1. Tracey Severns, Ed.D Chief Academic Officer NJDOE
Obstacles and Opportunities: Addressing the Transition to the CcSS and PARCC
Tracey Severns, Ed.D
Chief Academic Officer NJDOE

2. Learning Objectives
Understand how to use the model curriculum and unit assessments to maximize student achievement.
Understand how a standards-aligned curriculum, effective instruction, and formative & summative assessments can provide data PLCs need to improve achievement
Understand the relationship among the three reform initiatives – CCSS, PARCC and educator evaluation
Understand how to use resources to guide school improvement efforts and elicit parental support
Beginning course details and/or books/materials needed for a class/project.

3. Shifting Gears Using the CCSS, PARCC and Evaluation to Drive Student Achievement
Educator Evaluation
PARCC
Common Core
Student Achievement
Student
Achievement
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn to be college and career ready, PARCC Assessments measure student progress towards standards, AchieveNJ Evaluation System provides individual teachers with targeted feedback and nuanced data to improve practice

4. Why a “Model” Curriculum?
Common Core State Standards
Fewer, clearer, more rigorous
Internationally benchmarked
Commonness
Leverage state and nation-wide expertise (45 States and DC)
PARCC (22 States and DC)
Continuous improvement
Model 1.0 & 2.0
LO #!

5. The CCSS Difference: Grade 7 ELA
Before: NJCCCS (2004)
1. Produce written work and oral work that demonstrate comprehension of informational materials.
After: CCSS (2010)
2. Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
LO #1

6. The CCSS Difference: Grade 8 Math
1. Understand and apply the Pythagorean Theorem.
After: CCSS (2010)
1. Explain a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse.
2. Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to determine unknown side lengths in right triangles in real-world and mathematical problems in two and three dimensions.
3. Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between two points in a coordinate system.
LO #!

7. The CCSS Difference: Grade 3-5 ELA: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgably
Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgably.

8. College Readiness : Grade 11 ELA
Write arguments to support claim(s) in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence
Introduce precise knowledgeable claims(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaim(s), reasons and evidence.
Develop claim(s) and counterclaim(s) fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.
LO #1

9. Limitations of Textbooks and Programs
CCSS requires the re-evaluation of textbooks, materials and programs
Rubrics for evaluating resources can be found at the NJDOE website under CCSS
LO#1

10. Model Curriculum 1.0 & 2.0 Version 1.0 Version 2.0 WHAT
Students need to Learn
HOW
We can best Instruct
WHEN
do we know students have Learned
Standard
Student Learning Objectives
Instruction
Formative Assessments
Summative/Formative
CCSS Standard 1
SLO #1
SLO #2
Model Lessons
Model Tasks
Engaging Instructional Strategies
Effective checks for understanding
Teacher designed formative assessments
Unit Assessment
SLOs 1-5
CCSS Standard 2
SLO #3
SLO #4
SLO #5
General Bank of Assessment Items 2.0
Student level learning reports - Professional development - Resource reviews
LO #2

11. Why Unit-based Formative Assessments?
Clarify the level of rigor for SLOs
Create common expectations in common courses
Provide data to effectively inform classroom instruction
Provide data that can be combined with observation data to inform PD
LO #1 & 3

12. Unit Assessment Grade 3 sample formative assessment items
LO #1 and #3

13. Common Standards require Common Assessments
Common Core State Standards: critical - but just the first step
Common Assessments: state comparisons will increase pressure for performance
Quality Implementation required for actual improvement in student achievement
LO #1 and #3

14. Claims Driving Design: ELA/Literacy
Students are on-track or ready for college and careers
Students read and comprehend a range of sufficiently complex texts independently
Reading Literature
Reading Informational Text
Vocabulary Interpretation and Use
Students write effectively when using and/or analyzing sources.
Written Expression
Conventions and Knowledge of Language
Students build and present knowledge through research and the integration, comparison, and synthesis of ideas.
These are the areas emphasized on the assessment.
Confidential - Not for Distribution

15. Claims Driving Design: Mathematics
Students are on-track or ready for college and careers
Solve problems involving the major content for their grade level with connections to practices
Solve problems involving the additional and supporting content for their grade level with connections to practices
Express mathematical reasoning by constructing mathematical arguments and critiques
Use the modeling practice to solve real world problems
Demonstrate fluency in areas set forth in the Standards for Content in grades 3-6

16. Mathematical Practices
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Model with mathematics.
Use appropriate tools strategically.
Attend to precision.
Look for and make sense of structure.
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

17. Assessment Transition Timeline
Spring 2012
NJ ASK
Aligned to NJCCCS
Spring 2013
NJ ASK
Aligned to the CCSS
(except gr 6-8 Math)
Spring 2014 SY
Full administration of PARCC assessments
“Transitional Assessments”

