Transitioning to Common Core: It’s Not About Common Core
Robert SchwartzSenior Advisor, New Teacher CenterBoard Member, Lighthouse Community CharterGuild Master, Hacker Scouts
Disclaimer
The views expressed during these 90 minutes are my own and do not reflect the views of the New Teacher Center, Lighthouse, or any other entity I may or may not be affiliated with. While I speak as if my views are factual, I recognize (and so should you) that they are highly editorialized. With that said, my assertions are research-based and reflect my almost 20 years in public education and in my role as a parent.
Learning Objectives
• Understand how standards can be incorporated into a wider model of curriculum, instruction, and assessment
• Begin to identify “what’s really important” to your class/school/community
• Reflect on the history of the standards movement and its impact on curriculum and instruction
Agenda
• Why Common Core State Standards?• The Opportunity CCSS Presents• Creating Larger Learning Goals• Mapping School-wide Goals• Impact of Goals on Curriculum, Instruction,
and Assessment
Let’s Begin – How We’ve Come to Common Core
A series of federal mandates culminating in NCLB created a high stakes environment
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States created academic content standards, standards based testing systems, and public accountability indices
Districts focused professional development, curriculum and instruction, and benchmark assessments to maximize success on accountability metrics
Teachers narrowed the curriculum and instructional strategies used in order to show success on district benchmarks and statewide mandated testing
Students, particularly those in urban districts, no longer had access to rigorous curriculum and relevant instruction, necessary to participate in the new global society
Broadfoot, (2000); Darling-Hammond, (2004); Karp, (2004); Kantor & Lowe, (2006); DeLorenzo, et. al. (2009); Wagner, (2008)
Turn and talk
Pick an elbow partner. Spend 3 minutes discussing whether or not
this is true for your classroom/school. Is this necessarily a bad thing?
The narrowing had negative ramifications for students’ futures
American students still lag on international comparisons (i.e. PISA)
By age 24, only 9% of students in the bottom income quartile have earned a bachelor’s degree as compared to 75% of students in the top income quartile.
African American students earn bachelor’s degrees at one-half and Latino students at one-third the rate of White students.
Students from homes where neither parent has earned a bachelor’s degree are twice as likely as those with a college-educated parent to leave before their second year.
Even “high-performing” CMOs’ students struggle to persist and graduate from college
Common Core State Standards were born to address some of these gaps
Common Core Sate Standards
Create assessments that better
measure skills along with
content
Align states for purpose of curriculum
creation and comparisons Incorporate
skills needed for global
competitiveness
So now, everyone is going Common Core crazy
Publishing companies
Professional Development providers
Student Intervention Specialists
School reform
critics/advocates
Are you?
Do you ever feel like this?
FederalPolicy
State/DistrictPolicy
Your Students
YourTeachers
BusinessCommunity
Publishers
There are many hopes about Common Core and what is going to happen
Common Core is:
Common Core is not:
Limiting
A curriculum
A pedagogy
How we will be measured
A strong guiding hand
Influencing practiceIn reality:
Move and talk
Get up and find someone you do not know. Spend 5 minutes talking with them about:
1. Your greatest hopes with Common Core2. Your greatest worries with Common
Core
So let’s step back and ask ourselves
What does our school and community value?
Forget about Common Core for a bit
Complete this sentence in at least 5 different ways:
“When students leave our school, they should be able to…”
Spend 10 minutes by yourself or with others from your school to ask yourself this. Jot down
as close to 5 different ways as possible.
*Reminder: Forget about Common Core for a bit
One example: View Park Prep Charter High SchoolWhen students leave our school, they will be able to: • Write a sustained case of 1500 words free of mechanical error
in a readable style• Actively participate in a Socratic dialogue, referencing multiple
primary and secondary documents to advance their argument.• Solve multi-step problems and be able to describe, with
accuracy, the methodology• Work as a productive team member to apply concepts from
multiple disciplines in solving real-world problems • Exhibit kindness, resiliency, and self-direction as a learner
capable of thriving in any environment.
We examined frameworks for defining success as part of an iterative process
Social and Emotional Learning
Educating the Whole Child
College and Career Readiness
21st Century Skills
Technology Literacy
Character Development
Selected aspects and the standards were mapped as part of a larger plan
School Community Goals
State Standards
Standardized Testing Benchmarks
3 R’s
Classroom Observations,
surveys, student work
21st Century
Skills
Authentic Assessments
Because, Common Core alone is not a sufficient curriculum
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Intended Curriculum
Implemented Curriculum
Attained Curriculum
21st CenturySkills
StateStandards
RigorRelevance
Relationships
StatewideAssessments
Globally CompetentCitizens
When we forget about the Implemented and Attained Curriculums
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Intended Curriculum
Implemented Curriculum
Attained Curriculum
StateStandards
StatewideAssessments
Given your larger school goals, does Common Core miss anything?
*Reminder: This will narrow after SmarterBalanced debuts
College and Career Ready in Literacy Mathematical Practices
They demonstrate independence. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
They build strong content knowledge. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
They build strong content knowledge. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
Model with mathematics.
They comprehend as well as critique. Use appropriate tools strategically.
They value evidence. Attend to precision.
They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
Look for and make use of structure.
They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Map your larger school goals to Common Core
• Take 10 minutes. Examine your goals. Where do they fit within the broad concepts of Common Core.
• Do some of your goals not fit? How would you address that?
• Does Common Core address something you believe your school/community does not value? How would you address that?
Reflection and wrap-up
If I was in charge of writing Common Core or Smarter Balanced, I would make sure to…
