An Introduction

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Timeline of Implementation
Shifts in Common Core
The Standards
Relevance and Rigor
Implications

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The Background of the Common Core
◦ Initiated by the National Governor’s
Association and Council of Chief State School
Officers with the following design principles:
 Result in College and Career Readiness
 Based on solid research and practice evidence
 Fewer, Higher, Clearer

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CCSS and NGSS
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Phase 1 – CCSS and NGSS
Exploration
Phase 2 – Building awareness and begin building capacity
Phase 3 – Build statewide capacity and classroom transitions
Phase 4 – Statewide application and assessment
2011-12
X
2012-13
X
X
X
2013-14
X
X
X
2014-15
X
X
X
2015-16 2016-17
X
X X
X X

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End of January 2015 – EOC Math and Bio
March – HSPE Reading and Writing (11 th and 12 th Grade Retakes only)
April – May – SBAC ELA and Math
May – 10 th Grade ELA Exam
June – EOC Math and Bio

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Phase 1 – Exploration and Awareness
◦ Take the time to immerse yourself in and learn about
 The WHY and the WHAT
 The background and vision of the CCR Standards
 Major shifts in the content
 Connectioins across content and initiatives (TPEP)
 The HOW
 Our state’s approach toward supporting implementation
 Emerging resources and support systems

1. Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
2. Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational
3. Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

Regular Practice with Complex Text and it’s Academic
Language

Regular Practice With Complex Text and its
Academic Language: Why?
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Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is huge.
What students can read, in terms of complexity is the greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study).
Too many students are reading at too low a level.
(<50% of graduates can read sufficiently complex texts).
Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity from elementary through high school.
Standards also focus on building general academic vocabulary so critical to comprehension.

What are the Features of Complex Text?
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Subtle and/or frequent transitions
Multiple and/or subtle themes and purposes
Density of information
Unfamiliar settings, topics or events
Lack of repetition, overlap or similarity in words and sentences
Complex sentences
Uncommon vocabulary
Lack of words, sentences or paragraphs that review or pull things together for the student
Longer paragraphs
Any text structure which is less narrative and/or mixes structures

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The standards require that students read appropriately complex text at each grade level – independently (Standard 10).
However there are many ways to sca ff old student learning as they meet the standard:
◦ Mutiple readings
◦ Read Aloud
◦ Chunking text (a little at a time)
Provide support while reading, rather than before.

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Requires prompting students with questions to unpack unique complexity of any text so students learn to read complex text independently and proficiently.
Not teacher "think aloud“.
Virtually every standard is activated during the course of every close analytic reading exemplar through the use of text dependent questions.
Text dependent questions require text--
‐ based answers –evidence.

Reading, Writing, and Speaking Grounded in Evidence from Text, Both Literary and Informational

Reading, Writing and Speaking
Grounded in Evidence from Text: Why?
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Most college and workplace writing requires evidence.
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Ability to cite evidence di ff erentiates strong from weak student performance on NAEP
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Evidence is a major emphasis of the ELA Standards: Reading
Standard 1, Writing Standard 9, Speaking and Listening standards 2, 3, and 4, all focus on the gathering, evaluating and presenting of evidence from text.
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Being able to locate and deploy evidence are hallmarks of strong readers and writers

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Not Text-Dependent
In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out.
Describe a time when you failed at something.
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In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr.
King discusses non-violent protest.
Discuss, in writing, a time when you wanted to fight against something that you felt was unfair.
In “The Gettysburg Address,” Lincoln says the nation is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Why is equality an important value to promote?
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Text-Dependent
What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous?
What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received?
“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the year 1776. According to Lincoln’s speech, why is this year significant to the events described in the speech?

Balance of Literary and Informational Texts
Literature includes
◦ Stories
◦ Drama
◦ Poetry

Building Knowledge through content-rich non-fiction

Content-Rich Nonfiction
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50/50 balance K-5
70/30 in grades 9-12
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Students learning to read should exercise their ability to comprehend complex text through read-aloud texts.
In grades 2+, students begin reading more complex texts, consolidating the foundational skills with reading comprehension.
Reading aloud texts that are well-above grade level should be done throughout K-5 and beyond.

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Students are required to read very little informational text in elementary and middle school.
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Non-fiction makes up the vast majority of required reading in college/workplace.
Informational text is harder for students to comprehend than narrative text.
Supports students learning how to read di ff erent types of informational text.

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Not random reading
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Literacy in social studies/history, science, technical subjects, and the arts is embedded

Shifts in Mathematics
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Focus: fewer topics focused on deeply in each grade
Coherence: Concepts logically connected from one grade to the next and linked to other major topics within the grade
Rigor: Fluency with arithmetic, application of knowledge to real world situations, and deep understanding of mathematical concepts

Shifts in Science
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The NGSS Reflect the Interconnected
Nature of Science through Focus,
Understanding, and Application of
Content
The Science Concepts in the NGSS Build
Coherently from K–12.
Science and Engineering are Integrated across K–12 in the NGSS.

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Collaborative Discussions (Speaking and
Listening)
Argumentative and Narrative Writing

Social Studies, Science and Tech Ed too!
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70% of text (over course of a day) should be informational, and responsibility is shared across disciplines!
ELA should add some Literary Nonfiction, but look for informational text in Science,
Social Studies and CTE, too!
Performing and Visual arts – watch for standards soon!

