PA Core Standards:
What Parents Need to Know
PAGE Meeting
Monday, April 14, 2014
Agenda Tonight
• The PA Core Standards
– What are they and how are they different from
the old academic standards?
– Shifts from PA Academic to PA Core
• Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
– What is Webb’s DOK?
• Instructional Tasks
• Assessment Tasks
• Changes to State Testing
– PSSA Math and ELA
• Resources
PA Core Standards vs. Academic
• English Language Arts (Replace old Academic Reading,
Writing, Speaking, Listening)
• Math (Replace old Academic Math)
• Additions to Current Academic Standards
in Science, Technical Subjects, History and
Social Studies (grades 6-12)
– Reading & Writing for Science & Technical Subjects
– Reading & Writing for History & Social Studies
Major Shifts: ELA
• Balancing Informational & Literary Text (Informational text becomes
more prevalent)
• Elem: 50% Informational
• Middle: 55% Informational
• HS: 70% Informational
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Knowledge in the Disciplines
Staircase of Complexity
Text-based Answers
Writing from Sources
– Elem: 30% argument/35% explain/35% narrative
– MS: 35% argument/35% explain/30% narrative
– HS: 40% argument/40% explain/20% narrative
• Academic Vocabulary
Major Shifts: Math
• Focus
• Coherence
• Fluency
• Deep Understanding
• Application
• Dual Intensity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1rxk
W8ucAI&list=PLD7F4C7DE7CB3D2E6
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
• The standards alone will not bring rigor into the
classroom.
• Norman Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge (DOK)
schema has become one of the key tools educators
can employ to analyze the cognitive demand
(complexity) intended by the standards, curricular
activities, and assessment tasks.
• Rigor=Emphasis on Levels 3 & 4
http://vimeo.com/42788913
What comes after the
verb is more important
than the verb itself.
Same Verb—Three Different DOK Levels
• DOK 1- Describe three characteristics of metamorphic rocks.
(Requires simple recall)
• DOK 2- Describe the difference between metamorphic and igneous
rocks. (Requires cognitive processing to determine the differences in
the two rock types)
• DOK 3- Describe a model that you might use to represent the
relationships that exist within the rock cycle. (Requires deep
understanding of rock cycle and a determination of how best to
represent it)
DOK in the ELA in Science Classroom
• Curriculum Focus (Grade 3 Example)
– Gathering Evidence and Speaking to Others: The Role
of Freshwater around the World
This module focuses on the importance of clean freshwater around the world.
Students continue to build their geography and map reading skills by studying
where water is found on earth. They examine the water cycle and watersheds,
comparing how different texts present similar information. Then students
research challenges facing the earth’s clean water supply: pollution, access, and
the demand for water. Students develop opinions (supported with text evidence)
about what they can do to conserve, protect, or provide access to clean water,
and then create a public service announcement.
• Assessment Task
– VoiceThread Public Service Announcement/Scaffolded
Speech (DOK Level 4)
DOK in the ELA Classroom
• Curriculum Focus (Grade 7 Example)
– Understanding Perspectives
This module focuses on the autobiography of Frederick
Douglass, with specific attention to understanding how he uses
language in powerful ways and how he tells his story in order to
serve his purpose of working to abolish slavery. Students begin
by building background knowledge about Douglass and his
historical context. They then read closely key excerpts from his
Narrative, as well as other text, focusing on his message as well
as the author’s craft.
• Assessment Task
– Analyzing Stories: Comparing Written and Oral Stories, and
Analyzing Purpose and Craft in Douglass’s Narrative (DOK
Level 4)
DOK in the Math Classroom
Students will extend patterns, find the missing term(s) in a pattern or describe rules for patterns (numbers, pictures, tables,
words) from real-world and mathematical problems.
Webb’s DOK Levels
Recall and Reproduction
(DOK 1)
Find the next three terms in
the following pattern:
2/7, 4/7, 6/7, 8/7. …
Skills and Concepts/
Basic Reasoning
(DOK 2)
Draw the next figure in the
following pattern:
Strategic Thinking/
Complex Reasoning
(DOK 3)
Find the next three terms in
the pattern and determine
the rule for the following
pattern of numbers:
1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25,
29, …
Extended Thinking/
Reasoning
(DOK 4)
Find the next three terms in
the pattern, determine the
rule for finding the next
number in the pattern, and
make or find a model for the
pattern:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, …
Changes to State Testing
Next School Year
• English Language Arts for Grades 3-8
• One test will combine reading and writing and
will replace PSSA Reading (grades 3-8) and PSSA
Writing (grades 5 & 8).
• Test content aligned to PA Core
• Math Grades 3-8
• Test content aligned to PA Core
Resources
• National Association for Gifted Children
– http://www.nagc.org/commoncorestatestandard
s.aspx
• PDE Standards Aligned System
– http://www.pdesas.org/Standard/PACore
• Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
– http://www.stancoe.org/SCOE/iss/common_c
ore/overview/overview_depth_of_knowledge.ht
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