Bibliography: Common Core State Standards (page 095 of 130)

This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices.  Some of the authors featured on this page include S. Warren, Joan Herman, Mary Ann Scheuer, Peter Youngs, V. Shyyan, Jennifer J. Wall, Tracey H. Howell, Victoria Miller Bennett, Buck Greene, and Nancy Boyles.

Conley, David T.; Gaston, Paul L. (2013). A Path to Alignment: Connecting K-12 and Higher Education via the Common Core and the Degree Qualifications Profile, Lumina Foundation for Education. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which aim to assure competency in English/language arts and mathematics through the K-12 curriculum, define necessary but not sufficient preparedness for success in college. The Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP), which describes what a college degree should signify, regardless of major, offers useful but not sufficient guidance to high school students preparing for college study. A coordinated strategy to prepare students to succeed in college would align these two undertakings and thus bridge an unfortunate and harmful cultural chasm between the K-12 world and that of higher education. Chasms call for bridges, and the bridge proposed by this white paper could create a vital thoroughfare. This white paper begins with a description of the CCSS and an assessment of their significance. A following analysis then explains why the CCSS, while necessary, are not sufficient as a platform for college success. A corresponding explanation of the DQP clarifies the prompts that led to its development, describes its structure, and offers some guidance for interpreting the outcomes that it defines. Again, a following analysis considers the potential of the DQP and the limitations that must be addressed if that potential is to be more fully realized. The heart of the white paper lies in sections 5 and 6, which provide a crosswalk between the CCSS and the DQP. These sections show how alignments and differences between the two may point to a comprehensive preparedness strategy. They also offer a proposal for a multifaceted strategy to realize the potential synergy of the CCSS and the DQP for the benefit of high school and college educators and their students–and the nation. Appended are: (1) The CCSS and the DQP Compared in Detail; (2) A More Detailed Review and Analysis of the CCSS; and (3) The "Reaching the Goal" Study.   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Standards, State Standards, Elementary Secondary Education, Higher Education

(CCSSI 2010). Traditionally, multiplication has been a major topic for third grade. Linked to repeated addition of equal-size groups, multiplication logically follows the study of addition. Introducing rectangular arrays to represent groups (rows) of equal size illustrates both numeric and geometric interpretations of multiplication and naturally introduces the concept of area (CCSSI 2010). Rotating the rectangular arrays illustrates the commutative property of multiplication (see fig.1), and determining the number of tiles needed to build a multicolor rectangle allows students to demonstrate their understanding of conservation of area and to discover a geometric interpretation of the distributive property. Although multiplication is typically a focus of third-grade mathematics (NCTM 2006), third-grade textbooks usually include few, if any, concepts of area or distribution and no geometric interpretation of the distributive property, which raises at least two questions: (1) Are third graders ready for the reasoning needed to understand these concepts? And, if they are, (2) how can integrated exploration of these topics help students make connections that deepen their conceptual understanding of these topics and others already in the curriculum? Helping students make connections like those illustrated here allows them to deepen their conceptual understanding (Baek 2008; Clements 1999; CCSSI 2010; NRC 2005) that the distributive property is not an algorithm but a property, a characteristic that holds throughout mathematics–arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and other branches as well.   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Standards, State Standards, Geometric Concepts, Concept Formation

Billings, Esther M. H.; Coffey, David C.; Golden, John; Wells, Pamela J. (2013). Teaching with the Mathematical Practices in Mind, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. How can the use of the Standards for Mathematical Practice in the classroom be supported? Professional developers and teacher educators strive to support teachers as they seek to answer this question. When teachers personally and intentionally experience the practices and reflect on how the practices support and promote mathematical understanding, they will be better equipped to explore these same strategies with their own students in meaningful ways. The authors of this article believe that a workshop model is an effective vehicle for such support because it provides both mathematical learning and practice. They describe the workshop model and how it was used in a professional development context. They also explore how the model supported teachers' understanding of the Standards for Mathematical Practice, found in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010). Specifically, they indicate that there were many opportunities to experience Practice 1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them and Practice 3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others (CCSSI 2010, p. 6). The authors also discuss ways to transfer this knowledge to the middle school classroom. The workshop model is an established form of instruction, extensively used in language arts (Cambourne 1988; Keene and Zimmermann 1997). Recently, it has been considered a viable approach in other disciplines, including mathematics and science (Heuser 2002). With its value in mind, they modified the literacy workshop to fit their vision of immersing learners in what it means to do mathematics. The authors' adaptation of the workshop model includes four key components: (1) making connections; (2) focus; (3) activity; and (4) reflection. These areas provide a deliberate structure for critical thinking. Each component is explained in detail herein. This model promotes understanding mathematics, connecting knowledge, and communicating this understanding through appropriate arguments, reasoning, and reflection.   [More]  Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Academic Standards, Workshops, Models

