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Transitioning to the Common Core is not going to be easy. Hear what we've learned from educators across the country about what's different and what you should look for in new materials.
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What it Means, Lessons Learned & What to Look For
Woody Paik • Vice President
Transitioning to the Common Core:
Today’s presenter
Woody Paik, Vice President
Objectives
What to look for when purchasing Common Core
programs
Transitioning to the Common Core
Brief perspective on what the Common Core
means for educators
“Feet on the Street” perspective from Common
Core states in implementation mode
Brief Perspective on What the Common Core Means for Educators
Reading in the Common Core
More complex
Texts Worth Reading
Authentic Informational Evidence-based questioning
Real World topics
Text Complexity
It is important: Answering complex text questions predicts college success.
The stuff you have may not cut it: K-12 text complexity has consistently decreased since the 1960s.
It is hard to know what level you have: Text leveling bands—Lexile, Flesch-Kincaid—have expanded to accommodate CCSS guidance.
Ohio Grade Level Indicator 4.3 Compare and contrast information on a single topic or theme across different text and non-text resources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.6 Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.
An Example: State Standards vs. Common CoreR
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Overview: Math in the Common Core
Narrow, deeper focus
Coherent connections
Consistent progressions
Increased rigor
• Complex, higher-order thinking: Non-routine, multi-step, multi-answer problem solving
• In-depth mastery of skills v. spiraled instruction
• Conceptual learning: Understand the “why” and defend/explain answers
• Implication: Many standards have moved one or more grade levels
Mathematical Rigor
Conceptual Learning
A Significant Shift in Teaching Strategy
California: 5.NS.2.3 Solve simple problems, including ones arising in concrete situations, involving the addition and subtraction of fractions and mixed numbers (like and unlike denominators of 20 or less), and express answers in the simplest form.
An Example: State Standards vs. Common CoreG
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CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.A.2 Compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators, e.g., by creating common denominators or numerators, or by comparing to a benchmark fraction such as 1/2. Recognize that comparisons are valid only when the two fractions refer to the same whole. Record the results of comparisons with symbols >, =, or <, and justify the conclusions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.
CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.B.3c Add and subtract mixed numbers with like denominators, e.g., by replacing each mixed number with an equivalent fraction, and/or by using properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.
CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.B.4c Solve word problems involving multiplication of a fraction by a whole number, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem. For example, if each person at a party will eat 3/8 of a pound of roast beef, and there will be 5 people at the party, how many pounds of roast beef will be needed? Between what two whole numbers does your answer lie?
Where the Rubber Meets the Road
TEACHER
“I know where I need to be; I am just not exactly sure how to
get there.”
CCSS Nonfiction Accompanying Genre Guidance• Scientific, technical, historic, and economic accounts• Literary nonfiction: essays, speeches, biographies, memoirs, etc.
15%
85%
Typical Elementary Fiction/Nonfic-tion Ratios
50%50%
CCSS Required Fiction/Nonfic-tion Ratios
“I don’t have enough nonfiction, so I’m just sitting here waiting for the book fairy.”
1st Hand Account: Memoir2nd Hand Account: News Article
“I was told to use authentic text. I checked out the resource room –
that’s probably not going to happen.”
“Are you kidding?”• RL 4.4—Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean)
• RL 5.2—Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text
“Grade-level domain changes mean that my class has changed from 1/3 of students being below level to nearly all students being below
level.”
1) Many standards have moved down a grade level or more.• Understanding Area• Adding/Subtracting Fractions
2) There are new standards that were NOT explicitly part of many state standards.• Equations to represent proportional relationships
3) Increased focus in specific areas• Greater focus in grades 3-5 on measuring objects,
measurement word problems, using line plots to display measurement
“Conceptual understanding requires teaching the ‘why’ in multiple ways. Honestly, I am not
that comfortable with that.”
From “is it A or B?” to “show why and how.”
Representative Teacher Guidance
• Don’t use typical addition or subtraction language like “how
many more, how many altogether, or how many left.”
• Students need to analyze to decide which operations (add or
subtract) to use.
• There is more than one strategy for solving (add then
subtract or subtract and subtract again).
Standard of Mathematical Practice #6: Attend to precision.
“Of course precision is good, but it isn’t that easy to embed that focus in what I do every day.”
The Headlines
“My kids are further behind grade level standards than this time last year or the year before or the year before that.”
“Many of my ‘on grade-level’ kids…..all of a sudden…need to play catch up.”
“Even with great kids and great teachers and great resources, the Common Core is a multi-year journey and I am expected to get there in 8 months. Ugh!”
Kentucky: Nation’s First Common Core Assessment Results in Major
Declines
Reading Math
76% 73%
48%
Elementary School: Proficient or Better
Reading Math
70% 65%
46% 41%
Middle School: Proficient or Better
from “Scores Drop on Kentucky’s Common Core-Aligned Tests,” Nov. 2012, EdWeek
2011 vs. 2012 2011 vs. 2012
40%
What to look for…Overall Brand NEW content published 2011 or later (check the
original publication date)
Access to prerequisite skills
Enables rapid implementation
Access to interim assessments for progress monitoring
Does the company have a plan for quickly adjusting to policy changes?
Offline/online instructional offerings
Affordable
Money back guarantee
What to look for…Reading
The RIGHT text passages:
o Complex
o Authentic
o Genre-rich
Evidence-based text analysis requirements
Support for all populations—remediation, enrichment, ELL, etc.
What to look for…Mathematics Incorporation of all grade level shifts
Balance of conceptual understanding and procedural fluency
Rigor
o Complex, higher-order thinking
o In-depth mastery of skills
o Non-routine and multi-step problem solving
o Full explanations and justifications
Instructional Guidance
o Standards for Mathematical Practice
o Mathematical Discourse
o Common Misconceptions
Support for all populations—remediation, enrichment, ELL, etc.
What to look for…Professional Development
Thoughtful, embedded professional development that:o Provides step-by-step guidance for teachers o Guidance specific to each consortia, SBAC and PARCCo Integrated standards guidance
Support at “point of instruction”
Overarching GoalEliminate the CCSS “drama” and
complexity for teachers; give them the “right” resources and support, so they can do
what they do best—teach.
Parting Thoughts
Common Core State Standards
“The Standards leave room for teachers, curriculum developers, and states to determine how those goals should be reached and what additional topics should be addressed…Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most helpful for meeting the goals set out in the Standards.”
“The Common Core State Standards are a big deal….it is safe to say that across the entire history of American education, no single document will have played a more influential role over what is taught in schools.”
Lucy Calkins, Founding Director of the Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College, Columbia University and author of “Pathways to the Common Core”
