An Occasion for ChangeCommon Core State Standards

Eileen Murphy Buckley May 10, 2012

Roles

Time CopSpokes PersonPartners

What do you know or want to know about CCSS?

Use post-its to complete a K-W-Now What?Stick them on the chart papers.

I know, I know, but it is kind of helpful for me to get a sense of the room

Today’s Key Questions

What are the expectations of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects? (The Standards and Assessments)

How can we begin an exploration of the standards in schools? (Exploring Strategies)

What might the application of standards look like in practice, particularly in text and task selection? (Strategies for Supporting the Common Core Adoption in Teacher Education Courses and Schools)

Why New Standards?

Students are not reading at levels sufficient for college and career readiness in content areas.

Only slightly more than half (53%) of the members of the 2009 high school graduatingclass were ready for college-level and workplace training–level reading.

47%Not

Ready

What is “College Readiness?”

The level of preparation a student needs to be ready to enroll and succeed without remediation in an entry-level, credit bearing course (in each content area) at a two-year or four-year institution, trade school, or technical school.

Who Should be Worried about “College Readiness?”

Collegereadiness

IS forEVERY ONE!

What We Know So Far

New StandardsNew Assessments

Common Core State Standards Development

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

46 States + DC Have Adopted the Common Core

State Standards

*Minnesota adopted the CCSS in ELA/literacy only

PARCCPartnership for Assessment of Readiness for

College and Careers

An alliance of made up of states representing half of the country working to develop a common set of K–12 assessments in English and Math (Beginning in 2014)

PARCC Assessment System will include:Multiple-choice, short answer, open response, and performance based items

PARCC Assessment DesignEnglish Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3-11

End-of-Year Assessment

• Innovative, computer-based items

Performance-BasedAssessment (PBA)

• Extended tasks• Applications of concepts

and skills

Summative,Required assessment

Interim, optional assessment

Diagnostic Assessment• Early indicator of student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD

ELA - Speaking And ListeningAssessment

• Locally scored• Non-summative, required

Optional Assessments/Flexible Administration

Mid-Year Assessment• Performance-based• Emphasis on hard-to-

measure standards• Potentially summative

PARCC Assessment System

PARCC’s computer-based assessments will:Produce real-time snapshots of students’

knowledge.Give parents, students and teachers the ability to

adjust accordingly rather than waiting until the end of the school year when it’s too late to make changes.

PARCC assessments will be scored:By a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and

human scoring.States will individually determine the extent to

which teachers will be involved in scoring.

Leading the Discussion: Strengths of CCSS

Aligned with college and work expectations. Include rigorous content and application

of knowledge through higher order skills.Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards.

Informed by top-performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in

our global economy and society; and,Evidence and/or researched-based.

Key Advances: ELA and Literacy in

Content AreasReading: Balance of literature and informational texts + Text

complexity

Writing: Emphasis on argument and informative/explanatory writing + Writing about Sources

Speaking and Listening: Inclusion of formal and informal talk

Language: Stress on general academic and domain specific vocabulary

Standards for reading and writing in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects: Complement rather than replace content standards

*Mathematical Practices Standards also include Argument

SHIFTS RESPONSIBILITY for TEACHING with TEXT to ALL

TEACHERS

StructureStandards for ELA and

Literacy

Anchor Standards: Clear Simple Targets

Anchor standards for Reading and Writing across

genres and subject areas allow students to develop

mutually reinforcing skills, required across a range of

texts and classrooms

Reading and Writing standards are closely tied to

the standards for listening and speaking.

21st Century skills in research and technology,

particularly regarding the interpretation and

production of multi-media texts are also featured.

Key Grade Band Features

K-5 Foundational Skills (Print Concepts, Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Word

Recognition, and Fluency)

6-12 Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

How Can This Make More Kids College Ready?: Sample

Assessment Tasks

Explore the sample assessment items.

What claims can we make about the differences between current

assessments and CCSS?

Talk with your partner first

Talk with your group

Grade-Specific Standards: A Spiraling Staircase

What students should master by the end of each grade.

Students are expected to retain and further develop skills and understandings mastered in preceding grades.

Leading the Discussion: Spiraling Standards in Reading and

Writing

CCR Anchor Standard 8 for Reading:“Delineate and evaluate the argument and

specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.”

CCR Anchor Standard 1 for Writing:“Write arguments to support claims in an

analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.”

Tracking a Spiraling Standard

Complete Tracking Activity (20-30

minutes)

What variables are used to increase

rigor?

