1. California Common Core STATE Standards for
English Language Arts and
Literacy in History/Social Studies &
Science/Technical Subjects
Steve Sinclair – ELA Coordinator
Sandi Yellenberg – Science Coordinator
Steve Sinclair, ELA Coordinator
Sandra Yellenberg, Science Coordinator
Sandi
.5 min
This is going to be a brief overview of the Common Core Standards for California so that you will be familiar with the organization and content of the standards.
We hope to:
Ease your mind; lower your heart rate
Help you see that the current standards and the new standards are more similar than different
Let’s take a look at our objectives for the session.

2. A Word from Sally Hampton
Sandi
Slides 2-3
2.5 min
Total Time: 3 min

3. CCSS Overarching Goals
Ensure that our students are:
 Meeting college and work expectations;
 Provided a vision of what it means to be a literate person in the twenty-first century;
 Prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and
 Provided with rigorous content and applications of higher knowledge through higher order thinking skills.
Sandi
Slides 2-3
2.5 min
Total Time:3 min

4. Steve
1.5 min
Total Time: 4.5 min
Refer Participants to a handout of this page
(This is page 10 of the CCS with the page number and text box on the right side of the page deleted, so only the common parts of the College & Career Readiness Anchor Standards are seen.)
Let participants know that although California has not adopted these – they are embedded in the standards
We will look at these in more detail in just a few minutes.

5. Benefits of the CCSS
 Internationally benchmarked  Expectations clear to students, parents, teachers, and the general public  Allow for collaboration with other states on best practices, instructional materials, and professional development  Costs to the state reduced  Consistent expectations for all—not dependent on a zip code
Steve
.5 min
Total Time: 5 min
From Math slides:
Preparation: The standards are college- and career-ready. They will help prepare students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in education and training after high school.
Competition: The standards are internationally benchmarked. Common standards will help ensure our students are globally competitive.
Equity: Expectations are consistent for all – and not dependent on a student’s zip code.
Clarity: The standards are focused, coherent, and clear. Clearer standards help students (and parents and teachers) understand what is expected of them.
Collaboration: The standards create a foundation to work collaboratively across states and districts, pooling resources and expertise, to create curricular tools, professional development, common assessments and other materials
From Math slide 32
At this point, both consortia are making broad promises on what they’ll create by , when states are supposed to implement the first tests. Both say they will integrate summative or end-of-the-year tests with interim and formative assessments that can guide instruction during the year.. Both are promising to include performance-based tasks, such as conducting a science experiment and writing short answers to questions that are intended to show deeper levels of learning and thinking than multiple choice questions supposedly can measure. They’ll be fewer of the latter on the tests.

6. CCSS Set Requirements for Both . . .
 English Language Arts (ELA)
Reading
Writing
Speaking & Listening
Language
 Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science and Technical Subjects
K-5: Embedded in ELA
6-12: Separate section (Reading & Writing only)
Sandi
.5 min
Total Time: 5.5 min
Slide 9 – 13
10 min
The design of the standards set requirements for English Language Arts AND Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science and Technical Subjects (we’ll explore the details of these sections later).
K-5 expository Reading 7 writing are embedded
K-3 materials of the new adoption have Science & Social Studies texts
Mention that only Reading & Writing have specific standards in the Literacy in H/SS, Sci & Tech section
Another shift is a more overt emphasis on shared responsibility for students’ literacy development. This was already part of California’s ELA and subject frameworks. These standards make the shared responsibility more overt. Our current History and Science frameworks already include many of the standards – so it is not really new to teach reading and writing in the subject areas. In fact, History and Science materials were recently adopted, so many districts have instructional materials in these content areas that do a good job of teaching and incorporating reading and writing.
Instructor Note: Paraphrase the following paragraphs from the Introduction p. 2.
The Standards insist that instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening,
and language be a shared responsibility within the school. The K–5 standards
include expectations for reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language
applicable to a range of subjects, including but not limited to ELA. The grades
6–12 standards are divided into two sections, one for ELA and the other for
history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. This division reflects the
unique, time-honored place of ELA teachers in developing students’ literacy
skills while at the same time recognizing that teachers in other areas must have
a role in this development as well.
Part of the motivation behind the interdisciplinary approach to literacy
promulgated by the Standards is extensive research establishing the need
for college and career ready students to be proficient in reading complex
informational text independently in a variety of content areas. Most of the
required reading in college and workforce training programs is informational
in structure and challenging in content; postsecondary education programs
typically provide students with both a higher volume of such reading than is
generally required in K–12 schools and comparatively little scaffolding.
Let’s take a look at who is responsible for which portion of the Standards.
In K-5, since most of the instruction students receive comes from one teacher, there is a single set of grade-specific standards for which the classroom teacher is responsible.
In grades 6-12, there is one set of standards for which ELA teachers are responsible.
Another set of literacy standards for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects includes standards for which responsibility must be shared between ELA teachers and teachers in other content areas.
The literacy standards in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects are meant to complement rather than supplant content standards in those disciplines; the point is that there are discipline-specific literacy skills that should be addressed in other content areas.
Grade levels for K-8; grade bands for 9-10 and 11-12
K-8 are grade-level specific
9/10 and 11/12 are two-year bands

