Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Overview

1. Common Core State Standards(CCSS) Overview The Shifts: What they are and why they are important

2. Rationale for the CCSS • Declining US competitiveness at the global level • High rates of college remediation • Disparate standards across states • Today’s jobs require different skills

3. Principles of the CCSS • Fewer, clearer, and more rigorous standards • Aligned to expectations for college and career readiness • Internationally benchmarked • Research and evidence-based

4. ELA/Literacy: 3 shifts • Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

5. Shift #1Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction • Much of our knowledge base comes from informational text • Informational text makes up vast majority of required reading in college/workplace (80%) • Informational text harder for students to comprehend than narrative text • Currently, students are asked to read very little of it in elementary (7 - 15%) and middle school • CCSS moves percentages to • 50:50 at elementary level • 75:25 at secondary level (includes ELA, science, social studies)

6. ELA/Literacy: 3 shifts • Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction • Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational

7. Shift #2Reading, writing & speaking grounded in evidence, both literary and informational • Most college and workplace writing is evidence-based and expository in nature (not narrative) • Identifying and providing evidence is a major emphasis of ELA standards • Being able to locate and understand evidence are hallmarks of strong readers and writers

8. ELA/Literacy: 3 shifts • Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction • Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational • Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

9. Shift #3 Regular Practice with Complex Text and its Academic Language • Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is huge • What students can read, in terms of complexity is greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study) • Too many students reading at too low a level (<50% of graduates can read sufficiently complex texts) • Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity from elementary through high school • Standards also focus on buildingvocabulary that is shared across many types of complex texts and many content areas

10. Mathematics: 3 shifts • Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus.

11. Shift #1Focusstrongly where the Standards focus • Significantly narrow the scope of content and deepen how time and energy is spent in the math classroom • Focus deeply only on what is emphasized in the standards, so that students gain strong foundations

12. Traditional U.S. Approach

13. Focusing attention within Number and Operations

14. Mathematics: 3 shifts • Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus. • Coherence: Think across grades, and link to major topics

15. Shift #2 Coherence:Think across grades, and link to major topics within grades • Carefully connect the learning within and across grades so that students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years. • Begin to count on solid conceptual understanding of core content and build on it. Each standard is not a new event, but an extension of previous learning.

16. Mathematics: 3 shifts • Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus. • Coherence: Think across grades, and link to major topics • Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application

17. Shift #3 Rigor:In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application • The CCSSM require a balance of: • Solid conceptual understanding • Procedural skill and fluency • Application of skills in problem solving situations • This requires equal intensity in time, activities, and resources in pursuit of all three

18. Priorities in Mathematics

19. Implementation at GVCS 2012-13: Awareness • Training Needs Assessment – Coming Soon! • MATH standards: content, shifts, compare/contrast with CA Standards • MATH & ELA documents: focus by grade level, user-friendly parent materials (Committee Work) • Resources: create online depository and system of links

20. Implementation at GVCS 2013-14: Awareness & Transition • ELA standards: content, shifts, focus, compare/contrast with CA Standards • ELA documents: writing rubrics and exemplars (with focus on evidence); measures of text complexity • ELA & Math frameworks: communicate with parents • SBAC: what new assessments will look like and require

21. Implementation at GVCS 2014-15:FULL IMPLEMENTATION • MATH & ELA: Support content shifts with bridge & supplemental materials; support instructional shifts with continued professional development • SBAC: new assessments in place

22. Resources • Handouts • Links on GVCS website and uploads on Google Docs – COMING SOON! • CDE: http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/educators.asp • Achieve the Core: http://www.achievethecore.org/ • CCSS Initiative: http://www.corestandards.org/