TRANSITIONING TO COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS Katie McKnight, PhD

Overview What do we already know about Common Core State Standards? Why were Common Core State Standards created and how do they impact today's classrooms?

Overview College and Career Readiness Skills and the 21st Century Skills Textual Complexity and Interdisciplinary Literacy Examining Current Curriculum and Assessing for Common Core State Standards Alignment Creating a Needs Analysis for the transition to Common Core State Standards

SOME GUIDING QUESTIONS (ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS) What are the expectations of CCSS? What are not the expectations of CCSS? How do we build a synergetic context between CCSS, curriculum, and assessment?

What do we already know about Common Core State Standards?

What do we know about CCSS? The 21st Century 3 Rs Designed to be robust, relevant, and rigorous. Robust : higher level thinking Relevant : engagement, student involvement, brain-based research Rigorous : high expectations, critical thinking, challenging thinking

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED: Prescribe specific instructional strategies and/or curriculum. Interventions for students who are performing below grade level or who have special needs. Support for English Language Learners (ELL)

Why were Common Core State Standards created and how do they impact today’s classrooms?

Intended to create greater consistency for student performance and expectations among states. NAEP data indicates that the majority of students are not college and career ready. Why were Common Core State Standards created and how do they impact today’s classrooms?

21 st Century Skills PROBLEM SOLVING TEAM WORK ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH CRITICAL THINKING

FIGURING OUT THE FRAMEWORK Close reading of the document is essential. Read the Standards and all goals. Discussion, interpretation, close reading and analysis is necessary.

We are going to divide in groups based on content area and grade level: ELA k-2 ELA 3-5 ELA 6-8 ELA 9-12 Math k-2 Math 3-5 Math 6-8 Math 9-12 Activity

Why is it structured in this way? What does the language suggest? What do you learn about the Standards in the introduction? What information and why is the information included in the appendices? Activity: As You Read the Standards

Look at the content area and grade level that corresponds with your group. Identify some examples of the following: Content Standards Process Standards Performance Standards Activity: Part 2

Textual Complexity and Interdisciplinary Literacy

Textual Complexity What makes a text complex? What are factors that can make a text challenging for students? Textual Complexity

Determining Textual Complexity is focused on these three areas: QUALITATIVE MEASURES: QUANTITATIVE DIMENSIONS: READER CONSIDERATIONS:

Qualitative Measures Levels of Meaning (literary texts) or Purpose (informational texts) Structure Language Conventionality and Clarity Knowledge Demands

and factors are those aspects that are difficult or impossible for a person to evaluate efficiently. Examples include word length or frequency, sentence length, and text cohesion. These are typically measured by computer software. Qualitative Measures

include motivation, knowledge, and experiences, while tasks to be considered take into account purpose, complexity, and questions. Assessments made on reader and task considerations are best done by the teacher who understands the student’s knowledge and experiences. Reader Considerations

InformationalLiterary

InformationalLiterary

InformationalLiterary

InformationalLiterary

InformationalLiterary

InformationalLiterary

MORE RESOURCES FROM LEXILE Overview video “What Does the Lexile Measure Mean?” exileMeasureMean.pdf “Lexile Measures and the Common Core State Standards” and-the-ccssi/ KSDE Lexile Resource Pagehttp:// Kansas Lexile Maphttp:// %3d&tabid=3670&mid=8721

Here’s an example The Qualitative Measures Rubrics for Literary and Informational Text: 05 The rubric for literary text and the rubric for informational text allow educators to evaluate the important elements of text that are often missed by computer software that tends to focus on more easily measured factors.

Here’s an Example

LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM The CCSS make the case for teaching and developing literacy skills across all content areas and grade levels. Content literacy is explicit in CCSS. What does this mean?

IN SCHOOL GROUPS What is the literacy plan for your school? How does your literacy plan develop students’ skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in all content areas? How does your school address textual complexity? How do teachers address literacy skills in each content area?

STRATEGIES THAT SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERACY SKILLS IN ALL CONTENT AREAS Pre Reading During Reading After Reading Vocabulary Posing Questions and Answers

Next Steps After an analysis of CCSS in comparison to current curriculum, create a needs list that could include: Areas of discrepancy between CCSS and current curriculum Professional development needs Classroom materials that are needed to meet CCSS. Create a revised technology plan with CCSS as a framework.