18. 2 Optional Assessments/Flexible Administration
PARCC Assessment Design English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3-11
Performance-Based
Assessment (PBA)
Extended tasks
Applications of concepts and skills
Required
End-of-Year
Assessment
Innovative, computer-based items
Required
2 Optional Assessments/Flexible Administration
Diagnostic Assessment
Early indicator of student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD
Non-summative
Mid-Year Assessment
Performance-based
Emphasis on hard-to-measure standards
Potentially summative
UNIVERSAL DESIGN
To address the priority purposes, PARCC states are developing an assessment system comprised of four components. Each component will be computer-delivered and will leverage technology to incorporate innovations.
Two summative, required assessment components designed to
Make “college- and career-readiness” and “on-track” determinations
Measure the full range of standards and full performance continuum
Provide data for accountability uses, including measures of growth
Two interim, optional assessment components designed to
Generate timely information for informing instruction, interventions, and professional development during the school year
In English language arts/literacy, an additional required, non-summative component will assess students’ speaking and listening skills
TALKING POINTS
Graphic depiction of the assessment system. The system includes a suite of assessments and tools that, taken together, provide a more complete picture of student mastery of standards and progress throughout the year than is currently available on state assessments.
Considerations Leading to 2 optional assessments:
The cost of the assessments
Flexibility on when to administer the optional assessments
Possible disruption to school schedules caused by through-course assessment preparation and administration
The amount of testing time needed to administer the assessments
Constraints the distributed design might have on the flexibility of state and local educators to sequence instruction of the CCSS and to implement their own benchmark and formative assessment initiatives
The PARCC assessment system will:
Include a mix of item types (e.g., short answer, richer multiple choice, longer open response, performance-based)
Reflect the sophisticated knowledge and skills found in the English and math Common Core State Standards
Make significant use of technology
Include testing at key points throughout the year to give teachers, parents and students better information about whether students are on track or need additional support in particular areas
Diagnostic Assessments
One element of the reading diagnostic assessment is a text complexity tool, which will provide a diagnostic of a student’s ability to read texts independently in order to provide useful guidance to educators, parents, and students about appropriate texts for students when reading independently.
These assessments will be useful for the implementation of the ELA/Literacy CCSS in the classroom, as they will help educators meet the demands of the ELA/Literacy standards to teach appropriately complex texts by helping teachers understand what “appropriately complex” really means.
The diagnostic assessment in math will help educators understand the extent to which students have mastered the key ideas in mathematics ("highlighted domains") in order to pinpoint areas needing improvement or identify areas in which students are excelling. In addition, it will provide greater detail about students who are above and below grade level so teachers can individualize instruction
Timeline: Expected Summer/Fall 2014
HS Assessments
Taken together, the PARCC assessment components comprise a comprehensive system of assessments that will provide timely information to teachers throughout the year, and provide students with meaningful information about their progress toward college and career readiness
Speaking And Listening
Assessment
Locally scored
Non-summative, required

19. PARCC: Evidence-Centered Design
Claims
Design begins with the inferences (claims) we want to make about students
Evidence
In order to support claims, we must gather evidence
Tasks
Tasks are designed to elicit specific evidence from students in support of claims
PARCC utilizes Evidence-Centered Design to inform the development of the summative assessments. ECD is a deliberate and systematic approach to assessment development that will help to establish the validity of the assessments, increase the comparability of year-to year results, and increase efficiencies/reduce costs. The Design begins with the inferences (claims) we want to make about students. In order to support claims, we must gather evidence. Tasks are then designed to elicit the specific evidence from students that supports the claims.
ECD is a deliberate and systematic approach to assessment development that will help to establish the validity of the assessments, increase the comparability of year-to year results, and increase efficiencies/reduce costs.
Confidential - Not for Distribution

20. PARCC’s Core Commitments to ELA/Literacy Assessment Quality
Texts Worth Reading: Authentic texts worthy of study instead of artificially produced or commissioned passages. 
Questions Worth Answering: Sequences of questions that draw students into deeper encounters with texts rather than sets of random questions of varying quality.
Better Standards Demand Better Questions: Custom items written to the Standards instead of reusing existing items.
Fidelity to the Standards: PARCC evidences are rooted in the language of the Standards so that expectations remain the same in both instructional and assessment settings.

21. PARCC Design for ELA
Complexity: Regular practice with complex text and its academic language.
Evidence: Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text, literary and informational.
Knowledge: Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction.

22. Grade 7 Analytical Prose Constructed-Response Item
Based on the information in the text “Biography of Amelia Earhart,” write an essay that summarizes and explains the challenges Earhart faced throughout her life. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas.

23. Grade 7 Prose Constructed-Response Item
You have read three texts describing Amelia Earhart. All three include the claim that Earhart was a brave, courageous person. The three texts are:
“Biography of Amelia Earhart”
“Earhart's Final Resting Place Believed Found”
“Amelia Earhart’s Life and Disappearance”
Consider the argument each author uses to demonstrate Earhart’s bravery.
Write an essay that analyzes the strength of the arguments about Earhart’s bravery in at least two of the texts. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas.

