Common Core for Social Studies Overview 1

What is Common Core? knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). English-language arts and math were the first subjects chosen for the common core state standards. The Common Core State Standards Initiative was and will remain a state-led effort

Updates on Common Core CCSS are fewer, deeper, clearer. Students will be assessed on the FCAT 2.0 (based on NGSS) through the spring of Floridas adoption of Common Core includes implementation of the content area literacy standards. Florida Statute includes Next Generational Content Area Professional Development (NGCARPD) for content area teachers which sets the stage for Common Core content area literacy standards.

What are the PARCC Assessments? The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a 24-state consortium working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math. The PARCC assessments will be ready for states to administer during the school year. PARCC is contracting with two research universities to develop models of innovative, online-delivered items and rich performance tasks proposed for use in the PARCC assessments. These prototypes will include both assessment and classroom-based tasks.

Lets take a look at the Common Core Literacy Standards for History.

Organization of Common Core Standards for History and Other Content Areas Highlight the strand labels at the top of the following pages: Reading – Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-12 (page 61) Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6-12 (pages 64-66)

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading Strand – page 60 There are 10 anchor standards for reading. Study each of them and the four categories of organization.

Key Ideas and Details (1) Evidence standard (2) Main idea/details standard (summary) (3) Interaction

Craft and Structure (4) Vocabulary (5) Structure (6) Point of View

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (7) Multimedia Standard (8) Argument Standard (9) Multi-text standard

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity (10) Text Complexity Standard

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading – page 60 Read Note on range and content of student reading. Highlight words and phrases that describe the types of reading tasks students should be able to do to become college and career ready.

Go to page 61 – Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-12 Language Arts Common Core (LACC) Grade (68, 910, 1112) Reading History (RH) Strand (1-4) Standard (1-10) Identify the standard: LACC.68.RH.2.6

Go to page 60 – Reading Standards for History Identify the standard: LACC.68.RH.2.6 Identify aspects of a text that reveal an authors point of view or purpose (e.g. loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts, etc.) Look at the corresponding standards for grades 9-10 and

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing – page 63 Read Note on range and content of student writing. Highlight words and phrases that describe the types of writing tasks students should be able to do to become college and career ready.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing – page 63 There are 10 College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing. Four Strands: Text Types and Purposes Production and Distribution of Writing Research to Build and Present Knowledge Range of Writing Which standards do you believe will be the greatest challenge for social studies teachers?

Text Types and Purposes (1) Argumentative (2) Informative/explanatory (3) Narrative

Production and Distribution of Writing (4) Organization and coherence (5) Writing process – revision and editing (6) Use of technology to publish

Production and Distribution of Writing (7) Research (8) Synthesis of Research (9) Use evidence to support analysis

Production and Distribution of Writing (10) Range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Lets examine one of the writing standards: Locate: LACC.1112.WHST.1.1

Lets examine one of the writing standards: LACC.1112.WHST.1.1 Write arguments focused on discipline- specific content….. What will be the greatest challenge for you with the Common Core writing standards?

The 3-8 PARCC assessments will be delivered at each grade level and will be based directly on the Common Core State Standards The distributed PARCC design includes four components - two required summative and two optional non-summative - so that assessments are given closer in time to when instruction happens. Summative Assessment Components: Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) administered as close to the end of the school year as possible. The ELA/literacy PBA will focus on writing effectively when analyzing text. End-of-Year Assessment (EOY) administered after approx. 90% of the school year. The ELA/literacy EOY will focus on reading comprehension. 23

The high school PARCC assessments will be based directly on the Common Core State Standards The distributed PARCC design includes four components - two required summative and two optional non-summative - so that assessments are given closer in time to when instruction happens. PARCC states have endorsed a grade-based design in ELA/Literacy and both a course-based and integrated design in mathematics. Summative Assessment Components: Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) administered as close to the end of the school year as possible. The ELA/literacy PBA will focus on writing effectively when analyzing text. End-of-Year Assessment (EOY) administered after approx. 90% of the school year. The ELA/literacy EOY will focus on reading comprehension. 24

Review sample performance items.

Challenging Text Theory of standards in the past: schools needed to focus on cognitive skills and text was largely irrelevant or uncontrolled. Theory of the common core: Text difficulty is central and all cognitive skills have to be executed within texts of a specified difficulty range. Item #10 in all of the reading comprehension lists focus on text difficulty.

Text Complexity - ACT Study Purpose: Determine what distinguished the reading performance of students likely to succeed in college and not. Process: Set benchmark score on the reading test shown to be predictive of success in college (21 on ACT composite score). Looked at results from a half million students. Divided texts into three levels of complexity: uncomplicated, more challenging, and complex. 27

Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Comprehension Level (Averaged across Seven Forms) 28

Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Textual Element ( Averaged across Seven Forms) 29

Text Complexity Matters Performance on complex texts is the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are more likely to be ready for college and those who are less likely to be ready. Texts used in the ACT Reading Test reflect three degrees of complexity: uncomplicated, more challenging, and complex. 30

31 Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Degree of Text Complexity (Averaged across Seven Forms) In this figure, performance on questions associated with uncomplicated and more challenging texts both above and below the ACT College Readiness Benchmark for Reading follows a pattern similar to those in the previous analyses. Improvement on each of the two kinds of questions is gradual and fairly uniform. 31

Recap of ACT Findings Question type and level (main idea, word meanings, details) is NOT the chief differentiator between student scoring above and below the benchmark. The degree of text complexity in the passages acted as the sorters within ACT. The findings held true for both males and females, all racial groups and was steady regardless of family income level. What students could read, in terms of its complexity-- rather than what they could do with what they read is greatest predictor of success. FCAT has complex passages and highly cognitive demanding questions. 32

Text Complexity Text complexity is defined by: Qualitative Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Quantitative Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software. Reader and Task Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment. 33

Where do we find texts in the appropriate text complexity band? Choose an excerpt of text from Appendix B as a starting place: 34 We could…. or… Use available resources to determine the text complexity of other materials on our own.

Implications for Instruction 35 Locate section entitled, Building Capacity Through Close Reading. Select short, challenging passages. Design the lesson so students re-read. Model how to read and mark the text. Expect students to read and mark the text. In discussions, ask text-dependent questions. Ask students to write in response to text.

NGCARPD June and June Howell Center Stipends - $20.00 an hour 48 hours total Social Studies teachers are encouraged to attend. Its a great way to begin learning about how to teach to Common Core Standards. Remember….assessments begin in Begin learning now!!!! 36