Common Core Learning Standards Why now jbrooks-dennis americaschoice org

Common Core Learning Standards: Why now? jbrooks-dennis@americaschoice. org Slide 0 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Jackie Brooks Dennis General Manager, East Region Pearson America’s Choice November, 2011

Anticipated Outcome Slide 1 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Participants will develop an understanding of the Common Core State Standards by relating their implementation to their past, current and future work.

What are the CCSS (CCLS) and why are they important right now? Copyright ©

High School Graduate College Readiness Percent of ACT- Tested High School Meeting ACT College Readiness Benchmarks. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Slide 3

Increase in College Remedial Reading Courses • In 2004, 43% of students in two-year colleges received remedial courses. • In 2004, 29% of students in four-year public colleges received remedial courses. • In 2008, four out of five students in remedial courses had a high school GPA of 3. 0 or higher. Slide 4 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Across the country, more than one-third of all students enroll in remedial courses.

Career Readiness Over the last twenty years, there has been a marked shift in the skills that employers demand. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Slide 5

Employer Needs • Critical thinking and problem solving • Effective communication • Collaboration and team building Slide 6 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Creativity and innovation

What is the Common Core State Standards Initiative? • State–led effort to ensure that all students are college and career ready. • International benchmarking to ensure best practices from the top-performing nations. Slide 7 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Cooperation among education and business.

What are the Common Core State Standards? Slide 8 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Aligned with college and work expectations Focused and coherent Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards Internationally benchmarked so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society Based on evidence and research State led – coordinated by NGA Center (The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices) and CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers)

Common Core State Standards: Evidence Base • Evidence was used to guide critical decisions in the following areas: – Inclusion of particular content – Timing of when content should be introduced and the progression of that content – Ensuring focus and coherence – Organizing and formatting the standards – Determining emphasis on particular topics in standards Slide 9 9 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Evidence includes: – Standards from high-performing countries, leading states, and nationally-regarded frameworks – Research on adolescent literacy, text complexity, mathematics instruction, quantitative literacy – Lists of works consulted and research base included in standards’ appendices

Common Core State Standards: Evidence Base • For example: Standards from individual high-performing countries and provinces were used to inform content, structure, and language. Writing teams looked for examples of rigor, coherence, and progression. Mathematics English language arts 1. Belgium (Flemish) 2. Canada (Alberta) 3. China 4. Chinese Taipei 5. England 6. Finland 7. Hong Kong 8. India 9. Ireland 10. Japan 11. Korea 12. Singapore 1. Australia New South Wales • Victoria 2. Canada • Alberta • British Columbia • Ontario 3. England 4. Finland 5. Hong Kong 6. Ireland 7. Singapore • Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Slide 10

Standards Development Process Slide 11 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • College and career readiness standards developed in summer 2009 • Based on the college and career readiness standards, K-12 learning progressions developed • Multiple rounds of feedback from states, teachers, researchers, higher education, and the general public • Final Common Core State Standards released on June 2, 2010

Why is it important for schools to engage with the CCSS now? Slide 12 12 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Important for schools to think of integrating the Common Core State Standards as a multiyear process: – Improving organizational structures – Building teacher capacity • Some students enrolled in our schools now will need to pass CCSS-aligned state assessments to be promoted or graduate • Schools that develop thoughtful multi-year transition plans will be ready to be held accountable for student achievement on CCSS

46 States + DC Have Adopted the Common Core State Standards Slide 13 Copyright

Why is this important? • Before this year, every state had its own set of academic standards, meaning public education students in each state were learning to different levels Slide 14 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • All students must be prepared to compete with not only their American peers in the next state, but with students from around the world

Social Justice The CCSS require students to “think complexly about complex tasks (rigor)” Sally Hampton, chair of the committee that developed the CCSS ELA standards Slide 15 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Main motive for standards • Get good curriculum to all students • Start each unit with the variety of thinking and knowledge students bring to it • Close each unit with on-grade learning in the cluster of standards • Gives us a clearer understanding of what rigor looks like at each grade level

