Mississippi Department of Education Common Core State Standards and Assessments

1. Mississippi Department of EducationCommon Core State Standardsand Assessments English / Language Arts Grades 9-12 Training of the Trainers July 2012

2. *All page references are from this document unless otherwise noted.*

3. Survey Currently, what is your comfort level related to the Common Core State Standards for ELA? • Not comfortable • Somewhat comfortable • Very comfortable Please respond using the Promethean device.

4. General Overview of CCSS for ELA

5. Key Design Considerations • Grade levels and grade bands • Focus on results rather than means • Integrated model of literacy • Research and media throughout • Shared responsibility including focus on informational text • Focus and coherence in instruction and assessment

6. Students Who Are College and Career Ready in Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Language Refer to p. 7

7. Organization of CCSS for ELA • Introduction • Three main sections • K-5 (comprehensive and cross disciplinary) • 6-12 English Language Arts • 6-12 Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects • Three appendices • Appendix A: Research supporting key elements of the standards (includes text complexity) and glossary of key terms • Appendix B: Reading text exemplars and sample performance tasks • Appendix C: Annotated student writing samples Refer to p. 8

8. Organization For Grades 9-12 • Four Strands of Standards • Reading(R) • RL (Reading Standards for Literature) • RI (Reading Standards for Informational Text) • Writing (W) • Speaking and Listening (SL) • Language (L) • College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards Refer to p. 8

9. College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards drive the grade-specific standards. • Identify by strand and CCR number.(Refer to p. 8) • Example of identifying (R.CCR.6—Reading College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard 6 is “assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.”) (Refer to p. 35)

10. Grade Specific Standards Grade-specific standards define what students should know and be able to do by the end of each year or grade band to progress toward achievement of each anchor standard. • Identify by strand, grade, number (or number and letter) • Example of identifying (RI.9-10.6 is “determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.”) RI – Reading Informational Text 9-10 – Grade Band 6 – Standard

11. Key Features • Reading • Text complexity increases with each grade level • Comprehension demands increase with each grade level • Writing • Text types--argument and informative/explanatory writing (in addition to narrative) • Writing about texts and other sources • Research (also included across standards) • Speaking and Listening • Collaboration • Range of oral communication and interpersonal skills • Language • General academic and domain-specific vocabulary • Essential rules of standard written and spoken English with a focus on craft and informed choices

12. Work Session #1: Scavenger Hunt • Locate Work Session 1 Activity Sheet. • Directions • Knowing where to find information in the Standards is just as important as knowing the information itself. Using the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA), search with others at your table (in groups of 2, 3, or 4) to find the answers to the questions.

13. Work Session #1: Scavenger Hunt Discuss answers for Work Session #1: CCSS for ELA Scavenger Hunt.

14. Unpacking the ELA Common Core State Standards: Committing to the Process

15. Unpacking CCSS for ELA – Overview • WHY? • Unpacking helps teachers identify the skills and thinking students will need to know and be able to do in order to meet the standards. • HOW? • Begin by identifying key verbs and key terms in the CCSS that may be unfamiliar to students, as well as the key content that students should already know. • Next, write the identified words in language that students will readily understand (student-friendly) and that teachers can easily explain to students. • Finally, develop “I can” statements for students to understand the language of the standard (defines what students should know and/or be able to do).

16. Evaluating the Progression of a Standard Grades 6-8 (Handout #1)

17. Evaluating the Progression of a Standard Grades 9-12 (Handout #2)

18. Step One: Unpacking the Standards • Identify key verbs and key terms in the CCSS that may be unfamiliar to students. Also list key content with which they may be familiar. RI.9-10.8 – Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. • Key Verbs • Delineate • Evaluate • Assessing • Identify • Key Terms • Fallacious • Key Content • Argument • Claims • Reasoning • Evidence

19. Step Two: Unpacking the Standards • Write the key verbs and key terms in language that students will readily understand (student-friendly) and that teachers can easily explain to students. The key content should already be student-friendly. RI.9-10.8 – Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. • Key Verbs • Delineate – describe precisely • Evaluate – judge or find the value of • Assessing – determining the quality of • Identify – recognize or point out • Key Terms • Fallacious – misleading or deceiving • Key Content • Argument – a belief or stance on an issue or topic • Claims – statements made about an issue • Reasoning – the thoughts behind an opinion • Evidence – supporting documents, thoughts, or statements

20. Step Three: Unpacking the Standards • Develop “I can” statements for students to understand the language of the standard. The statements should serve as examples of what students will know and be able to do.   RI.9-10.8 – Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. I can identify, describe and judge the value of an author’s stance on a topic and can determine the quality of the evidence provided. *I can statements may also be written as stepping stones to help students build their knowledge incrementally.

