Common Core State Standards Are Coming to the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD)!

1. Common Core State Standards Are Coming to the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD)! Information for Parents July-September, 2012

2. In this presentation: • New Curriculum in the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) • What Are the Common Core State Standards? • Why Is EGUSD Changing to Common Core State Standards? • How Will This Affect My Child? • What Are Some Examples? • What Should I Expect in the Future?

3. New Curriculum for EGUSD Beginning this year, elementary students in all EGUSD schools will be taught and will learn new curriculum. This new curriculum is the CommonCoreStateStandards (CCSS). • Grades K – 2 Mathematics CCSS • Grades 3 – 6 English/Language Arts CCSS

4. Common Core State Standards, the New Curricular Standards: • Are the concepts and skills that every child will learn • Are more similar to the previous standards than they are different • Contain some important differences: • Some standards are taught at new grade levels • Emphasis is on learning concepts in depthand to mastery rather than covering large quantities of standards

5. What Are the Common Core State Standards? • Standards define the curriculum, i.e. whatis taught. • Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are new, adopted by California in August 2010. • CCSS have been adopted in 46 states. • Students will be assessed on CCSS beginning in 2014-15.

6. What Are the Common Core State Standards? These K-12 curriculum standards… • Are aligned with college and career expectations • Are clear, consistent, and understandable • Include rigorous content knowledge and application of skills

7. How Do Common Core State Standards Improve Learning? • Prepare our students to be competitive with students from top-performing countries • Communicate clearly what is expected at each grade level • Create cohesion across states

8. Why Is EGUSD Changing to Common Core State Standards Now? • Gradual transition allows teachers & students time to adjust before testing begins. • Students & teachers make the transition to CCSS in one subject per year. • Students will be well prepared when testing begins in 2014-15.

9. Transition to Common Core State Standards

10. How Will This Affect My Child in Kindergarten through 2nd Grade? • New math materials • Explain “Why” and “How do you know?” • Fewer topics, but each studied more in-depth • Use multiple methods to explain the same problem

11. 10 • -10 • 37 • 37 • - 10 • +10 • Concrete Abstract Strategies for 10 more or 10 less. • Number lineHundreds ChartNumber sentence • 37 • 27 • 47 • 27 • 47 • 27 • 37 • 47 • Seeing multiple representation & side-by-side instruction helps students to learn.

12. How Will This Affect My Child in Grades 3-6? • Greater percentage of informational text as opposed to narrative or “stories” • Greater emphasis on writing: narrative, informational, and persuasive

13. How Will This Affect My Child in Grades 3-6? • Use of science and history/social science curriculum to develop reading and writing skills while learning science and history • Gradually increased rigor of reading tasks to align with what is required for college and careers

14. What Is an Example from Grades 3-6? After 4th graders learn about soil erosion and the Dust Bowl in science, they are asked to write an article describing various effects of soil erosion on the environment.

15. What Should I Expect in the Future? • Beginning August 1, CCSS website for parents • Periodic posts of new information and resources • Check out the link: http://blogs.egusd.net/ccss • Additional information in our school newsletter

16. Common Core State Standards Are Coming to the Elk Grove Unified School District What questions do you have?