Six Instructional Shifts in ELA/Literacy Slide 16 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Shift 1: PK-5, Balancing Informational & Literary Texts Shift 2: 6 -12, Building knowledge in the disciplines Shift 3: Staircase of complexity Shift 4: Text-based answers Shift 5: Writing from sources Shift 6: Academic vocabulary

Six Instructional Shifts in Mathematics 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: Focus Coherence Fluency Deep understanding Application Dual Intensity Slide 17 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Shift Shift

What the Standards do NOT define: • • Slide 18 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. 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

Why do we need the Common Core? Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or

Reaching Students, Changing Lives: It’s PERSONAL! Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its

Overview of the Rest of the Day Three two (2) hour breakout sessions repeated: • CCLS: Assessment • CCLS in Mathematics Please complete a reflection form at the close of the day and leave it with your session facilitator! Slide 21 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • CCLS in English Language Arts

CCSS: A Look at the Process for Creating a New Type of Assessment jbrooks-dennis@americaschoice. org Slide 22 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Jackie Brooks Dennis General Manager, East Region Pearson America’s Choice November, 2011

Anticipated Outcomes Slide 23 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Understand the consortia and the process for development of assessments aligned with the CCSS • Analyze ELA and math sample items to discuss rigor as well as supports students will need to access similar items • Discuss instructional practices to implement now to move students toward success on new assessments aligned with the CCSS

Slide 24 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.

RTTT Assessment Requirements for Comprehensive Systems Requirements within the RTTT Assessment Program: • Build upon shared standards for college- and career-readiness; • Measure individual growth as well as proficiency; • Measure the extent to which each student is on track, at each grade level tested, toward college or career readiness by the time of high school completion and; • Provide information that is useful in informing: – Determinations of school effectiveness; – Determinations of principal and teacher effectiveness for use in evaluations and the provision of support to teachers and principals; and – Determinations of individual student college and career readiness, such as determinations made for high school exit decisions, college course placement to credit-bearing classes, or college entrance. (US Department of Education, 2009) Slide 25 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. – Teaching, learning, and program improvement;

Assessment • Teachers will be able to focus their instruction on clear targets • Provide an array of training tools to use the assessment results to inform instructional planning and better understand what CCR student performance looks like. • • The Partnership will make available through-course assessments so that assessment of learning can take place closer in time to when key skills and concepts are taught and states can provide teachers with actionable information more frequently. Slide 26 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. The Partnership will develop challenging performance tasks and innovative, computer-enhanced items that elicit complex demonstrations of learning and measure the full range of knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in college and 21 stcentury careers.

Consortia • Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, which consists of 26 states. • SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, which includes 31 states Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Slide 27

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Copyright © 2010 Pearson

ELA-1 and ELA-2 Focused Literacy Assessments Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its

ELA-3. Extended Research/Writing Assessment. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All

Math-1 and Math-2. Focused Assessments of Essential Topics. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

Math-4. End-of-Year Mathematics Assessment. • Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s).

A Strong Foundation: The Common Core State Standards • The Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics were created by educators around the nation Slide 34 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Nearly every state in the nation is working individually and collectively to improve its academic standards and assessments to ensure students graduate with the knowledge and skills most demanded by college and careers

Key Advances of the Common Core MATHEMATICS ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS/LITERACY Focus, coherence and clarity: emphasis on key topics at each grade level and coherent progression across grades Balance of literature and informational texts; focus on text complexity Procedural fluency and understanding of concepts and skills Promote rigor through mathematical proficiencies that foster reasoning and understanding across discipline Speaking and listening skills Literacy standards for history, science and technical subjects High school standards organized by conceptual categories ANCHORED IN COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS Slide 35 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Emphasis on argument, informative/ explanatory writing, and research

What’s Next? Common Assessments • Common Core State Standards are critical, but it is just the first step Slide 36 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Common assessments aligned to the Common Core will help ensure the new standards truly reach every classroom

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Slide 37 Participating States Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Governing Board States

