1. The Value Proposition: Exploring the Financial Implications of CCSS Implementation
Aspen Institute-Education Resource Strategies
Chief Financial Officers Network Meeting
May 30, 2013

2. Session Goals
To deepen understanding of the transformative nature of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the opportunities and challenges presented by their implementation.
To explore new CCSS-aligned assessment items and consider implications for the organization and support of effective teaching and learning.
To consider the financial implications of new CCSS- related demands on key district systems, including curriculum and instruction, professional learning, and technology infrastructure.

3. Moving from the Industrial Era to the Digital Age
As our society moves into the Digital Age, our Industrial Era school system has proved inadequate to the task of preparing all students for success in college and careers.
The Digital Age—and our “knowledge economy”— require that all of our young people are:
Highly literate and numerate, able to consume and make sense of huge amounts of complex information.
Problem-solvers and deep and creative thinkers, who can generate new knowledge and workable solutions.
Respectful of other points of view, committed to democratic principles, and can function effectively in an increasingly diverse and global society.

4. The Common Core State Standards
The CCSS are deeply rigorous, internationally- benchmarked learning expectations for grades 3-12 in English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects and Mathematics.
The CCSS insist that all students are equipped with a repertoire of “21st-century skills” and prepared to be fully college and career ready by the end of high school.
Constrained budgets and the CCSS demand an end to the “silos” within districts so that all investments—in time, people, and money—are in service of preparing all students for the 21st century.

5. Not Your Mother’s Classroom Teacher
The rigor of the CCSS and their cross-curricular expectations for all students means that teaching and learning in all classrooms and in every school must shift in new and fundamental ways. The CCSS require a new kind of instruction, designed to:
Empower all students, including English learners and students with special needs, to engage with complex text, reason with evidence, and think logically and creatively.
Engage students to build logical arguments, grapple with counterclaims, and justify answers with credible evidence.
Enable students to practice and refine effective speaking and listening skills, which means an end to the “sage on the stage” model of traditional classroom instruction.
Expand students’ capacity to reason quantitatively and abstractly, demonstrating both procedural fluency as well as deep conceptual understanding of mathematics.

6. New Standards, New Assessments
“Next generation” assessments for accountability are being designed to align with the CCSS.
New PARCC and SMARTER Balanced summative assessment systems will be rigorous, grade-level assessments of students’ ability to apply deep content knowledge and skills to complex, often multi-step tasks.
These assessments will also be delivered online and will leverage technology-enhanced items and tasks to provide more useful feedback to teachers and students and to measure student achievement for state and federal accountability purposes.

7. Life with Current Assessments
In terms of determining whether students are preparing for success in college and careers, what are some problems with this item?
Item from a Tennessee 10th-Grade End-of-Course ELA Exam

8. A Closer Look at a SMARTER Balanced Sample Item
All SBAC Sample Items and Performance Tasks can be accessed at
tasks/

9. SMARTER Balanced Sample Item
ELA item: Grandma Ruth (3-5 grade band)
Discussion Questions:
What is different about this item versus current items?
How does the technology enhancement support and challenge student performance?
What are the implications of the lack of scaffolding for curriculum and instruction?

10. How does the item align to the CCSS?
Students must engage in “close reading.”
Students’ answers must be “evidence-based.”
High premium on informational and argumentative writing.
Source: EngageNY.org

11. Key Elements of SMARTER Balanced Assessments
“Adaptive” summative assessment with “fixed form” performance tasks in ELA/Literacy and math in grades 3-8 and 11.
Test administration occurs during last 12 weeks of the school year. Meant to be flexible to allow for maximum local decision- making.
Performance tasks require substantial teacher-led instruction as part of test administration. Students must conduct research using multiple sources, including live web searches.
High premium on constructed responses and essay writing for informational and argumentative purposes. Students will be also scored on their facility with conventions of Standard English.
English learners and students with special needs will have necessary accommodations, many already built into the online assessment platform.

12. A Closer Look at a PARCC Prototype Item
All PARCC Prototype Items and Performance Tasks can be accessed at

13. PARCC Prototype Item Math item: Inches and Centimeters (Grade 6)
Discussion Questions:
What is different about this item versus current items?
How does the technology enhancement support and challenge student performance?
What are the implications for professional learning systems?

14. How does the item align to the CCSS?
Be sure to give concrete examples of the highlighted shifts
Grade-level procedural fluency
is critical.
Mathematical understanding will be tested through multiple “right” answers.
Students must be able to apply appropriate mathematical reasoning to complex problems.
Source: EngageNY.org

15. Key Elements of PARCC Assessments
“Through-course” assessment system.
Computer-based, “fixed form” assessments and performance tasks for all students in grades 3-11.
Performance tasks requiring research of multiple sources, including multimedia and live web searches.
High premium on constructed responses and essay writing for informational and argumentative purposes. Students will be also scored on their facility with conventions of Standard English.
English learners and students with special needs will have necessary accommodations, many already built into the assessment platform.

16. The End of Paper and Pencil Testing
PARCC and SMARTER Balanced assessments will be delivered online and will require that every school have sufficient computer resources and bandwidth to administer the assessments within discrete windows.
Technology-enhanced items and tasks will measure skills that are difficult to assess through traditional standardized tests (i.e. ability to explain and justify answers with evidence from text).
The online delivery system will enable a faster feedback loop to teachers and students and can potentially support better organizational planning and more effective classroom instruction.

17. Discussion of Implications for Current Investments
Implementation of the CCSS requires that districts deliberately invest in:
Instructional materials that align to the CCSS and support targeted instruction.
More frequent administration, reporting, and use of instructionally-useful formative and interim assessments.
Time and support for teachers to learn and practice new content and instructional strategies using CCSS-aligned curricular materials and for leaders to ensure school operations support a faithful implementation of the CCSS.
Incremental technology required to administer computer- based assessments and support CCSS-aligned instruction.

18. This presentation can be accessed at www.AspenDRL.org
Thank You!
This presentation can be accessed at