1. Toolkit 2: Aligning Curriculum with Common Core State Standards
Opening Items:
Greetings and introductions (presenters, host district personnel, participants)
State the purpose of REAC3H network: REAC³H is a cooperative effort of volunteer coordinating school districts throughout the state. Through professional development, technical assistance, resources and collaboration, REAC³H will help districts as the entire state transitions to a new Teacher and Leader Effectiveness system; as we implement statewide reforms; and as we anticipate and work toward the full implementation of Common Core State Standards and assessments by
Small groups: Arrangement into small groups of 3-5 members for workshop activities.
Rules of engagement: (honoring opinions of others, signal to re-focus on presenters after group activities, “parking lot” for questions to be addressed at various times in the workshop, etc.)
Housekeeping :(restroom locations, turn off/silence cell phones, breaks, etc.)
Design: This presentation is designed as an interactive 90 minute presentation; please use it as designed.
NOTE: When inviting districts to this toolkit presentation, please remind all attendees to bring copies of ELA and Math CCSS.
Regional Educators Advancing College, Career, and Citizen Readiness Higher
Toolkit 2: Aligning Curriculum with Common Core State Standards

2. GOALS Understand the shift in what proficiency means
Understand alignment between standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning
Understand alignment includes literacy across all content areas
The goals for this toolkit are shown on the slid. Proficiency expectations have changed. CCSS requires students to know and be able to do things differently than current PASS standards. The CCSS build upon the PASS standards and will have important implications for instruction, so teachers need an understanding of this shift in proficiency for students to be successful and prepared for college, career, and citizenship. The shift is also one that changes the focus of teacher-delivered instruction to the facilitation of learning. Students now need to be able to direct their learning and engage in meta-cognitive practices where they reflect on those learning experiences. This student-centered learning is not a new approach but is one that will be required due to the shift in proficiency of the CCSS.
Curriculum components are ELA standards/Math domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning. As alignment takes place, these components drive the process. Because of the demand of critical thinking skills with CCSS, literacy (purposeful reading and writing) has become a focus for all disciplines and is the responsibility of those content and elective area teachers. CCSS literacy standards for social studies, science, and technical subjects accompany the ELA standards. While math literacy standards are not in a stand-alone document, they are just as essential in the mathematics discipline.

3. What does curriculum alignment mean?
What are its components?
Here are two questions about curriculum alignment – (READ THE SLIDE AND THEN DO THE ACTIVITY).
ACTIVITY: As you think about the components of curriculum alignment – think of a shape that represents that curriculum alignment. Use a piece of paper to draw your shape representing curriculum alignment. Give them 5 minutes to think and draw the shape. Call time and ask them to share and justify their shapes to the group at their table.
After the discussion ask a few to share their shapes and discuss how and why they drew that shape.
End by asking them to respond to these questions: Why is curriculum alignment an important process in implementing CCSS?
What is it that you hope to gain from this toolkit?

4. ALIGNMENT
Many shapes can be used to illustrate the components of curriculum alignment. When looking at alignment as a triangle, standards/domains appear at the top vertex. Assessment would then follow shown at the left bottom vertex, and facilitation of learning would be based on those standards/domains and assessment, thereby completing the triangle. The graphic demonstrates the clear alignment between standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning.

5. ALIGNMENT
When considering Common Core State Standards, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) considered what a graduating high school senior needed to be successful in college, career, and as a citizen. The spiral staircase indicates that in constructing the standards/domains, the NGA and CCSSO went from that goal to what each previous level would have to provide so the student would be prepared for the successive learning level; thus, the spiral staircase goes from twelfth grade to kindergarten which is a shift in thinking about state standards in a linear format to a more fluid design. Students who need to step back in order to build a more secure foundation can do so, and students who are ready to progress can step up to the appropriate level of the spiral staircase. The focus of CCSS at each level of the spiral staircase is on student performance and increase of knowledge rather than teacher instruction. This change of alignment will help in the shift of proficiency.

6. THE CONNECTION
In looking at this graphic, you can see that the alignment of standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning in the form of a triangle, will allow students to climb the spiral staircase of knowledge in order to be ready for college/career and prepare to be a responsible citizen.
By considering alignment and the scaffolding of knowledge together, it will provide the necessary components for success in college, careers, and as a citizen.

