Introducing the Common Core to Parents and Community Members

1. Introducing the Common Core to Parents and Community Members

2. http://vimeo.com/51933492

3. What are the Common Core State Standards? The Common Core State Standards set grade-by-grade learning expectations for students in grades K-12 for Mathematics and for English Language Arts and Literacy. While states have had standards for more than 15 years, this set of standards is more focused on preparing students for success in college and career. They set clear, consistent and high learning goals.

4. Common Core Across the Nation

5. What Should I Expect with CCSS? More time to focus on preparing students for college and career readiness.

6. The Critics’ Claims Common Core is a federal mandate Common Core is dumbing down existing state standards Parents and policymakers had no input Common Core dictates the classroom curriculum The standards will lead to more testing Collecting student data is an invasion of privacy

7. What do the polls say on national level? 34% of parents don’t know if their state has implemented Common Core or not; 49% say their state has implemented and 17% are unsure 47% of teachers have “a lot” of information about PARCC and CCSS, 37% have received some” while 14% say they have “not much or no information.” 82% of principals and 69% of teachers are confident that CCSS will improve student achievement

8. Common Core: It Takes All of Us! Parents Community members Colleges and universities Technical training programs CCSS Video

9. Eptstein’s Six Types of Parental Involvement Parenting Communicating Volunteering Learning at Home Decision Making Collaborating with Community

10. Communicating http://www.cgcs.org/domain/36 http://www.pta.org/files/PTA%20Arkansas%20Assessment%20Guide.pdf http://pta.org/parents/content.cfm?ItemNumber=2910 http://www.parenttoolkit.com/index.cfm?objectid=313B2E50-2088-11E3-8EC10050569A5318

12. Parent-Teacher Communication Parent-Teacher Collaboration

13. Why? Parent-Teacher Collaboration The kind of parent involvement that most benefits students is tied to what they’re learning in the classroom, according to Anne Hendersen, top expert in the field of parent involvement.

14. Why? Parent-Teacher Collaboration 85% of parents spend 15 minutes helping their children at home. But, would be willing to spend an average of 40 minutes a night helping their children if they had directions from the teacher about how to help their child.

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19. 7 Common Core Questions: How might the Common Core change my child’s homework? Will my child’s test scores go down? There’s been a lot of negative press. Does our school believe the Common Core is a good thing for our students or not? How much will implementing the Common Core cost our school? Will it dumb down standards or raise them? What resources will the school be offering to help students catch up if they are struggling? What’s a reliable resource for more information?

20. The Shifts in ELA/Literacy Building knowledge through content-richnonfiction Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

21. The Shifts in ELA/Literacy Students read, write and speak about discipline- related topics to build content knowledge – disciplinary literacy. 5. Students engage in writing arguments in which they support claims with reasons and evidence. 6. Students conduct research both short and long term projects.

22. How can you help your child in literacy? Ask your child specific questions about what they read. Encourage children to read, then write and speak about, nonfiction text such as newspapers, magazines, and biographies. Encourage children to research topics of interest and read series that relate to a central topic. Have your child follow step by step instructions or a set of directions in order to accomplish a task, such as building a sandcastle or operating a game.

23. ELA Big Shift #1- Increased Reading of Informational Text Throughout the school day, students at K-5 read a balance of 50% literature and 50% informational texts

24. ELA Big Shift #1- Increased Reading of Informational Text Take Home Literacy Bags

25. ELA Big Shift #2- Reading and Writing Grounded in Evidence Requires close reading and deep understanding of the text

26. ELA Big Shift #3- Appropriate Text Complexity Regular Practice with Complex Texts and Academic Language

27. ELA Big Shift #3- Appropriate Text Complexity myON reader allows families without Internet access to download up to 20 books using a free iTunes app, while at school or near a community hot spot and read them offline.

28. ELA Big Shift # 4 Disciplinary Literacy Students read, write, and speak about discipline-related topics to build content knowledge. In the early grades, students read informational texts that include historical, scientific, and technical texts to prepare for the demands of reading discipline-specific texts in later grades. At grades 6-12, students grapple with discipline-specific complex texts that deepen their understanding of a topic and develop an understanding of the norms and conventions of each discipline; they demonstrate mastery by applying that knowledge when writing or speaking.

29. ELA Big Shift #5- Argumentative Writing Throughout the school day, all students write about topics or texts, some of which have differing viewpoints. In grades K-5, 30% of student writing should be writing opinions. In grades 6-8, 35% of student writing should be writing arguments in which they support claims with reasons and evidence. In grades 9-12, 40% of student writing should be well-developed arguments.

