Category Archives: Common Core

Where is California going with school testing?

A New Era in Measuring Students’ Mathematical Knowledge Is Coming:

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress 

Is your school ready?

 In the spring of 2015, California students from 3rd through 8th and 11th grades will officially take the first California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). This assessment—which replaces the STAR test—includes the Smarter Balanced assessment and reflects the California Common Core Curriculum and Practice Standards. Your school and your students can be ready! 

CMC hopes the following resources will be helpful in your preparations for the new assessment.

Each subtitle below is a live link to its respective web page. 

Smarter Balanced Assessment System

The most dramatic change will be the use of the computer-based Smarter Balanced Assessment. California is one of 23 states belonging to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Our new tests will be based upon their system.

Read About One School’s Efforts to Be Ready

Wilson Middle School in Chowchilla shares how they prepared their school and students to be ready for doing well on the new Common Core-based state assessment.

Practice and Pilot Tests

The Smarter Balanced Practice Tests provide an early look at sets of assessment questions aligned to the Common Core for grades 3–8 and 11 in both English language arts/literacy and mathematics. As a teacher, you owe it to your students to take the pilot test yourself. That way you will know what will be asked of your students.

Sample Test Questions

These sample tasks are intended to provide an early look into the mathematics understanding that will be measured by the new assessment system. While these items are not intended as sample tests, use them to plan instruction to help students meet the demands of the new assessments. Try them with your students.

2014 Smarter Balanced Field Test

This spring, students across California will experience a “no stakes” field test of the Smarter Balanced assessments.  The purpose for the Field Test is to establish levels of student achievement in the new assessment. Visit this site to learn all about the Field Test and the Achievement Level Descriptors for mathematics.

Teacher Resources

Many organizations have developed resources to explain the Standards and help teachers support student success in the classroom. These fact-sheets, videos, and instructional resources provide detailed information for educators, parents, and policymakers about the college and career-ready Standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

Use these FAQs to assist your school with transitioning from the former state assessments to the Smarter Balanced assessments. The FAQs may be used to ensure understanding among your staff regarding the universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations available for the Smarter Balanced assessments.

For More About the CA Common Core Implementation

If you would like to learn more about California’s implementation of the Common Core State Standards, visit the California Department of Education web pages. 

Please forward this message to teachers and administrators in your school district

For more CA Standards resources and articles for educators, visit

 CMC’s Common Core Resource web page

Mathematics Adoption Announcement!

REL#14-6 CONTACT: Tina Jung
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PHONE: 916-319-0818
January 15, 2014 E-MAIL: communications@cde.ca.gov

 

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Adoption
of First Mathematics Materials Aligned to the Common Core

 

SACRAMENTO—School districts now have a list of more than 30 instructional materials to choose from that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards for mathematics, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

This comes after the State Board of Education completed the 2014 adoption of kindergarten through grade eight mathematics materials for California students. The list is attached.

“Today’s step keeps u­­s on track toward our goal of providing students the real- world skills they will need for college and career, in part through the Common Core,” Torlakson said. “These quality materials will help students achieve the proficiency in mathematics that California’s employers are looking for from this future workforce.”

Of the 35 instructional materials programs submitted for consideration from 17 publishers, the State Board of Education approved 31. Of these, 20 were Basic Grade-level programs, 10 were Algebra 1 programs, and one was an Integrated Mathematics 1 program.

Local school districts can now begin their own process of reviewing the materials to determine which of the adopted programs best meet the needs of their students. With such a wide variety of choices, including a number of technology-based programs, districts can tailor an instructional program that will help their students achieve academically. Districts may use some of the $1.25 billion in Common Core State Standards Implementation Funds to purchase the materials.

The adopted programs are on display for public review at Learning Resources Display Centers across the state. For more information about the 2014 Mathematics Adoption process, visit the California Department of Education Mathematics Instructional Materials Web page.

# # # #

2014 Mathematics Instructional Materials Adoption

Basic Grade-Level Programs 

Publisher

Program Title

Grade Level(s)

1.      Agile Mind Common Core Middle School Mathematics

6–8

2.      Big Ideas Learning Big Ideas Math

6–8

3.      Center for Mathematics and Teaching Math Links

8

4.      College Preparatory Mathematics Core Connections, Courses 1-3

6–8

5.      Edgenuity, Inc. Edgenuity California Common Core Mathematics

6–8

6.      Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Go Math!

K–6

7.      Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Go Math!