7. Similar Domains/Strands
California Domains
Common Core Strands
Reading
Writing
Listening and Speaking
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Speaking and Listening (ELA only)
Language (ELA only)
Steve
.5 min
Total Time: 6 min
20 min
Now, we’ll take a look at some of the similarities between California’s current standards and the newly adopted Common Core Standards for California.
California’s current standards are organized into four large categories called domains. The domains are:
Reading
Writing
Listening and Speaking
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
The Common Core Standards for California are similarly organized into four groups called strands. The strands are:
Speaking and Listening
Language
Let’s take a closer look at some of the standards and note their similar content.

8. Shifts Standard California Domain Common Core Strand Vocabulary
Reading
Language
Conventions/
Grammar
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Steve
.5 min
Total Time: 6.5 min
While the content of the standards is very similar, the placement within the organization of the standards may have shifted.
You’ll note that in our current standards, vocabulary standards are found in the Reading Domain, while in the Common Core Standards for California, they are now in the Language Strand.
Standards addressing conventions and grammar are in the Written and Oral English Language Conventions Domain of our current standards. These standards are now found in the Language Strand.
It is important to keep these shifts in mind when comparing the two sets of standards.

9. Key Advances of CCSS
 Greater clarity and coherency across grade spans
Steve
Slides 9 & 10
1.5 min
Total Time: 8 min
Popcorn out – or Pair Shair
What are you thinking?
What’s exciting?
Are you concerned about anything?

10. Standards Viewed in Grade Spans
Steve
Slides 9 & 10
1.5 min
Total Time: 8 min
Look at page 38 in the CA CCStandards
Explain how College and Career Ready Standards were not officially adopted, but will become part of the framework.

11. Strand Organization
Subheadings are consistent across grade levels within each set of standards.
Steve
.5 min
Total Time: 8.5 min
Find the handout at the back of your packet which outlines the organization of each strand.
There are three sets of standards in the Reading Strand: Reading Standards for Literature, Reading Standards for Informational Text, and Reading Standards: Foundational Skills.
In the first two sets, subheadings are consistent across grade levels:
Key Ideas and Details
Craft and Structure
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Range and Level of Text Complexity
The third set of standards in the Reading Strand is Foundational Skills, included in K-5 only. The subheadings are:
Print Concepts
Phonological Awareness
Phonics and Word Recognition
Fluency
The Writing Strand includes one set of standards, and the subheadings are consistent across grade levels:
Text Types and Purposes
Production and Distribution of Writing
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
Range of Writing
Speaking and Listening is one set of standards as well. Again, subheadings are consistent across grade levels:
Comprehension and Collaboration
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
Finally, the Language Strand is one set of standards with consistent subheadings across grade-levels:
Conventions of Standard English
Knowledge of Language
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
You may notice that Vocabulary is in the Language Strand of the Common Core, while in our current standards it is in the Reading domain. We’ll explore this shift later in the presentation.

12. Table Talk
Review the standards comparison matrix at your tables. Compare the CCCS to the California Standards. What do you notice?
Steve
4 min
Total Time: 12.5 min
What we’d like you to notice is how the numbers of the standards are consistent across grade-levels, with the purpose of developing a particular knowledge or skill. At the top of the slide is the anchor standard from the Common Core. Note how the development of this standard progresses across grade levels.
For example, In the Reading: Informational Text set of the standards, Standard 2 works toward the College and Career Readiness anchor standard “Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.”
Look at Kinder, Grade 2, 4, 6, 8, and 11/12 on this and the following slide. You will see the progression across grade levels. While the anchor standards are not included in California’s adoption, the underlying structure remains. Therefore, the number used to reference each of the standards remain consistent across grade levels.

