1. Leon County Schools March 27, 2012
Stuart Greenberg, Executive Director
Just Read, Florida! and the Office of Early Learning
Florida Department of Education 1 1

2. Standards changes are hard, but they are especially hard in this case…
These standards are at a higher level than previous standards.
These standards have a different style and organizational structure that makes them more challenging for schools to work with.
Common core standards are based on different theories (reading comprehension, writing, differentiated instruction) than past standards, so they are qualitatively different in several ways.

3. Design and Organization
Three main sections
K−5 (cross-disciplinary)
6−12 English Language Arts
6−12 Literacy in History/Social Studies,
Science, and Technical Subjects
Shared responsibility for students’ literacy development
Three appendices
A: Research and evidence; glossary of key terms
B: Reading text exemplars; sample performance tasks
C: Annotated student writing samples 3

4. 1. Backmapping
Traditional standards have started with kindergarten and then added years of work on top of those.
Past standards have focused heavily on existing curricula and notions of development.
The common standards began with college and career readiness standards and then backmapped from there.
This means that the standards demand growth designed to ensure that students reach graduation targets (rather than depending so heavily on what we have done in the past).
This means that these standards are more challenging.

5. 2. Coordinated structure
Standards are usually somewhat random lists of skills, knowledge, and strategies.
The common core state standards have very strong progressions and an organization that requires attention.
Strong connections across comprehension, oral language, speaking and writing.

6. Model for English Language Arts Common Core State Standards
Reading
Speaking
& Listening
Language
Language
Writing
Model for English Language Arts Common Core State Standards
¼ Reading
¼ Writing
½ Listening and Speaking
Language is found entangled throughout the WHOLE!
Florida Department of Education

7. 3. Challenging Text
Text difficulty is central and all cognitive skills have to be executed within texts of a specified difficulty range.
Students will likely be taught from texts that are more challenging in the past.
Emphasis on stretching students to meet the demands of reading harder text (rather than on placing students in the leveled reader according to instructional level).
Need to learn how to scaffold challenging reading.

8. FCAT 2.0 Reading: Examples of Increased Rigor
Students will be asked more often to:
use reasonable prior knowledge, such as grade-appropriate vocabulary
make reasonable inferences that are not explicitly text-based
analyze information across a pair of texts, such as making comparisons of main ideas

9. Reading Reporting Categories Changing
FCAT Reading
FCAT 2.0 Reading
Words and Phrases in Context
Vocabulary
Main Idea, Plot, and Purpose
Reading Application
Comparisons and Cause and Effect
Literary Analysis: Fiction and Non Fiction
Reference and Research
Informational Text and Research Process
Vocabulary—Uses multiple strategies to determine the meaning of grade-appropriate vocabulary words.
Reading Application—Uses a variety of strategies to comprehend text suitable for the grade level.
Literary Analysis: Fiction and Nonfiction—Identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of the elements of a variety of literary texts, both fiction and nonfiction.
Informational Text and Research Process— Comprehends and interprets informational text from a variety of sources.

10. Florida FY2011 Reading Comparing Percents in Level 3+72 71 69 67 68 55 48 39 57 59 58 58 58 53 51 52
The recommendation results in anchoring the expectations at grade 10 and having more consistent expectations across grades . Let’s look at this in more detail.
This graph displays the actual FY11 student performance. The left hand side displays actual student performance on the FCAT scale. The right hand side displays for the same students their actual performance on the recommended FCAT 2.0 scale. The data on the right is commonly referred to as impact data.
We have already seen the inconsistency of student performance on the FCAT scale. On the right, you can see how much more consistent student performance is for all five levels.
You can also note that at grades 3-8 the proposed FCAT 2.0 bar results in a lower percent of students being proficient. In fact at grade 3 there is a decrease of 15 points in percent of students proficient.
In contrast, at grade 9 there is an increase in percent proficient of 3 points and at grade 10 an increase of 13 points.
*Estimated percents at grades 8 and 9

11. 4. Close Reading
Students will need to engage to a greater extent in deep analysis of the text and its meaning and implications.
Less emphasis on background information, comprehension strategies, picture walks, etc. (though these still can be brought in by teachers).
Greater emphasis on careful reading of a text, weighing of author’s diction, grammar, and organization to make sense of the text.
Rereading will play a greater role in teaching reading.

12. 5. Content Literacy
Past standards have not made a big deal out of reading in history/social studies or science.
Past emphasis was on learning how to read (and the idea was that students could apply these skills to content area textbooks).
However, research is revealing unique reading demands of the various disciplines (reading history is not the same thing as reading literature, etc.).
The common core state standards requires specialized reading emphasis for history/social studies and science/technical subjects.

13. 6. Multiple Texts
The common core state standards emphasize the interpretation of multiple texts throughout (at all grade levels, and in reading, writing, and oral language).
There will be a greater need for combinations of texts that can be used together.
Need for greater emphasis on text synthesis (how to combine the information from multiple sources into one’s own text or presentation).
Need for greater emphasis on comparative evaluation and analysis.

14. 7. Writing about text
Past standards have emphasized writing as a free-standing subject or skill.
The common core puts greater emphasis on the use of evidence in writing.
Thus, the major emphasis shifts from writing stories or opinion pieces to writing about the ideas in text.
Writing will need to be more closely integrated with reading comprehension instruction.
The amount of writing about what students read will need to increase.
Greater emphasis on synthesis of information and critical essays than in the past.

15. Florida’s Common Core State Standards Implementation Timeline
Year/Grade Level K 1 2
3-8
9-12 FL L
F L
CCSS fully implemented
B L
CCSS fully implemented and assessed
F - full implementation of CCSS for all content areas
L – begin full implementation of content area literacy standards including: (1) use of informational text, text complexity, quality and range in all grades (K-12), and (2) CCSS Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (6-12)
B - blended instruction of CCSS with Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS); last year of NGSSS assessed on FCAT 2.0
Florida Department of Education Bureau of Curriculum & Instruction
September 2011

16. Conclusion
The promise of standards: 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 districts 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.

17. Impact of New Cut Scores on School Grades
Paul Felsch

18. Impact of New Cut Scores on School Grades
Fourteen elementary schools and one middle school are in jeopardy of losing a school grade. 
Three schools could drop from an “A” grade to a “B”, seven from a “B” to a “C” and five from a “C” to a “D”.

19. The change in school grades may be more significant than expected, as additional revisions have been adopted that could have negative consequences.
At an upcoming workshop, we will cover these changes and their potential impact in further detail.

20. Common Core Standards Trainings
Scotty Crowe

21. Summer 2011 Kindergarten Teachers Administrators
Next Generation Content Area Reading Professional Development (NGCAR-PD) Secondary Content Area Teachers
Reading Coaches
Secondary Language Arts Teachers

22. On-Going
Elementary Content Area Advocates/ Secondary Department Chairs
Administrators’ Meetings
Reading Coaches’ Meetings
NGCAR PD practicum at school sites
Instructional Developers

23. Summer 2012 All teachers will have a day of Common Core Training
Second cadre of secondary content area teachers will participate in NGCAR PD training.
All summer trainings will focus on Common Core Standards

24. Leon County School Board Workshop