6–8

8.      Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Math Expressions

K–6

9.      Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Math in Focus

K–8

10.   McGraw-Hill California Math, Courses 1-3

6–8

11.   McGraw-Hill Glencoe Math Accelerated

7

12.   McGraw-Hill McGraw-Hill My Math

K–5

13.   Pearson Common Core System of Courses

K–8

14.   Pearson CA Digits

6–8

15.   Pearson Scott Foresman enVision Math

K–6

16.   Perfection Learning Kinetic Pre-Algebra

8

17.   Reasoning Mind Reasoning Mind Algebra Readiness Program

2–6

18.   The College Board SpringBoard Mathematics

6–8

19.   TPS Publishing, Inc. Creative Core Curriculum for Mathematics with STEM, Literacy and Arts

K–8

20.   Triumph Learning Common Core Math Curriculum

6–8

 

Algebra 1 Programs

Publisher

Program Title

Grade Level(s)

1.     Agile Mind Common Core Algebra 1 Mathematics

Algebra 1

2.     Aleks Corporation CA Algebra 1

Algebra 1

3.     Big Ideas Learning Big Ideas Algebra 1

Algebra 1

4.     College Preparatory Mathematics Core Connections Algebra 1

Algebra 1

5.     Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Algebra 1: Analyze, Connect, Explore California

Algebra 1

6.     JRL Enterprises I CAN Learn Algebra 1

Algebra 1

7.     McGraw-Hill Glencoe Algebra 1

Algebra 1

8.     Pearson CA Common Core Algebra 1

Algebra 1

9.     Perfection Learning Kinetic Algebra 1

Algebra 1

10.  The College Board SpringBoard Mathematics Algebra 1

Algebra 1

 

Integrated Mathematics 1 Programs

Publisher

Program Title

Grade Level(s)

1.     Pearson Common Core Integrated Math 1

Math 1

 

Instructional Materials Not Adopted 

Basic Grade-Level Programs

Publisher

Program Title

Grade Level(s)

1.     JRL Enterprises I CAN Learn Basic Math

5–8

2.     Marshall Cavendish Primary Mathematics Common Core Edition

1–3

3.     McGraw-Hill Connecting Math Concepts

K–4

Algebra I Programs

Publisher

Program Title

Grade Level(s)

1.     Revolution K12 Algebra 1

Algebra I

# # # #

The California Department of Education (CDE) is a state agency led by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. For more information, please visithttp://www.cde.ca.gov or by mobile device at http://m.cde.ca.gov/. You may also follow Superintendent Torlakson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TorlaksonSSPI.

 

ASCD’s “2014: WHAT’S IN, WHAT’S OUT”

 

ASCD logo VIEW MOBILE/WEB VERSION HERE   | January 6, 2014
Capitol Connection
2014: What’s In, What’s OutAs we begin the new year, Capitol Connection bids adieu to the compelling people, policies, and activities of 2013, and predicts their likely successors that will command our attention in 2014.

IN OUT
A-F AYP
[insert state name here] College and Career Ready Standards Common Core
Tablets Textbooks
White suburban moms Top-down reform
Carmen Farina John Deasy
Concussion protocol Getting your bell rung
Smarter Balanced PARCC
Primary challengers General election
Student privacy Data mining
Sassy Sunny Big Brother Bo
Shanghai Finland
Coding Keyboarding
Waiver waivers Waivers
Locally sourced Organic
Early education Higher education
Bipartisan Budget Act Sequestration cuts
John White Tony Bennett
Snow in Sochi Snow in the Meadowlands
Flipped learning Stand and deliver
A functioning Congress (fingers crossed!) Government shutdowns

ASCD’s public policy team wishes you a very happy new year!

 

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LEARN ABOUT CPM – College Preparatory Mathematics

  •  http://www.cpm.org for more information

CPM Educational Program is an educational non-profit organization dedicated to improving grades 6-12 mathematics instruction.

CPM offers professional development and curriculum materials.

CCA

CPM Educational Program strives to make middle school and high school mathematics accessible to all students. It does so by collaborating with classroom teachers to create problem-based textbooks and to provide the professional development support necessary to implement them successfully.

CPM (College Preparatory Mathematics) began as a grant-funded mathematics project in 1989 to write textbooks to help students understand mathematics and support teachers who use these materials. CPM is now a non-profit educational consortium managed and staffed by middle school and high school teachers that offers a complete mathematics program for grades six through 12 (Calculus).

