Common Core for Parents/Families Archdiocese of New York Fall 2012

What are the Common Core Standards? A coherent set of learning expectations in ELA and Math designed to prepare students for college and the workforce. National standards movement – They were developed through a collaboration of teachers, school administrators, experts, and state leaders from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

Teachers and principals within the Archdiocese have already been exposed to and begun receiving professional development on the Common Core Standards. Schools in the Archdiocese will be integrating the ELA & Literacy and Mathematics Common Core Standards beginning this fall.

2012-2013 and 2013-2014 will be transition years for these standards The New York State Board of Regents adopted the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics in January, 2011. Literacy standards for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 will be transition years for these standards Schools will still be administering New York State tests during these transition years

ITBS will still be administered as a diagnostic test The new ITBS exams are based on the Common Core Standards It is anticipated that there will be a full implementation of these standards – including assessments – by the 2014-2015 school year.

Why Common Core Standards? Preparation: The standards promote college- and career-readiness. Competition: The standards are internationally benchmarked. This will help ensure that our students are globally competitive. Equity: Expectations are consistent.

Why Common Core Standards? Clarity: The standards are focused, coherent, and clear. Clearer standards help students (and parents and teachers) understand what is expected of them. Collaboration: The standards create a foundation to work collaboratively across states and districts to create curricular tools, professional development, common assessments, and other materials.

Instructional Shifts: ELA Balancing Informational & Literary Texts Building Knowledge in the Disciplines Staircase of Complexity Text-Based Answers Writing From Sources Academic Vocabulary

Highlights of the CC Standards: ELA Emphasis on three types of writing, which are explicitly taught beginning in Prekindergarten: Narrative (telling a story or telling about an event) Informative/Explanatory (conveying information) Opinion/Argumentation (building a position or explanation using valid reasoning and credible information) Source: http://www.uen.org/commoncore/downloads/ParentLetter_ELA_CCSS.pdf

Further Highlights: ELA Students will be expected to create projects and documents to demonstrate what they have learned This includes oral/verbal demonstrations of understanding Greater emphasis on digital reading, writing, and multi-media production

Instructional Shifts: Math Focus Coherence Fluency Deep Understanding Application Dual Intensity

Highlights of the CC Standards: Math The PK4-5 standards provide students with a solid foundation in whole numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals The 6-8 standards describe robust learning in geometry, algebra, and probability and statistics The standards for grades 7 and 8 include significant algebra and geometry content

What Shifts are Asking of Educators Recognize that every subject-area teacher is a literacy teacher. Move away from giving students information and having them discover it. Move toward unit planning.

Common Core Resources adnyeducation.org http://www.uen.org/commoncore/ http://www.pta.org/common_core_state_standards.asp http://engageny.org This brings us to the end of the presentation on the Common Core standards. Does anyone have any remaining questions? At the beginning of the presentation, I mentioned that I will be providing some links to websites that contain more detailed information about the Common Core standards. These are some of the most comprehensive websites out there. The first website is the Archdiocese of New York Superintendent of Schools website. This is where you can find a variety of information about what’s happening in our schools. Under the PreK/Elementary tab, you can find specific information for parents about the Common Core. The second website, sponsored by the Utah Education Network, contains links to various resources to help you further understand the Common Core standards. There is also a link to the official Common Core standards website. The third website is sponsored by the National PTA. Among other resources, it contains a document, the Parents' Guide to Student Success, which addresses the Common Core standards.  The last website is specific to New York state, and contains numerous resources, including videos and sample lessons targeting the Common Core standards.