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Reading Strand
◦ Key Ideas and Details
◦ Craft and Structure
◦ Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
◦ Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
Writing Strand
• Text Types and Purposes
• Production and Distribution of Writing
• Research to Build Knowledge
• Range of Writing

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Speaking and Listening Strand
◦ Comprehension and Collaboration
◦ Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
Language Strand
◦ Conventions of Standard English
◦ Knowledge of Language
◦ Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

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Overarching standards for each of four strands that are further defined by gradespecific standards
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Reading – 10 Standards
Writing – 10 Standards
Speaking and Listening – 6 Standards
Language – 6 Standards

W. 11-12. 1b
Strand Grades Standard Number
(Writing) (11-12)
(Text types and purposes:
Develop claims)

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Four Strands: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language
CCR Standards – Anchor Standards
◦ (That by which all else is measured!)
Grade Specific Standards progressing to
CCR’s
In addition to RL and RI strands, there are strands for Reading and Writing within
History/Social Studies, Science and
Technical Subjects

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How are the content standards related from one year to the next?
◦ Deepening of the cognitive processes for the same content
◦ Knowledge or skills extend to a wider range of skills
◦ New content or skills are introduced
◦ Level of scaffolding/teacher support decreased

Example of Grade-Level Progression in Reading
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Reading Standards for
Literature
Grade 3 – Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
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Grade 7 – Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact.
Grade 11-12 – Evaluate various explanations for character’s actions or for events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves the matters uncertain .
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Reading Standards for
Informational Text
Grade 3 - Describe the relationships between a series of historical events, scientific ideas of concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence and cause/effect
Grade 7 – Analyze the interactions between individuals, events and ideas in a text
Grade 11-12 – Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas or events interact and develop over the course of the text

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Labels the type of thinking needed to complete a task
Tracing the verbs reveals a deepening of the cognitive progression forward from K-12
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge

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Taxonomy of revised objectives
1950’s – developed by Benjamin Bloom
Means of qualitatively expressing different kinds of thinking
Adapted for classroom use as a planning tool and continues to be one of the most universally applied models
Provides a way to organize thinking skills into six levels, from the most basic to the higher order levels of thinking
In 2001 – Lorin Anderson (former student of
Bloom) revisited the taxonomy, and as a result, a number of changes were made

Original
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Revised
Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering

Cognitive Processes Verbs
Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning or producing.
Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.
Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing and attributing.
Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure through executing or implementing.
Understanding: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing and explaining.
Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing and recalling relevant knowledge from long-term memory
Creating: adapt, build, compose, construct, create, design, develop, elaborate, extend, formulate, generate, hypothesize, invent, make, modify, plan, produce, originate, refine, transform
Evaluating: appraise, assess, critique, defend, evaluate, judge, prioritize, support, test
Analyzing: analyze, ascertain, attribute, connect, deconstruct, determine, differentiate, experiment, focus, infer, inspect, integrate, organize, outline, reduce
Applying: apply, carry out, construct, develop, display, illustrate, model, solve, use
Understanding: categorize, clarify, compare, conclude, contrast, compare, demonstrate, explain, interpret, match, paraphrase, predict, represent, summarize, translate
Remembering: choose, define, describe, identify, label, list, match, name, recall, show, tell

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Provides an important perspective of cognitive complexity
Name four different and deeper ways a student might interact with content
Are used by states in test specifications to include both the content assessed in a test item and the intended cognitive demand
◦ Complexity of content (interpreting literal vs. figurative language)
◦ Task required (summarizing in your own words vs. using evidence from various sources to support your summary)

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DoK 4 – Extended Thinking – An investigation or application to real world; requires time to research, problem solve, and process mulitple conditions of the problem or task; nonroutine manipulations, across disciplines/content areas/multiple sources
DoK 3 – Strategic Thinking – Requires reasoning, developing a plan or sequence of steps to approach problem; requires some decision making a justification; abstract, complex or non-routine; often more than one possible answer
DoK 2 – Basic Application of Skills/Concepts – Use of information, conceptual knowledge, select appropriate procedures for task, two or more steps with decision points along the way, routine problems, organize/display data, interpret/use simple graphs
DoK 1 – Recall and Reproduction – Recall of a fact, term, principle, concept or perform a routine procedure

by Karen Hess
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Combines Bloom’s Taxonomy with Webb’s
Depth of Knowledge framework
A tool for:
◦ Designing units of study that have a range of cognitive demand
◦ Assessing tasks for the thinking they require of a student

Depth +
Thinking
Level 1
Recall &
Reproduction
Level 2
Skills and
Concepts
Level 3
Strategic
Thinking/
Reasoning
Remember
Understand
Apply
Recall, locate, basic facts, details, events
Select appropriate words to use when intended meaning is clearly evident
Use language structure or word relationships to determine meaning
Specify relationships, summarize, identify main ideas
Use context to identify meaning of word, obtain and interpret information using text features
Explain, generalize or connect ideas using supporting evidence
Use concepts to solve non-routine problems
Level 4
Extended
Thinking
Explain how concepts or ideas specifically relate to other content domains or concepts
Devise an approach among many alternatives to research a novel problem
Analyze Identify whether information is contained in a graph, table, etc
Analyze multiple sources, analyze complex and abstract themes
Evaluate
Create Brainstorm ideas about a topic
Compare literary elements, terms, facts, events.Analyze format, organization and text structures
Analyze or interpret author’s craft to critique a text
Generate conjectures based on observations or prior knowledge
Cite evidence and develop a logical argument for conjectures
Synthesize information within one source or text
Evaluate relevancy, accuracy and completeness of information
Synthesize information across multiple sources or texts

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 www.stancoe.org
– DoK examples www.achievethecore.org
– searchable lessons, samples and curriculum tools www.k12.wa.us
– Common Core
Standards in PDF and Printable format www.nationalartstandards.org
– Common
Core Art standards