Common Core Assessments
An introduction to the California Common Core
State Standards and how the Smarter Balanced
Assessments
Michael Horton, RIMS AVID
Common Core Goals
The standards are designed to be robust
and relevant to the real world, reflecting
the knowledge and skills that our
young people need for success in
college and careers.
Introduction to Common Core
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The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are
the official standards of California, but the testing
and accountability have not yet kicked in.
The focus of the CCSS is to guarantee that all
students are college and career ready as they exit
from high school.
The committee determined what a graduate would
need to be considered “College Ready” and then
backwards mapped it to kindergarten.
What’s Different
“These Standards are not intended to be new
names for old ways of doing business. They are
a call to take the next step. It is time for states
to work together to build on lessons learned
from two decades of standards based reforms.
It is time to recognize that standards are not
just promises to our children, but promises we
intend to keep.” — CCSS (2010, p. 5)
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_Math%20Standards.pdf
CCSS Timeline
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CA standards have already been replaced by
Common Core (2011) in ELA and Math
Legislation has already been passed to change the
accountability system (2012)
Smarter Balanced exam will be field tested in 20132014 and cut scores proposed
Smarter Balanced assessment is operational in
2014-2015 school year
What Does ELA CCSS Focus on?
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Rigor
Application to the “real world”
Technology and media sources
Justification and evidence
Communication/collaboration
Expository reading and writing
(70% by H.S.)
Research
Literacy in Science, Social Studies, and
“Technical Subjects”
What Does Math CCSS Focus on?
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Conceptual understanding.
Number sense in elementary.
Application to real world problems.
Rigor.
Success in algebra and higher level
mathematics.
Six Shifts in Common Core ELA
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Shift 1- Balancing Informational & Literary Text
Shift 2- Knowledge in the Disciplines- is built
through text, not teachers or activities
Shift 3- Staircase of Complexity- Increasingly
complex texts are read closely (close reading
video)
Shift 4- Text-based answers- Students engage in rich
conversations about text
Shift 5- Writing from Sources- Emphasize use of
sources and textual evidence to defend an
argument
Shift 6- Academic Vocabulary- Students constantly
build vocabulary necessary to access complex text
Six Shifts in Common Core Math
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Shift 1- Focus, narrow and deep
Shift 2- Coherence, content is connected within and
across grade levels and subjects
Shift 3- Fluency, Students develop speed and
accuracy with simple calculations
Shift 4- Deep Understanding, Students learn
concepts deeply and focus less on algorithms to solve
individual problems (Dan Meyer video)
Shift 5- Application, Students can apply math in
novel situations without being prompted
Shift 6- Dual Intensity, Practice and understanding
are not only balanced, but simultaneous
Reading
WICOR Strategy
Anchor Standards
1.
2.
3.
4.
Key Ideas and Details
Craft and Structure
Integration of Knowledge
and Ideas
Range of Reading and Level
of Text Complexity
• Pre-reading inside and
outside of text (R)
• Quickwrites/Reflections (W)
• Focused Cornell Notes
(WOR)
• Marking, charting, annotating
text, critical reading (R)
• Graphic Organizers (R)
• Summarizing (R)
• Dialectic Journals (W)
• Interactive Notebooks (W)
• Reciprocal Teaching (R)
• Socratic Seminars/Phil.
Chairs (C)
Reading
WICOR Strategy
Anchor Standards
1.
2.
3.
4.
Key Ideas and Details
Craft and Structure
Integration of Knowledge
and Ideas
Range of Reading and Level
of Text Complexity
• Pre-reading inside and
outside of text (R)
• Quickwrites/Reflections (W)
• Focused Cornell Notes
(WOR)
• Marking, charting, annotating
text, critical reading (R)
• Graphic Organizers (R)
• Summarizing (R)
• Dialectic Journals (W)
• Interactive Notebooks (W)
• Reciprocal Teaching (R)
• Socratic Seminars/Phil.
Chairs (C)
Reading
WICOR Strategy
Anchor Standards
1.
2.
3.
4.
Key Ideas and Details
Craft and Structure
Integration of Knowledge
and Ideas
Range of Reading and Level
of Text Complexity
• Pre-reading inside and
outside of text (R)
• Quickwrites/Reflections (W)
• Focused Cornell Notes
(WOR)
• Marking, charting, annotating
text, critical reading (R)
• Graphic Organizers (R)
• Summarizing (R)
• Dialectic Journals (W)
• Interactive Notebooks (W)
• Reciprocal Teaching (R)
• Socratic Seminars/Phil.
Chairs (C)
Writing
WICOR Strategy
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Anchor Standards
5.
6.
7.
8.
Text Types and Purposes
Production and
Distribution of Writing
Research to Build and
Present Knowledge
Range of Writing
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Quickwrites and
Reflections (W)
Focused Cornell Notes
(WOR)
Process Writing (W)
Authentic Writing –
Dialectic Journals/
Interactive Notebooks
(W)
Research (I)
Learning Logs (W)
Speaking and Listening
WICOR Strategy
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Anchor Standards
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10.
Comprehension and
Collaboration
Presentation of
Knowledge and Ideas
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Socratic Seminars (IC)
Philosophical Chairs (C)
Tutorials (C)
Reciprocal Teaching (R)
Peer Evaluation (W)
Questions that Guide
Research (I)
Group Activities and
Projects (C)
Language
WICOR Strategy
Anchor Standards
11.
12.
13.
Conventions of
Standard English
Knowledge of Language
Vocabulary Acquisition
and Use
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Deep Reading Activities (R)
Vocabulary Building (R)
Process Writing (W)
Peer Evaluation (W)
Peer Editing Groups (C)
Math
Standards for Mathematical Practice
Make sense of problems
and persevere in solving
them
5.
2.
Reason abstractly and
quantitatively
7.
3.
Construct viable
arguments and critique
the reasoning of others
8.
4.
Model with mathematics
1.
6.
Use appropriate tools
strategically
Attend to precision
Look for and make use
of structure
Look for and express
regularity in repeated
reasoning
Off The Page
Between The Lines
On The Page
COSTA’S LEVELS
OF THINKING
Types of Items
Selected Response- Adaptive multiple choice with one or more answers
Constructed Response- Prompts students for text or numerical
response
Technology Enhanced- Students drag-and-drop math items, click
sentence fragments in a passage, or drag phrases into a graphic
organizer
Performance Tasks 
Performance Task Description
Performance tasks measure a student’s ability to integrate
knowledge and skills across multiple standards—a key
component of college and career readiness. Performance
tasks will be used to better measure capacities such as depth
of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which
cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or
constructed-response items. The time and resource
constraints for each performance task will vary. During the
spring 2013 pilot, the Consortium will research the effects of
including a brief classroom interaction phase in the
summative performance task The classroom interaction
phase will then be appropriately constrained in the future.
Performance Tasks
Now in content-alike groups, get together
and design a technology-enhanced, long-term,
research-based, cross-curricular, multiplestandard, collaborative performance task.