1. Common Core Standards Overview Notes:
This is an overview of the Common Core Standards. This should be accompanied by the two overviews for mathematics and English language arts.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

2. The Common Core Standards (CCS) were developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices, and were formally released on June 2, 2010.
Notes:
The CCS are not National Standards – they are common standards that were developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association. Work began on the standards in the fall of The work began with the development of the College and Career Standards so that all future standard development would keep this end goal in mind. It is amazing that the standards were developed so quickly.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

3. The focus of the CCS is to guarantee that all students are college and career ready as they exit from high school.
Notes:
One of the main focuses of the Obama administration is that students will be college and career ready when they exit high school.
This will also likely be one of the main goals of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the coming years.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

4. Overarching Goals for K-12 CCS
Ensure that our students are:
Meeting college and work expectations
Prepared to succeed in our global economy and society, and
Provided with rigorous content and applications of higher knowledge through higher order thinking skills.
Notes:
The first goal addresses the overarching goal of college and career ready.
All twenty first century students also need to be prepared to compete in a global society – the CCS are internationally benchmarked.
The CCS were developed to cause students to develop and use problem-solving and higher order thinking skills. They were also developed to assist with the application of skills.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

5. The CCS build upon the strengths and lessons of current state standards.
Notes:
California and Massachusetts currently have some of the highest quality standards. The Fordham Group has consistently given California standards high marks.
For that reason, California’s standards greatly aided in the development of the CCS. Many of the authors of California’s standards also worked on the CCS. This is particularly true for elementary mathematics and foundational reading.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

6. What are the benefits of the CCS?
Internationally benchmarked
Student expectations are clear to parents, teachers, and the general public
Allows for collaboration with other states on best practices, instructional materials, and professional development
Reduces costs to the state
Notes:
Reviewers of the CCS have found them to be clearly stated so that all stakeholders can understand them.
In the past, there was little basis for collaboration when states each had their own standards. The CCS allows California to work with other states and have a common element for dialogue about best practices, instructional materials, pedagogy and professional development. Potentially, this could create common instructional materials between states, possibly reducing the costs of development of instructional materials.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

7. The Common Core State Standards
A voluntary state-led effort coordinated by the CCSSO and NGA
Includes parents, educators, content experts, researchers, national organizations and community groups from 48 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia
Notes:
Not only were many experts involved in the development of the CCS, but the CCS standards group also provided several opportunities for electronic feedback, and they received thousands of comments. Each comment was reviewed and considered.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

8. 4 expert groups were involved in the development of the standards:
An advisory group
A standards development workgroup
An expert feedback group
A validation committee
Notes:
Over 200 experts have been involved in the development of the CCS. Their names can be found on the common core website (
The advisory group set policy for the process.
The main work was done by the standards development workgroup. California had several experts on this workgroup, such as Dr. Wu from UC Berkeley.
The validation committee was given the task of affirming that the standards met the fundamental criteria – such as “research-based.” California had 6 members on this committee. Over 85% of the committee’s membership validated the standards.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

9. Students with Disabilities
The CCS provide an historic opportunity to improve access to rigorous academic content standards for students with disabilities. Many experts in this area were involved in the development of these standards.
Notes:
It is important to note that there is only one set of standards for all students. The goal is that the needs of students with disabilities should be met with additional time, carefully selected teaching strategies, and carefully crafted Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

10. English Learners
The CCS articulate rigorous grade level expectations to prepare all students to be college and career ready, including English learners.
Notes:
Similarly, the needs of English Learners should be met with research-based teaching strategies.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

11. The development of the ELA CCS involved linguists and EL experts
The development of the ELA CCS involved linguists and EL experts. And they had a huge impact on the language and vocabulary standards. The developers of the CCS will consider the development of ELD standards for the CCS.
Notes:
Members of the California Academic Content Standards Commission with expertise in the area of English Learners felt that the standards were responsive to EL needs.
Representatives from the national groups have indicated that they hope to have a draft of the ELD standards for the CCS in about two years.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

12. California Academic Content Standards Commission (CACSC)
SB X5 1 created the 21 member standards commission:
11 Governor Appointees
5 Senate Appointees
5 Assembly Appointees
Not less than half must be current teachers.
Notes:
The appointments to the CACSC were made on or around June 2, 2010.
The 21 members included classroom teachers, administrators, college professors, professionals and researchers.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

13. Timeline for Work June 2, 2010 – July 15, 2010
The State Board of Education had until August 2, 2010 to take final action.
Notes:
The timeline was very quick and only allowed for 3 two-day meetings.
Commissioners and staff completed a great deal of work between the meetings, so that the CACSC could accomplish the most work during the meeting times.
The final motion from the CACSC occurred at 10:56 pm on July 15, 2010.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

14. The primary goal of the Commission is to ensure that the rigor of the state’s reading, writing, and mathematics academic content standards, curricula, and assessment is maintained...
Notes:
The work of the Commission was not to develop a set of standards, but instead to consider the CCS to determine if they are as rigorous as California’s academic content standards.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

15. …so that all high school graduates are prepared for college and careers by establishing a process to adopt new standards based on the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

16. For California, 85% of the standards recommendation must be the CCS.
15% could be additional standards added by California to ensure the rigor.
Notes:
The 15% is difficult to measure. If you use a word count, then California added about 8% in ELA and 14% in mathematics.
On the website the posted versions of the standards have the California additions bolded and underlined.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

17. California’s Additional 15%
Based on the following criteria:
Substantively enhance
Address a perceived gap
Be defensible to classroom practitioners
Keep the original standard intact
Ensure the rigor of California’s existing standards is maintained
Notes:
The Commission used the criteria above to determine whether additional standards or information should be included for California.
The Commission used the notion that they could use a pencil rather than an eraser in their work. This means that sometimes, just a clarifying short phrase was added to a standard rather than an entirely new standard.
Details of California’s additions are in the PowerPoints for mathematics and ELA.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

18. On August 2, 2010, the State Board of Education adopted the standards recommended by the California Academic Content Standards Commission.
Notes:
The CACSC provided background about the standards and the work of the Commission during the Board presentation.
The State Board of Education vote was unanimous to adopt the standards.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

19. The State Superintendent and the State Board of Education shall present to the Governor and appropriate Legislature Committees a schedule and implementation plan for integrating the CCS into the state educational system.
Notes:
The CDE has developed two implementation timelines. The first timeline depends on the legislature taking action to allow CDE and the SBE to return to the work of developing frameworks and professional development prior to Both timelines are available on the CDE website.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

20. This includes the development of: frameworks instructional materials
professional development
assessment ( )
Notes:
Work is also being done at some county offices to ensure that ELA materials from the 2008 adoption are aligned to the CCS. Some publishers are developing ancillary materials to fill in any gaps.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

21. What Now? Stay the Course!
More similarities than differences in the standards
Implement a truly balanced instructional program as this will support the transition
Continue to use quality assessments to inform and drive effective instruction
Provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate and plan
Notes:
Since the similarities between the two sets of standards are far greater, the very best strategy for the present is continuing to implement your adopted instructional materials with fidelity. We are all still accountable to the STAR assessment program.
In the longer term, developing local implementation plans that include professional development for teachers is valuable.
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association
© 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association