CPM provides:

    • Professional development programs for CPM and non-CPM teachers
    • Curriculum materials (standards- and researched-based) that use problem-based lessons, collaborative student study teams and spaced practice with course concepts.
    • Learning strategies that are consistent with the CCSS “Standards for Mathematical Practices” and other models such as the strategies identified as effective by Dr. Robert Marzano at McRel.
  • CPM courses are used in 35 states. In the past 20 year more than 5,000,000 students have taken CPM courses and more than 10,000 teachers have attended CPM professional development workshops. CPM opens its workshops at no cost to everyone: teachers, administrators, ELL educators, student teachers, and parents. In a typical year workshops are held at about 40 national sites and one or more international sites such as Hong Kong. CPM teachers, current and retired, lead the seven days of implementation workshops that begin in the summer and continue during the school year. Additional workshop support, various coaching models and individual mentoring are available by contracting with CPM.

College Prep Mathematics (CPM) discussed in Oregon!

In Hillsboro, new math curriculum to meet Common Core has parents jeering, teachers cheering

Luke Hammill | lhammill@oregonian.comBy Luke Hammill | lhammill@oregonian.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on November 18, 2013 at 11:02 AM, updated November 20, 2013 at 2:10 PM

It’s been an interesting autumn in Hillsboro for the Common Core State Standards and the College Preparatory Mathematics curriculum that the school district adopted to meet them.

Recently, a group of parents, upset with the district’s transition to the curriculum, abbreviated as CPM, pulled their struggling children out of math class at Evergreen Middle School and began home-schooling them in that subject. And last month, sign-wielding Common Core protestors crashed a Hillsboro School Board meeting. One shouted, “You lie!” during a district official’s presentation about the standards. Another, Jennifer Gallegos, sits on the board’s curriculum advisory committee, appointed by Common Core skeptic Glenn Miller of the school board.

CPM, which stands for College Preparatory Math, is much older than the Common Core – it dates back to the 1980s. But the district adopted the math curriculum in the spring to meet the Common Core’s tough new standards. Like the Common Core, CPM is no stranger to controversy. In 2009, it did not even survive a full year in theTigard-Tualatin School District. Even though teachers there approved of the curriculum, enough parents were up in arms that the school board reversed course.

Hillsboro is facing a similar situation now. Some parents have already abandoned CPM, and there are opponents on the school board and its curriculum committee. But conversations and classroom visits with teachers, principals and administrators throughout the district indicate that many of Hillsboro’s educators approve of CPM. As the politicization and debate surrounding the Common Core rages on nationwide, the curriculum will have to survive what could be a bumpy transition in Hillsboro, as harder state assessments based on the Common Core loom in 2015.

At Evergreen, a move away from “plug and chug”

A common misconception about the Common Core is that it is a curriculum that mandates what facts teachers should teach to students. Rather, it is a set of math and English language-arts standards that outline what students should be able to do at each grade level.

For example, the math standards say that in grade six, students should be able to “make tables of equivalent ratios relating quantities with whole-number measurements, find missing values in the tables, and plot the pairs of values on the coordinate plane.” It is up to individual states, districts and teachers to figure out which math books to use, what activities to plan in the classroom and how much homework to assign.

Explaining the Common Core State Standards
The Common Core is a set of math, reading and writing standards that spell out what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. They were developed by academic leaders, including the makers of the SAT, and top state goverment officials across the country.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core, which are based on international standards and were designed to better prepare students for college and careers. Additionally, Minnesota approved the language-arts but not the math standards. Federal Race to the Top money encouraged states to use the standards.
Oregon voted for the more rigorous Common Core standards in 2010. They will replace Oregon’s existing standards, and students will take the first Common Core-based tests in the 2014-15 school year.

That’s where CPM comes in. Launched in 1989, CPM is a math curriculum used in sixth, seventh and eighth grades that puts less emphasis on the rote “plug and chug,” in the words ofEvergreen Principal Rian Petrick, typical of traditional math curricula. CPM doesn’t give students formulas and algorithms at the beginning of the lesson and drill them with sets of numerical problems that require successful manipulation of those formulas. Instead, it guides the students through the process of discovering the algorithms for themselves and forces them to explain how the formulas work.

Hillsboro adopted CPM textbooks called “Core Connections Courses 1, 2 and 3,” published in 2012, in anticipation of the Common Core. The texts are aligned with the new standards and are not the same books that Tigard-Tualatin abandoned three years ago.

Portland State University’s Ron Narode, an associate professor of mathematics and a researcher in the Graduate School of Education’s department of curriculum and instruction, said Hillsboro’s decision was “probably a wise choice.”