Tracking a Spiraling Standard

Reflection:

What aspects of literacy seems to be valued most throughout these

standards?

The Staircase of Text Complexity

Reader & Task

Qualitati

ve

Quantitative

Quantitative Text Complexity

Standards recommend that multiple quantitative measures be used whenever possible and that their results be confirmed or overruled by a qualitative analysis of the text in question.

Certain texts such as Poetry, Drama and K-1 texts cannot accurately be measured quantitatively .

Partner Activity: Examine Changes in Lexiles

Text Complexity Grade Band in the Standards

Old Lexile Ranges

Lexile Ranges Aligned to CCR Expectations

K-1 N/A N/A

2-3 450-725 450-790

4-5 645-845 770-980

6-8 860-1010 955-1155

9-10 960-1115 1080-1305

11-CCR 1070-1220 1215-1355

Leading the Discussion: Qualitative Text Complexity

Reader & Task

Qualitati

ve

Quantitative

Lower or Higher End of Grade Band?

Examine the Text Using the Protocol for Analyzing the Qualitative Dimensions of

Text Complexity

Would you place this on the lower or higher end of the 6-8 grade band?

Reflection: How can you as an instructional leader facilitate these kinds

of reflective discussions?

Leading the Discussion: Task &Text Complexity

Reader & Task

Qualitati

ve

Quantitative

Task Analysis

Douglass’s Narrative

Which of the Grade 8, ELA Standards would you practice while completing this task? Which of the 6-8 Literacy Standards would you practice while completing this task?

The Special Place of Argumentation

(1) Other nations pay equal attention to what students read and how they read. Explicit expectations for the range, quality, and complexity of what students read along with more conventional standards describing how well students must be able to read.

(2) Students are required to write in response to sources. In several international assessment programs, students are confronted with a text or texts and asked to gather evidence, analyze readings, and synthesize content. The Standards likewise require students to “draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research” (Writing CCR standard 9).

(3) Writing arguments and writing informational/explanatory texts are priorities. The Standards follow international models by making writing arguments and writing informational/explanatory texts the dominant modes of writing in high school to demonstrate readiness for college and career.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER

PREPARATION AND PD?

Leading the Discussion: Reader and Task &Text

Complexity

Reader & Task

Qualitati

ve

Quantitative

Teachers and The Reader Variable

How Can Teachers Influence

These Variables?

Background

Knowledge

Motivation

Experience

It’s Still about the Text/Task

Tier I Teaching to the MatchFrontload Background Knowledge

School Life/Real Life—The Argumentation Connection

TEXT TASK

It’s Still about the Text/Task

Tier I Teaching to the MatchFrontload Background Knowledge

School Life/Real Life!

TASK TEXT

Implications for Instruction

Shift focus from literacy instruction to center on careful examination of text.Text selection: complexity, genre, and qualityTask selection: rigorous tasks

Source: CARRIE HEATH PHILLIPS, COUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS (CCSSO)

CARRIEH@CCSSO.ORG

More Non-fiction

Grades 3-5 50% Literature 50% Informational.

Grades 6-12 45% Literature 55% Informational

(More literary non-fiction, particularly texts build on informational text structures rather than

literary non-fiction that are structured as stories such as memoirs or biographies.)

Texts must be worthy of close reading.

Source: CARRIE HEATH PHILLIPS, COUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS (CCSSO)

CARRIEH@CCSSO.ORG

Literature versus Informational Texts

Think about grade and subjects levels,not ELA classes and reading blocks Slight shift toward more literary non-fiction in ELA classes

Big shift toward more text school-wide

Scaffold Complexity-Don’t Avoid It

Lots of opportunities for close reading of short texts at or beyond the grade level.

Access to lots of accessible texts and time to choose and read them—Increasing # of pages is essential to increasing reading ability.

Productive struggle with independent reading.

Challenge students to make claims and support with evidence from the text.

Application: Instructional Leadership in the

Common Core Era

Collaborate with teacher candidates and teachers to examine threads of the common core standards as it develops over grade levels

Collaborate with teacher candidates and teachers to examine texts through the common core qualitative lens and use more text in instruction

Collaborate with teacher candidates and teachers to incorporate elements of argument and other rigorous activities into the selection of texts and tasks

#1 Common Assessment Recommendation: Collaboratively Evaluated, Argumentative Responses to Text

CCSS Implementation at Your SchoolReflection:

How might this change the focus or methods

in your teacher preparation courses

or professional development?CCSS