24. Grade 7 Technology-Enhanced Constructed-Response Item
Below are three claims that one could make based on the article “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found.”
Part A
Highlight the claim that is supported by the most relevant and sufficient facts within “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found.”
Part B
Click on two facts within the article that best provide evidence to support the claim selected in Part A.

25. PARCC’s Core Commitments to Mathematics Assessment Quality
Focus: Items will focus on major, and additional and supporting content.
Problems worth doing: Problems will include conceptual questions, applications, multi-step problems and substantial procedures.
Better Standards Demand Better Questions: Custom items written to the Standards instead of reusing existing items.
Fidelity to the Standards : PARCC evidences are rooted in the language of the Standards so that expectations remain the same in both instructional and assessment settings.

26. PARCC Design for Math
Focus: The PARCC Assessment will focus strongly where the Standards focus
Coherence: Think across grades and link to major topics within grades
Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application.

27. Part A

28. Part B

29. Part C

30. Scoring Part A

31. Scoring Part B

32. Scoring Part C

33. Turnaround Principles
Instructional leadership
Climate & Culture
Standards based curriculum, assessment and intervention system
Effective instruction
Use of Data
Use of Time
Family and Community involvement
Effective Staffing Practices
Focus LO #3

34. Summative Assessment Assessments of Learning (Stiggins)
Primary users: policy makers, curriculum supervisors, principals, teachers, students, parents
Documents individual or group mastery of standards
Measures achievement status for purposes of reporting
Accountability

35. Formative Assessment Assessments for Learning (Ainsworth)
Primary users: principals, teachers, students, parents
Measures progress toward intended outcomes
Provides data on teacher and student performance

36. Informal and Formal Observations
“What gets measured gets managed”
Lesson plans
Walkthroughs and evaluations: feedback on standards-aligned instruction
Data reports: Unit assessment data, walkthrough data

37. Effective Instruction
Clear learning objective aligned to the curriculum
Engaging and aligned instructional strategies
Engaging and rigorous standards-aligned student work
Quality and timely checks for understanding
Adjustment based on student understanding
Effective assessment of the learning objective to inform next lesson

38. Effective PLCs A
Staff members meet on a regular basis to discuss their work, work together to problem solve, reflect on their jobs, and take responsibility for what students learn. B
Instructional leaders create time for teacher collaboration through scheduling and programming, and guide that collaboration.

39. Effective PLCs
1. Provide time to allow on-going collaboration. 2. Create agendas that focus on the “right work.” 3. Monitor progress by regularly attending meetings and providing feedback on their work.
PLC agenda examples

40. Activities to Promote Understanding of the CCSS
Review the 10 ELA anchor standards for a grade band
Examine the K-12 development of a single anchor standard
Review the Appendices
Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Student Perf. Tasks
Appendix C: Samples of Student Writing
Analyze the Model Curriculum and Unit Assessments
Study the CCSS math practices

41. Resources to Support Implementation of the CCSS
Tri-State Quality Review Rubric
PARCC
CCSS
NJDOE Resources
Model Curricula for K-12 Mathematics and ELA
Unit Assessments
Scaffolds for ELL and Special Education
Model lessons, units, videos, materials and resources
Assessment bank

42. NJDOE Professional Development on the CCSS
Intensive training for Regional Achievement Centers (Priority and Focus Schools)
Principals’ Instructional Leadership Series
State-wide presentations for administrators, teachers, parents and school board members
Creation of a state-wide network to support implementation of the CCSS in all districts.
Common Core Implementation Team in each district
Partnerships with each professional organization

43. Resources to Support Understanding and Mastery of the CCSS
National Parent Teacher Association (PTA)- a grade-by-grade Parent Guide to students’ success on the CCSS (Available in English and Spanish)
Council of the Great City Schools- Parent Roadmaps to the Common Core Standards (ELA and Math). Provides guidance to parents about what their children will be learning and how they can support that learning in grades K-8.

44. Resources to Support Understanding and Mastery of the CCSS
CCSSO’s Assessing the Common Core and Students with Disabilities - a PowerPoint on steps to take to ensure that students with disabilities benefit from the Common Core Standards n/Session1959/Assessing%20the%20Common%20Core%20a nd%20Students%20with%20Disabilities.pdf
Common Core State Standards- document that discusses the application of the CCSS to students with disabilities with-disabilities.pdf

45. Obstacles and Opportunities
Culture
Capacity
Coherence
Courage

46. Shouldn’t all kids have this experience?

47. This is our moment.
What will you do?

48. Reflections and Questions
Discuss an “aha” moment with a partner.
How will you use what you learned to improve your school or district?
What are you wondering?