An Introduction to the Common
Core State Standards
What they mean for you and your children
What are the Common Core Standards?
• http://vimeo.com/51933492
Activity: What is college
readiness?
• At your table, discuss:



What does college-readiness look
like?
When is a student ready for
college?
What do children need to learn to
be ready for college?
So? What does it mean?
College and Career Readiness
The new standards will get students ready for
success in college and the workforce.
Why does this matter? Because it’s
what our students need
For every 100 ninth graders in the US…
65 graduate from high school
37 enter college
24 are still enrolled in sophomore year
12 graduate with a degree in six years
… and only 6 get a good job after
graduation
The new standards will…
• Prepare students to succeed in college and the
workforce
• Ensure that every child—regardless of race,
ethnicity or zip code—is held to the same high
standards and has the same opportunity to learn
• Provide educators with a clear, focused
roadmap for what to teach and when
States that adopted the Common Core
Guilford Public Schools
Ready
Building Awareness
2011-2012
Educators are preparing for the transition to the Common Core State Standards
in mathematics, reading, and writing. This includes exploring the instructional
shifts, grade level standards, and assessment samples.
Set
Streamlining Curricula, Instructional Shifts
2012-2013
Educators are engaging in the transition to the Common Core State Standards.
This includes aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment to the CCSS.
Go
Refine and Adjust
2013-2014
Educators will fully implement the Common Core State Standards. This
includes aligning instruction so that students will be prepared for the new state
assessment to be administered in the 2014-15 school year: Smarter Balanced.
What’s different in the new standards?
English Language Arts/Literacy:
•
Build knowledge through careful reading of
content-rich non-fiction
• Discuss reading, and write using evidence
• Increase academic vocabulary
Mathematics
• Learn more about fewer concepts
• Focus on skills and fluency, including
efficiency and flexibility
• Use real world examples to better
understand concepts
ELA Test Question – Pre Common Core
In both the Demosthenes biography and the Icarus and Daedalus
myth the main characters are given advice from other people. Do
you respond to advice from other people more like Demosthenes or
more like Icarus? Write an essay in which you explain who you are
more like when it comes to taking advice and why. Use details
from both articles to support your answer.
In your response, be sure to do the following:
• tell whether you are more like Demosthenes or Icarus
• explain why you are respond to advice similar to Demosthenes
or Icarus
• use details from both passages in your response
ELA Test Question – Post Common Core
In both the Demosthenes biography and the Icarus and Daedalus
myth the main characters exhibit determination in pursuit of their
goals. Did determination help both main characters reach their
goals, or did it lead them to tragedy? Write an argument for
whether you believe determination helped or hurt the two main
characters. In your response, be sure to do the following:
• describe how determination affected the outcome in
Demosthenes
• describe how determination affected the outcome in Icarus and
Daedalus
• explain the similarities or differences that exist in the ways
determination played into the outcome of both texts
• use details from both passages in your response
Comparing Connecticut Mastery Test to a Common
Core State Standards Assessment -- Grade 7
CMT Assessment:
CCSS Assessment:
This picture shows a rectangular prism. Based on the given
dimensions, what is the volume of the rectangular prism?
Volume: ____
Show your work and explain how you found your answer.
Assessment of Strand 16A:
Measure and determine perimeters, areas, and volumes. Explain or
show how the solution was determined.
Assessment of Standards for Mathematical Content:
7.G.1-3: Draw, construct and describe geometrical figures and describe
the relationships between them.
7.G.4-6: Solve real-life and mathematical problems involving angle
measure, area, surface area, and volume.
And
Assessment of Standards for Mathematical Practice:
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
6. Attend to precision.
So, what can parents really do to help?
What works best?
Backpacks: What you should start
seeing
Real-world examples
that makes what
they’re learning in
English and math
make more sense
Books that
are both
fiction and
non-fiction
Writing assignments
that require students
to use evidence to
support their work
Math homework
that asks students
to write out how
they got their
answer
Math homework
that ask students
to use different
methods to solve
the same problem
Some questions to ask your child
Did you talk about
anything you read
in class today?
Did you use
evidence from the
text when you
talked about what
you read?
What new words
did you learn in
class today? What
do they mean?
What are you
wondering? Where
could you go to find
information?
How often
did you use
math today?
How did you
use it?
What mistakes did you make
today and what did you learn
from them?
Activity: Talking to your kids
about school
At your table, talk about strategies you use to get
your kids talking about their days after school
• What questions do you ask?
• Do you discuss what they tell you?
• How do you get them excited to talk?
• What do you do when they refuse to talk?
A Closer Look: ELA/Literacy Shifts
•
•
•
•
•
•
Read as much non-fiction as
fiction
Learn about the world by
reading
Read more challenging
material closely
Discuss reading using
evidence
Write non-fiction using
evidence
Increase academic
vocabulary
A Closer Look: Mathematics Shifts
•
Focus: learn more about
less
•
Build skills across grades
•
Develop speed, flexibility
and accuracy
•
Really know it; really do it
•
Use it in the real world
•
Think efficiently AND solve
problems
Additional resources
• www.achievethecore.org
• www.pta.org/4446.htm
• http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2618&q=3
22592
• http://www.corestandards.org/
• http://www.guilford.k12.ct.us/CCSS/CCSSI.php
• http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-andperformance-tasks/
Closing discussion
• What strategies did we discuss today that you
think you might use with your children?
• What other information would be helpful to you?
• What other questions do you have?
Thank you