7. SHIFTS IN PROFICIENCY
Each vertex of the triangle -- standard/domain, assessment, and facilitation of learning-- represents a critical component of curriculum alignment.
Each level of the spiral staircase is essential to moving students from a basic knowledge level to a progressive level necessary for students to prepare for career, college, and citizenship.
Each teacher at each grade level plays a vital role in preparing students for career, college, and citizenship.
Alignment will create the pathway to the new level of proficiency. Each component of the triangle is important in the planning and facilitation of learning. Mastery of standards/domains is the end goal. After looking at PASS and unpacking CCSS, it is clear that PASS has given us a foundation and a means of scaffolding to CCSS. CCSS takes PASS deeper – the standards/domains are no longer a mile wide and an inch deep but are fewer with a greater depth of knowledge. There is a progression to the standards/domains that leads to the next level. It allows for differentiation so students have the ability to utilize skills a grade below to gain the foundation or climb the spiral to a greater level. This progression also allows revisiting of a concept throughout the year. Just as there has been a shift in proficiency, so too has there been a shift in thinking about student learning. Rather than focusing on the instruction as the pathway of learning, the shift is to the student and how the student learns and exhibits that learning. The teacher facilitates, rather than directs, the process of learning.

8. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
How do standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning drive curriculum alignment?
How does twelfth grade relate to kindergarten and all other levels?
How does learning progress from kindergarten to twelfth in preparation for college, career and citizenship?
ACTIVITY: Think-Pair-Share. Give participants 5 minutes to use a note card or piece of paper to answer the questions. Then allow another five minutes for them to get up and cross the room to another participant – have them share their ideas. After that five minutes, have them return to their chairs and share what the other people reported.

9. EFFECTIVE TRANSITIONS
Alignment ensures when entering each grade, students are prepared for the learning opportunities at that level.
Effective transitions require collaborative alignment.
Teachers know expectation of grade level preceding and succeeding own grade level to facilitate learning.
Transitions are essential for scaffolding knowledge to continue grade level to grade level. Teachers cannot teach in a vacuum but must engage in collaborative conversations to align and have effective transitions; standards/domains increase requirements at each level – knowledge of previous and successive standards/domains will allow differentiation and facilitation of learning necessary for scaffolding and alignment.

10. Participants will need to utilize their copies of the CCSS for the next two examples. This is an example of item from CCSS Mathematics College and Career Readiness appendix. Look at CCSS and determine which standards are applicable to this problem. Give groups 5 minutes to identify standards – When time is called, have each group defend the standard chosen. NOTE: One possible match could be 7 RP 2c – Have someone read this standard aloud and explain why it is reflected in the problem.
Ask participants to compare this item with one that they have previously used for middle school mathematics. What distinguishes the level of proficiency students need to be successful with this problem from the proficiency level needed in items used previously for assessing students’ understanding? Possible responses include: In this problem, a real-life scenario is presented, and students must apply mathematics content and processes to solve the problem. This problem requires students to explain their reasoning. Multiple strategies can be used to arrive at the solution.
Aligning curriculum can help teachers see the horizontal and vertical connections in math content and processes that are critical in helping students meet a higher level of proficiency.

11. An amusement park has games, rides, and shows.
The total number of games, rides, and shows is 70.
There are 34 rides. There are two times as many games as shows.
How many games are there? How many shows are there?
Use numbers, words, or drawings to show how you got your answer.
If you need more room for your work, use the space below.
Did you use the calculator on this question?
This is a fourth grade NAEP item. Give the group five minutes to examine CCSS and determine which standards would be addressed in this problem. One example is 4 OA 2. Ask for a volunteer to read this standard aloud. Then ask the group to discuss how this standard is reflected in the problem. How is this problem similar to the one in the last example? Both problems include application of math content in a real-life situation. Both problems also contain more than one skill. In this case, students solve a problem using both operations and algebraic reasoning use multiple representations to justify a solution process. In Oklahoma, 14% of the students who were tested scored satisfactory or higher in responding to this problem. How can aligning curriculum generate awareness about the level of proficiency that will be expected of students in such problems? It is critical to look both at the math content and literacy components that are interwoven in this particular problem. Aligning curriculum can help facilitate discovery of such critical connections.

