Common Core State Standards

What is the Common Core? The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is a near-universal set of academic standards agreed to by 46 states and the District of Columbia. Created for students in kindergarten through 12 th grade, CCSS was designed by educators and academic experts, and inspired by standards from the world’s highest-performing countries. It represents a seismic shift in the teaching of English Language Arts (writing, reading, listening and speaking) and math.

What Were the Standards Before? Before the adoption of CCSS in June 2010, each state developed its own set of standards, creating a wide range of uneven learning experiences and achievements. Students were not receiving a consistent high-quality education from school to school and state to state.

Why Change? A high school diploma in the U.S. was and continues to be a broken- promise, which is supposed to reflect adequate preparation for the intellectual demands of adult life, but in reality it falls far short of this common sense goal. The world is changing and the American education system hasn’t kept pace. In a 2012 report, for example, the United States ranked 14 th among 37 countries in the percentage of year-olds with higher education. And too many of today’s high school graduates-25% according to a recent study-must take remedial classes to enroll in college courses.

SOLUTION COMMON SET of RIGOROUS STANDARDS The SOLUTION to combat this problem is a COMMON SET of RIGOROUS STANDARDS. Experts agree that we must retool education to better prepare our students to confront the challenges of an unpredictable and ever-changing future. We must help them retain (and, in some cases, regain) their competitive edge in the new global marketplace.

How are These Standards Different from Current State Standards? The primary goal of CCSS is to teach critical thinking and problem solving. Students will become active learners-rather than passive-in a dynamic environment. They will become independent thinkers who can create informed opinions, critique the opinions of their peers and their world, defend their argument with evidence, and communicate their points of view effectively. On tests, they will be required to reason out the best answer, rather than memorizing the “correct” answer.

How will this change the curriculum? The initiative's stated purpose:  Provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn.  Also, the standards are designed to be rigorous and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers, which will place American students in a position in which they can compete in a global economy.

Characteristics  Fewer and more rigorous  Aligned with college and career expectations  Internationally benchmarked  Rigorous content and application of higher-order skills  Builds on strengths and lessons of current state standards  Research-based

Preparing All Students for Tomorrow. Today. Preparing All Students for Tomorrow. Today.

SHIFTS in Common Core What’s Changed?

Language Arts Balancing informative and literary texts (K-5) Knowledge in all disciplines Staircase of complexity Text-based answers Writing from sources Academic vocabulary

K through grade 5 10 reading standards for informative text 10 reading standards for literary text Writing standards explicitly call for opinion pieces, narratives, and informational or explanatory text

Grades 6 through reading standards for literature 10 reading standards for informational text Writing standards that explicitly call for arguments, narratives, and informational or explanatory text An additional set of standards for reading and writing in history/social studies, science, and technical studies.

Math Shifts Greater focus on fewer topics K – 2 Concepts, skills, problem solving related to addition/subtraction 3 – 5 Concepts, skill, problem solving related to multiplication and and division of whole numbers and fractions 6 Concepts, skills, ratios, relationships of early algebraic expressions and equations Linking topics/thinking across grade levels Rigorous pursuit of conceptual understandings, procedural skills, application

“Doing” Math Conceptual Understanding Computation and Procedural Skills Problem Solving

Common Core Lesson hing-about-textual-evidence hing-about-textual-evidence

CCSS Binders Summer Work 2013

Binder overview – Year divided into 10 Units – Units have 3 cycles 1 cycle can be 1 week – Same standard taught in each cycle; however, depth of standard deepens throughout the unit – Units focus changes between Reading for Literature and Reading for Information Units 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 are RL Units 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 are RI – Writing Prompts for each Cycle Rotate between Informative, Narrative, and Argument/Persuasive – Summative Assessment after each Unit

Scope and sequence Determined standards taught within a specific Unit and Cycle Created measurable objectives for each standard Determined which measurable objectives will be taught in a specific Unit and Cycle Developed a guideline for choosing resources within each unit that will address the standards

Overview of Scope and Sequence Standard Identification: 6.RL.1 – 6 = Grade Level – RL = Reading for Literature – 1 = the standard number under Reading for Literature Objective Identification: 6.RL.1.2 – 6 = Grade Level – RL = Reading for Literature – 1 = the standard number under Reading for Literature – 2 = the objective number assigned to the standard

Scope and sequence

PBVUSD Binder Team Work Standard Objectives – Assigned objectives to specific days within a cycle – Created student outcomes for specific objectives Resource Development – Identified text and other resources that could be used to teach the objective – Developed a series of weekly text based writing prompts Rotate between Informative, Argumentative, and Narrative

Unit text requirements Example from unit 1

Unit one/cycle one/lesson one

Lesson 1 continued

Unit one writing prompts

Binder team work End Result – Scope and Sequence – Standards with Measure Objectives – 10 Unit Plan with 3 Cycles – Weekly Text Based Writing Prompts – Daily Lesson Guides Objectives Student Outcomes Daily Resource Guide

John Dewey

Rigorous questions, tasks, and assessments are essential to driving higher- order thinking.

DOK Levels and Examples Level 1: Recall and Reproduction  Use a dictionary to find the meaning of words  Provide a routine procedure such as measuring length  Describe physical features of a place Level 2: Skills and Concepts (greater depth of understanding is required to be able to explain how or why a concepts works)  Compare desert and tropical environments  Identify and summarize the major events, solutions, conflicts in literary text  Organize, represent and interpret data Level 1 and 2 questions generally have a wrong or right answer.

Level 3: Conceptual and Strategic Thinking  Analyze and describe the characteristics of various types of literature  Create an open sort and define the rule and explain  Solve non-routine problems Level 4:Extended Thinking  Analyzing author’s craft (e.g. style, bias, literary techniques)  Conduct an investigation, from specifying a problem to designing and carrying out an experiment, to analyzing data and forming conclusions  Write and produce an original play Levels 3 and 4 can have multiple steps, more than one possible answer and can be done more than one way.

Depth Of Knowledge Activity Read passage Label questions with the DOK level Discuss with a partner why you selected the particular level (key words, type of task…)