This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Catherine Snow, Erik Palmer, P. Shawn Irvin, Bitnara Jasmine Park, Martin Buoncristiani, Laura Billings, Gerald Tindal, Richard Murnane, Isabel Sawhill, and Data Quality Campaign.
(2012). The Development of the easyCBM CCSS Reading Assessments: Grade 3. Technical Report #1221, Behavioral Research and Teaching. In this technical report, we document the development and piloting of easyCBM reading measures aligned to the Common Core State Standards, designed for use in screening students at risk for reading difficulty and monitoring their progress as they develop reading skills. The measures, which assess students' ability to respond to multiple-choice reading comprehension questions, were designed with the specific needs of students classified as "persistently low-performing". Sub-tests include "Read to Perform a Task, Informational Text," and "Short Literary Text," organized together into a comprehensive Common Core Reading Assessment. We begin this report by introducing the student population for which these measures were originally developed. Then, we describe the two main approaches used in the development of the measures, with a focus first on content validity and then on the psychometric properties underlying the creation of comparable alternate forms. We include the results of our Item Response Theory (IRT) modelling used during test development. For ease of reference, we present the results for each grade level's analyses in its own technical report yet repeat the introductory sections across all technical reports in this series, as the development process and the research base on which these assessments were developed does not vary by grade. [More] Descriptors: Curriculum Based Assessment, Reading Tests, Academic Standards, State Standards
(2012). Digitally Speaking: How to Improve Student Presentations, Stenhouse Publishers. All teachers at all grade levels and in all subject areas assign speaking activities–for example, read-alouds, book reports, class discussions, lab results, research presentations, and dialogues in a foreign language. Effective communication is an essential skill in modern society, and the Common Core State Standards place particular emphasis on teaching students to deliver messages well orally and through a range of media. In this Read & Watch book, Erik Palmer shows teachers how to turn almost any lesson into an opportunity for students to practice creating and performing a speech with the assistance of technology. Building on his previous book, "Well Spoken," Palmer previews Web sites and Internet tools that are easy for students and teachers to use and offer a variety of possible classroom applications. Tutorials show teachers exactly what to type, where to click, and how to use a recommended tool. Audio podcasts and videos reveal how students can rehearse in school and on their own time. Rubrics show teachers how to evaluate speaking according to the most important elements. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Computer Assisted Instruction, Speech Communication, Video Technology
(2012). Sharing Complex Text and the CCSS. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) fulfill a longstanding goal of ensuring that all students, regardless of ability, are college and career ready upon graduation. Students who meet the expectations of the standards are able to comprehend complex text closely and extract meaning and information from it. They are close readers, delving into texts in order to unearth evidence, construct knowledge, and broaden their understanding of the text and world. Research shows that the key ingredient to success after graduation in college was the ability to read complex text. Surprisingly, the results showed that it was not what students could do with the text that they read that determined their success in college coursework, but whether or not they could read complex text itself. This result held across all racial and ethnic groups, for both male and female students, and even for students of varying socio-economic backgrounds. Hence the CCSS, instead of stressing particular teaching methodologies, instead stresses exposing all students to complex text in the classroom. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Teaching Methods, Reading Ability, College Readiness
(2012). Close Reading Exemplars and the CCSS. Close Reading Exemplars pull together several key shifts within the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in a single methodological approach towards reading texts. Close Reading Exemplars focus on investigating complex texts (Anchor Reading Standard 10) via text dependent questions that rely on evidence and inferences to answer them (Anchor Reading Standard 1). They direct students to pay close attention to academic vocabulary as it appears in context without preloading students with background knowledge of what they are about to read. By encouraging the sort of close reading techniques that lead students to proficiency and independence, close reading exemplars represent a critically important approach for students to experience in literacy and content specific classrooms. While there are no hard and fast requirements for the design of close reading exemplars, teachers have found explanations and examples of the following elements helpful to have within them to assist in the implementation of close reading practices in the classroom: (1) Goals for the Lesson; (2) Connection to the CCSS; (3) Full Text of the Reading Selection; (4) A Daily Structure within the Lesson; and (5) Extension Activities. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Core Curriculum, Curriculum Implementation, Reading Strategies
