“College and Career Readiness
Begins in Kindergarten”

Table Talk
• How will you use this activity to create a shared vision of what you want to achieve as a campus/department?
• So if that is what you want to ultimately produce, what do we need to put in place to get us there?
• What connections did you make to your campus plan/graduation profile?

Objectives
• Identify the purpose and structure of the
College Career and Readiness Standards
(CCRS).
• Develop an understanding of the history, construct, and dynamics of the Texas CCRS in an effort to create college and career ready
Texas students.
• Specify the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in entry-level college and university courses.

Objectives (cont.)
• Develop an understanding of how the new
STAAR assessment aligns with the Texas CCRS.
• Apply conceptual understanding of Texas CCRS in a contextual environment.
• Use cross disciplinary standards to make connections across all content areas.

What are the Texas CCRS?
• Define what students should know and be able to accomplish in order to succeed in entry-level college courses or skilled workforce opportunities upon graduation from high school.
• Provide a seamless transition between HS and college or the workforce.
• Allow students to engage in deeper levels of thinking.

Brutal Facts

Brutal Facts
• Texas trails other states in preparing and sending students to postsecondary education.
• Over 80% of 21 st century jobs require some postsecondary education.
• Skilled workforce wants their employees to read and communicate well in addition to having a basic knowledge of core subjects .

• Law passed by Texas Legislature in 2006 required development of college readiness standards.
– TEA and THECB established Vertical Teams to developed the CCCRS in ELA, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.
• A draft of the CCRS was made available to the public for review and comment.
• Formally adopted in Jan 2008.
– Sent to the Commissioner of Education and SBOE for incorporation into the TEKS (2008-2010) for ELA,
Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and CTE.

CCRS Facts
• English and Mathematics CCRS meet and in many cases, exceed national standards.
• Texas was the first state to adopt college readiness standards.
• Final section of the CCRS contains crossdisciplinary, foundational cognitive skills that may be as important as content knowledge.
• CCRS must be met by students graduating under distinguished achievement program

Let’s Move It
Move to Your
Area of Expertise/
Interest
• Mathematics
• Science
• Social Studies
• English
Language Arts

What does it Look Like?
1. You have been given a TEK strand and the corresponding CCRS strand.
2. Create a T-Chart analyzing the similarities and differences between TEKS and CCRS.
3. We will share findings as a whole group.

TEKS

End-of-
Course
3-8
© Education Service Center, Region 20

NEW ASSESSMENT DESIGN—STAAR
• “Fewer, deeper, clearer ” focus
• Linked to college and career readiness
• Will emphasize “readiness” standards, defined as those TEKS considered critical for success in the current grade or subject and important for preparedness in the grade or subject that follows
• Will include other TEKS that are considered supporting standards and will be assessed, though not emphasized

STAAR Assessments
Grades 3−8
• 3−8 mathematics
• 3−8 reading
• 4 and 7 writing
• 5 and 8 science
• 8 social studies
Implemented in 2011−2012
School Year

STAAR End-of-Course
High School Assessments
• English I, English II, English III
• Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II
• Biology, Chemistry, Physics
• World Geography, World History, U.S. History
Graduation requirement for students entering 9 th grade in the 2011−2012 school year

STAAR Testing
• Fewer standards being tested with depth versus breadth; more rigor
• Readiness Standards:
• Identify core standards at each grade level that are critical to success in future grades
• Will be tested at each grade level each year: Alignment is Key!
• Supporting Standards: Other standards rotated every three years
• Non-Tested Standards
© Education Service Center, Region 20

Frequency Distribution of Tested TEKS
Standards/Skills Available/Taught
Readiness Supporting
Standards/Skills Tested
Readiness Supporting
© Education Service Center, Region 20

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR HIGHER
EDUCATION “COLLEGE READINESS?”
• House Bill 3 defines college readiness as the level of preparation a student must attain in
English language arts and mathematics courses to enroll and succeed, without remediation, in an entry-level general education course for credit in that same content area for a baccalaureate degree or associate degree program (Section 39.024a)

End-of-Course
• English III and Algebra II assessments will include a performance standard that indicates college readiness.
• Research will be conducted to investigate a college-readiness component for science and social studies EOC assessments.

How are TEKS and CCRS different?
• TEKS provide a defined, focused set of core skills that should be mastered in a relatively limited and defined set of courses. The CCRS are specifically designed to better prepare students to succeed in life after HS.

TEKS and the CCRS Commonalities
• Define what students should know and be able to demonstrate and/or perform.
• Describe expectations for all students.
• Are divided into strands of similar skills and concepts for use in planning.
• Are intended to be integrated and taught in context.

CCRS Organization
Represented
Roman Numeral
Information
Key Concept: Such as “Reading”
Capital Letter Organizing Component: Such as
“Comprehend texts of varying lengths”
Numbered Headings
Lowercase Letters
Performance Expectations: Such as
“Identify the intended purpose and audience of the text”
Sample Performance Indicators: Such as “Explain how the language of an effective text targets the intended audience.

Example
Key Content
Chemistry Organizing
Component
A. Matter and its properties
1. Know that physical and chemical properties can be used to describe and classify matter.
2. Recognize and classify pure substances (elements, compounds) and mixtures.
Performance
Expectation

The TEKS are Cumulative Across
Grade Levels
Kindergarten High School College &
Workforce

Identify a CCRS standard in your content area
Higher
Education
Participants will proceed to a group at the front of the room
1. Analyze how that standard looks when aligned
K-12.
2. Write what that standard looks like at each grade level on the cardstock sheet at each content location. Remember to consider not only TEK but also the CCRS.
3. Before you leave your station, take a colored card to identify your new group:
Red= Science Yellow= Mathematics
Green= ELA Blue= Social Studies

BREAK

Returning from BREAK:

CCRS Cross-Disciplinary Standards with
Performance Indicators
• Point the Finger!
• Identify 3 cross curricular performance indicator examples and where those standards present themselves within participants’ TEKS/Syllabus.

Provided below is a cross-disciplinary standard with performance indicators. What might a lesson look like in each area?
I. Key Cognitive Skills
B. Reasoning
2. Construct well-reasoned arguments to explain phenomena, validate conjectures, or support positions.
a. Participate in a debate that is based on facts and has a logical structure.
b. Construct a visual presentation, including hypothesis, data, results, and conclusion.
c. Write a paper that addresses counterarguments to advocated positions. d. Recognize and apply techniques of statistical or probabilistic analysis to judge reliability of information. e. Organize an argument separating fact from opinion.

Based on the prior discussion:
Discuss the power of cross-curricular lesson design within your group

• Visioning the Ideal
Graduate/College
Freshman
• CCRS History
• TEKS and CCRS
• Vertical alignment of a standard
• Cross Disciplinary
Standards

Elevator Speech
Prepare an elevator speech about Texas
College and Career
Readiness Standards
Be prepared for random share!

For Additional Support Please Contact:
Gina Christenson Tori Austin gina.christenson@esc20.net tori.austin@esc20.net
(210) 370-5396 (210) 370-5471
Jeff Goldhorn jeff.goldhorn@esc20.net
(210) 370-5490