13. Key Advances of CCSS
 Greater clarity and coherency across grade spans
 Reading
Attention to text complexity
Steve
Slides
.5 min
Total Time: 13 min

14. 3 Factors to Measure Text Complexity
Steve
Slides
.5 min
Total Time: 13 min
Qualitative
Quantitative
Reader and Task

15. Text Complexity 14
 Reading standards place equal emphasis on the sophistication of what students read and the skill with which they read .
 Standard 10 defines a grade-by-grade “staircase” of increasing text complexity that rises from beginning reading to the college and career readiness level.
Steve
Slides
.5 min
Total Time: 13 min
Reading Standard: Informational Text #10 references a text complexity band beginning in Grade 2.
Text complexity takes into account three factors:
Qualitative evaluation of the text: Levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands
Quantitative evaluation of the text: Readability measures and other scores of text complexity
Matching reader to text and task: Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)
You will find more information on text complexity within the body of the standards (two pages that follow the K-5 and the ELA standards) and in Appendix A which was not included in California’s adoption.

16. Key Advances of CCSS
 Greater clarity and coherency across grade spans
 Reading
Attention to text complexity
Balance of literature and informational texts
Sandi
Slide 16-18
1.5 min
Total Time: 14.5 min

17. NAEP Alignment in Reading
Grade
Literature
Information 4
50% 8
45%
55% 12
30%
70%
Percentages do not imply that high school ELA teachers must teach 70% informational text; they demand instead that a great deal of reading should occur in other disciplines.
Sandi
Slide 16-18
1.5 min
Total Time: 14.5 min
“Reading, writing, and language are not generic, but always serve specific purposes.”
An awareness of the emphasis on Informational Text is critical in ensuring student success.
The standards aim to align with NAEP in the distribution of literary and informational text. This emphasis on informational text must begin K-3, because as you can see, by Grade 4 the distribution is 50/50.
STEVE: Note that literary non-fiction is included in the Literary category, and this includes essays, speeches, and biographies. Therefore, the actual weight in informational text may be even higher than what is outlined in this table.
It is important to note that the high percentages of informational text in high school is a shared responsibility between ELA teachers other disciplines. This does not mean that all 70% of informational reading needs to happen in the ELA classrooms.

18. NAEP Alignment in Writing
 Three mutually reinforcing writing capacities:
To persuade
To explain
To convey real or imagined experience
Grade
Persuade
Explain
Convey Experience 4
30%
35% 8 12
40%
20%
Sandi
Slide 16-18
1.5 min
Total Time: 14.5 min
One reason for this shift in the organization of writing standards is to better prepare students for college and career writing. This shift matches the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) framework.
Notice the decreasing emphasis on writing to convey an experience (narrative), and the increase in writing to persuade or explain.

19. K-5: Tools Dominate Science Social Studies Math Literature Reading
Writing
Language
Sandi
Slide 19-21
1min
Total Time: 15.5 min

20. 6-12: Disciplines Dominate
Science
Social Studies
Math
Literature
Reading
Writing
Language
Sandi
Slide 19-21
1min
Total Time: 15.5 min

21. Integrated Model of Literacy
Science
Social Studies
Math
Literature
Reading
Writing
Language
Sandi
Slide 19-21
1min
Total Time: 15.5 min

22. Integrated Model of Literacy 7th Grade
Reading
English Language Arts
Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others.
History/Social Studies
Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g. loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
Science and Technical Subjects
Analyze the author’s purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text
Sandi
Slide 22
1min
Total Time: 16.5 min
Reading standards for Informational Text
Reading standard #6
In Language Arts, students are taught to determine an author’s point of view or purpose in writing an informational text, and analyze how the particular author distinguishes her or her position from that of others.
In History/Social Studies, students will also be taught to determine an author’s point of view or purpose – paying attention to laded language and the inclusion or avoidance of particular facts.
In Science, students are taught to discern the author's purpose in providing explanations, descriptions of procedures, or the discussion of an experiment in a text

23. Key Advances of CCSS
 Greater clarity and coherency across grade spans
 Reading
Attention to text complexity
Balance of literature and informational texts
 Writing
Emphasis on argument and informative/explanatory writing
Steve
Slide 23-24
1 min
Total Time: 17.5 min