“I think it’s got a pretty good track record,” Narode said of CPM. “So I would say if I had to choose a curriculum to use, I think this would be a pretty good match for what the Common Core is after.”

Seven parents pulled nine students out of Evergreen because of concerns over CPM, district spokeswoman Beth Graser said. The parents said their children, who usually do well in school, were getting poor grades in math and spending way too much time on homework. (There are 850 students total at Evergreen, which serves grades seven and eight.)

“I think that right now, it’s a really rough period of transition,” said Caryn Lawson, one of the parents who pulled her daughter out of math at Evergreen. She added that her concern is about CPM, not Common Core.

“That’s not the problem,” Lawson said of Common Core. “There’s so many great things about Common Core and it’s going to be good for the nation as a whole.”

Lawson said she thinks CPM’s ideas are great “in theory” and predicted that her younger son – who is learning a new elementary-level math curriculum called Bridges, which corresponds well with CPM – might handle CPM better than her daughter did when he gets to middle school, especially as the district works out the transitional kinks.

Lawson is considering opting her children out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC, tests, the new statewide assessments based on the Common Core that students will take starting in 2015. She said she attended a presentation that previewed what the assessments will look like.

“They showed a seventh-grade question on the SBAC test…the question was ridiculously difficult and long,” Lawson said.

Regular unit tests in the classroom are getting harder, as well. Petrick, the Evergreen principal, said many students did struggle on one of the first CPM-based tests of the year.

“Many kids did not do well on a first test, but the test had a lot of prior-knowledge information on it that math teachers would expect kids to have coming from elementary school, and they realized that there are kids who have holes with math…I know that that startled some parents,” Petrick said.

Lawson and Julie Craig, another of the mothers who pulled her daughter out of math at Evergreen, said there was no review of those concepts that students had missed in elementary school, reaffirming Lawson’s concerns about the transition between the curricula.

“There are more students that get a failing grade in math than what we would like,” Petrick said. “Right now, it’s about one in five. About 20 percent.” But he added that the failing rate is no different than it was one year ago, before the implementation of CPM. What’s more, he said, is that the teachers love it, and so does his daughter, a sixth-grader at Jackson Elementary School.

“I know that the teachers – both her teachers at her school and the teachers at our school – feel like the kids are going to retain the concepts that they’re learning more than they ever were before.”

Even in math, a transition from numbers to words

Narode, the PSU professor, thinks CPM is “probably the best [curriculum] that’s available right now” to help districts meet the Common Core’s math standards in middle school, but he acknowledged that it’s “not a panacea for everybody and everything.”

“I know it’s been controversial,” he said. “I know that I have had some critiques from teachers that I’ve worked with in the past, mainly around linguistic issues – that the level of English-language knowledge that’s required for CPM problem solving tends to be a challenge.”

Craig, one of the Hillsboro parents, pointed out excerpts from a chapter of her daughter’s seventh-grade CPM textbook. “The focus is on vocabulary, not on formulas,” Craig said in an email. “So kids get vocabulary words and definitions at the beginning of class rather than equations.”

Here’s an example:

The chapter Craig provided deals with proportional relationships and how they translate onto a line graph. In the past, the chapter might have begun with the formula for a line in bold: y = mx + b, where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. It might then explain that for lines that pass through the origin (which would eliminate b, because the y-intercept would be zero), the slope represents the “constant of proportionality,” or the multiple by which two sets of quantities are related. Math problems might then follow, and students could solve them by plugging numbers into the formula.

In the CPM chapter, the equation isn’t given until the end of the chapter, andconstant of proportionality is in bold rather than the formula, which is given as y = kx, where k is the constant of proportionality. There is no mention of “slope” or “y-intercept.” The exercises throughout the chapter require students to write out their explanations of what they see on graphs and in word problems without giving them the formula first – the goal is that they understand the concepts behind the formulas and arrive at the algorithms themselves. For instance:

“Carmen is downloading music. … Each song costs $1.75. Is this relationship proportional? Explain your reasoning. What is the cost for five songs?”

Many of the problems also require students to work in teams and justify to each other their answers, explaining how they arrived at them. Earlier this month at the district’s largest elementary school, Witch Hazel, sixth-grade math teacher Christal Winesburgh walked around as her students worked in small groups.

Winesburgh brought students to the front of the room, where they explained to the class how they solved the problems. “You guys had a great conversation,” Winesburgh said to two students at one point, calling them to the front. “I want everybody to see it.”

When asked how she liked the transition to CPM, Winesburgh said, “I love it.”

