substantial progress. With more than 80% of every graduating class completing one or more rigorous college-prep courses, Bellevue now ranks among the top one percent of school districts in the nation in the amount of student participation in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs.
With the assistance of our partners, the district has been involved in careful research, deep learning, and strategic planning, followed by substantive curriculum improvement and staff development.
Advisory Board for Bellevue's Curriculum Improvement Initiative
When the partnerships were initiated, the district established an advisory board of our partners to assure coordination of effort.
Their specific tasks included reviewing initial findings of the curriculum analysis; assisting in determining areas of need; advising on potential resources for addressing areas of need; reviewing progress; and identifying next steps. Though this board is no longer operating, it helped set the direction for all the work done since its inception, including the current structure of many curriculum areas, course syllabi, individual lessons, and assessments.
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