Common Core State Standards and Catholic Schools

Common Core State Standards and Catholic Schools • Mary Jane Krebbs, PhD • Dale McDonald, PBVM, PhD • Kathy Mears • Lorraine Ozar, PhD

Agenda: Common Core • Background- the why of Common Core: Dale McDonald • Impetus for developing common standards • Implications for Catholic schools • Implementation in a Diocese: Kathy Mears • Suggestions and cautions • Communication with parents • Experience with diocesan implementation • Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative: Lorraine Ozar • CCCII development • CCCII collaborations • Common Core and Curriculum Development: Mary Jane Krebbs • Pedagogical approaches • Development of unit plans

Impetus for Developing Common Core State Standards Equity imperative: All students deserve a high-quality education regardless of where they attend school Global competition: workforce requires different skills and education for economic growth Current curriculum standards vary greatly across states and achievement is calculated differently

PISA 2009 (Program for International Student Assessment) 15 year olds assessed Reading:14th in the world Math: 25th in the world Science: 17th in the world TIMSS 2007 (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) Grade 4 Math: 11th in the world Science: 9th in the world Grade 8 Math: 8th in the world Science: 11th in the world U.S. Rankings on International Assessments

Workforce Outlook in US • 1995: US ranked first in college and university graduation rates • 2010: US ranked 12th • American workers in blue collar and administrative support jobs • 1969: 56 percent • 2009: 38 percent • Jobs requiring more education and specialized skills (managerial/ professional/technical) • 1969: 23 percent • 2006: 35 percent

Countries ranked on how well their educational systems meet the needs of a competitive economy* *World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012

State Standards Vary • Standards have been lowered as states try to meet AYP proficiency requirements by 2014 • Standard assessments focus on recall of facts and procedures; lowest level of learning • Percentage of students rated as proficient on state tests significantly higher than on NAEP assessments • NAEP – National Assessment of Educational Progress Nation’s Report Card • largest nationally representative and continuing (1969) assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas

NAEP scale equivalents of state grade 4 reading standards for proficient performance

NAEP scale equivalents of state grade 8 reading standards for proficient performance

NAEP scale equivalents of state grade 4 mathematics standards for proficient performance

NAEP scale equivalents of state grade 8 mathematics standards for proficient performance California and Nebraska data not included

Academic Preparedness for College: SAT scores as indicators of success • 1550 score “indicates a 65 percent likelihood of achieving a B- average or higher during the first year of study at a four-year college” 1667 1594 1477

Overview of the CCSS Initiative • State-led effort under direction of National Governors Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) • Develop common core standards for K-12 in English/language arts and mathematics • Focus on learning expectations and outcomes for students – not on how to teach content

Criteria for the Standards Common Core State Standards should: • Be aligned with college and work expectations • Be focused and coherent • Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills • Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards • Be internationally benchmarked so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society • Be based on evidence and research

Rigorous Content and ApplicationsPrepare students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and work Cognitive tasks that demand application of thinking skills, creativity, collaboration, communication Critical thinking skills Content

State Adoption of Common Core Green=adopted Gray=not adopting Blue=ELA only

Common Core State Standards: What’s Next? • State assessments are developed to match standards • Curricula developed to match standards • New textbooks, software and instructional materials are produced • Professional development to assist teachers and administrators with the implementation and application of standards to teaching and learning practices

Concerns and Controversies • Differing political and philosophical agendas related to local v. federal control of education • Driving forces behind the standards movement: • business interests • competiveness • Common core standards equated to a national curriculum • Curriculum materials hinder the ability to teachers to decide how/what to teach • Federal government control of a national testing program • Race to the Top program requirements of standards adoption • Department of Education grants to develop assessments

Implications for Catholic Schools • Can Catholic schools participate in CCSS? • Adopt standards • Adopt testing • Should Catholic schools participate? • Pros • Cons • Impact on curriculum, instruction and teaching materials • National curriculum? • Access to commercial materials: tests, media teaching tools • Ability to use new media materials • Impact on students’ future • Transfers across systems • College acceptances • Workforce readiness

Diocese Implementation • Look for your early adapters • Provide professional development focused on: • Differences between old curriculum and new standards • Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. • Use picture clues and context to aid comprehension and to make predictions about story content. • Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1). • Model subtraction by removing objects from sets (for numbers less than 10).