21. Work Session #2:Unpacking CCSS for ELA • Locate Work Session 2 Activity Sheets • Directions • Participants will use the Unpacking the Standards form to unpack the standard indicated on the top of each form. • Participants will identify and record key verbs and terms, rewriting these terms in student-friendly language, and develop “I can” statements for students.

22. Unpacking Application • What are skills that students should know and be able to do in order to master the Speaking and Listening standards that were discussed? • How does unpacking contribute to my understanding of the standards? • What do I need to add to my current instruction?

23. Determining Text Complexity of Individual Texts

24. Text Complexity Considerations • Significant Instructional Shifts in CCSS for ELA • Consistent emphasis on increasingly complex texts throughout the grades to prepare students for success in college and career • Students need to develop the ability and the stamina to read complex texts independently and proficiently in all disciplines. • Integration of Literacy across the Content Areas • Educators have a shared responsibility for literacy instruction, regardless of discipline or content area. (Handout #3) Developed by EngageNY

25. Staircase of Complexity • To prepare students for the complexity of college and career ready-style texts, each grade level requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase.” • Students read the grade-appropriate text around which instruction is centered. • Teachers are patient and create more time and space for close, careful reading. • Teachers provide appropriate scaffolding and supports to meet students’ instructional needs and reading levels. Developed by EngageNY

26. Advancing Our Students’ Language and Literacy (2010) by Marilyn Jager Adams Key Points • “The literacy level of our secondary students is languishing because the kids are not reading what they need to be reading.” (p. 3) • SAT scores decline as well as the difficulty of reading materials. • Textbooks became progressively easier as societal reading materials remained constant (newspapers) or increased difficulty levels. • Average length of sentences in books published between 1963 and 1991 was shorter than that of books published between 1946 and 1962. • In the seventh- and eighth-grade textbooks, …, the mean length of sentences had decreased from 20 words to 14 words – the “equivalent of dropping one or two clauses from every sentence” -- Hayes, Wolfer, and Wolfe (1996) • “…words are not just words. They are the nexus—the interface—between knowledge and thought ... It is through words that we build, refine, and modify our knowledge. What makes vocabulary valuable and important is not the words themselves so much as the understandings they afford.” (p. 8) • Although the relaxation of school book complexity may be the consequence of our earnest efforts to ensure full curricular access to all, it is a solution with serious problems of its own. In terms of literacy growth, it is a solution that is … self-propagating and self-defeating, for it is a solution that denies the student the very language, information, and modes of thought that they need most in order to move up and on. • “…a great benefit of common core curriculum is that it would drive a thorough overhaul of the texts we give students to read, and the kinds of learning and thought we expect their reading to support.” (p. 11) (Handout #4) Adams, M. J. (2011). Advancing our students’ Language and Literacy: The challenge of complex texts. American Educator, 34(4), 3-11.

27. CCSS and Text Complexity “The Common Core Standards hinge on students encountering appropriately complex texts at each grade level in order to develop the mature language skills and the conceptual knowledge they need for success in school and life” (p. 3). Taken from Coleman, D. & Pimentel, S. (2011). Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy: Grades 3–12. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Publishers_Criteria_for_3-12.pdf

28. Why Text Complexity Matters Over the past 50 years, the complexity of college and workplace reading has increased, while text complexity in K-12 has remained stagnant: • Research indicates that the demands that college, career, and citizenship place on readers has either held steady or increased over the last fifty years. • The difficulty of college textbooks has increased since 1962. • Students in college are expected to read complex texts with substantially greater independence than are students in typical K-12 programs. • Workplace reading, measured in Lexiles, exceeds grade 12 text complexity significantly, although there is considerable variation. Taken from CCSS, Appendix A, p. 2

29. Combined Lexile Charts **Based upon a 2009 national study by MetaMetrics reported in The Lexile Framework for Reading

30. Lexile Level of Sample Reading Materials **Based upon a 2009 national study by MetaMetrics reported in The Lexile Framework for Reading

31. The Common Core and Text Complexity College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard for Reading #10 Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. Grade-level Standard Examples RI.9.10 By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. RI.10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently. RI.11.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. RI.12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently. (Handout #5) Taken from CCSS, pg. 40

