Oregon Common Core State Standards and SMARTER What is the role of board members?

ADMINISTRATION’S WORK Division of Labor Goals Policies Accountability/ Advocacy BOARD’S WORK ADMINISTRATION’S WORK Operations Regulations This illustrates the division of labor between board work and administration’s work. Personnel

“The downfall of low-performing schools is not their lack of effort and motivation; rather, it is poor decisions regarding what to work on.” --Richard Elmore4 It’s not that districts lack data, or even the analysis of the data. they do not know what questions to ask to make decisions driven by the data. Data Rich Information Poor (DRIP) With limited resources it is even more critical to target resources the key resources is time and money Ability to focus. Know what your goals are and what information will help you monitor the progress. If you want to learn why your baseball team isn’t scoring runs, you don’t look at the team’s pitching data. PIM Calibration Training

Vision Continuous Student Improvement Achievement Collaborative Standards Continuous Improvement Assessment Student Achievement Collaborative Partnerships Accountability This is all board’s work, however, we are going to focus on the right side of the diamond, the data elements, Standards, Assessment, Accountability and Alignment. As we’ll discuss, a similar process is happening in your schools, as teacher’s who have been trained via the Oregon Data Project or other data focused programs, are using data to make decisions about instructional strategies, what needs to be taught, what works best with particular students. Teachers are using data at the micro level, you as board members need to use it at the macro level, the 30,000 ft view. An important element to making good decision is analyzing the data and asking good questions. When analyzed in a collaborative way it can make the invisible, visible allowing you to make decisions that improve achievement. Climate Alignment Copyright 2009 - Key Works of Boards – National School Boards Assoc.

Without a measuring tool, how do you know what your measuring is accurate?

Research on Effective School Boards Iowa Lighthouse Study – effective school boards Consistently expressed the belief that all students can learn and that schools can teach all students Were knowledgeable about teaching and learning issues Made student-centered, data-driven decisions Created a supportive workplace for staff Engaged their communities as collaborative partners in the goal of increased student achievement Copyright  2006 by The Iowa School Boards Foundation

Research on Effective School Boards (cont’d) The Politics of Excellence: Trustee Leadership and School District Ethos. Boards were: More knowledgeable about district programs and practices Had a clearer sense of what they wanted to accomplish based on a set of firmly held values and beliefs Engaged in activities that provided them with opportunities to articulate and discuss these values and beliefs

Common Core State Standards The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, and to reflect the knowledge and skills that 21st century youth will need for success in college and careers. With all students academically prepared for the future, our state and our nation will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy. The vision of the CCSS is that all students will graduate from high school college and career-ready. The timeline has been set for the first three (reading, writing, apply math). The state and districts are focusing their efforts and resources on implementing these first three essential skills. An implementation timeline for the remaining essential skills has not yet been determined. 8

Common Core State Standards: Why? 63% of jobs nationwide will require some postsecondary education by 2018 64% of Oregon jobs will require postsecondary education; of those: 54% vocational training, certification, or associate degree 46% bachelor or graduate degree Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, June 2010

Common Core State Standards: What? College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics ELA includes literacy standards for social science, technical subjects, and science  46 States It is important we have a K-12 framework because of the cross-content focus. 10

The Instructional Core Principle #1: Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in the level of content, teachers’ knowledge and skill, and student engagement. Principle #2: If you change one element of the instructional core, you have to change the other two. Instructional core: The core includes three interdependent components: teachers' knowledge and skill, students' engagement in their own learning, and academically challenging content. We are not just swapping out one set of standards for another. As we increase the rigor of the content, we must focus on using the excellent recent educational research to improve content knowledge and practice and student engagement and ownership of their learning. (i.e., NRC: How People Learn; Horizon Research: Elements of Effective Instruction; CCSSO: What is Effective Professional Development) Richard Elmore, Ph.D., Harvard Graduate School of Education 11

Common Core State Standards: When? Districts Transition Content: 2011-14 Full Implementation: by Spring 2014 Statewide Assessment: Spring 2015 These are the known implementation benchmarks. Districts are beginning to transition to the CCSS content now, and should be fully transitioned to the CCSS content in classrooms by Spring 2014 at the latest so that students have the opportunity to learn the content before they are held accountable for it on the statewide assessment in spring 2015. 12

All students leave high school college and career ready Adaptive summative assessments benchmarked to college & career readiness Common Core State Standards specify K-12 expectations for college and career readiness Teachers can access formative tools and practices to improve instruction All students leave high school college and career ready Computer adaptive, constructed response, and performance tasks Interim are optional opportunities, but will give students and teachers information on where students are Have them look at the CCSS fact sheet and SMARTER handout Interim assessments that are flexible and open

