What Do Catholic School Parents Need to Know About the Common Core State Standards?

Have you… Turned in a handwritten paper for a college course? Written a paper using only print resources (i.e. went to the library… didn’t use an online source)? Used a pay phone? (not a pre-paid phone!) Played a 8 track or record? Made copies on a ditto machine?

25 years ago, 95% of jobs required low skills, today 10% of jobs require low skills in our entire economy New levels of literacy in an informational age Between 1997 and 2002, amount of information produced in the world was equal to the amount produced over the entire previous history of the world (Powerful Learning Darling-Hamond, et al. 2008)

“The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a coherent progression of learning expectations in English Language Arts and Mathematics designed to prepare K-12 students for college and career success.” - Spotlight on the Common Core State Standards What Are the Common Core State Standards?

More About the CCSS… The standards are focused, coherent, clear, and rigorous. The standards are internationally benchmarked. The standards are anchored in College/Career Readiness standards. The standards are evidence and research based.

Where did the CCSS come from? – Coordinated by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State Officers (CCSSO) – Written by… K-12 teachers Postsecondary faculty State curriculum and assessment experts Discipline Area Researchers National organizations

Standards from individual high-performing countries and provinces were used to inform content, structure, and language. Writing teams looked for examples of rigor, coherence and progressions. CCSS: Evidence Based

Top Performing Countries Mathematics: 1.Belgium 2.Canada ( Alberta) 3.China English Language Arts 1.Australia ( New South Wales and Victoria) 2.Canada ( Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario) 3.England

Why do schools need to adopt the CCSS? Global competition for jobs. Equity: high expectations for all students regardless of their zip codes. Different state standards across the USA. Current graduates are not prepared for college or careers.

Skills for a Knowledge Economy “The rigor that matters most for the twenty- first century is demonstrated mastery of the core competencies for work, citizenship and life- long learning. In today’s world it’s not how much you know that matters; it’s what you can do with what you know.” - Tony Wagner The Global Achievement Gap

Why Should Catholic Schools Adopt the CCSS? Expectation that US schools use CCSS to guide curriculum, instruction and assessments. History of rigorous expectations for Catholic schools and focus on higher-order skills. New teacher preparation. Linked to the accreditation process.

CCSS Timeline 2009 – Development of CCSS began. June 2010 – Final English Language Arts and Mathematics standards released after opportunity for public review. Spring 2015 – PARCC assessments administered to students in grades K-12.

What’s not in the Standards How teachers should teach. All that can or should be taught. The nature of advanced work beyond the CCSS. The interventions for students well below grade level. The full range of support for English language learners and students with special needs. Everything needed to be college and career ready.

Reading: RL, RI, RH*, RST*: Sub- headings Key Ideas and Details: Standards Craft and Structure: Standards Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: Standard 10 * Grades 6-12 only

K-12 ELA CCSS Standards 1.Reading a)Literature RL ( K-12) – 10 standards b)Informational Text RI (K-12)- 10 standards c)Foundational RF (K-5)–4 standards (cross disciplinary) d)Reading in History RH (6-12)- 10 standards e)Reading in Science and Tech. Subjects RST (6-12)-10 standards 2.Writing 3.Speaking and Listening 4.Language

Shifts in Instruction 1.Balance of Literary & Informational Text 2.Literacy in Content Areas 3.Text-based Questions and Answers 4.Writing Using Evidence 5.Academic Vocabulary

ELA Major Shifts: Recap Shift to higher level thinking skills. Increasing focus on information passages. Not coverage, but depth and focus: RIGOR. Writing about texts and citing sources.

Grade Progressions Standard 1.RL.1 : Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Standard 5.RL.1:Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Standard 8.RL.1 : Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Goal of Close Reading The ability to discern and cite evidence from the text to support one’s assertions. Analytic Reading + Analytic Writing = Analytic Thinking!

Defining Close Reading Engaging with a text directly Examining its meaning thoroughly and methodically Using texts of grade-level appropriate complexity Focusing student reading on the particular words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs of the author Read and re-read deliberately Pearson ELA Instructional Practices

Text-based Q & A/Close Reading More than surface reading; re-read reflectively Grapple with text-dependent questions; questions that can only be answered by referring explicitly back to the text in front of them Use evidence from texts to present careful analyses and clear information

Focus on “Four Corners” of the Text Four steps of analysis in four types of reading: 1.What a text saysRestatement 2.What a text doesDescription 3.What a text meansInterpretation 4. So, what does it mean to me?Application

K-12 CCSS for Mathematics Grade-Level Standards – K-8 organized by domain – 9-12 organized by conceptual categories Standards for Mathematical Practice – Describe mathematical “habits of mind” – Connect with content standards in each grade

Grades K-5 Math CCSS Require that students acquire a solid foundation in the following: – Whole numbers – Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division – Fractions – Decimals

Grades 6-8 CCSS Math Describe robust learning expectations for – Geometry – Algebra – Probability – Statistics Math curricula in grades 7-8 includes significant algebra and geometry content. * * Students who complete grade 7 and have mastered the content/skills will be prepared for algebra in grade 8 or in high school.

8 Standards for Mathematical Practice 1.Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2.Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3.Construct viable arguments and critique the understanding 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.

Math Instructional Practices Collaborative work Multiple forms of assessment Math Labs Activating prior learning Express and write procedures and conceptual understanding

Assessments focus on the shifts! Complexity of texts and the academic language of texts. Reading and writing grounded in evidence from texts. Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction.

CCSS Assessments: Spring 2015 # 1 Goal = Create high quality assessments PARCC and Smarter Balance: assessment consortiums PARCC Goal: “ Our intent is not to create another punitive test- but to create a valuable diagnostic that can tell us what is working well and what is not.”

Innovations in Item Types Evidence-Based Selected Response (EBSR) Technology-Enhanced Constructed Response (TECR) Range of Prose Constructed Responses (PCR)

Grade 3 Sample EBSC Part A What is one main idea of “How Animals Live ?” a.There are many types of animals on the planet. b.Animals need water to live. c.There are different ways to sort animals.* d.Animals begin their life cycles in different forms. Part B Which sentence from the article best supports the answer to Part A? a.“Animals get oxygen from air or water.” b.Animals can be grouped by their traits.”* c.“Worms are invertebrates.” d.“All animals grow and change over time.

Grade 6 Sample TECR Drag the words from the word box into the correct locations on the graphic to show the life cycle of a butterfly as described in “How Animals Live.” Words: Pupa Adult Egg Larva

PARCC Assessments Moving beyond multiple choice questions as they are hard to write to assess the rigor of the CCSS. Focus on production not just identification to determine mastery. Currently: – 2 PARCC provided assessments in Summative and near end of year 1= machine scored 1= written responses

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