(2012). Teaching Critical Thinking: Using Seminars for 21st Century Literacy, Eye on Education. Help students meet today's literacy demands with this new book from Terry Roberts and Laura Billings. The authors show how a seminar approach can lead students deeper into a text and improve their speaking, listening, and writing skills, as recommended by the Common Core State Standards. Roberts and Billings provide easy-to-follow information on implementing Paideia Seminars, in which students discuss a text and ask open-ended questions about it. When teachers use this lesson format, students are exposed to a wide range of increasingly complex texts. They also learn how to collaborate, talk about, and reflect on what they're reading, to make meaning independently and together. Seminars can be done in English class and across the curriculum, using social studies documents or math problems as the texts under discussion. "Teaching Critical Thinking" also offers an array of practical resources: (1) teacher lesson plans; (2) student samples; (3) a list of possible ideas and values for discussion; (4) a guide to asking good questions during a seminar; and (5) six full seminar plans (including the texts), covering literature, social studies, and science topics. Appended are: (1) Things Worth Talking About; (2) Questions Worth Asking; and (3) Sample Seminar Texts and Plans. A bibliography and glossary are included. [More] Descriptors: Seminars, State Standards, Critical Thinking, Writing Skills
(2012). Supporting Education Policy and Practice through Common Data Standards: A Policymaker's Guide. Consider the high-priority challenges facing education stakeholders today, such as measuring teacher effectiveness, implementing the Common Core State Standards, aligning K-12 and postsecondary education efforts with workforce demands, efficiently allocating resources, and ensuring that students stay on track to success. These efforts all rely on the efficient collection, management, and use of education data–and stakeholder confidence in those data, particularly if they will be used for high-stakes personnel, accountability, or other decisions. Over the last decade, state, federal, and private investments of political will and resources have contributed to significant progress in building robust statewide longitudinal data systems. Attention is now shifting–as it should be–to the work of ensuring that data are used by stakeholders to answer critical questions and inform decisionmaking from the kitchen table to the classroom to the state capitol. In the absence of common data standards that ensure the quality, comparability, and efficient sharing of data, these efforts' impact will be limited and their implementation costly and ineffective. [More] Descriptors: Educational Policy, Teacher Effectiveness, State Standards, Stakeholders
(2012). Developing Mindful Students, Skillful Thinkers, Thoughtful Schools, Corwin. The ability to memorize facts is not enough to equip students to solve problems or navigate an evolving world. If we educate young people to become flexible, metacognitive thinkers–and model that behavior for them–they will understand how to adapt their learning and successfully find their way in new territory. This book shows school leaders how to build a thinking culture within the entire learning community. Grounded in the research of the best proponents of critical thinking and aligned to one of the key goals of the Common Core State Standards, this practical guide provides numerous strategies to help teachers and leaders: (1) Shape the school culture so that it promotes a common vision around thinking; (2) Create classroom conditions that help students become mindful thinkers; (3) Ask questions that develop skillful thinking; (4) Help students formulate questions that facilitate problem solving; (5) Work with parents to encourage skillful thinking in their children. Included are practical classroom strategies and illustrations, curriculum maps, and tools for developing students' creativity and decision-making skills. This timely resource is ideal for preparing leaders, teachers, and students to meet the escalating challenges of the future. [Foreword by Arthur L. Costa.] [More] Descriptors: Classroom Techniques, School Culture, State Standards, Teachers
(2012). Can Academic Standards Boost Literacy and Close the Achievement Gap? Policy Brief, Fall 2012, Brookings Institution. Good jobs in the nation's twenty-first-century economy require advanced literacy skills such as categorizing, evaluating, and drawing conclusions from written texts. The adoption of the Common Core State Standards by nearly all the states, combined with tough literacy assessments that are now in the offing, will soon reveal that literacy skills of average students fall below international standards and that the gap in literacy skills between students from advantaged and disadvantaged families is huge. The authors offer a plan to help states develop and test programs that improve the quality of teaching, especially in high-poverty schools, and thereby both improve the literacy skills of average students and narrow the literacy gap. [This paper is a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. This policy brief is a companion piece to "Literacy Challenges for the Twenty-First Century," a thematic issue of Princeton University and The Brookings Institution's journal, "Future of Children," Volume 22, Number 2, Fall 2012.] [More] Descriptors: Academic Standards, Academic Achievement, Elementary Secondary Education, Difficulty Level