Diocese Implementation • Provide professional development focused on: • Vertical alignment of standards • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. • Use of technology in teaching the standards • Technology is our tool to assist teachers and students in the teaching and learning process. • Reliance on higher level thinking skills • Analyze, evaluate, determine, justify, represent, interpret, assess, create… • Integration of our faith into lessons

Diocese Implementation • Focus your efforts • Grades K-2 • Math • Problem solving • Building skills • English Language Arts • Nonfiction and fiction • Basic reading skills • Content area teachers • Teaching reading • Teaching communication skills

Diocese Implementation • Parent Communication • Standards • How are they different? • Why they are different? • Reporting progress • Report cards • Archdiocese of Chicago • Diocese of San Diego

Diocese Implementation • Concerns • Finding time and funds for ongoing, applied professional development of teachers • Locating solid resources • Locating textbooks that truly support students and teachers • Trying to do too much too fast • Getting started!

Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative Overview

WHAT? Project Goal: To develop and disseminate frameworks, guidelines, and resource guides that will assist local educators in infusing Catholic values and principles of social teaching into all subjects and integrating the Catholic worldview and culture into curriculum and instructional design using the Common Core Standards.

WHY? • Catholic schools need to pay attention to the fact that the common core standards and assessments are here and it is important to get on board. • Principals and teachers often need and welcome assistance in understanding and implementing standards-based curriculum and instructional design.

WHY? National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic elementary and Secondary Schools (2012) Defining Characteristic: Distinguished by Excellence

WHY? National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic elementary and Secondary Schools (2012) Standard 7: An excellent Catholic school has a clearly articulated, rigorous curriculum aligned with relevant standards, 21st century skills, and Gospel values implemented through effective instruction.

WHY? National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic elementary and Secondary Schools (2012) Benchmark 7.1: The curriculum adheres to appropriate, delineated standards, and is vertically aligned to ensure that every student successfully completes a rigorous and coherent sequence of academic courses based on the standards and rooted in Gospel values.

WHY? National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic elementary and Secondary Schools (2012) Benchmark 7.2: Standards are adopted across the curriculum, and include integration of the religious, spiritual, moral, and ethical dimensions of learning in all subjects.

WHO? Original Committee: Nicholas Wolsonovich, Lorraine Ozar, Mary Jane Krebbs, Michael Rush, Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill, Sr. Leanne Welch, PBVM (2010-2011) Joined by: Sr. Dale McDonald, Br. Robert Bimonte, FSC, William Dinger, Laura Egan, Carole Eipers, Susan Abelein, Anthony Manley, Ron Valenti (February 2012)

WHO? Collaborate with:Catholic school teachers, curriculum experts, catechetical experts, principals, and superintendents in the field (beginning June, 2012) Partner with:Companies and sponsors who support Catholic school excellence

How? Create resources to assist K-8 Catholic educators around the country in using CCSS for ELA in Catholic schools. • Show how to develop ELA Units using CCSS. • Show how to infuse the ELA Units with Catholic Identity elements.

How? • Create sample CCCII ELA Units in grade level bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8). • Develop written guidelines and narrative explanations that provide a “think aloud” of how to create the Units. • Identity a substantial number of ELA Unit Topics that teachers are likely to use and provide Catholic Identity connections/ideas.

Important Distinction: The CCCII Project is not about Catholic Identity; it is about how we teach with Catholic Identity.

Catholic Identity Elements include: Catholic Worldview Culture and Tradition Gospel Values Church Social Teachings Moral/Ethical Dimensions

Catholic Identity Elements: How can we legitimately integrate these elements into ELA units while ensuring rigor in keeping with the CCSS?