32. The Common Core and Text Complexity • The Common Core Standards for Reading address the intertwined issues of what and how students read through: • Increasing sophistication in students’ reading comprehension ability • Increasing text complexity in successive school years • A three-part model for determining the difficulty of a particular text Taken from CCSS, Appendix A, p. 4

33. Common Core and Text Types • Narrative • Short stories • Novels • Poetry • Drama • Informational Text and Literary Non-fiction • Historical non-fiction • Biographies • Auto-biographies • Speeches • Historical documents • Technical documents Taken from CCSS, p. 57

34. Text complexityis defined by: • Quantitative Measures • Readability and other scores of text complexity are often best measured by computer software (word length, word frequency, sentence length, text cohesion). • Qualitative Dimensions • Levels of meaning or purpose, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands are often best measured by an attentive human reader. • Reader and Task Considerations • Background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned are often best measured by educators employing their professional judgment. Taken from CCSS, Appendix A, pp. 4-9

35. Where do we find texts in the appropriate text complexity band? We could . . . Choose an excerpt of text from Appendix B. . . . or. . . Use available resources to determine the text complexity of other materials on our own.

36. Determining Text Complexity A Four-step Process • Determine the quantitative measures of the text. • Analyze the qualitative measures of the text. • Reflect upon the reader and task considerations. • Recommend placement.

37. Step 1: Quantitative Measures Traditionally measured by: • Word Length, Frequency, and Difficulty • Sentence Length • Text Length • Text Cohesion

38. Step 1: Quantitative Measures Ranges for Text Complexity The chart outlines the suggested ranges for each of the text complexity bands. *The K-2 suggested Lexile range was not identified by the CCSS and was added by Kansas. **Taken from Accelerated Reader and the CCSS, available at the following URL: http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/Roo4572117GCK46B.pdf Taken from www.ksde.org

39. Step 1: Quantitative Measures What is the quantitative measure of the text complexity triangle using the Lexile system for Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird?

40. Step 1: Quantitative Measures • Finding a Lexile Measure for Text: http://www.lexile.com/findabook/

41. Step 1: Quantitative Measures • For texts not in the Lexile database, consider using the Lexile Analyzer: http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/ • Registration is required (free) http://www.lexile.com/account/register/ • Allows user to receive an “estimated” Lexile score • Accommodates texts up to 1000 words in length

42. Step 1: Quantitative Measures • Remember - the “quantitative measures” section is the first of three components of the text complexity triangle. • The final recommendation may be validated, influenced, or even over-ruled by the examination of qualitative measures and the reader and task considerations.

43. Step 2: Qualitative Dimensions • Measures such as: • Levels of Meaning and Purpose • Text and Sentence Structure • Language Conventionality and Clarity • Organization • Prior Knowledge Demands

44. Step 2: Qualitative Dimensions • The Qualitative Measures Rubrics for Literary and Informational Texts are below. • The rubric for literary texts and the rubric for informational texts allow educators to evaluate the important elements of text that are often missed by computer software that tends to focus on more easily measured factors. • These factors represent continua rather than discrete stages or levels. Numeric values are not associated with these rubrics. The four points along the continuum are: high, middle high, middle low, and low. (Handouts # 6 and #7)

45. Step 2: Qualitative Dimensions So… How is the rubric used? And how would To Kill a Mockingbird fare when analyzed through the lens of the Literary Texts Rubric? (Handout #6)

46. Step 2: Qualitative Dimensions (Handout #7)

47. ReviewSteps 1 and 2 From examining the quantitative measures, we knew: Lexile Text Measure: 870L But after reflecting upon the qualitative measures, we believed:

48. ReviewSteps 1 and 2 • Quantitative Measures and Qualitative Dimensions are BOTH useful and imperfect. • Quantitative measures place most texts in a complexity band reliably. However, quantitative measures are less reliable for certain kinds of texts, such as poetry and drama. • Qualitative dimensions are on a continuum (not grade/band specific) and are most useful in conjunction with quantitative measures.

49. Work Session #3a: Analyze a Text to Determine Text Complexity Quantitative Measures and Qualitative Dimensions • Locate Work Session 3a, page 3 of 5. • Directions • Participants will analyze the qualitative measures using “The Qualitative Measures Rubric for Literary Texts” for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. = Recommended Placement Bird Image from http://www.askdesign.biz/blog/2011/12/2011-poem-design-winners/

50. Work Session #3a:Analyze a Text to Determine Text Complexity Quantitative Measures and Qualitative Dimensions