A mile wide and a foot deep vs. A foot wide and a mile deep Mile Wide -> No Progress Mile Deep -> Support Extensive Progress

Welcome to the Common core Freehold Borough Common Core Black Belt Team October 18, 2012

Common Core Black Belt Team What is the Common Core? A nationally-developed set of standards designed to prepare all students for college and careers Common Core Black Belt Team A team of teachers and administrators engaging in a year-long training program focused on strategies for successful transition to the Common Core State Standards FOCUS: College & Career Readiness as a Goal

Comparison of Skills Needed for College Readiness & Career Readiness

Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma. And yet, just over half of our citizens have that level of education. The Common Core State Standards were created to ensure we compete – as an Individual School, as a State, as a Nation. Consider..

The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to 9th in the proportion of young people with a college degree. The Competitiveness of each of our schools rests on the Rigor of our instruction.

Now take it to the next level: Think Globally In relation to other countries, where do you think we rate in English Language Arts? Compare the USA to Hungary? To Slovenia? To Estonia? To Austria? Pause to give audience members a chance to consider. Consider having audience members discuss with a neighbor for 30-40 seconds

Note the target, our current position (red arrow), and how far we need to move (blue arrow)

How about Math? Compare the USA to the same countries from the slide before. Add some more – China Netherlands Canada Pause to give audience members a chance to consider. Consider having audience members discuss with a neighbor for 30-40 seconds

Note the target, our current position (red arrow), and how far we need to move (blue arrow)

Chance of later success ACT Study – Schmeiser, 2006 Chance of later success 1% 32% Science 15% 67% Mathematics Unprepared in Reading Prepared in Reading And yet.. If I am not prepared to read, I have almost no chance to succeed in Science or Math. The ability to read academic, non-fiction text increases my Science and Math ability exponentially. The Common Core Focus especially on Reading – across the content areas.

K-12 reading assignments have become much less demanding. College reading assignments have moved in the opposite direction. K-12 teachers commonly give students many kinds of support and coaching to help them figure out the material. College teachers expect students to pull the knowledge from the text on their own. K-12 has decreased expectations while Post-Secondary has increased expectations

Research Based Answers Our current lexile growth over the K-12 years does not prepare us for the expectations of various careers

Conditions for Successful Implementation Vision Skills + Incentives Resources Action Plan = Sustainable Change Confusion Anxiety Resistance Frustration Treadmill Key Questions: -- "Do we have tools, time, and training to map effectively?" -- "Over the next three years, do we have attainable timelines and goals? Who will be the responsible parties for implementations, monitoring, and feedback?" -- "Why are we doing this?" -- "How do we build effective maps?" -- "How will mapping improve teaching and learning?" Your plan for implementation must include each element. Knoster, T., Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (2000) 14

Common Core Vision – preparing our students for college and careers Reduce the need for remedial courses Increase students’ abilities to apply deep understanding of academic content to find solutions to 21st Century issues. Fewer Clearer Higher Narrowing down the amount of content covered in a year Clear language with examples of what students should know, understand, and be able to do Increased focus on developing a deeper understanding of academic content Good time to refer back to “Mile Wide – Foot Deep” vs. “Foot Wide – Mile Deep”

Common Core State Standards Shifting Gears FEWER! Fewer, Clearer, Higher Nj Math standards (2008) Common Core State Standards Math – Grade 6 4.1 Number & Number Operations (20) 4.2 Geometry & Measurement (21) 4.3 Patterns & Algebra (8) 4.4 Data Analysis, Probability, & Discrete Math (14) TOTAL = 63 CPI’s Math – Grade 6 Ratios & Proportional Relationships (3) The Number System (8) Expressions & Equations (9) Geometry (4) Statistics & Probability (5) TOTAL = 29 Standards Fewer Skills/ Topics

Common Core State Standards Shifting Gears Fewer, Clearer, Higher CLEARER Nj Math standards (2008) 4.1.2.A: “Demonstrate an understanding of whole number place value concepts.” Common Core State Standards 2.NBT.1. Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones; e.g., 706 equals 7 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones. Understand the following as special cases: 100 can be thought of as a bundle of ten tens — called a “hundred.” The numbers 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 refer to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine hundreds (and 0 tens and 0 ones). Clearer description of what students whould know, understand, and be able to do

Common Core State Standards Shifting Gears Fewer, Clearer, Higher Nj LAL standards (2004) HIGHER! 3.1.4.A-2: Recognize purposes and uses for print conventions such as paragraphs, end-sentence punctuation, and bold print. Common Core State Standards Reading for Literature (RL) 4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions). Higher expectations for deeper understanding

Common Core is cross-content… In order for students to be successful, literacy skills must be addressed and infused in all content areas. Language Arts and Mathematics are not the only areas that are affected. We are all advocates for literacy. Advocates for Literacy in ALL CONTENT AREAS: domain-specific vocabulary, working with informational text, text-dependent questions, evidence-based writing

Pair new, rigorous Non-Fiction with Existing lower-level Fiction (connection) The goal is to create a balance between literature and informational texts BALANCE!!!! We still work with literature, we just need to look for some opportunities to transition to informational text over the course of a unit

NOT JUST ANOTHER TREND The Common Core Standards are the single largest enterprise wide initiative ever undertaken in American K-12 Schools. This process has been funded by private business to assist the United States in cultivating a work force that can compete internationally. These nationally developed standards have been voluntarily adopted by 46 states. FOCUS – backed by private industry, adopted by 46 states

Conditions for Successful Implementation Vision Skills + Incentives Resources Action Plan = Sustainable Change Confusion Anxiety Resistance Frustration Treadmill Key Questions: -- "Do we have tools, time, and training to map effectively?" -- "Over the next three years, do we have attainable timelines and goals? Who will be the responsible parties for implementations, monitoring, and feedback?" -- "Why are we doing this?" -- "How do we build effective maps?" -- "How will mapping improve teaching and learning?" Your plan for implementation must include each element. Knoster, T., Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (2000) 22

Conditions for Successful Implementation Vision Skills + Incentives Resources Action Plan = Sustainable Change Confusion Anxiety Resistance Frustration Treadmill Key Questions: -- "Do we have tools, time, and training to map effectively?" -- "Over the next three years, do we have attainable timelines and goals? Who will be the responsible parties for implementations, monitoring, and feedback?" -- "Why are we doing this?" -- "How do we build effective maps?" -- "How will mapping improve teaching and learning?" Move Quickly through this slide – just mention what can happen when pieces are missing Knoster, T., Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (2000) 23

PARTING GIFTS Literacy Focus for all Freehold Borough teachers Domain (content) specific vocabulary Evidence-based writing Text dependent questions Increase Non-fiction To improve student achievement. Fewer, clearer, higher. College and career readiness. Private industry investments. Development of common resources.

How can I teach my kids to get the answer to this problem? PARTING GIFTS USA: How can I teach my kids to get the answer to this problem? Use what they already know. Easy, reliable, works with bottom half, good for classroom management. Japan: How can I use this problem to teach the content of this unit? Make learning relevant to the students’ lives

Be that guy!

Questions & Comments Please discuss today’s presentation with your colleagues and forward questions and comments to Rich Pepe.