30. Friday Journals ANCHOR STANDARD Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Grade Specific Standard: CCSS 2nd Grade W.2.1- Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words to connect…..

31. Class Mascot Writing Project ANCHOR STANDARD CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences. Grade Specific Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3b Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

32. Are you into blogging? Anchor Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. Grade Specific Standard: CCSS-Writing: W.3.6 With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

33. ELA Big Shift #6- Short and Sustained Research Projects Students conduct research, both short and long term, in which they synthesize information from many sources, construct knowledge, use technology when appropriate, and present findings in a variety of formats.

34. ELA Big Shift #6- Short and Sustained Research Projects Black History Month Autobiography Project 1st Grade

35. The Shifts in Mathematics 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, andapplication with equal intensity

36. How can you help your child in math? Help children practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Encourage children not to give up while solving problems, to build stamina and develop their critical thinking skills. Don’t give them the answers - ask them to think of different ways they can solve problems. Have children illustrate the math they were thinking in their head and discuss it out loud. Have children apply their math knowledge to a real-world scenario at home, such as doubling a recipe or calculating the area of a room.

37. Sharing Math Shifts through TEAM/PLC Activities More learning time in kindergarten should be devoted to number than any other topic. In order to devote this time, some things that were in the Arkansas Mathematics Frameworks for Kindergarten are not found in the CCSSM.

38. The Issues Politics: some are considering sacrificing the assessments to preserve the standards—political horse trading Costs: in some states, the consortia assessments will cost more than the current tests Testing Time: concerns that new tests will take more time, take time away from instruction Stakes: Concerns about the pacing of tying consequences for teachers and schools to new tests and high-stakes testing for students

39. Horse Trading May be politically expedient, but shortsighted and damaging to students For Common Core to be successful, states need assessments truly capable of measuring the knowledge and skills embodied in the standards This is hard to do; old ways of building tests may be insufficient

40. Costs Technology readiness a key factor Doubtful states can develop high quality assessment as sophisticated as consortia tests on their own for less Costs of testing very small percentage of overall education spending- less than 1%

41. Stakes Concern is understandable: introducing new, more demanding standards and assessments requires real adjustments in schools; consequences change the dynamic But: many states are accounting for that and aligning the cut scores used for accountability so the growth expectations for schools and teachers aren’t significantly impacted Some states are phasing the consequences in more slowly

42. Key Points Worthwhile tests worth taking Problem solving, critical thinking, writing Cost $29.50: Slightly less than the median for all states, including scoring, for both ELA and math (similar to what AR currently spends) Time Compares to current 3rd grade 8 hours; 9 hours for 4-5 and 9.5 hours for 5th and up , including writing, for ELA and math Less than 1% of school year

43. Key Points continued… These are replacement summative tests, NOT additional tests. Time spent is less than 1% of student’s total time in school. K-12 spending is one of top three line items in each state’s budget. Spending less that 1% of K-12 budget to measure impact of is not excessive.

44. How can we explain lower scores? Lower scores on a test assessing more challenging content in a different way does not mean students are learning less; it means we are holding students to higher standard Currently only 25% of high school graduates are ready for college level courses. Remedial levels in college sky high so need more rigor in K-12 Much better for students if any academic weakness can be discovered in 3rd, 5th or even 10th grade when teachers still have resources and time to help, than after graduation when it is too late…

45. University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy This office completed a research paper, “Common Core: Possible Benefits, Causes for Concern, Red Herrings and Arkansas Recommendations” http://officeforedpolicy.com/2014/06/11/common-core-possible-benefits-causes-for-concern-red-herrings-and-arkansas-recommendations/

46. University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy Possible Benefits: Increased Rigor for Arkansas Students New Testing Regime Greater Access to Instructional Resources National Curricular Coherence

47. University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy Possible Causes for Concern: Federal Overreach No Proven Track Record of Success “Fuzzy” Math and Lack of Literature Breaches in Student Data Privacy Lots of Harmful Testing

48. University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy The Red Herrings of Common Core: Lack of Rigor Centralized Control of Standards is Harmful Higher Standards Do Not Affect Achievement Implementation Challenges including Rushed Accountability, Lack of Externally-Vetted, High-Quality CCSS Materials and Lack of Technological Infrastructure

49. University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy Recommendation: Continue on the track of implementation of Common Core Standards in the coming school year and into the future

50. Be able to answer the tough questions: There is too much testing. Why do we need another one? These tests will be too hard and scores will drop. How can that be good for kids or teachers? These tests are too expensive. How can we afford them?