Common Core Assessments An introduction to the California Common Core State Standards and how the Smarter Balanced Assessments Michael Horton, RIMS AVID

Common Core Goals The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are the official standards of California, but the testing and accountability have not yet kicked in. The focus of the CCSS is to guarantee that all students are college and career ready as they exit from high school. The committee determined what a graduate would need to be considered “College Ready” and then backwards mapped it to kindergarten. Introduction to Common Core

What’s Different “These Standards are not intended to be new names for old ways of doing business. They are a call to take the next step. It is time for states to work together to build on lessons learned from two decades of standards based reforms. It is time to recognize that standards are not just promises to our children, but promises we intend to keep.” — CCSS (2010, p. 5)

CCSS Timeline CA standards have already been replaced by Common Core (2011) in ELA and Math Legislation has already been passed to change the accountability system (2012) Smarter Balanced exam will be field tested in and cut scores proposed Smarter Balanced assessment is operational in school year

What Does ELA CCSS Focus on? Rigor Application to the “real world” Technology and media sources Justification and evidence Communication/collaboration Expository reading and writing (70% by H.S.) Research Literacy in Science, Social Studies, and “Technical Subjects”

What Does Math CCSS Focus on? Conceptual understanding. Number sense in elementary. Application to real world problems. Rigor. Success in algebra and higher level mathematics.

Six Shifts in Common Core ELA Shift 1- Balancing Informational & Literary Text Shift 2- Knowledge in the Disciplines- is built through text, not teachers or activities Shift 3- Staircase of Complexity- Increasingly complex texts are read closely (close reading video)close reading video Shift 4- Text-based answers- Students engage in rich conversations about text Shift 5- Writing from Sources- Emphasize use of sources and textual evidence to defend an argument Shift 6- Academic Vocabulary- Students constantly build vocabulary necessary to access complex text

Six Shifts in Common Core Math Shift 1- Focus, narrow and deep Shift 2- Coherence, content is connected within and across grade levels and subjects Shift 3- Fluency, Students develop speed and accuracy with simple calculations Shift 4- Deep Understanding, Students learn concepts deeply and focus less on algorithms to solve individual problems (Dan Meyer video) Shift 5- Application, Students can apply math in novel situations without being prompted Shift 6- Dual Intensity, Practice and understanding are not only balanced, but simultaneous

Reading Anchor Standards 1. Key Ideas and Details Key Ideas and Details 2. Craft and Structure 3. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 4. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity Pre-reading inside and outside of text (R) Quickwrites/Reflections (W) Focused Cornell Notes (WOR) Marking, charting, annotating text, critical reading (R) Graphic Organizers (R) Summarizing (R) Dialectic Journals (W) Interactive Notebooks (W) Reciprocal Teaching (R) Socratic Seminars/Phil. Chairs (C) WICOR Strategy

Reading Anchor Standards 1. Key Ideas and Details Key Ideas and Details 2. Craft and Structure 3. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 4. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity Pre-reading inside and outside of text (R) Quickwrites/Reflections (W) Focused Cornell Notes (WOR) Marking, charting, annotating text, critical reading (R) Graphic Organizers (R) Summarizing (R) Dialectic Journals (W) Interactive Notebooks (W) Reciprocal Teaching (R) Socratic Seminars/Phil. Chairs (C) WICOR Strategy

Reading Anchor Standards 1. Key Ideas and Details Key Ideas and Details 2. Craft and Structure 3. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 4. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity Pre-reading inside and outside of text (R) Quickwrites/Reflections (W) Focused Cornell Notes (WOR) Marking, charting, annotating text, critical reading (R) Graphic Organizers (R) Summarizing (R) Dialectic Journals (W) Interactive Notebooks (W) Reciprocal Teaching (R) Socratic Seminars/Phil. Chairs (C) WICOR Strategy

Writing Anchor Standards 5. Text Types and Purposes 6. Production and Distribution of Writing 7. Research to Build and Present Knowledge 8. Range of Writing Quickwrites and Reflections (W) Focused Cornell Notes (WOR) Process Writing (W) Authentic Writing – Dialectic Journals/ Interactive Notebooks (W) Research (I) Learning Logs (W) WICOR Strategy

Speaking and Listening Anchor Standards 9. Comprehension and Collaboration 10. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas Socratic Seminars (IC) Philosophical Chairs (C) Tutorials (C) Reciprocal Teaching (R) Peer Evaluation (W) Questions that Guide Research (I) Group Activities and Projects (C) WICOR Strategy

Language Anchor Standards 11. Conventions of Standard English 12. Knowledge of Language 13. Vocabulary Acquisition and Use Deep Reading Activities (R) Vocabulary Building (R) Process Writing (W) Peer Evaluation (W) Peer Editing Groups (C) WICOR Strategy

Math 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others 4. Model with mathematics 5. Use appropriate tools strategically 6. Attend to precision 7. Look for and make use of structure 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning Standards for Mathematical Practice

Rigor and Relevance

Between The Lines Off The Page On The Page COSTA’S LEVELS OF THINKING

Types of Items Selected Response- Adaptive multiple choice with one or more answers Constructed Response- Prompts students for text or numerical response Technology Enhanced- Students drag-and-drop math items, click sentence fragments in a passage, or drag phrases into a graphic organizer Performance Tasks 

Performance Task Description Performance tasks measure a student’s ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple standards—a key component of college and career readiness. Performance tasks will be used to better measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or constructed-response items. The time and resource constraints for each performance task will vary. During the spring 2013 pilot, the Consortium will research the effects of including a brief classroom interaction phase in the summative performance task The classroom interaction phase will then be appropriately constrained in the future.

Sample SBAC Items Online Language Arts: Mathematics:

Performance Tasks Now in content-alike groups, get together and design a technology-enhanced, long-term, research-based, cross-curricular, multiple- standard, collaborative performance task.