24. Streamlined Writing Applications
CCSS:
Write
Opinions (K-5);
Arguments (6-12)
Informative/ Explanatory Texts
Narratives
CA Standards:
Narratives
Expository Descriptions
Friendly Letters
Personal or Formal Letters
Response to Literature
Information Reports
Summaries
Persuasive Letters/Compositions
Research Reports
Fictional Narratives
Biographical/Autobiographical Narratives
Career Development Documents
Technical Documents
Reflective Compositions
Historical Investigation Reports
Job Application/Resume
Steve
Slide 23-24
1 min
Total Time: 17.5 min

25. Key Advances of CCSS
 Greater clarity and coherency across grade spans
 Reading
Attention to text complexity
Balance of literature and informational texts
 Writing
Emphasis on argument and informative/explanatory writing
 Speaking and Listening
Inclusion of formal and informal talk
Steve
Slide 25-26
1 min
Total Time: 18.5 min

26. Collaborative Conversations26
Speaking and Listening, Grade 5
1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required
material …
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.
Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks others . . .
Steve
Slide 25-26
1 min
Total Time: 18.5 min
California’s current standards place more of an emphasis on formal presentation. The Common Core Standards add an emphasis on collaborative conversations; a skill that one might argue is used on an everyday basis.
Here is an example of a Speaking and Listening standard addressing Collaborative Conversation. Take a moment to read the standard.

27. Key Advances of CCSS
 Greater clarity and coherency across grade spans
 Reading
Attention to text complexity
Balance of literature and informational texts
 Writing
Emphasis on argument and informative/explanatory writing
 Speaking and Listening
Inclusion of formal and informal talk
 Integrates media sources across the standards
Sandi
Slide 27-28
1min
Total Time: 19.5 min

28. Integrating Media Sources28
Reading Standards for Informational Text, Grade 6
7. Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
Writing Standards, Grade 6
6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing a well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.
Sandi
Slide 27-28
1min
Total Time: 19.5 min
Another emphasis is on integrating media sources. Research and media skills are blended into the Standards as a whole.
INSTRUCTOR NOTE: Paraphrase the following paragraph from the Introduction.
To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society,
students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and
report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer
questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high volume and
extensive range of print and nonprint texts in media forms old and new. The
need to conduct research and to produce and consume media is embedded
into every aspect of today’s curriculum. In like fashion, research and media
skills and understandings are embedded throughout the Standards rather than
treated in a separate section.
Let’s take a look at this integration into the standards as a whole.
You’ll see from these Grade 6 examples, the use of media sources is integrating across the strands. Take a moment to read the example standards.
These are only a few examples from Grade 6 – it is important to note that this is not an exhaustive list, there are numerous examples of integration of media sources within each grade level across the strands.

29. In sum . . . All Teachers will need to ELA Teachers will need to
Scaffold comprehension of increasingly Complex Texts
Integrate Media Sources into instructional activities
Support/monitor Informal Talk
ELA Teachers will need to
Teach how a wide variety of genres fall into three big buckets: Expository, Persuasive, and Narrative
Science and History Teachers will need to
Teach Reading and Writing strategies in their content areas explicitly
Sandi
Slide 29
.5 min
Total Time: 19.5 min

30. What are the implications for PD?
At your tables, discuss
the Professional Development priorities for supporting teachers in integrating the new Common Core State Standards.
Sandi
Slide 30
5 min
Total Time: 24.5 min

31. Web Resources National Standards www.corestandards.org
California Standards
Curriculum Maps:
Crosswalks:
12%20ELA_Croswalks% pdf
Interview with Sally Hampton
gclid=CNeB3oi0xqMCFRBTagodJRCwXw
Steve
Slide 31-32
.5 min
Total Time: 25 min
Allow a moment for comments and questions.
Throughout the presentation we have referenced the College and Career Readiness anchor standards and the Appendices, which were not included in California’s adoption. These documents may support your understanding of the organization and structure of the ELA standards and can be found at

32. Contact Information
If you have any questions about Core Standards - and what type of training would best help your teachers make the shift to them, please feel free to contact:
Steve Sinclair
ELA Coordinator
Sandi Yellenberg
Science Coordinator
Steve
Slide 31-32
.5 min
Total Time: 25 min