K-12 and Postsecondary Roles in PARCC K-12 Educators & Education Leaders • Educators will be involved throughout the development of the PARCC assessments and related instructional and reporting tools to help ensure the system provides the information and resources educators most need • Nearly 200 institutions and systems covering hundreds of campuses across PARCC states have committed to help develop the high school assessments and set the college-ready cut score that will indicate a student is ready for creditbearing courses Slide 38 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Postsecondary Faculty & Leaders

The PARCC Goals 1. Create high-quality assessments 2. Build a pathway to college and career readiness for all students 4. Develop 21 st century, technology-based assessments 5. Advance accountability at all levels Slide 39 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. 3. Support educators in the classroom

Goal #1: Create High Quality Assessments Priority Purposes of PARCC Assessments: 1. Determine whether students are college- and career-ready or on track 2. Assess the full range of the Common Core Standards, including standards that are difficult to measure 4. Provide data during the academic year to inform instruction, interventions and professional development 5. Provide data for accountability, including measures of growth 6. Incorporate innovative approaches throughout the system Slide 40 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. 3. Measure the full range of student performance, including the performance high and low performing students

• To address the priority purposes, PARCC will develop an assessment system comprised of four components. Each component will computer-delivered and will leverage technology to incorporate innovations. – Two summative, required assessment components designed to • • – Two non-summative, optional assessment components designed to • • Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Make “college- and career-readiness” and “on-track” determinations Measure the full range of standards and full performance continuum Provide data for accountability uses, including measures of growth Generate timely information for informing instruction, interventions, and professional development during the school year An additional third non-summative component will assess students’ speaking and listening skills Slide 41

Goal #1: Create High Quality Assessments • Summative Assessment Components: • Non-Summative Assessment Components: – Diagnostic Assessment designed to be an indicator of student knowledge and skills so that instruction, supports and professional development can be tailored to meet student needs – Mid-Year Assessment comprised of performance-based items and tasks, with an emphasis on hard-to-measure standards. After study, individual states may consider including as a summative component Slide 42 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. – Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) administered as close to the end of the school year as possible. The ELA/literacy PBA will focus on writing effectively when analyzing text. The mathematics PBA will focus on applying skills, concepts, and understandings to solve multistep problems requiring abstract reasoning, precision, perseverance, and strategic use of tools – End-of-Year Assessment (EOY) administered after approx. 90% of the school year. The ELA/literacy EOY will focus on reading comprehension. The math EOY will be comprised of innovative, machine-scorable items

Goal #1: Create High Quality Assessments The PARCC assessments will allow us to make important claims about students’ knowledge and skills. • In English Language Arts/Literacy, whether students: – Can Read and Comprehend Complex Literary and Informational Text – Can Write Effectively When Analyzing Text – Have attained overall proficiency in ELA/literacy – Have mastered knowledge and skills in highlighted domains (e. g. domain of highest importance for a particular grade level – number/ fractions in grade 4; proportional reasoning and ratios in grade 6) – Have attained overall proficiency in mathematics Slide 43 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • In Mathematics, whether students:

Goal #1: Create High Quality Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3 -11 Optional & Flexible Summative, Required assessment Mid-Year Assessment • Performance-based • Emphasis on hard-tomeasure standards • Potentially summative Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) • Extended tasks • Applications of concepts and skills Speaking And Listening Non-summative, optional assessment Slide 44 End-of-Year Assessment • Innovative, computerbased items Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Diagnostic Assessment • Early indicator of student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD

Goal #2: Build a Pathway to College and Career Readiness for All Students K-2 formative assessment being developed, aligned to the PARCC system College readiness score to identify who is ready for college-level coursework Targeted interventions & supports: th-grade • 12 bridge courses • PD for educators High School 3 -8 ONGOING STUDENT SUPPORTS/INTERVENTIONS Slide 45 SUCCESS IN FIRST-YEAR, CREDITBEARING, POSTSECONDARY COURSEWORK Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. K-2 Timely student achievement data showing students, parents and educators whether ALL students are on-track to college and career readiness