“These kids don’t even know that I’m testing them on vocabulary every day,” Winesburgh said. “They are just naturally using it.”

In her fifth-grade math classroom across the hall, Kim Porter was using an audio speaker system to create a “game-show style” atmosphere, encouraging the students to enunciate their answers clearly into the microphone.

“It’s really helping the kids who don’t feel confident speaking,” Porter said.

The focus on language and speaking, even in math class, aligns well with the Common Core, which emphasizes writing skills across all subjects rather than just in language-arts. As the students worked to solve for the dimensions and the areas of different rectangles, Porter walked around with flash cards containing the definitions for “dimensions” and “area” and added them to a wall that was home to cards for “equivalent fraction” and other math words.

“Even four years ago, we didn’t do math vocab,” said Christy Walters, an instructional coach at Witch Hazel.

— Luke Hammill

Five Research-Driven Education Trends At Work in Classrooms

 | October 14, 2013 | 21 Comments

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Increasingly, educators are looking to research about how kids learn to influence teaching practices and tools. What seemed like on-the-fringe experiments, like game-based learning, have turned into real trends, and have gradually made their way into many (though certainly not most) classrooms.

BRAIN-BASED TEACHING

Many educators are using researchers’ insights into how children best learn to inform their teaching practices. Stanford professor Carol Dweck’s research on encouraging children to develop a growth-mindset continues to grow in popularity, as educators try to praise effort, not outcomes. Dweck writes that if children believe their abilities are fixed — that either that they’re smart or they’re not — they approach the world in different ways and aren’t as able to face adversity. When they believe skills and abilities can grow throughout one’s lifetime, they’re better able to rise to challenges.

Brainology, Dweck’s program, is just one of many such school-based programs that teachers can use in classrooms, as is Brainworks.

Educators are also teaching learning strategies, helping students find out the best ways to not just learn content, but how to learn. Ideas like remembering facts when they are set to music. This practice has been employed since the days of oral storytelling, but teachers are reviving it to help students in modern classrooms. Recent studies show that adults learn new languages more easily when they are set to a beat. Some educators are even experimenting with breaking up classical literature into bite sized raps.

There are plenty more examples of brain-based research on learning making its way into classroom practices.

GAME-BASED LEARNING

Games have long been used to engage students. But as game-based learning becomes more prevalent in schools, researchers are interested in how game structure mirrors the learning process. In many games, students explore ideas and try out solutions. When they learn the skills required at one level, they move up. Failure to complete tasks is reframed as part of the path towards learning how to conquer a level.

Universities like HarvardMIT and the University of Wisconsin’s Game and Learning Society are studying how game-playing helps student engagement and achievement, and well-known researchers in the field like James Paul Gee and University of Wisconsin professor Kurt Squireshow are using their own studies to show that games help students learn.

Once the terrain of experimental classrooms, digital games are now becoming more common in classrooms. In a recent survey by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, half of 505 K-8 teachers said they use digital games with their students two or more days a week, and 18 percent use them daily. Educators are using commercial games like MinecraftWorld of Warcraft and SimCity for education. The Institute of Play continues to study game-based learning and helps support twoQuest to Learn schools, which are based around the idea of games and learning.

POWER OF PERSEVERANCE

Paul Tough’s book, How Children Succeedpopularized the ideas of grit and perseverance. Now those ideas have made their way into a U.S. Department of Education’s Technology office reportas well as the Common Core State Standards, which many states are already implementing. The idea that failure is an opportunity to learn and improve, not a roadblock to achievement, is often referenced as one of the most important life skills a student can take with him beyond the classroom.

Angela Duckworth’s research on grit has shown that often students, who scored lower on intelligence tests, end up doing better in class. They were compensating for their lack of innate intelligence with hard work and that paid off in their GPAs. Duckworth has even developed a “Grit Scale” that allows students to self-report their “grittiness.”

QUESTIONING HOMEWORK

The growing movement against homework in the U.S. challenges the notion that the amount of homework a student is asked to do at home is an indication of rigor, and homework opponents argue that the increasing amount of “busy work” is unnecessarily taking up students’ out-of-school-time. They argue that downtime, free play, and family time are just as important to a child’s social and emotional development as what happens in school.

Some research has shown that too much homework has “little to no impact” on student test scores. Other research on how brains work challenges the common method of asking students to practice one discreet skill at home. Overall, there’s a push to reevaluate the kinds of work students are being asked to do at home and to ask whether it adds value to their learning. If the work is repetitive or tangential, it may add no real value, and teachers across the country are starting to institute no-homework policies. Even principals are starting to revolt and schools are instituting “no homework” nights or substituting “goals” for homework.