12. ALIGNMENT IN MATHEMATICS
Alignment can help facilitate understanding of the connections between content, processes, and literacy that are interwoven in meaningful tasks students encounter.
Alignment can provide an opportunity to explore where fluency in mathematics is required and used to facilitate problem solving to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency.
Aligning curriculum provides opportunities to explore key components of the content and how they progress over time.
ACTIVITY: POWER WRITE-When you hear the word fluency in mathematics, what comes to mind? For two minutes, have participants respond to this question by writing continuously about it for the entire two minutes. At the end of the two minutes, ask each group to discuss their ideas for another two minutes. Then have one person from each group report out to the whole group one key point made in the discussions.
Example of key point: The standards are rigorous, and it is not enough for students to learn just rote procedures.
It is also equally important to consider that it is not enough for students to understand concepts, but be unable to apply them to solve meaningful problems. Conceptual understanding and procedural skill are equally important. Fluency, a piece of procedural skill, is defined as quickly and accurately. It is not something that happens all at once in a single grade, but requires attention to student understanding at each grade level. Fluency is a building block of mathematical proficiency and helping students work flexibly, accurately, and efficiently with numbers in order to solve meaningful problems. In the problems shown on the previous slides, fluency with multiplication and addition can create a more efficient pathway to solving the problem. Thorough alignment can help isolate points at which fluency expectations change from grade to grade and support the conceptual understanding and procedural skills that are required for mastering proficiency expectations.

13. ALIGNMENT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Alignment increases knowledge base level upon level
Alignment requires understanding of increased complexity levels in fiction and informative text
The alignment of English Language Arts provides opportunities for other content area connections
Each level of the spiral leads to the ultimate goal of being college and career ready as well as being prepared to be a responsible citizen. In ELA, the skills build grade upon grade increasing in depth and knowledge leading to the ultimate goal. The following examples show the shift in proficiency required and the scaffolding of knowledge made possible by alignment.

14. ORANGES The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve, Cold, and weighted down With two oranges in my jacket. December. Frost cracking Beneath my steps, my breath Before me, then gone, As I walked toward Her house, the one whose Porch light burned yellow Night and day, in any weather. A dog barked at me, until She came out pulling At her gloves, face bright with rouge. I smiled, Touched her shoulder, and led Her down the street, across A used-car lot and a line Of newly planted trees, Until we were breathing Before a drugstore. We Entered, the tiny bell Bringing a saleslady Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies Tiered like bleachers, And asked what she wanted --- Light in her eyes, a smile Starting at the corners Of her mouth. I fingered A nickel in my pocket, And when she lifted a chocolate That cost a dime, I didn't say anything. I took the nickel from My pocket, then an orange, And set them quietly on The counter. When I looked up, The lady's eyes met mine, And held them, knowing Very well what I was all about  Outside, a few cars hissing past, Fog hanging like old Coats between the trees. I took my girl's hand In mine for two blocks, Then released it to let Her unwrap the chocolate. I peeled my orange That was so bright against The gray of December That, from some distance, Someone might have thought I was making a fire in my hands.
This is an example from an 8th grade NAEP item.

15. NAEP
Write down in your own words some of the images from the poems that linger in your mind.
58% of Oklahoma’s 8th grade students scored satisfactory on this question.
The NAEP task is shown on left with OK’s score on the right. Only 58% of the Oklahoma 8th graders taking this assessment scored satisfactory – and the task is simply to write down images from the poem. The next slide is an example from Appendix B of CCSS.

16. O Captain! My Captain!
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won; The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; 10 For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding; For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head; It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead.
This is a test item for 9-10 grade. The task for this example taken from Appendix “B” of the CCSS is shown on the next slide.

17. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; 20 Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. Walt Whitman
Analyze Walt Whitman’s “O Captain, My Captain!” to uncover the poem’s analogies and allusions. Then analyze the impact of specific words choices by Whitman, such as rack and grim, and determine how they contribute to the overall meaning and tone of the poem.
The important tasks are italicized in this example – students need to be familiar with figurative language and its affect on the poem. There is analysis of the diction as well as explaining how the diction contributed to the meaning and tone of this piece.
Alignment will aid in providing students with the background knowledge from K-9 that will ensure students have success with a question such as this. As you consider the 8th grade question in which only 58% were successful and then this 9-10 example, the shift in proficiency is very evident.

