June 27, 2012

Dear BHS Staff Members,

The Common Core Committee met again on Tuesday, 6/26/12 to review our three primary goals for implementing the Common Core State Standards at BHS. The goals include: Creating and Implementing a Communication Plan for the CCSS, Revising the BHS Meeting/Collaboration Schedule, and Including Nonfiction Texts Across the Curriculum.

The communication plan will include weekly communication to staff concerning CCSS via ConnectEd and email. Additionally, communication has also been added to the BHS website. This goal is crucial in conveying one message and resources for BHS stakeholders concerning this effort.

The current BHS Meeting/Collaboration Schedule is being carefully considered and revised by the Common Core Team. These revisions are essential to support the new ETA Agreement and provide for optimal adoption and implementation of the CCSS. Greater information about these changes will be shared in future communications.

Finally, the Professional Development focus will align with CCSS and focus on the inclusion of Nonfiction Texts Across the Curriculum. Teachers and administration will provide PD and instruction to support this effort. And, resources will be provided to staff to.

To see how similar initiatives have supported academic success at Brockton High School, click on the following link.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7054550n&tag=mncol;lst;1

June 19, 2012

Dear BHS Staff Members,

Happy Summer!

I hope this email finds all enjoying time with family and friends, and pursuing passions other than BHS. However, knowing that many of you are busy pursuing passions that support our students, curricula, and activities at BHS, I am taking the opportunity to share some important Common Core Happenings.

Last week, June 11-June 14, several BHS administrators and teachers participated in the School District U-46 Common Core Workshop. This workshop provided a great opportunity for us to to begin to learn about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Next Generation Assessments that accompany the standards (NGA), and to establish goals for BHS as we begin to transition to these standards. Thus, staff members will receive weekly Common Core Communications via email throughout the summer. The goal of the communication is to prepare staff for this undertaking in August 2012.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to the Common Core Workshop Participants: Kevin Dircks, Carl Draeger, Todd Graba, Julie Heneghan, Eric Jones, Steve Juracka, Lorelei Keltner, Sharlene Montgomery, Sara Palmer, Dona Taylor, and Jenny Vierneisel.

I have included some Common Core points of interest.

A Snapshot of the Standards

The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is sponsored by governors and state officials and carried out by educators and specialists from across the country. In creating the Common Core State Standards, CCSSI looked at research-based evidence as well as the best standards from their states.

What are they?

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort to establish a shared set of clear educational standards for English language arts and mathematics that states can voluntarily adopt. The standards have been informed by the best available evidence and the highest state standards across the country and globe and designed by a diverse group of teachers, experts, parents, and school administrators, so they reflect both our aspirations for our children and the realities of the classroom. These standards are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to go to college or enter the workforce and that parents, teachers, and students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. The standards are benchmarked to international standards to guarantee that our students are competitive in the emerging global marketplace. Source: corestandards.org

Why are they important?

We want to make sure that every child across the country is given the tools they need to succeed. High standards that are consistent across states provide teachers, parents, and students with a set of clear expectations that everyone can work toward together. This will ensure that we maintain America’s competitive edge, so that all of our students are well prepared with the skills and knowledge necessary to compete with not only their peers here at home, but with students from around the world.

These standards are a common sense first step toward ensuring our children are getting the best possible education no matter where they live.

Of course, standards cannot single-handedly improve the quality of our nation’s education system, but they do give educators shared goals and expectations for their students. For example, the common core state standards will enable participating states to work together to:

• Make expectations for students clear to parents, teachers, and the general public;
• Encourage the development of textbooks, digital media, and other teaching materials aligned to the standards;
• Develop and implement comprehensive assessment systems to measure student performance against the common core state standards that will replace the existing testing systems that too often are inconsistent, burdensome and confusing; and
• Evaluate policy changes needed to help students and educators meet the standards.

Source: corestandards.org
A great resource for current efforts to build assessments can be found at Education Northwest.

Where states stand on the CCSS

A new report from Education First and the EPE Research Center looks at the readiness of states to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). As the Common Core movement has matured, attention has shifted toward practical implementation and issues such as readiness of teachers to enact the standards in the classroom. The study gives the status of state plans in teacher professional development, curriculum, and teacher-evaluation systems. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were included in the study. All but one of the 47 CCSS-adopting states reported some type of formal implementation plan for transitioning. The majority of states have begun to align their systems to the CCSS by providing professional development to teachers (45 states), changing or devising curriculum guides and other instructional materials (35 states), and revising teacher-evaluation systems (38 states). Every state that has adopted the CCSS except New Hampshire has a fully developed plan to provide teacher professional development aligned with the CCSS (20 states) or is in the process of developing such a plan (25 states). All but eight of the states say they are working on a plan for their teacher-evaluation systems that will include holding teachers accountable for students' mastery of the standards. Seven states indicated fully developed plans for the implementation of teacher professional development, curriculum materials, and teacher-evaluation systems. Most of these states are recipients of federal Race to the Top funds. Eighteen states lack fully developed plans in all three implementation areas. This report can also be accessed through the Research section of SPN.

Classroom Implications for the Common Core Standards

The implications of the new national Common Core State Standards are both exciting and daunting. The Common Core State Standards and related next generational assessments will mean major changes for education:

• Fewer but higher standards and grade level expectations
• Focus on both college and career readiness
• Learner expectations that are academically rigorous and also emphasize application and performance
• Assessments that are more open-ended and authentic indicators of what students know and can do with knowledge acquired.

Of course, standards do not tell teachers how to teach and cannot by themselves ensure the quality of our nation's education system. However, they constitute an important starting point in helping schools determine the knowledge and skills that ALL students must be equipped with upon graduation.

Useful Links to other sources of information:

http://www.corestandards.org/
This site is has the standards available for download along with all the latest information from the two groups – CCSSO and the National Governors Association – responsible for the creation and implementation of the CCSS.

http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DRAFT%20Performance%20Task%20Specifications.pdf
From the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, this pdf gives the specifications for the assessments. Released March 2012

http://engageny.org/
All Race to the Top grant recipient state education agencies are starting to populate their sites with information and resources related to Common Core Standards. This link takes you to New York’s. Search other states’ using: “(state name) and Common Core State Standards”

http://commoncore.org/maps/
CommonCore.org is not the same organization responsible for creating and publishing the CCSS. Common Core.org published curriculum maps aligned to the new standards. “The Maps are designed to help educators meet the expectations of the Common Core State Standards, which call for the standards to be “complemented by a well-developed, content-rich curriculum.”

http://www.nextgenscience.org
Updates and information on the Next Generation Science Standards currently being developed by the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Achieve.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-core-standards/id439424555?mt=8
MasteryConnect has released an app for you to have access to the Common Core State Standards from your iPad.

http://www.achieve.org/
Achieve: Created in 1996 by the nation's governors and corporate leaders, Achieve is an independent, bipartisan, non-profit education reform organization based in Washington, D.C. that helps states raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments and strengthen accountability. They are lead organization for the PARCC consortium. Here are other resources they are affiliated with:
On the Road to Implementation Guide
http://www.achieve.org/achievingcommoncore_implementation

Common Core Comparison Tool (may have to sign on)
http://ccctool.achieve.org/gap-analysis/login/auth;jsessionid=80BDD453422278171CCECA356141F0D

PARCC Implementation Page
http://www.parcconline.org/implementation

SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium
http://www.smarterbalanced.org/ (This is their new permanent website)
http://www.k12.wa.us/smarter/

All information included can be located at the Successful Practices Network.

Suzanne Colombe
Bartlett High School
Principal
630-372-4700 ext. 4681