Understanding the Common Core Standards Adopted by Nevada in 2010 Our State. Our Students. Our Success.

What are Standards? The goals we set for what each child should know and be able to do by the end of a grade level. The state reviews standards in each subject area every 5-7 years and updates them, if necessary.

Local Control of Standards While the state sets academic standards, local districts have the flexibility to build on these standards. Give a district example here of local control. Districts also choose the curriculum: tools to help teachers teach the standards in the classroom.

Adoption Process in Nevada Nevada’s Council to Establish Academic Standards and the State Board of Education reviewed the standards in public hearings and received public comment The Council and State Board adopted the standards in 2010 The Nevada Legislative Commission approved and adopted the Common Core Standards in May 2012 Implementation of the standards in Nevada classrooms began in school year

What are the Common Core State Standards? The Common Core State Standards set grade-by-grade learning expectations for students in grades K-12 for Mathematics and for English Language Arts and Literacy. While states have had standards for more than 15 years, this set of standards is more focused on preparing students for success in college and career. They set clear, consistent and high learning goals.

More time to focus on preparing students for college and career readiness. What Should I Expect?

What is Changing in ELA and Literacy? Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

How can you help your child in literacy? - Ask your child specific questions about what they read. - Encourage children to read, then write and speak about, nonfiction text such as newspapers, magazines, and biographies. - Encourage children to research topics of interest and read series that relate to a central topic. - Have your child follow step by step instructions or a set of directions in order to accomplish a task, such as building a sandcastle or operating a game.

What is Changing in Mathematics? Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus Coherence : Think across grades, and link to major topics Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application with equal intensity

How can you help your child in math? Help children practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Encourage children not to give up while solving problems, to build stamina and develop their critical thinking skills. Don’t give them the answers - ask them to think of different ways they can solve problems. Have children illustrate the math they were thinking in their head and discuss it out loud. Have children apply their math knowledge to a real-world scenario at home, such as doubling a recipe or calculating the area of a room.

What is Not Changing? State authority: Nevada still has control over its own standards The state reviews and adopts new standards in many different subject areas about every 7 years Local control: Local school districts still adopt curriculum at the local level. These are standards, not curriculum. Curriculum will still be selected by local school boards Explain the process used in your district in selecting curriculum and how parents can get involved

What is Not Changing? The content of other subject areas: The new Nevada Academic Content Standards based on Common Core focus on English language arts, literacy and mathematics These new standards include literacy standards for other subject areas, such as science and social studies, but do not change the content standards in these subject areas. They do not change the content of government or history classes.

Broad Statewide Support List your school district and/or school board Nevada Superintendents Nevada educators Nevada Governor Nevada State Superintendent Nevada State Board of Education Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce

Looking Ahead Department of Education will survey all districts to certify level of implementation before School Year Regional Professional Development Programs will continue their work with educators. Field tests of the new Smarter Balanced assessments aligned with these standards completed in Spring of 2014

Looking Ahead Nevada Teacher Preparation and the Standards NSHE institutions have already embedded the Standards within their four teacher preparation programs (UNLV, UNR, NSC and GBC) to prepare teachers to teach under the Common Core State Standards

How Will We Know It Works? In Spring 2015, Nevada will measure students against these standards for the first time with new assessments administered in all Nevada schools Not as many students will be proficient in English language arts and mathematics as before These are higher standards, and it will take a few years for Nevada students to master them

Remember Why Nevada Joined This Effort The Skills Gap 58% = By 2020, jobs in Nevada requiring a career, certificate or college degree 28% = Nevada adults who have an associate degree or higher 30% = The Skills Gap Student Readiness Measured by Assessments Nevada students under-perform on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Remediation Rate o One-third of recent high school graduates in Nevada enroll in a remedial course

Additional Resources Council of the Great City Schools Parent Roadmaps: Math ELA / Literacy National Parent Teachers Association (PTA) Achieve the Core

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