Beyond the Bubble: Achieving the Promise of the Common Core State Standards

1. Technology Perspectives Beyond the Bubble:Achieving the Promise of the Common Core State Standards Teresa Chance Northwest Arkansas Education Cooperative teresa@starfish.nwsc.k12.ar.us

2. www.corestandards.org State-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) with assistance from Achieve, ACT, and the College Board (SAT)

3. Status of State Adoption of Common Core State Standards AR State Board of Education adopted on July 12, 2010

4. Why Common Core State Standards? • Too many students graduate from high school unprepared to succeed in college and/or 21st century careers. • Results? • puts students’ future opportunities at risk • has a harmful effect on our states’ and the nation’s economy “Expectations Gap” 4

5. “Common Core State Standards are not intended to be new names for old ways of doing business. They are a call to take the next step. “Excerpt from Common Core State Standards Document

6. First comes standards and then comes… Assessment!

7. 2 Testing Consortia • Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) • Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) New assessments will be ready by 2014-2015

8. PARCC States

9. Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) • Twenty-five states and District of Columbia are included. • An award of $186 million has been granted to develop new assessments. • Arkansas is now a governing state. • Over 200 institutions of higher education are participating. • Work is being facilitated by ACHIEVE.

10. PARCC Summary http://www.achieve.org/PARCCsummary PARCC Grant Printer Warning: 277 pages! • http://www.fldoe.org/parcc/pdf/apprtcasc.pdf

11. To develop assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity. What is the Goal of these Next Generation Assessments?

12. Key features in PARCC… http://www.achieve.org/PARCCsummary Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Highlights from the PARCC Summary

13. States will adopt common assessments and performance standards.

14. Assessment system will be anchored in college and career readiness.

15. Students will take parts of the assessment at key times during the year. “Through-course assessments”

16. Assessments will be computer based.

17. Assessments will include sophisticated items and performance tasks.

18. What can we expect? • Computer-based platforms that allow students to prepare an outline and capture notes as they write their essay • Use of digital technologies to assess hard-to-measure skills (ex: ask students to listen to a poem or a scene from a play) • Controlled research projects which provide students with materials they need • Searchable environment (including irrelevant materials) • Students view or listen to a variety of digital media

19. Drag-and-Drop PASSAGE 1 The easiest way for states to raise money during these difficult times is to legalize gambling. Casino and slot machines are fast and low-resource means for generating tax revenue. The tax money brought in by these games of chance can be used to fix roads, fund local education, and feed the poor. Clearly, gambling should be legalized to help our struggling communities during these difficult economic times. PASSAGE 2 If we want to ruin our communities, clearly, we should legalize gambling. Sure, gambling raises money for states. However, studies have shown that gambling leads to increased alcoholism and prostitution within and around the communities in which casinos and slot machines are set up. Moreover, gambling has ruined the lives of many “gamers” who just could not quit. Gambling addicts have lost their family fortunes by spending everything in pursuit of the “net sure win.” I can think of no reason that justifies the legalization of gambling. DIFFERENCE SIMILAR

20. Drag-and-Drop How would you balance the scale pictured below? Drag the weights from below the scale onto the scale to make it balance.

21. Drag-and-Drop Click and drag on the three lines below to arrange them into a right triangle.

22. Editing Item Format My favorite sport is soccer. Some peple cal soccer football, but in America we call it soccer. It is fun because you have to run alot. I love to run cause I am very fast. My coach likes to play me in the foreward position, and he likes to play me the whole game. I like it two. If you want to make me happy, just put me in a soccer game. CCSS: 3.L.2.e and 3.L.2.f Uses correct standard English and spell commonly used homophones correctly.

23. Picture Arrangement Item Format The pictures below show different steps in making cookies. Click on each picture and drag it to one of the boxes to arrange them in the correct order. When they are in the correct order click on “Finished.” If you need to change the order, click on “Start Over.”

24. Highlighting Text Item Format Highlight the word in the passage that refers to a famous temple. Use the highlighting tool to click on the word and highlight it. Click submit when you are done. My Trip to Greece Last week, I boarded a place to go to Greece! I was so excited. My grandparents live there. They met me at the airport. Then, they took me to their house by the beach. After a fantastic meal and a good night’s sleep, my dream came true. We went to the Acropolis, which means “High City.” There I saw the Parthenon, which is all that remains of a famous temple built over 2,000 years ago. I had a great time in Greece. I was sad to leave.

25. Highlighting Text Item Format Read the passage below and answer the two items that follow. Remembering Tommy My friend Tommy had cerebral palsy and knew it as imprisonment. He sent twenty two years completely speechless. The only sound he made came from a congested throat once treated with a tracheotomy. His best means for communication was rolling his eyes upward to indicate the word “yes.” His posture in his wheelchair always needed to be restricted and defined in some way. Physical barriers made it difficult for Tommy to type his thoughts, to expand on them, to build new ones. The people who loved him knew his devotion to the Baltimore Oriole, his love for his parents and family and his home, his wishes to do well in school. Yet all the words that were ever said were somebody else’s, never his own. Tommy would have never died of depression. For he had joy, faith, and wisdom to see true life beyond imprisonment. But he died of cardiac arrest. Now all his movements and leg cramps have ended. I will always remember my friend as a tremendous sign that the soul in eternally more vital than the body. Highlight one sentence in the passage the author uses to suggest Tommy had a happy life. Highlight one word in the passage that should be hyphenated.

26. To develop assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity. Goal of Next Generation Assessments

43. Intended Outcomes of PARCC Assessments • Report achievement based on clear expectations; ability to compare across state lines • Use results in school accountability determinations and educator evaluations • Integrate assessment system with standards, curriculum, resources, and professional work • Rapid use of data to guide instruction

44. “Standards and assessments are only the foundationupon which states will construct high-quality curriculum, professional development, and all the other pieces that will support teachers preparing to teach to these new standards and students learning at higher levels. ---Education Secretary Arne Duncan

45. What else can we expect to see? • Science (draft by Fall 2011) • English Language Development Standards for ELLs (within 1 year) • Social Studies (within 2 years) • Arts (development may begin January 2011)

46. Beyond the Bubble Tests: The Next Generation of Assessments Http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/ “I am convinced that this new generation of state assessments will be an absolute game-changer in public education.” ---Education Secretary Arne Duncan September 2, 2010

47. On the Road to Implementation • Engage moral purpose • Build capacity • Understand the change process • Develop cultures for learning • Foster coherence making Adapted from 8 Forces of Change by Michael Fullan Source: Arkansas Tool Kit for Quality Professional Development - Tool 8.1

48. What should we be doing right now? • Learn! • Share! • Collaborate! • Clarify! • Prepare!