2. Agenda
What are some myths about the Common Core?
How ready is California for the Common Core?
What are the big remaining challenges?
What are some technology solutions?
3. Myths About the Common Core
It’s a federal government plot and a “national curriculum”
The standards are too easy
The standards are too hard
It creates “cookie-cutter courses”
It forces teachers to teach outside their expertise
4. It’s a Federal Government Plot
The Common Core State standards were developed by the
National Governor’s Association
But its tied to No Child Left Behind act right?
But CCSS predates NCLB
Oh well its Race to the Top then?
Race to the Top provides incentives for adopting internationally
recognized standards of which CCSS is one
But the federal government will take them over
There are no such plans
This is our federal tax dollars being misused.
Initial work was funded by both the states and the Gates Foundation
and others. With no federal funding
5. “It’s Too Hard Core”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/20
13/08/16/is-common-core-too-hard-core/
“31% of New York students in grades three though
eight met or exceeded math and English competency
standards on tests given over six days this past April. In
2012, under the older, far easier, standards, 65% of
New York students were proficient in Math and 55%
proficient in English.”
8. Is It Really Too Hard?
Yes there is a deeper conceptual base
Word problems demonstrating full understanding are
important
The CC standards build on each other
Fractions -> Algebra
Algebra -> Statistics
And there are far fewer individual items than previous
efforts
e.g. California State Standards
9. CC Forces Teachers to
Teach Outside Their Expertise
No doubt due to the “Common Core Literacy
Standards”
I have seen “English teachers will be forced to teach
Science and Social Studies”
Not true
Science and Social Studies teachers will be called upon
to teach reading and writing skills
Presumably they were already but it is no longer enough
to be a “subject matter expert” there
11. CCSS Sequencing
Implementation Plan
15% by grade
26% by content area
11% by school
48% all at once
Many districts commented that they combined “by
grade” and “by content area”
12. CCSS Sequencing
Implementation Plan
15% by grade
26% by content area
11% by school
48% all at once
Many districts commented that they combined “by
grade” and “by content area”
13. CCSS Sequencing
Math Implementation Plan
Math Sequence for grades 8-12
24% Traditional (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II)
30% Integrated
38% Have Not Selected Yet
Acceleration for Middle School
24% accelerated 6th and 7th grade
4% summer school
5% block schedules
30% not offering accelerated pathways
28% other (7th/8th, taking courses at high school)
14. CCSS Communication Plan
82% reported to the board
30% have formal communication plan
Communication with groups
Teachers – 92%
Parents – 60%
15. CCSS Curriculum Review
Major changes discussed with teachers
ELA – 82.5%
Math – 79.4%
Teachers understand the content, structure and
organization
ELA – 57.3%
Math – 54.9%
16. Practices in Place Now
Teachers have examined the skills/progression within
CCSS grade levels
ELA – 58.2%
Math – 53.4%
Teachers have created a scope and sequence for CCSS
ELA – 15.8%
Math – 19.8%
Teachers have created/aligned units lessons
ELA – 19.5%
Math – 19.8%
75% plan to have all of this available by 2014-2015
17. Instructional Materials and Resources
62% plan to have resources
ELA – 58.2%
Math – 53.4%
Teachers have created a scope and sequence for CCSS
ELA – 15.8%
Math – 19.8%
Teachers have created/aligned units lessons
ELA – 19.5%
Math – 19.8%
75% plan to have all of this available by 2014-2015
18. Professional Development
75% of districts have PD plan
Sequencing
By grade – 25%
By content area – 49%
By school – 11%
All at once – 43%
PD focused on CCSS at 69% of districts
Teaching strategies for students
Disabilities – 55%
English Learner – 50%
19. Technology
Just over one third of districts have updated their
technology plan to deal with CCSS and SBAC
75% of districts expect all their schools to assess
students during 2014-2015 with computers
20. Biggest Challenges in CCSS
Implementation
Time (too much at once)
Funding (materials, PD)
Technology (bandwidth, internet, infrastructure)
Instructional shifts (increased rigor and across subjects)
Lack of curriculum (materials and assessments)
21. Challenges of the Common Core
Most teachers self-assess as not knowing all the mandated material for their
subjects
All students are expected to be exposed to their grade level standards
Especially in math, emphasizes conceptual understanding which can be more
challenging to teach
It is by definition more interdisciplinary
It can be difficult to engage students in the nonfiction language content
Contrary to some perceptions, CC is LESS prescriptive, putting the burden on
the teacher of “what to teach”
22. Technology Solutions
Flipping your classroom with video lectures and games
can resolve an expertise problem
Videos can make nonfiction language content more
engaging
We still need more video content: needs tools to enable
easy content creation
Automated quizzing and games can get all students to
basic standard mastery
23. The Ed Content Ecosystem
content sites
MasteryConnect
analytics and
metrics
KhanAcademy
HoodaMath
MathChimp
BrightStorm
HippoCampus
Analyze
Create
LMS student
interfaces
Agilix
Consume
google
Schmoop
BrainGenie
creation
assistance tools
EdCanvas
Themeefy
UClass
Knowmia
Compile
Edmodo
Moodle
Instructure
Knewton
adaptive
learning
tools
XPMath
LearnZillion
Search
search
engines
youtube
Catalog
OpenEd
LMSes
catalogs
WatchKnowLear
n
LRMI
OERCommons
Gooru
Curriki
24. OpenEd – www.opened.io
Over 250,000 educational resources (videos, games, assessments)
Largest catalog of standard-aligned resources on the Internet
second most is watchknowlearn.org with <5,000 aligned
resources
Flipped classroom LMS
but OpenEd usable from any LMS
All accessible via open APIs
And all except recommendation engine is open source
99% “recommendation engine”, 1% professional curation assisted
by software
25. Some of the Interesting Remaining Problems
Content from the ground up focused on standard
Best ways to use class time when flipping (projects,
problems, teams, questions)
How to find the best content for your topic and standard
Mapping between standards, to leverage content internationally
How to assess effectiveness of content in addressing standard
How to deal with SBAC/PARCC without “teaching to the
test”
26. Questions for Teachers
What is the content needed for your students?
How do you find it?
How will you organize it?
How will your students get to it?
How will you assess its effectiveness for your students?