Common Core State Standards in ELA: A Parent’s Perspective Love K. Foy Coordinator, Secondary ELA and Reading

What is Common Core?  A response to the concerns of the college and business communities in regards to college and career preparation  A philosophy about how to best prepare students for the demands of a globalized, highly technical world  A shift in how teachers craft instruction and engage students in meaningful learning

What is Common Core? History

What is Common Core? A Nation at Risk:The Imperative for Educational Reform  April 1983 Commission Report on reforms needed in American schools.  Stated five areas to improve in American schools: Content, Standards and Expectations, Time, Teaching, and Leadership and Fiscal Support

A Nation at Risk:The Imperative for Educational Reform Content: Years of study per subject area Standards and Expectations: Concerns over grade inflation; suggests colleges raise admissions standards and standardized tests of achievement at “major transition points from one level of schooling to another...” Time: Longer school day and year Teaching: Competence in discipline; competitive, performance based salaries Leadership and Fiscal Support: Federal government plays a key role in equity and educational civil rights

A Nation at Risk:The Imperative for Educational Reform What does it say about the study of English language arts? “The teaching of English in high school should equip graduates to: (a) comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and use what they read; (b) write well- organized, effective papers; (c) listen effectively and discuss ideas intelligently; and (d) know our literary heritage and how it enhances imagination and ethical understanding, and how it relates to the customs, ideas, and values of today's life and culture.”

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)  2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act (April 1965)  Required states to develop assessments in basic skills. States must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels in order to receive federal funding.  The Act does not assert a national achievement standard. Standards set by each individual state.

Race to the Top  Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  Contest to spur innovation and reforms in school districts  Led 48 states to adopt common standards, which led to the Common Core Standards

How does Common Core change instruction?  Balancing Informational and Literary Texts: Students read a balance of informational and literary texts.  Knowledge in the Disciplines: Students build knowledge about the world THROUGH text rather than the teacher or activities. Staircase of Complexity: Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space and support in the curriculum for close reading. -

How does Common Core change instruction? T ext Based Answers: Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence based conversations about text. Writing from Sources: Writing emphasizes use of evidence from sources to inform or make an argument. Academic Vocabulary: Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts.

How will the Common Core Standards affect New York State Assessments?

NYSED Sample Assessments

Passages:  Teachers use them to help guide their own text choices for instructional materials and expose students to similarly complex, diverse texts.

NYSED Sample Assessments ELA Questions:  Teachers will analyze the reading comprehension, argumentation, and marshaling of evidence called for in the constructed response questions.  Teachers will help students identify the text-based distractors in each multiple- choice question.

What can parents do at home to help?

ELA/Literacy Shift 1: Read as much fiction as nonfiction. Students Must...Parents Can... Read more nonfictionSupply more non- fiction texts Know the ways nonfiction can be put together Read nonfiction texts aloud or with your child Enjoy and discuss the details of nonfiction Have fun with nonfiction in front of them

ELA/Literacy Shift 2: Learn about the world by reading. Students Must...Parents Can... Get smart in science and social studies through reading Supply series of texts on topics of interest Handle primary source documents Find books that explain Get smarter through texts Discuss non-fiction texts and the ideas within

ELA/Literacy Shift 3: Read more complex material carefully. Students Must...Parents Can... reread Provide more challenging texts AND provide texts they WANT to read and can read comfortably Read material at comfort level AND work with more challenging stuff Know what is grade level appropriate Unpack text Read challenging stuff with them Handle frustration and keep pushing Read challenging stuff with them and show that challenging stuff is worth unpacking

ELA/Literacy Shift 4: Discuss reading using evidence. Students Must...Parents Can... Find evidence to support their arguments Form judgments B ecome scholars Discuss the author’s purpose Talk about text Demand evidence in every day discussions/ disagreements Read aloud or read the same book and discuss with evidence

ELA/Literacy Shift 5: Writing from Sources Students Must...Parents Can... Make arguments in writing using evidence Encourage writing at home Compare multiple texts in writing Write “books” together and use evidence/ details Write well Look at Appendix A: rg/assets/Appendix_C.pdf

ELA/Literacy Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary Students Must...Parents Can... Learn the words that they can use in college and career Get smarter at using the “language of power” Read often and constantly with babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and children Read multiple books about the same topic Let your kids see you reading Talk to your children; Read to your children; Listen to your children; Sing with your children; Make up silly rhymes and word games with your children

Questions?