This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Kai Chung Tam, Rachel Leifer, Carolyn L. Carlson, Julie Coiro, Bridget Dalton, Russell Binkley, Carlton Bradshaw, Jeff Wilhelm, Common Core State Standards Initiative, and Chepina Rumsey.
(2013). Multimodal Composition and the Common Core State Standards, Reading Teacher. The Common Core State Standards call for an expanded view of literacy instruction, one where children learn to critically consume and produce text using technology and media. This article describes how a Digital Writers' Workshop can be a vehicle for integrating multimodal composition into the classroom. It offers general workshop principles and strategies, followed by a multimodal poem project illustrating how to scaffold students' design processes. It invites teachers to contribute to the conversation about literacy and technology integration at The Reading Teacher's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/The-Reading-Teach… [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Educational Technology, Literacy, Technology Integration
(2012). Teaching to the Common Core by Design, Not Accident, Phi Delta Kappan. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has created tools and supports intended to help teachers adapt to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics. The tools seek to find the right balance between encouraging teachers' creativity and giving them enough guidance to ensure quality. They are the product of two years of work with designers, subject-matter specialists, education leaders, and classroom teachers who participated in developing field-testing and refining the tools. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Teachers, Educational Change, Academic Standards
(2014). Support the Common Core with the Right Instructional Materials, Phi Delta Kappan. Strong instructional materials are crucial to realizing the promise of the Common Core State Standards. Research suggests that the choice of instructional materials can have an impact as large as or larger than the impact of teacher quality. Unfortunately, many popular textbooks are not aligned to the new standards, leaving educators scrambling. However, tools exist to help educators spot quality and encourage publishers to provide it. States like Louisiana and New York have incorporated these tools into their efforts to develop and identify materials, with several lessons for educators and leaders looking to do the same. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Academic Standards, Instructional Materials, Textbooks
(2014). Steps toward Unifying Dual Language Programs, Common Core State Standards, and Critical Pedagogy: Oportunidades, Estrategias Y Retos, Association of Mexican American Educators Journal. Recent education reforms have begun to reframe academic discussion and teacher practice surrounding bilingual educational approaches for preparing "21st century, college and career ready" citizens. Given this broader context, in this article we examine ways that we might join implementation of dual language programs, Common Core State Standards, and critical pedagogy at the school and classroom levels via a teacher, school administrator, and teacher professional development program. We focus on a concrete example of a partnership between a progressive dual language school along the U.S.-Mexico border, known as Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School, and a bilingual teacher education program in the College of Education at San Diego State University, which prepares teachers and administrators to implement and develop dual language instruction aligned (but not beholden) to Common Core State Standards. We include discussion of a Freirian-based instructional program that helps unite the opportunities presented by dual language programs and standards-based reform initiatives in a deeper equity and social justice framework for educating students. We discuss opportunities ("oportunidades"), strategies ("estrategias"), and challenges ("retos") encountered during this collaborative work between the bilingual teacher preparation program, a Dual Language school, and one exemplary fourth grade teacher team and their enactment of a critical pedagogy-based curriculum. We conclude with a discussion of implications of our work for education of multilingual learners and the educators that work with them. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Educational Change, State Standards, Charter Schools
(2012). Making the Common Core Text Exemplars Accessible to Middle Graders, Voices from the Middle. The Common Core State Standards are driving the profession toward more cross-disciplinary teaching. The standards themselves address the what of curriculum rather than the how, but they do offer text exemplars for different grade levels. While some find the exemplars too difficult, others see them as worthwhile texts that, with a teacher's guidance, push students to higher levels of reading, background knowledge, and lifelong literacy skills. This article mentions multiple texts and discusses their specific value in the classroom. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Lifelong Learning, Interdisciplinary Approach, State Curriculum Guides
(2014). The PDS Model as a Vehicle for Simultaneous Renewal in Mathematics Education, Educational Considerations. For a quarter century, Kansas State University's College of Education has supported a Professional Development School (PDS) model involving professional collaboration with selected public school systems across Kansas. In that time, this relationship has proved to be an instrumental vehicle for educational change. The state of Kansas' adoption and school districts' subsequent implementation of the Common Core State Standards, specifically the mathematics standards (CCSS-M), have infused KSU's PDS model with added enthusiasm and vitality by engaging participants in a coherent conversation about teaching. This paper focuses on just one of many disciplines within the PDS model to discuss how the PDS model promotes simultaneous renewal in mathematics education. [More] Descriptors: Professional Development Schools, Models, Mathematics Education, Educational Change
(2014). Cloud-Based Collaborative Writing and the Common Core Standards, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. The Common Core State Standards emphasize the integration of technology skills into English Language Arts (ELA) instruction, recognizing the demand for technology-based literacy skills to be college- and career- ready. This study aims to examine how collaborative cloud-based writing is used in in a Colorado school district, where one-to-one computer access with netbooks and open source software is provided to all students. Specifically, this paper highlights how the middle school students' online writing align with the specific domains of the Common Core ELA Standards. Implications for practices are also discussed based on the challenges and affordances of using cloud-based collaborative writing in the district. [More] Descriptors: Language Arts, Collaborative Writing, State Standards, Academic Standards
(2014). Our North Carolina Stories Weaving Standards into a Fourth Grade Digital History Project, Social Studies and the Young Learner. This article describes a project that helped fourth-grade students connect personally with and bring North Carolina history to life. Over the months of this project, students asked questions, investigated topics of interest that they chose, conducted in-depth research that included interviewing experts, learned to use a video editor to combine narration and images, and finally represented their findings in multimodal format as a digital story. In this project, all six strands of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) were integrated with the North Carolina Essential Standards for Information Literacy and, of course, those for social studies were at the heart of the project. [More] Descriptors: Grade 4, Elementary School Students, Social Studies, History Instruction