(2012). A Creative Approach to the Common Core Standards: The Da Vinci Curriculum, Rowman & Littlefield Education. "A Creative Approach to the Common Core Standards: The Da Vinci Curriculum" challenges educators to design programs that boldly embrace the Common Core State Standards by imaginatively drawing from the genius of great men and women such as Leonardo da Vinci. A central figure in the High Renaissance, Leonardo made extraordinary contributions as a painter, architect, sculptor, scientist, engineer, and futurist. "A Creative Approach" demonstrates that schools can cultivate genius such as Leonardo's while insuring that all students realize the core skills that are crucial to all citizens. Chaucer's Da Vinci Curriculum is relevant to public and independent educators who are creating schools-within-schools, charter schools, renewing schools, or rethinking their own classrooms. "A Creative Approach" serves as a model of biographical curricula that embraces the standards that Americans share as citizens in a democracy. The text is rich in theory that has been tested in real classrooms. By example, Chaucer demonstrates that high schools can be more demanding, imaginative, engaging, and joyous that most high schools tend to be today. By adapting the Da Vinci Curriculum, all educators can participate in this educational renaissance! [More] Descriptors: High Schools, Charter Schools, Gifted, Democracy
(2012). The Alignment of the easyCBM Grades 3-5 Math Measures to the Common Core Standards. Technical Report #1229, Behavioral Research and Teaching. Within a response to intervention system of teaching and learning, important instructional decision-making (e.g., implementation of targeted intervention) is regularly tied to the results of formative assessments administered to students throughout the academic year. The validity of these instructional decisions depends to an extent on the alignment between formative measures and the content standards on which classroom instruction is based. Specifically, formative assessments must be aligned to adopted content standards in order for teachers to make valid instructional decisions around individual student learning needs. In this technical report, we report on the alignment between easyCBM® grades 3-5 seasonal mathematics benchmark items and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Results suggest reasonable alignment to the standards overall, with areas of relatively stronger and weaker alignment across grade level domains and standards. These results serve as the basis for assessment development in school year 2012-2013 to address gaps in alignment between easyCBM® and the CCSS. The following are appended: (1) Participants; (2) Alignment by Item; and (3) Alignment by Standard. [More] Descriptors: Alignment (Education), Curriculum Based Assessment, Mathematics Tests, Academic Standards
(2012). The Alignment of the easyCBM Grades 6-8 Math Measures to the Common Core Standards. Technical Report #1230, Behavioral Research and Teaching. Within a response to intervention system of teaching and learning, important instructional decision-making (e.g., implementation of targeted intervention) is regularly tied to the results of formative assessments administered to students throughout the academic year. The validity of these instructional decisions depends to an extent on the alignment between formative measures and the content standards on which classroom instruction is based. Specifically, formative assessments must be aligned to adopted content standards in order for teachers to make valid instructional decisions around individual student learning needs. In this technical report, we report on the alignment between easyCBM® grades 6-8 seasonal mathematics benchmark items and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Results suggest reasonable alignment to the standards overall, with areas of relatively stronger and weaker alignment across grade level domains and standards. These results serve as the basis for assessment development plan in school year 2012-2013 to address gaps in alignment between easyCBM® and the CCSS. The following are appended: (1) Participants; (2) Alignment by Item; and (3) Alignment by Standard. [More] Descriptors: Alignment (Education), Curriculum Based Assessment, Mathematics Tests, Academic Standards
