This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Sarah Nielsen, Jane Best, Michael Casserly, Caron Inouye, Danika LeDuc, Jesica M. Bishop, Mathew F. White, Jeff Seitz, Timothy D. Warner, and Aline Soules.
(2013). Common Core State Standards and Implications for Special Populations, McREL International. The goal of the Common Core State Standards is to address the academic needs of all students and prepare them for college and the workforce. Implementation guidance and professional training for teachers, particularly for those working with special populations of students, requires thoughtful consideration. While the Common Core allows teachers to diversify instruction and to structure lessons around students' strengths and needs, this effort can also be enhanced through collaboration between general education and special instruction teachers. This brief explores the potential impact of the implementation of Common Core State Standards on students with disabilities, Native American students, and English language learners and gives examples of implementation targeting these populations, followed by recommendations and questions for policymakers to consider. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Special Needs Students, Program Implementation, Accessibility (for Disabled)
(2016). Mathematics in the Early Grades: Operations & Algebraic Thinking. Interactive STEM Research + Practice Brief. In the domain of "Operations & Algebraic Thinking," Common Core State Standards indicate that in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, children should demonstrate and expand their ability to understand, represent, and solve problems using the operations of addition and subtraction, laying the foundation for operations using multiplication (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). This brief describes the concepts and skills involved in helping K-2 children demonstrate and expand their ability to understand, represent, and solve addition and subtraction problems, laying the foundation for operations using multiplication. [More] Descriptors: Elementary School Mathematics, Algebra, Mathematics Skills, Mathematical Concepts
(2012). Common Core State Standards and Diverse Urban Students: Using Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Council of the Great City Schools. As America's Great City Schools implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), they have a unique opportunity to integrate strategies for teaching, intervening, and supporting the nation's urban students in a way that will ensure they have the literacy, numeracy, behavioral, and engagement skills necessary to be successful in college and careers. Instituting the Common Core State Standards with fidelity means embracing and addressing the diverse needs of ALL students. This imperative reflects the reality that regardless of how effectively school district leaders develop and implement high-quality curricula aligned with the new standards, some students will need additional support and interventions to be successful. Implementing the Common Core State Standards within a framework of a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) will help ensure that all students have an evidence-based system of instruction to assist them in achieving success. A Multi-Tiered System of Supports is designed so that schools can provide the appropriate level of instruction and intervention for their students. Using performance data and monitoring learning rates through MTSS, educators can make important instructional decisions to meet the needs of students from different backgrounds, learning styles, and levels of attainment. The paper outlines the key components of an integrated, multi-tiered system of instruction, interventions, and academic and behavioral supports needed by school districts in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. It also underscores the importance of data-based decision making in implementing these standards while meeting the specialized and diverse needs of urban students. In addition, the paper provides concrete examples using a model lesson based on the Common Core State Standards. Common Core Unit: A Close Reading of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is appended. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Evidence, Educational Change, Urban Schools
(2016). Teachers Collaborate across State Lines to Design High-Quality Units, Phi Delta Kappan. With states and districts across the country implementing the Common Core State Standards, teachers have more opportunities than ever to collaborate around the shared goals of strengthening curriculum design, classroom practices, and student learning. Building from this premise, the Common Assignment Study (CAS) has brought together teams of teachers from Colorado and Kentucky to design and teach two common assignments each year. The experiences of these teachers show how practitioners in different contexts can successfully collaborate to help students meet college- and career-ready standards. Published first online in April 2016 at www.kappancommoncore.org/teachers-collab… Kappan Common Core web site. [More] Descriptors: Teacher Collaboration, Instructional Design, Common Core State Standards, Curriculum Design
(2016). Elish-Piper: Response to "Beyond the Common Core: Examining 20 Years of Literacy Priorities and Their Impact on Struggling Readers", Literacy Research and Instruction. As Cassidy et al. (2016) outline in their article, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS; National Governors Association [NGA] Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010) have taken center stage in education, pushing other important topics and issues aside as teachers scramble to transform their teaching and expectations to align with the standards. Laurie Elish-Piper has chosen as her response to focus closely on the CCSS themselves in order to identify and discuss the very real and frightening ramifications of focusing exclusively on standards. [More] Descriptors: Common Core State Standards, Educational Practices, Educational Policy, Educational Objectives
(2016). Principled Neglect and Compliance: Responses to NCLB and the CCSS at an Expeditionary Learning Middle School, Leadership and Policy in Schools. This qualitative study explored educators' sense making of and responses to No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards at one urban Expeditionary Learning middle school. Sense-making theory (Spillane, Reiser, & Reimer, 2002) and inquiry as stance (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) were used as complementary conceptual frameworks to unpack and analyze teachers' and administrators' conceptions, critiques, and responses to these federal initiatives. Analysis revealed that principled neglect and principled compliance were the primary responses to these initiatives, which enabled educators at the school to maintain hands-on, authentic student-centered curriculum and instruction aligned with the Expeditionary Learning philosophy. [More] Descriptors: Middle School Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Response, Educational Legislation
(2013). Key Facts about the Common Core State Standards. The "Alliance for Excellent Education" presents this Fact Sheet of answers to key questions raised surrounding implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Questions raised include: (1) What Are the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)?; (2) How Were the CCSS Developed?; (3) How Were the CCSS Adopted?; (4) What Changes in Instruction Do the CCSS Call for?; (5) How Are the CCSS Being Implemented?; (6) Who Will Decide What Assessments Are Implemented? (6) Who Supports the CCSS?; and (7) What Will It Cost to Implement and Maintain the CCSS? It is hoped this fact sheet provides satisfying answers regarding CCSS as it begins to be implemented in the nation's schools. [More] Descriptors: Academic Standards, State Standards, Alignment (Education), Core Curriculum