(2011). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Appendix A: Designing High School Mathematics Courses Based on the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics are organized by grade level in Grades K-8. At the high school level, the standards are organized by conceptual category (number and quantity, algebra, functions, geometry, modeling and probability and statistics), showing the body of knowledge students should learn in each category to be college and career ready, and to be prepared to study more advanced mathematics. As states consider how to implement the high school standards, an important consideration is how the high school CCSS might be organized into courses that provide a strong foundation for post-secondary success. To address this need, Achieve (in partnership with the Common Core writing team) has convened a group of experts, including state mathematics experts, teachers, mathematics faculty from two and four year institutions, mathematics teacher educators, and workforce representatives to develop Model Course Pathways in Mathematics based on the Common Core State Standards. While the focus of this document is on organizing the Standards for Mathematical Content into model pathways to college and career readiness, the content standards must also be connected to the Standards for Mathematical Practice to ensure that the skills needed for later success are developed. [For the main report, "Common Core State Standards for Mathematics," see ED522005.] [More] Descriptors: Secondary School Mathematics, State Standards, Courses, Geometry
(2012). What Must Be Taught about Writing: Five Kinds of Knowledge and Five Kinds of Composing, Voices from the Middle. Students need to develop five kinds of knowledge to be successful in any kind of specific reading or writing task. These kinds of knowledge can be developed through five different kinds of composing that lead to deep understanding of how texts are constructed with specific content to create particular effects and meaning. Following this process helps students to meet and exceed many of the CCSS [Common Core State Standards] standards for writing narrative, argument, and informational/explanatory texts. [More] Descriptors: Writing (Composition), Writing Instruction, Writing Processes, Academic Standards
(2011). Modeling in the Common Core State Standards, Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College. The inclusion of modeling and applications into the mathematics curriculum has proven to be a challenging task over the last fifty years. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has made mathematical modeling both one of its Standards for Mathematical Practice and one of its Conceptual Categories. This article discusses the need for mathematical modeling in school mathematics and scrutinizes the strengths and weaknesses of CCSS with respect to current practices for teaching mathematical modeling. [More] Descriptors: Common Core State Standards, Mathematical Models, Mathematics Curriculum, Mathematics Education
(2010). Curriculum Design, Development, and Implementation in an Era of Common Core State Standards. Summary Report of a Conference (Arlington, Virginia, August 1-3, 2010), Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum. In June 2010, the National Governor's Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers published "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) for K-12 mathematics. Forty-eight states collaborated in the development of CCSS and, to date, 34 states have officially adopted CCSS to replace existing state standards. CCSS presents an opportunity for critical stakeholders to focus on curriculum as a means of improving teaching and student learning. In order to help state and local school systems design thoughtful curriculum guides and select instructional materials (text, e-text, and ancillaries) that are essential supports for implementation of the CCSS, it is necessary to connect those who have constructed the "Common Core State Standards" in mathematics with those members of the educational community who are expert in designing, developing, and implementing mathematics curriculum resources and instructional programs. Collaborations across these communities will help identify the work that needs to be done to provide strong resources for the field in the future. Therefore, a meeting of key stakeholders was convened August 1-3, 2010 to discuss curriculum-related work needed in response to the "Common Core State Standards for Mathematics." The goals of the meeting were to: (a) provide guidance on future mathematics materials development efforts, K-12, and (b) address issues of curriculum design and production that arise in an environment of Common Core State Standards. This report serves as a public dissemination of conference discussions, recommendations, and items for action. [More] Descriptors: Curriculum Design, Curriculum Development, Curriculum Implementation, State Standards
(2014). An Examination of How a Teacher's Use of Digital Tools Empowers and Constrains Language Arts Instruction, Computers in the Schools. The Common Core State Standards produce a need to understand how digital tools can support literacy instruction. The purpose of this case study was to explore how a language arts teacher's integration of computers and iPads empowered and constrained her and the resulting classroom instruction. Constraining factors included (a) inadequate technological knowledge, (b) expectations of students' comfort with technology, (c) inappropriate expectations for assignments, and (d) limited conceptions of the purposes of technology. Subthemes related to enhancement included: enhancement of classroom environment, simplicity and sophistication equal innovation and empowerment, combining tools, and digital tools support multimodal communication. [More] Descriptors: Language Arts, Technology Uses in Education, Performance Factors, Barriers
(2014). Dropout Factories and the Vaccination Approach: The Impact of the Dropout Rate on the Economy and the Need for Effective Literacy Instruction, SRATE Journal. Almost seven thousand students drop out of high school every day. Without strong literacy skills, students are less likely to experience academic success and more likely to drop out. This has a negative impact not only on those students, but on the economy. If the dropouts from the Class of 2011 had graduated, the nation's economy would have gained nearly $154 billion in additional income over their lifetimes. Therefore, a high school diploma is considered the "best economic stimulus package." The requirements of the Common Core State Standards will help address the literacy needs of students to be successful in school and become college and career ready. [More] Descriptors: Dropouts, Dropout Rate, High School Students, Literacy
(2012). Examining Peer Collaboration in Online Inquiry, Educational Forum. This study examines peer collaboration among four pairs of seventh graders who read online to determine what caused the downfall of the Mayan civilization. More and less productive collaborative interactions are presented through snippets of dialogue in which pairs negotiated complex texts. Few examples of how teachers can skillfully facilitate collaborative interactions currently exist, despite the call for these skills in the Common Core State Standards. Teaching ideas that support collaborative online reading are featured. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Cooperative Learning, Grade 7, Social Studies