Goal #3: Support Educators in the Classroom INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODULES EDUCATOR-LED TRAINING TO SUPPORT “PEER-TO-PEER” TRAINING TIMELY STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT DATA 46 Slide 46 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. K-12 Educator

Goal #4: Develop 21 st Century, Technology -Based Assessments PARCC’s assessment will be computer-based and leverage technology in a range of ways: • Item Development: Develop innovative tasks that engage students in the assessment process • Administration • Scoring: Make scoring more efficient by combining human and automated approaches • Reporting: Produce timely reports of students performance throughout the year to inform instructional, interventions, and professional development 47 Slide 47 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. – Reduce paperwork, increase security, reduce shipping/receiving & storage – Increase access to and provision of accommodations for SWDs and ELLs

Goal #5: Advance Accountability at All Levels • PARCC assessments will be purposefully designed to generate valid, reliable and timely data, including measures of growth, for various accountability uses including: – School and district effectiveness – Educator effectiveness – Comparisons with other state and international benchmarks • PARCC assessments will be designed for other accountability uses as states deem appropriate 48 Slide 48 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. – Student placement into college-credit bearing courses

PARCC Timeline SY 2010 -11 49 Development begins SY 2012 -13 SY 2013 -14 First year pilot/field testing and related research and data collection Second year pilot/field testing and related research and data collection Slide 49 SY 2014 -15 Full administration of PARCC assessments Summer 2015 Set achievement levels, including college-ready performance levels Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Launch and design phase SY 2011 -12

November 2011 www. PARCConline. org Slide 50 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or

Technology and Assessments How do schools currently use technology and assessment? Share your ideas with a partner. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Slide 51

Technology and Assessments(continued) Technology and Assessments Skills assessment based on the CCSS Immersive environment assessments could be used to assess difficult-toassess characteristics Simulations can be used for those CCSS that emphasize skills Technology will be used in assessment to: Help broaden innovative assessment Address assessment challenges and provide accommodations for diverse populations (Common Core State Standards Initiative 2010 a, 7) Slide 52 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Assessments will: Include items in which students manipulate graphic elements to provide a response Be delivered by a computer Be Scored electronically May have multiple correct answers Cannot be easily translated to a paper test

Innovative English Language Arts Sample 1 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its

Innovative English Language Arts Sample (continued) 1 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or

Math Assessment: Mode of Administration • The through-course components in mathematics will be administered online to students in grade 6 through high school, using an equation editortype program that allows students to enter responses to mathematical problems via the computer. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Slide 55

Math-1 and Math-2. Focused Assessments of Essential Topics Slide 56 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • The first two through-course components emphasize standards or clusters of standards (i. e. , one to two essential topics) from the CCSS that play a central role during the first stages of mathematics instruction over the school year. • These include standards that are prerequisites for others at the same grade level, as well as standards or clusters of standards for fields of study that first appear during the grade in question. Thus, instead of surveying an overly broad mathematical landscape as typical interim assessments currently do, these components will promote the coherent curricular structure embedded in the CCSS. • This approach also will enable through-course components to provide more useful results to teachers across the range of performance from a blend of one to two brief constructedresponse items per topic and one extended constructedresponse per topic. • Over time, the Partnership will refine the selection of standards measured by the focused components based on which mathematical topics prove most predictive of success later in the school year.

Implementation Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Slide

Why engage with the CCSS now? Slide 58 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. • Multi-year process to: – Improving organizational structures – Building teacher capacity – Build student capacity • Current CCSS-aligned state assessments • Thoughtful transition plans

Overall Picture Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.

Reflections A Moment of Reflection What do the formats of innovative items tell you in regard to the CCSS? What are the current barriers to the use of technology in assessments in your district/school? Slide 60 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. How is assessment changing to compensate for the rigorous standards?

Helpful Websites www. corestandards. org/ www. achieve. org/PARCC http: //www. p 12. nysed. gov/ciai/common_cor e_standards http: //www. parcconline. org Slide 61 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. http: //www. p 12. nysed. gov/ciai/common_cor e_standards/ccstimeline. html