CULTIVATING CREATIVITY

Increasingly business leaders and educators are realizing that creativity is a uniquely human quality that will set future graduates apart from the ever smarter computers that are playing increasingly important roles in society. There’s been a focus on stimulating curiosity and creativity through Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) courses, including computer coding, as well as integrating art and design into courses. The design thinking movement is a good example of schools working to develop students’ ability to think for themselves, brainstorm ideas and execute them.

Many schools are also shifting towards project-based learning to help leverage student interestsand passions in their school work. Long-form projects often allow students to demonstrate their creativity more than assignments that every student must complete the same way. The trend towards project-based learning is one indication that schools are actively looking to build creativity into curricula.

Invite Parents Into The Classroom!

September 21, 2013

Common-Core Messaging 101: Come See My Classroom


Jessica Cuthbertson

I used to believe that my workspace was a classroom. I used to believe that my job was to teach English/language arts. And I used to believe that my primary responsibility was to teach—period.

While on the surface all of these statements are technically true, I no longer hold these beliefs.

Instead, I believe I work in a learning laboratory, not a classroom. I believe I teach human beings, not English/language arts. I believe my primary responsibility isn’t to teach; it is to learn and facilitate the learning of others.

For some, this may seem like semantics. But for me, these beliefs drive everything I do. Experience, reflection, and implementing the Common Core State Standards have changed the landscape of teaching and learning for me.

When it comes to core beliefs, semantics matter.

And when it comes to the common core, what teachers say and believe matters to others as well. Do I believe we have a responsibility to inform parents about teaching and learning in the common core era? Absolutely. But beyond this, I believe we have a greater obligation to open our doors wider than ever and let them see for themselves. I believe we need fewer classrooms and more learning laboratories. I believe it is our role to be ambassadors for student learning, showcasing what the standards look like in action.

It’s fascinating to see what adolescent readers can do when supported with close-reading strategies. It’s far more interesting to read a writer’s argument, informed by research and critical analysis, than it is to read a formulaic or decontextualized piece of writing. And it’s hard to envision what “text complexity” looks like without listening in or participating in a discussion about a complex text.

When you confront the mythologies about the standards and strip away all of the political rhetoric, you are left with a document. A set of high, clear, vertically aligned expectations that outline what all students should know and be able to do to become college and career ready.

The standards are not a secret, so we shouldn’t keep them from parents. In fact, we should be clear about what they are and even clearer about what they are not. They are not a curriculum or a federal edict. They are not an invasion of privacy, a usurping of local control, or a corporate takeover of K-12 education.

While all of these claims may make for sensational headlines, the student learning results speak for themselves. But it is up to us to show, share, and speak about what the standards mean for students. The implementation of the common core has significantly improved the teaching and learning in Room 214 and in my colleagues’ classrooms across the nation.

But don’t take my word for it. Come see for yourself.

Jessica Cuthbertson, a Colorado educator with 10 years’ experience, teaches middle school literacy and has served as a literacy instructional coach for Aurora Public Schools.

Posted by Jessica Cuthbertson at 10:21 AM | Permalink | 11 Comments | 2 Recommendations

Collegeboard – SAT Changing toward Common Core

 

ASCD logo VIEW MOBILE/WEB VERSION HERE   |  October 8, 2013
Capitol Connection
OCTOBER 8, 2013
Top Story

Stagnant SAT Scores = Call to Action

The College Board has released the 2013 SAT scores, which show that only 43 percent of this year’s SAT-takers graduated from high school prepared for college-level course work, a statistic that has remained steady over the past five years. Underrepresented students showed increases in both test participation and average scores. Of all 2013 test-takers, 46 percent were minority students—the largest percentage ever. The percentage of African American SAT-takers that met the college- and career-ready benchmark rose from 14.8 percent in 2012 to 15.6 percent. For Hispanic students, that number rose from 22.8 percent to 23.5 percent.

The College Board deems test-takers who attain at least a score of 1550 out of 2400 as ready for college because they have a 65 percent probability or higher of receiving a B- grade or better during their first year in college. Students who meet the benchmark are also more likely to complete their degree. As part of its 2013 score report (PDF), the College Board contends that all students must have access to rigorous courses to help them succeed in college.

Currently, the College Board is in the process of redesigning the SAT to align with the Common Core State Standards to better reflect what students need to know for success after high school.

 

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