Introduction to the Common Core Appendices

1. Introduction to the Common Core Appendices Christina H. Felix Michelle Romein

2. Overview • Appendix A • Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards • Glossary of Key Terms • Appendix B • Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks • Appendix C • Samples of Student Writing

3. Appendix A • Appendix A should be read as a preface to the standards. It contains significant background information about the development of the standards, information that clarifies specific sections of the standards (such as text complexity, foundational reading skills, and vocabulary development), a glossary, and a bibliography.

4. Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards • Research behind need for text complexity • Specific information related to Reading Foundational Skills • Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences • Phonological Awareness • Orthography • Writing definitions • Specific information related to Speaking and Listening and Language • Language Progressive Skills, by Grade (p. 31) • Specific information related to Vocabulary • Glossary of key terms • Bibliography

5. Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards • Text Complexity Research states that the “reading demands of college, workforce training programs and citizenship have held steady or risen over the last fifty years while K-12 texts have, if anything, become less demanding.” • The CC defines a three-part model for determining how easy or difficult a particular text is to read as well as grade-by-grade specifications for increasing text complexity in successive years of schooling. (Reading Standard 10) • These are to be used together with grade-specific standards that require increasing sophistication in students’ reading comprehension ability. (Reading Standards 1-9)

6. Excerpts to Illustrate Text Complexity • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Grades 6-8 Text Complexity Band) • The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck (Grades 9-10 Text Complexity Band) • The Longitude Prize – Joan Dash (Grades 9-10 Complexity Band)

7. Media Texts: Selected excepts are accompanied by annotated links to related media texts freely available online at the time of the publication of the core document. • Bibliography • Glossary of Key Terms

8. Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks Appendix B illuminates the reading standards by providing text exemplars from a variety of genres across the K-12 span at appropriate levels of complexity, as well as sample performance tasks directly connected to the standards.

9. Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks • Organized by text complexity bands • K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-10, and 11-CCR • Each band’s exemplars are divided into text types matching those required in the Standards • K-5 exemplars are separated into stories, poetry, and informational texts • K-3 exemplars include read alouds • The 6 to CCR exemplars are divided into ELA (stories, drama, poetry, and informational texts), history/social studies, and science, mathematics, and technical subjects

10. Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks • Each band is introduced by a quotation • Stories: • Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss(K-1), • Tuck Everlasting -Natalie Babbitt(4-5) • A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway (11-CCR) • Informational Text: • From Seed to Plant – Gail Gibbons(2-3) • Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction –David Macaulay (6-8) • Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences – John Allen Paulos(11-CCR)

11. Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks • Within each grade band and after each text type, sample performance tasks are included. • Stories and Poetry (Band 2-3): When discussing E.B. White’s book Charlotte’s Web, students distinguish their own point of view regarding Wilbur the Pig from that of Fern Arable as well as from that of the narrator. (RL3.6) • Informational Text (Band 11-CCR): Students analyze the hierarchical relationships between phrase searches and searches that use basic Boolean operators in Tar Calishain and RaelDornfest’sGoogle Hacks: Tips & Tools for Smarter Searching, 2nd Edition. (RST.11-12.5)

12. Appendix C: Samples of Student Writing • Contains writing samples that have been annotated to illustrate the criteria required by the Standards • Argument • Informative/Explanatory • Narrative • Samples from each grade level • Each sample exhibits at least the level of quality required to meet the Writing Standards at each level • Samples from various tasks: class work, homework, on demand assessments, and sustained research projects

13. Want to know more? • www.corestandards.org • http://www.education.nh.gov/spotlight/k12_ccss.htm (NH DOE) • Questions: • CCSS, contact Deb Wiswell: dwiswell@ed.state.nh.us or 271-3828 • Assessment, contact Tim Kurtz: tkurtz@ed.state.nh.us or 271-3846

14. Contact Information • Michelle Romein: K-5 ELA School Improvement Coach michelle.romein@ed.state.nh.us • Christina H. Felix: 6-12 ELA School Improvement Coach christina.felix@ed.state.nh.us