(2012). Text Dependent Questions and the CCSS. An effective text dependent question first and foremost embraces the key principle of close reading embedded in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Anchor Reading Standards by asking students to provide evidence from complex text and draw inferences based on what the text explicitly says (Standards 1 and 10). A close look at the intervening Anchor Reading Standards 2-9 reveals that the variety of tasks they call on students to perform all critically rely on consulting the text for answers. As the name suggests, a text dependent question privileges the text itself and the information students can extract from it. An effective text dependent question delves into the words, sentences, and paragraphs of a text to guide students in extracting the key meanings or ideas and events found there. They target academic vocabulary and crucial passages as focal points for gaining comprehension through examining details, explanations and arguments. Yet this focus on evidence drawn from the text is not an end in itself; rather, it serves as a method to focus students on performing the close reading skills spelled out in the intervening Anchor Reading Standards 2-9. Successful text dependent questions therefore reflect the principles of close reading by juxtaposing the specific demands of the reading standards against passages drawn from complex text. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Reading Comprehension, Inferences, Core Curriculum
(2012). The Alignment of the easyCBM Grades K-2 Math Measures to the Common Core Standards. Technical Report #1228, Behavioral Research and Teaching. Within a response to intervention system of teaching and learning, important instructional decision-making (e.g., implementation of targeted intervention) is regularly tied to the results of formative assessments administered to students throughout the academic year. The validity of these instructional decisions depends to an extent on the alignment between formative measures and the content standards on which classroom instruction is based. Specifically, formative assessments must be aligned to adopted content standards in order for teachers to make valid instructional decisions around individual student learning needs. In this technical report, we report on the alignment between easyCBM® grades K-2 seasonal mathematics benchmark items and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Results suggest reasonable alignment to the standards overall, with areas of relatively stronger and weaker alignment across grade level domains and standards. These results serve as the basis for assessment development in school year 2012-2013 to address gaps in alignment between easyCBM® and the CCSS. The following are appended: (1) Participants; (2) Alignment by Item; and (3) Alignment by Standard. [More] Descriptors: Alignment (Education), Curriculum Based Assessment, Mathematics Tests, Academic Standards
(2012). Close Reading and the CCSS. Close reading is the methodical investigation of a complex text through answering text dependent questions geared to unpack the text's meaning. Close reading directs students to examine and analyze the text through a series of activities that focus students on the meanings of individual words and sentences as well as the overall development of events and ideas. The Anchor Standards for Reading found in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) prioritize the close reading skill of extracting evidence and making inferences (Standard 1) when reading complex text (Standard 10). All of the intervening standards (Standards 2-9) call on students to answer specific text dependent questions–from determining the central idea or theme (Standard 2) to building knowledge by comparing two or more texts (Standard 9)–but each intervening standard critically relies on the core close reading skill of "citing specific textual evidence" when reading complex text to "support conclusions" (Standards 1 and 10). This text dependent approach is one of the key shifts embodied in the CCSS, and moving students and teachers towards understanding and embracing close reading when appropriate is a key step to implementing the CCSS. [More] Descriptors: State Standards, Reading Skills, Inferences, Sentences
(2012). An Enriched Writers' Workshop for Beginning Writers with Developmental Disabilities, Topics in Language Disorders. This article describes comprehensive, high-quality writing instruction for students with developmental disabilities. The Enriched Writers' Workshop combines differentiated writing process instruction with social communication instruction and cognitive strategy instruction for students with complex writing needs across a wide range of ages. It draws on research-based writing practices for all students, with reference to the U.S. Common Core State Standards for writing but with modifications for students with developmental disabilities. Appropriate populations include students with autism spectrum disorders, intellectual developmental disabilities, and complex communication needs, requiring augmentative and alternative communication supports. This article describes the Enriched Writers' Workshop framework of instruction, its tools, and the skills and strategies it targets. Illustrations are drawn from pilot implementation in special education classrooms team taught by special education teachers and speech-language pathologists. Case examples for 3 students show how the framework can be applied for beginning writers with varying profiles of abilities and needs, leading to measurable social communication and writing outcomes and other educational benefits for students with diverse developmental disabilities. [More] Descriptors: Writing Workshops, Process Approach (Writing), Developmental Disabilities, Communication Disorders