WHERE? Online at Catholic School Standards Project website: www.catholicschoolstandards.org In print through NCEA In use by Dioceses and Vendors

JUNE 2012 Explain and use the CCCII ELA Unit template to create exemplar units for assigned grade level, using topics identified. (Project leaders and field-based teacher and diocesan practitioner teams) Units Developed: Grades 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8 2. Brainstorm ELA topics/themes/concepts by grade levels for future units. 3. Document and review this pilot process for developing school level, grade level units based on the Common Core standards and infused with Catholic identity elements.

Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative Unit Design

We ask the schools to teach children to think, to socialize them, to alleviate poverty and inequality, to reduce crime, to perpetuate our cultural heritage, and to produce intelligent, patriotic citizens. Ornstein and Levine Foundations of Education 2000 We need to fix our schools to teach “entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity” so students can emulate the “new untouchables” in our workforce today. Thomas Friedman New York Times, Oct. 2009 The trend is that for more and more jobs, average is over… just doing a job in an average way will not return an average lifestyle any longer… We need to help every American understand the connection between educational attainment and what will be required to perform the jobs of the future. Thomas Friedman New York Times, Aug. 2012

We ask the Catholic schools to do all this and… The integration of religious truth and values with the rest of life is not only possible in Catholic schools, it distinguishes them from others. (p.3) Teach Them National Conference of Catholic Bishops 1976 The task of the Catholic School is fundamentally, “a synthesis of culture and faith, and a synthesis of faith and life: the first is reached by integrating all the different aspects of human knowledge through the subjects taught, in the light of the Gospel; the second in the growth of the virtues characteristic of the Christian.” 37 The Catholic School Revised Translation NCEA Summer 2009

Instructional Shifts For The Common Core Six Shifts in ELA/ Literacy ∙ Balancing Information and Literacy Text - Students need a true balance of information and literary texts. ∙ Building Knowledge in the Disciplines - Content area teachers outside of the ELA classroom emphasize literacy experiences in their planning and instructions. ∙ Staircase of Complexity - In order to prepare students for the complexity of college and career ready texts, each grade level requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase.” 44

∙ Text-Based Answers - Students have rich and rigorous conversations which are dependent on a common text. All opinions require evidence. ∙ Writing From Sources - Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to inform or make an argument rather than the personal narrative and other forms of de-contextualized prompts. ∙ Academic Vocabulary - Students constantly build the vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. 45

Instructional Shifts for the Common Core in Mathematics • Focus • Coherence • Fluency • Deep Understanding • Applications • Dual Intensity www.engageNY.org

Unit Planning Templatewww.catholicschoolstandards.org Common Core Catholic Identity Initiative Unit Plan • Title/Theme • Grade/Subject • Length of Unit/Time Frame usually from three to nine weeks • Description one sentence about the content • Overview one paragraph about the learning students will do in the unit

The Big Picture • Essential Question formulate a question that provides focus for learning and leads students to make deeper sense and meaning of the significant content in the unit. • Catholic Identity Elements indicate Catholic values, teachings, references, etc. that will be integrated into the unit. • Common Core Standards • Key Objectives Linked to Standards students will be able to… • Summative Assessment(s) describe the product(s)/performance(s) by which students will show they have achieved the objectives linked to the standards.

Unit Readings and Vocabulary • Fiction balance with non-fiction; consider text complexity • Non-Fiction balance with fiction; consider text complexity • Essential Unit Vocabulary • consider three levels of vocabulary and include vocabulary associated with Catholic Identity

Instructional Activities • Catholic Identity • Reading • Writing • Speaking/Listening • Language • Vocabulary • Viewing • Critical Thinking A numbered list which should be in the intended order of the lessons. Consider: formative and summative assessment alignment, differentiated instruction and Catholic Identity.

Common Core State Standards and Catholic Schools