Educating Parents and Community About the Common Core Presenters: Bryan Hand and Donna Marino Middletown Public Schools

How is Common Core different than how we learned math? Focus ▫Grade level mastery ▫Limited spiraling, but purposeful differentiation Coherence ▫The standards build logically Rigor ▫Concept and procedure are equally important ▫Mathematical thinking is emphasized

Grade Level Focus Areas Card Sorting Activity In groups of 4, you will try to organize the grade level focuses and the mathematical practices

What do parents and community members need to know about the standards? Left side of the room What do parents and community members need to know about the new assessment? Right side of the room

Talking points for school leaders Higher standards are the foundation Why common standards? What about all of the criticism I am hearing about the Common Core? What can I expect to see in the classroom? How will this affect my child’s test scores?

CCSS myths vs. facts Develop a culture of support for the common core Combat negative press

Smarterbalanced.org K – 12 Education: Tools and Resources ▫Three minute video (English and Spanish)Three minute video ▫Two page introductory flyer (English and Spanish) ▫Roadmaps ▫*Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS)

CSDE Communication Toolkit Please use the contents of the Communications Toolkit as a starting point to: ▫Get factual information out to your school leaders, teachers, students, parents, business and community ▫Host a community meeting, open house, or parent night about the Connecticut Common Core Standards ▫Encourage district administrators, school leaders, and teachers to speak with parents about what the Connecticut Common Core Standards and Smarter Balanced assessments are and how classrooms may be different next year ▫Communicate with local members of the media in support of the Common Core

Review communication materials Two page flyer (CGCS) Roadmap (CGCS) (6 pages) CCSS and SBAC overview (1 page) Overview of the SBAC test (2 pages) National PTA Parents Guides to Student Success Drafted letters

Share out review of communication materials What important information does this resource convey? Who would benefit from having access to this resource? What would you change before sharing this resource? How would you disseminate this resource?

Rolling it out to families and the community Technology (ex: website, facebook, Powerschool) School governance Events ▫Open house ▫Parent teacher conferences ▫Game nights Communicating with partners (ex: FRC, home visiting, faith based, before and after, etc) Developing school and family compactsfamily compacts

Cclm-math.org The Powerpoint and resources shared in this workshop will be posted on the Connecticut Council of Leaders of Mathematics website. Bryan Hand – Secondary Mathematics Supervisor Donna Marino – Middletown Public Schools Partnership Coordinator