English Language Arts & Literacy CCSS Video FAQ Goals of the CCSS ELA

ELA & Literacy – Six Shifts K-5 Balancing Informational & Literary Texts 6-12 Knowledge in the Content Areas Staircase of Complexity Text-based Answers Writing from Sources Academic Vocabulary www.ode.state.or.us/wma/teachlearn/commoncore/ common-core-shifts-ela.pdf Shift 1: Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts. Elementary school classrooms are, therefore, places where students access the world – science, social studies, the arts and literature – through text. At least 50% of what students read is informational. Shift 2: Content area teachers outside of the ELA classroom emphasize literacy experiences in their planning and instruction. Students learn through domain-specific texts in science and social studies classrooms – rather than referring to the text, they are expected to learn from what they read. Shift 3: In order to prepare students for the complexity of college and career-ready texts, each grade level requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase.” Students read the central, grade-appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space in the curriculum for this close and careful reading, and provide appropriate and necessary scaffolding and supports so that the text is possible for students reading below grade level to read. Shift 4: Students have rich and rigorous conversations which are dependent on all students reading a common text. Teachers insist that classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the text and that students develop habits for making evidentiary arguments based on the text both in conversation as well as in writing, to assess their comprehension of a text. Shift 5: Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to inform or make an argument rather than the personal narrative and other forms of decontextualized prompts. While the narrative still has an important role, students develop skills through written arguments that respond to the ideas, events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts they read. Shift 6: Students constantly build the vocabulary they need to be able to access grade-level complex texts. By focusing strategically on comprehension of pivotal and commonly found words (such as “discourse,” “generation,” “theory,” and “principled”) teachers constantly build students’ ability to access more complex texts across the content areas.

Mathematics CCSS Video FAQ CCSS Math Classroom

Mathematics – Six Shifts Focus Coherence College and Career Readiness Mathematical Practices Modeling Balanced Emphasis www.ode.state.or.us/wma/teachlearn/commoncore/ common-core-shifts-math.pdf Shift 1: Similar to the Oregon standards in Mathematics, the intent of the CCSSM is to narrowly and deeply focus the time and energy spent in the math classroom. The CCSSM emphasizes concepts prioritized in the standards so that students reach strong foundational knowledge and deep conceptual understanding and are able to transfer mathematical skills and understanding across concepts and grades. Shift 2: Deep conceptual understanding of core content at each grade is critical for student success in subsequent years. Each standard is not a new event, but an extension of previous learning. Principals and teachers carefully connect the learning within and across grades. For example, fractions and multiplication build across grade levels and students can scaffold new understanding onto foundations built in previous years. Shift 3: The CCSSM defines the knowledge and skills students need to develop as part of their K–12 education in order to graduate from high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing, academic college courses and in workforce training programs. The standards were written to be aligned with college and work expectations, include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills, and were informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society. Shift 4: The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe the variety of expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students, and that should be emphasized along with the CCSSM grade-level standards. These practices rest on important “processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in mathematics education. Teachers teach more than “how to get the answer” and instead support students’ ability to access concepts from a number of perspectives so that they see math as more than a set of mnemonics or discrete procedures. Shift 5: Modeling links classroom mathematics and statistics to everyday life, work, and decision-making. The CCSSM increases emphasis on the process of modeling which includes choosing and using appropriate mathematics and statistics to analyze empirical situations, to understand them better, and to improve decisions. Students are expected to use math and choose the appropriate mathematical model even when they are not prompted to do so. Teachers at all grade levels should identify opportunities for students to apply math concepts in “real world” situations. Shift 6: Students are both practicing and understanding mathematics. There is more than a balance between these two things in the classroom – both are occurring with intensity. Teachers create opportunities for students to participate in authentic practice and make use of those skills through extended application of math concepts. The amount of time and energy spent practicing and understanding is driven by the specific mathematical concept and therefore, varies throughout a given school year.

Resources

Oregon CCSS Website www.ode.state.or.us/go/commoncore Resources: Communication Tools, Parent Guides ELL, Students with Disabilities Professional Development Modules DATA Project Professional Development Videos Resources from Oregon Districts and ESDs TAG, Early Childhood, CTE, and more coming soon www.ode.state.or.us/go/commoncore 19

What resources do you need, or have to share, for CCSS implementation? Stewardship Team CCSS Toolkit: October 20-21 work session Included 20 TOSAs Identified resources to add What resources do you need, or have to share, for CCSS implementation? 20

Oregon CCSS Webinar Series SMARTER Assessment CCSS Toolkit Updates Instructional Materials October 11, 2011 October 18, 2011 October 25, 2011 February 14, 2012 February 21, 2012 February 28, 2012 TBD May 8, 2012 May 1, 2012 Tuesdays from 2:30-3:30 PM Recorded for later viewing Details on ODE Event Registration system: www.ode.state.or.us/news/events/ 21

Contacts Peggy Holstedt, OSBA pholstedt@osba.org Mickey Garrison, CCSS Co-Lead mickey.garrison@state.or.us Cheryl Kleckner, CCSS Co-Lead cheryl.kleckner@state.or.us

Thank you!