18. Literacy in Science Assignment:
CCSS for Literacy in Science:
1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
6. Use technology to produce, publish, and update individual and/or shared writing - displaying information in a flexible and dynamic way.
7. Conduct a sustained research project.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple relevant sources. Assess the usefulness of each source and integrate information into the text to maintain the flow of ideas.
9. Draw evidence from infomational texts to support analysis and research.
Assignment:
Students will create a webpage using Wikispaces, Weebly, or GoogleSites which contains a pro or con argument about one of the following topics:
Fracking for Natural Gas
Nuclear Energy
Stem-cell Harvesting from Aborted Embryos
Climate Change
Returning a Manned Spacecraft to the Moon.
The example on the screen shows alignment between ELA and Science literacy standards. The standards for science literacy are shown on the left side of the screen.
NOTE - DO NOT READ ALOUD --Go over the text of this assignment – on this slide – then go forward to the next slide and read the requirements of the assignment and how it applies to CCSS

19. Option 2 - Once the essay is written (webpage is created) students will read 3 of their classmates essays, choose an opposing viewpoint, and comment on the page citing their own evidence to the contrary.
The essay/webpage should be organized in such a way the establishes clear evidence to support the claim. It should also entertain opposing viewpoints with counter-evidence. The style should be formal and maintain an objective tone, using norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. There should be a concluding statement or section that supports the argument
Students will research both print and electronic sourced articles to form an argumentative essay, citing specific evidence from their research. The webpage must include appropriate citations (APA?) and references.
Option 1 - Once the essay is written (webpage is created) students will read 3 of their classmates essays and comment on them to increase the strength of the argument. The information used in the research should be accessible for everyone to read.
This assignment for 9-10 grades draws on all elements of literacy. Students must understand research, writing, collaboration, purposeful reading, and discipline specific knowledge. This assignment can also be adapted to problem solving such as giving them a real world problem in which they must seek a solution which is also within the CCSS.

20. Literacy in Social Studies
I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.
We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage
Winston Churchill “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat: Address to Parliament on May 13, 1940.

21. War against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs-- Victory in spite of all terrors- Victory, however long and hard the road may be,
For without victory there is no survival. I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”
This is a middle school example from Appendix B of the ELA CCSS. Although this is within the ELA appendix, it is clear that students will need a background knowledge of the historical context and importance of the time. Within this context, the task is that students trace the line of argument in Winston Churchill’s “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” address to Parliament and evaluate his specific claims and opinions in the text, distinguishing which claims are supported by facts, reasons, and evidence, and which are not. (Explain to audience the italicized emphasis of the words).

22. PARCC Frameworks
PARCC has now issued the ELA and Math frameworks – they can be obtained by going to:
The purpose of these frameworks is to support implementation of CCSS and inform development item specifications and blueprints for assessments The approach is that they provide deep analysis of CCSS providing guidance on how focus, coherence, content, and practices align.

23. Frameworks - ELA
2nd Grade: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations.
3rd Grade: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
ELA frameworks show alignment between grades and how knowledge and performance scaffold. In second grade the basic research of shared projects using a number of books on single topic and producing a report is initiated. Third grade the skill progresses to conducting short research projects to build knowledge about a topic. It is an individual task and requires higher level thinking skills. If one wanted to align this cross-curricular, then the second grade includes science observations; it could involve social studies in content of books. Third grade could involve research in any of the content areas or all of the content areas in the short projects – and could involve other strands in presenting the information in written or presentation form.

24. Frameworks - ELA
8th Grade: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. a.
Apply grade 8 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new”).

