1. Common Core Assessment Melissa Devlin August 4, 2014

2. Objectives for the day:  Consider the changes in rigor required of the Pennsylvania Core/Six Shifts in Instructional practice.  Identify the assessment demands of Pennsylvania Core.  Determine implications for your classroom.

3. Today’s materials: wyomissingareapd-ela.wikispaces.com

4. (Copyright, 2012 Dave Stuart, Jr.)

5. Agenda 12:00-1:15 Demands of the Core/Instructional Shifts 1:15-1:45Rigor in the Classroom 1:45-2:00Break 2:00-3:00Putting It All Together: Frameworks and Assessments

6. What is the Common Core/Pennsylvania Core all about? The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (“the standards”) represent the next generation of K– 12 standards designed to prepare all students for success in college, career, and life by the time they graduate from high school. (www.corestandards.org)

7. Why do we have new standards?

8. Six Shifts in Practice: Gallery Walk  Read the Six Shifts: Mark up the text with comments, questions, connections.  Choose one that you want to discuss more. Form groups based on the shift you selected.  Within your group, discuss the shift. Then look at the supporting document that details student and teacher actions.  Create a poster that represents your thinking and the key ideas that are relevant for the group.

9. Six Shifts in Practice: Gallery Walk (cont’d)  Take a “Gallery Walk” with post-it notes in hand to examine each of the posters.  Ask questions, raise concerns, identify roadblocks, make connections with your post-it notes.  Groups return to their original poster and consolidate thinking of the whole group to share out.

10. What is really different? Shift 1: Create a balance of informational and literary texts. InformationalLiterary Grades K-550% Grade 855%45% Grade 1270%30%

11. What is really different? Shift 2: Build knowledge in all disciplines.  Math: charts and graphs  Science: diagrams and charts, scientific arguments and evidence  Social Studies: primary source documents, historical claims and evidence Visit this website for a list of exemplar texts across content areas: www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf

12. What is really different? Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity Quantitative Measures: Word length, sentence length, word frequency Levelitbooks (leveling app)

13. What is really different? Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity Qualitative: organization, necessary prior knowledge, multiple levels of meaning, maturity of content Achievethecore.org

14. What is really different? Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity Reader and Task: Actual prior knowledge brought to the text, level of the task

15. What is really different? Shift 4: Text-Dependent Answers Non-Text DependentText-Dependent In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out. Describe a time when you failed at something. What makes Casey’s experience at bat humorous? In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King discusses violent protests. In writing, discuss a time when you wanted to fight against something you thought was unfair. What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received?

16. What is really different? Shift 5: Writing from Sources  Narrative writing  Informational writing  Argumentation writing

17. What is really different? Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary Tier 1: Common words that are learned early Tier 2: General academic words that appear across discipline and text types (eg. relative, accumulate, dignified) Tier 3: Domain-specific words (eg. onomatopoeia, lava)

18. Professional Reading “The Common Core Ate My Baby and Other Urban Legends” (image: www.todayifoundout.com)

19. What is rigor?  Take one of the slips of paper in the envelope at your table.  Read your quote. Think about it and jot any thoughts on the back.  Get up and mingle. Find someone with a different quote. Talk about your big ideas and listen to others’. Compare notes. Consider classroom implications for increasing rigor.

20. Show me the shifts in practice...

21. How Wyomissing is embracing the Pennsylvania Core Standards.  PDE has brought together teams of educators in each grade level band (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12) to create modules that create a foundational curriculum framework.  As teachers align available and appropriate resources to these modules, it is essential to align our assessments to the rigor of the Pennsylvania Core Standards.

22. Sample Curriculum Framework  Take a few moments to skim and scan the curriculum framework document.  Consider these questions:  In what ways does this curriculum framework look different from prior classroom practices?  How do we support ELA teachers in being successful in preparing students for this level of rigor?  Talk at your table groups.

23. A moment of humor... Why we need the Common Core

24. How does this impact assessment? Common Core Shifts in ELA Assessments Shift 1: Pre-K-5, Balancing Informational & Literary Texts Passages will be authentic, and will be balanced between informational and literary texts. Shift 2: 6-12, Knowledge in the Disciplines Assessments will contain knowledge-based questions about the informational text; students will not need outside knowledge to respond. Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity Passage selection will be based on text complexity that is appropriate to grade level per Common Core.

25. How does this impact assessment? Common Core Shifts in ELA Assessments Shift 4: Text-based Answers Shift 5: Writing from Sources Questions will require students to marshal evidence from the text, including from paired passages. Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary Students will be tested directly on the meaning of pivotal, common terms, the definition of which can be discerned from the text. Academic vocabulary will also be tested indirectly through general comprehension of the text.

26. Sample Assessment  Read and complete assessment as a student would.  With a partner at table, choose one section and identify the demands necessary to be successful on the assessment.  At table groups, discuss current assessment practices and necessary changes. Consider what implications are evident for classroom practice, especially considering the Six Shifts we discussed today as well as our definition of rigor.

27. Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading by Fisher, Fry and Lapp The Core Six: Essential Strategies for Achieving Academic Excellence by Matthew Perini Commoncore.org Achievethecore.org Commoncoreworks.org PDESAS.org Resources

28. Contact Information Melissa Devlin meldev@berksiu.org 610.987.8506