(2014). Problem Solvers: Solutions–Playing Basketball, Teaching Children Mathematics. In this article, fourth grade Upper Allen Elementary School (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) teacher Jeffrey Smith describes his exploration of the Playing Basketball activity. Herein he describes how he found the problem to be an effective way to review concepts associated with the measurement of elapsed time with his students. Additionally, it proved to be an effective way to emphasize the Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) found in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010). [More] Descriptors: Problem Solving, Team Sports, Measurement, Time
(2011). Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards Alignment with Wisconsin Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics. Wisconsin's adoption of the Common Core State Standards provides an excellent opportunity for Wisconsin school districts and communities to define expectations from birth through preparation for college and work. By aligning the existing Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards with the Wisconsin Common Core State Standards, expectations can be set from birth through high school completion. Since 2003, the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards have helped all programs serving children under mandatory school age to identify what children from birth through age 5 should know and be able to do. Schools across the state have worked with child care, Head Start, and other community programs to incorporate the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards into their early childhood special education, four-year-old kindergarten, and five-year-old kindergarten programs. The adoption of "Wisconsin Common Core State Standards" will allow significant alignment between the "Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards" and the Wisconsin Common Core State Standards in the areas of English language arts and mathematics. The Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards provide developmental expectations for young children from birth through kindergarten that are foundational to the Wisconsin Common Core State Standards for kindergarten through grade 12. School districts are encouraged to use both the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards and the Wisconsin Common Core State Standards as they move forward with their standards work in early childhood special education, four-year-old kindergarten, five-year-old kindergarten programs, and the primary school years. This brief document provides information that will assist in these efforts. [More] Descriptors: Academic Standards, State Standards, Alignment (Education), English
(2016). Web-Based Statistical Sampling and Analysis, Mathematics Teacher. Consistent with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010), the authors write that they have asked students to do statistics projects with real data. To obtain real data, their students use the free Web-based app, Census at School, created by the American Statistical Association (ASA) to help promote civic awareness among school students and to attract more students into the statistics profession. The app has improved statistics teaching by allowing students to collect real data, generate a random sample on a variety of variables, and learn basic statistics concepts. Before detailing these topics, the authors provide a quick summary of two projects that they have conducted at different levels. [More] Descriptors: Statistical Analysis, Technology Uses in Education, Mathematics Instruction, Statistics
(2014). Embedding Multiple Literacies into STEM Curricula, College Teaching. In fall 2012, an interdisciplinary team of science, English, and library faculty embedded reading, writing, and information literacy strategies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curricula as a first step in improving student learning and retention in science courses and aligning them with the Next Generation Science and Common Core State Standards. The authors present their reading, writing, and information literacy contributions, explaining the importance of introducing these concepts and strategies into science courses. [More] Descriptors: STEM Education, Interdisciplinary Approach, Teamwork, Academic Persistence
(2011). Assessing Outside the Bubble: Performance Assessment for Common Core State Standards, Online Submission. The adoption of Common Core State Standards has increased the need for assessments capable of measuring more performance-based outcomes. This monograph brings together the current literature and resources for the development and implementation of performance assessment. The text was written as part of a project-based graduate course and has resulted in a clear, well researched and documented contribution that provides up to date information and references on Common Core State Standards and performance-based assessments. Three appendixes include: (1) Performance Task Examples; (2) Creating Rubrics; and (3) Glossary. (Contains 12 tables.) [This report was edited by: Eric V. Van Duzer and Gwen L. Neu.] [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Performance Tests, Performance Based Assessment, Academic Standards
(2014). The Phantom Collapse of Student Achievement in New York, Phi Delta Kappan. When New York state released the first results of the exams under the Common Core State Standards, many wrongly believed that the results showed dramatic declines in student achievement. A closer look at the results showed that student achievement may have increased. Another lesson from the exams is that states need to closely coordinate new data with existing data when they switch to different measuring instruments. [More] Descriptors: Academic Achievement, State Standards, Core Curriculum, Achievement Gains
(2016). Complementing the Common Core with Holistic Biliteracy, Journal of Education. In this article the authors propose that biliteracy is a more challenging and rigorous form of literacy than the English-only orientation of the Common Core State Standards. Because learning to read and write in two languages differs from learning to read and write in one, they argue that biliteracy requires its own pedagogies, methodologies, and assessment systems. Data derived from the study support a trajectory toward bilingualism informed by a framework that capitalizes on theories of integrated and holistic biliteracy in order to re-conceptualize the ways educators can interpret biliteracy assessments of emerging bilingual learners in Spanish and English. [More] Descriptors: Common Core State Standards, Holistic Approach, Multiple Literacies, Bilingual Education
(2016). Mathematics in the Early Grades: Counting & Cardinality. Interactive STEM Research + Practice Brief. In the domain of "Counting & Cardinality," Common Core State Standards indicate that by the time students leave kindergarten, they should know the names and sequence of number words up to 100, be able to count to determine the number of objects in a small set (up to 20), and make comparisons between small sets of objects (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). This brief describes the key concepts and skills that are involved in meeting the standards in this domain and provide excerpts from learning trajectories that illustrate how they develop over time and with experience. [More] Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Mathematics Skills, Computation, Numeracy