On a scale of 0-5, how familiar are you with the new CCSS?

ELA Common Core State Standards6th -12th GradeMason-Lake & Oceana2-11-2011Compiled and Presented by Jen Orton

On a scale of 0-5, how familiar are you with the new CCSS? • 0: What does CCSS stand for anyway? • 1: I’ve heard it mentioned. • 2: I’ve read a little about it online. • 3: I’ve learned a bit about it at staff meetings. • 4: I’ve looked at the CCSS in relation to our current GLCE’s and/or HSCE’s and have noticed similarities and/or differences. • 5: I could lead this session.

Outcomes for Today Today’s purpose for examining these Common Core State Standards is simply to start developing an awareness of what they are and to think about how we might best address them with our students

What are you already doing? What clarification do you need? What will you add or delete? What resources do you need?

Jot down classroom connections as they arise • Reading strategies • Writing strategies • Grammar connections • Students • Units • Other

Agenda • Welcome • Change, transitions & ritual • Introduction of CCSS • Highlighted guided reading strategy • Teaching, Reading, and Testing • Overview of Design and Organization of CCSS • Grade Level Partner Work: • Slowing down to read the standards • Make Curriculum and Classroom Connections • Text Complexity • Next Steps

Change, Transition, Ritual • Change = a shift in the external situation • Transition = the psychological reorientation in response to change • Change + Human Beings = Transitions

We need rituals for endings and beginnings What are some rituals you might use in your building?

So, let’s dig in!

CCSS Introduction • Strategy: Guided Highlighted Reading

Guided Highlighted Reading The goals for this activity are to prepare for reading a selection, build silent reading fluency, to determine what is important in a paragraph, to make inferences, and to read with a larger context in mind.

Guided highlighted reading Each student has a highlighter pen. The teacher reads the paragraph and directions for highlighting. The teacher reads as rapidly as students can follow. The purpose is to get students to push their eyes rapidly across the text to find the text to be highlighted.

Introduction, Page 3 • Paragraph 1 • Highlight the phrase that states why these K-12 standards were developed

Paragraph 1 The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (“the Standards”) are the culmination of an extended, broad-based effort to fulfill the charge issued by the states to create the next generation of K–12 standards in order to help ensure that all students are college and career ready in literacy no later than the end of high school.

Introduction, Page 3 • Paragraph 3 • Highlight the rational used to decide upon the inclusion of each specific standard

Paragraph 3 As specified by CCSSO and NGA, the Standards are (1) research and evidence based, (2) aligned with college and work expectations, (3) rigorous, and (4) internationally benchmarked. A particular standard was included in the document only when the best available evidence indicated that its mastery was essential for college and career readiness in a twenty-first-century, globally competitive society.The Standards are intended to be a living work: as new andbetter evidence emerges, the Standards will be revised accordingly.

Introduction, Page 3 • Paragraph 4 • Highlight the subject areas directly addressed in the standards

Paragraph 4 The Standards are an extension of a prior initiative led by CCSSO and NGA to develop College and Career Readiness (CCR) standards in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language as well as in mathematics. The CCR Reading, Writing, and Speaking and Listening Standards, released in draft form in September 2009, serve, in revised form, as the backbone for the present document. Grade-specific K–12 standards in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language translate the broad (and, for the earliest grades, seemingly distant) aims of the CCR standards into age- and attainment-appropriate terms.

Introduction, Page 3 • Paragraph 5 • In the beginning of paragraph 5, underline the subject areas, aside from English Language Arts, that are required to address literacy standards

Paragraph 5 The Standards set requirements not only for English language arts (ELA) but also for literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Just as students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas, so too must the Standards specify the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Literacy standards for grade 6 and above are predicated on teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects using their content area expertise to help students meet…

In the middle of paragraph 5, highlight how non-ELA teachers are expected to address literacy standards

Paragraph 5 Literacy standards for grade 6 and above are predicated on teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects using their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields. It is important to note that the 6–12 literacy standards in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects are not meant to replace content standards in those areas but rather to supplement them.

Introduction, Page 3 • Paragraph 6 • Underline four ways that students who demonstrate an understanding of these standards may apply their learning outside the classroom and the work place.

Paragraph 6 Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature. They habitually perform the critical reading necessaryto pick carefully through the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally. They actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews. They reflexivelydemonstrate the cogent reasoning and use of evidencethat is essential to both private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a democratic republic. In short, Students who meet the Standards develop the skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening that are the foundation for any creative and purposeful expression in language.