25. FRAMEWORK – ELA
9th-10th: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
a. Apply grades 9-10 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work [e.g. how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare]”).
This shows the alignment between the 8th and 9-10 grade levels. Each level continues to spiral upward to the 12th grade college and career ready goal. For nonfiction in these same standards, the 8th grade will use the reading standards to delineate and evaluate argument and specific claims and assess whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant while in the 9-10 grades, the students have to assess whether reasoning is valid and identify false statement and fallacious reasoning. The alignment is important so the 9-10 grade students have the background knowledge and skills necessary to progress to this higher level of reasoning and skill. Alignment considers where the student will end and then each step leading to that 12th grade goal to ensure proper knowledge and skill introduced and mastered at each level of the spiral staircase.
For other content areas such as science or social studies, the skills described for nonfiction of assessing reason and validity of argument would work for math, social studies, and science. These skills cross the content areas as students process and evaluate reasoning, arguments, and claims encountered in math, social studies, and science.

26. EXAMPLE OF KEY ADVANCES MATH GRADES K-3
Grade 3: Student s will learn concepts, skills, and problem solving for multiplication and division. This will continue through grade 5 – preparing way for work with ratios/proportions in Grades 6-7 .
K-2: Work on number, place value, and addition and subtraction concepts, skills, and problem solving.
The following two slides are taken from PARCC’s model content framework for mathematics and illustrate examples of alignment. In this example, students in K-2 build a foundation for understanding and working with numbers and place value so that they can apply this knowledge in addition/subtraction, multiplication and division. By grade 3, students will have the foundation to fluently multiply and divide within 100 and will know all the product of two 1-digit numbers from memory (CCSS 3.0A.7). A thorough understanding of multiplication and division concepts and skills provide a foundation for work with ratios and proportions in the middle school years.
This alignment further shows the continued development and alignment of expectations for student learning and a shift in the proficiency of current PASS expectations. This scaffolding was designed purposefully to build background knowledge and foundation for math that will prepare students for the ultimate goal of being college and career ready by 12th grade.

27. EXAMPLE OF KEY ADVANCES MATH GRADE 7 to 8
Students build on previous work with proportional relationships, unit rates, and graphing to connect these ideas and understand that the points (x, y) on a non-vertical line are the solution of the equation y= mx + b where m is the slope of the line as well as the unit rate of a proportional relationship (in the case b = 0).
This example demonstrates the alignment of key components within grades and across grades. Students are formalizing their previous work with linear relationships by working with functions – rules that assign to each input exactly one output. Multiple representations are also used to convey understanding and demonstrate relationships at a greater depth than previously expected.

28. REFLECTION
3 -2-1
Activity: This is a timed activity – participants are given three minutes to do the following when you tell them to begin. 1) Each person is to write three things he/she has learned about curriculum alignment during this presentation. 2) Then each is to write two ways he/she can begin to align standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning. 3) Finally, each is to write one clarifying question about the alignment to ask table mates when you say STOP at the end of the three minutes. When the three minutes has ended, give them an additional 5 minutes to ask one another the clarifying questions and discuss responses. When you say BEGIN – then forward to the next slide.

29. 3 – 2 – 1
THREE things learned about curriculum alignment during this presentation.
TWO ways he/she can begin to align standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning.
ONE clarifying question about the alignment to discuss with table mates.
After giving them a couple minutes for discussing their question, ask for a few volunteers to share from their experience.

30. NEXT STEP . . . What is the next step for participants?
The next steps of the toolkit include the following:
Teachers need to become familiar with CCSS at their own level as well as at the preceding and succeeding levels to ensure the scaffolding knowledge continues to build.
Collaboratively, stakeholders need to address enduring understandings and how to reach them.
PLC topics need to address continued alignment of the standards/domains, assessment, and instruction.
As we continue forward, all instruction needs to include a real life application and contain elements of CCSS to ensure students are prepared for the full implementation, field testing, as well as successive levels reaching the goal of college, career, and citizenship readiness.

31. SUMMARY Understand the shift in what proficiency means
Understand alignment between standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning
Understand alignment includes literacy across all content areas
As we review what we have covered in this toolkit -- Proficiency expectations have changed. How do you feel that this presentation has helped you in understanding the alignment of standards/domains, assessment, and facilitation of learning? What are ways you can ensure the goals of this presentation reach all stakeholders so that the shift in proficiency takes place? What will take place at your district, site, classroom to ensure that alignment occurs to ensure a successful transition and climb up the spiral staircase of learning? How can you help teachers understand the shift from instructional leader to facilitator of learning?

32. Please fill out your evaluations – we value your feedback!
Thank You!
Please fill out your evaluations – we value your feedback!
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