Introduction, Page 4 • CCR and grade-specific standards • Underline when students are expected to obtain grade-specific standards

CCR and grade-specific standards The CCR standards anchor the document and define general, cross-disciplinary literacy expectations that must be met for students to be prepared to enter college and workforce training programs ready to succeed. The K–12 grade-specific standards defineend-of-year expectations and a cumulative progression designed to enable students to meet college and career readiness expectations no later than the end of high school…

Introduction, Page 4 • Research and media skills blended into the Standards as a whole • Underline the list of skills (all verbs) that students need for understanding information and ideas

Research and media skills blended into the Standards as a whole To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize,and report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high volume and extensive range of print and nonprint texts in media forms old and new…

Introduction, Page 4 • Shared responsibility for students’ literacy development • Paragraph 1: Underline what the Standards insist about instruction

Shared responsibility for students’ literacy development The Standards insist thatinstruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language be a shared responsibilitywithin the school.

In small groups please talk about… • What you’re understanding about the CCSS • How the strategy of Guided Highlighted reading may have supported your learning • How the strategy of Guided Highlighted reading might support learning for your students (classroom connections)

Now, a little quiz… 1. Common core state standards… a. Are internationally benchmarked. b. Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards. c. Are based on evidence and research. d. All of the above

Quiz 1. Common core state standards are… a. Are internationally benchmarked. b. Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards. c. Based on evidence and research. d. All of the above

Quiz 2. Michigan… a. Was the 1st state to formally adopt the final CCSS in ELA and Math. b. Has been a national leader in the development of rigorous academic standards. c. Adopted the CCSS in June, 2010. d. All of the above

Quiz 2. Michigan a. Was the 1st state to formally adopt the final CCSS in ELA and Math. b. Has been a national leader in the development of rigorous academic standards. c. Adopted the CCSS in June, 2010. d. All of the above

Quiz 3. Assessments will be aligned to the CCSS in… a. 2011-12 b. 2012-13 c. 2013-14 d. 2014-15

Quiz 4. The content areas where the CCSS are defined K-12th are: a. Math b. ELA & Math c. Science & SS d. ELA

Common Core State Standards Timeline • 2012-2013 • 2012 MEAP minimally modified as necessary to reflect the CCSS • 2013 MME remains the same • State focus will be on student learning • 2010-2011 • Getting to know the CCSS/Alignment work • 2010 MEAP/2011 MME remain the same • State focus will be on technical assistance • 2014-2015 • FULL implementation: instruction AND assessment based on the CCSS 2014-2015 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 • 2011-2012 • Implementation of CCSS in classrooms • 2011 MEAP/2012 MME remain the same • State focus will be on instruction/PD • 2013-2014 • 2013 MEAP based on the 2012 model • 2014 MME remains the same • State focus will be on preparing new assessments from SMARTER consortim www.corestandards.org

Advantages • The CCSS are internationally benchmarked so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society. • The common core state standards may enable participating states to work together to: • Make expectations for students clear to parents, teachers, and the general public • Encourage the development of textbooks, digital media, and other teaching materials aligned to the standards • Develop and implement comprehensive assessment systems to measure student performance against the common core state standards • Evaluate policy changes needed to help students and educators meet the standards 41

CCSS do NOT define: • How teachers should teach • All that can or should be taught • The nature of advanced work beyond the core • The interventions needed for students well below grade level • The full range of support for English language learners and students with special needs • Everything needed to be college and career ready • The assessment framework

Why is this important? Currently, every state has its own set of academic standards, meaning public education students in each state are learning to different levels All students must be prepared to compete with not only their American peers in the next state, but with students from around the world

Why is this important?

Reading Reading Reading Reading Reading

One of the key requirements of the Common Core State Standards for Reading is that all students must be able to comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. By the time they complete the core, students must be able to read and comprehend independently and proficiently the kinds of complex texts commonly found in college and careers. Reading

The first part of this section makes a research-based case for why the complexity of what students read matters. In brief, while reading demands in college, workforce training programs, and life in general have held steady or increased over the last half century, K–12 texts have actually declined in sophistication, and relatively little attention has been paid to students’ ability to read complex texts independently. These conditions have left a serious gap between many high school seniors’ reading ability and the reading requirements they will face after graduation. What are your thoughts?

Can they read complex text? Are these students ready for the ACT?

What chiefly distinguished the performance of those students who had earned the benchmark score or better from those who hadnot was not their relative ability in making inferences while reading or answering questions related to particular cognitive processes, such as determining main ideas or determining the meaning of words and phrases in context.

Instead, the clearest differentiator was students’ ability to answer questions associated with complex texts. Students scoring below benchmark performed no better than chance (25 percent correct) on four-option multiple-choice questions pertaining to passages rated as “complex” on a three-point qualitative rubric described in the report.

On a scale of 0-5, how familiar are you with the new CCSS?