Paliokas, Kathleen; Killion, Joellen (2013). Meet the Promise of Content Standards: The Role of Comprehensive Induction, Learning Forward. Major education reforms are shifting teaching and learning in schools across the nation. As a result, educators' need for key supports is more important today than ever. This shift is the result of three significant and simultaneous reform efforts, all of which are scheduled to be operational in the near future: (1) More rigorous Common Core State Standards for students in math, English language arts, and science; (2) Revised student assessments aligned to the new standards; and (3) Redesigned educator evaluation and support systems linked to student growth. This brief examines how states, districts, and schools can use a more comprehensive educator induction process to build the capacity of teachers and principals to successfully implement the new college- and career-ready content standards, as well as the related student assessments and educator effectiveness systems. The shift in educator induction from informal, one-to-one mentoring toward a multi-faceted, multi-year system of planned and structured learning experiences for novice teachers and for some novice principals is addressed. The New Teacher Center is leading the new definition of comprehensive high-quality induction being promoted by a number of organizations as a result of the shift in educator induction. The brief explores the many components that make up this definition, along with several potential challenges for induction presented by the new content standards, assessments, and educator effectiveness systems. It calls attention to the urgent need for schools, districts, and states to focus concerted, coherent efforts on successful implementation of the new standards for building educator capacity so that all students succeed. The brief also recommends new investments for federal, state, district, and school leaders to aid in developing comprehensive induction systems.   [More]  Descriptors: Beginning Teacher Induction, Beginning Principals, Capacity Building, Educational Change

Potter, Cathy; Scheuer, Mary Ann (2013). Nonfiction Book Apps: Addressing CCSS and Engaging Students, School Library Monthly. As schools around the country implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teachers and school librarians are looking for ways to incorporate more engaging nonfiction reading. The quantity of informational texts students will be required to read will increase drastically, and students will be asked to apply higher-level thinking skills to these texts. Interactive book apps offer innumerable possibilities for exploring nonfiction texts. App developers and publishing houses are exploring possibilities for drawing readers into books by integrating high-impact illustrations and photographs, providing engaging interactive elements, and adding interesting text. The CCSS expect students to read "digital sources" along with print texts. Digital sources are not limited to websites, but can include online articles, databases, and book apps. Book apps offer a focused, tactile, interactive experience for students–one that educators should consider as an integral component of digital literacy. Book apps (short for "application") are interactive computer programs available for touch screen tablet computers such as Apple's iPad. Users can interact with these computer programs by swiping their fingers to turn the page, tapping to activate a video, and manipulating objects on the screen. Unlike ebooks, book apps, are interactive books, in which readers can poke or press different parts with a response to those actions. School librarians, however, are struggling to find high quality, engaging apps to use in the classroom and library. In this article, the authors take a look at several nonfiction book apps that integrate keys features of this new platform.   [More]  Descriptors: State Standards, Academic Standards, Nonfiction, Books

Benson, Christine C.; Wall, Jennifer J.; Malm, Cheryl (2013). The Distributive Property in Grade 3?, Teaching Children Mathematics. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) call for an in depth, integrated look at elementary school mathematical concepts. Some topics have been realigned to support an integration of topics leading to conceptual understanding. For example, the third-grade standards call for relating the concept of area (geometry) to multiplication and addition (arithmetic). The third-grade standards also suggest that students use the commutative, associative, and distributive properties of multiplication

Greene, Buck; Cross, Tracy L. (2013). Setting the Bar for High-Ability Students, Principal Leadership. Secondary school principals face no shortage of issues and challenges when it comes to ensuring that their teachers and students are ready for the Common Core State Standards. With so many issues competing for scarce time and resources, it is understandable that for many school leaders, the needs of high-ability and high-potential students are not front and center in the college-and-career-ready discussion. Further compounding the challenge are some misperceptions, chiefly that the Common Core is rigorous enough to substitute for gifted education services. The gifted education community, by and large, views the Common Core as being reasonably rigorous and a major step forward to upping the game of US schools. Even with rigorous standards, however, the very nature of common standards–benchmarks for all students at each grade level–means that they will be insufficient on their own for the most advanced students. Given this reality, it is important for principals to foster environments in which teachers are able to work within the standards to provide learning opportunities for high-achieving and high-ability students. This will require school leaders to commit to gifted students–a cohort estimated to account for about 10% of the total student population in the United States–and those high-ability learners who may not yet have reached high levels of achievement. In this article, the authors discuss the intersection between the Common Core and gifted education, explore the leadership role of the principal as it relates to the Common Core, and describe resources that can support principals in their work.   [More]  Descriptors: Principals, High Schools, High School Students, Academically Gifted

Herman, Joan; Linn, Robert (2013). On the Road to Assessing Deeper Learning: The Status of Smarter Balanced and PARCC Assessment Consortia. CRESST Report 823, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). Two consortia, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), are currently developing comprehensive, technology-based assessment systems to measure students' attainment of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The consequences of the consortia assessments, slated for full operation in the 2014/15 school year, will be significant. The assessments themselves and their results will send powerful signals to schools about the meaning of the CCSS and what students know and are able to do. If history is a guide, educators will align curriculum and teaching to what is tested, and what is not assessed largely will be ignored. Those interested in promoting students' deeper learning and development of 21st century skills thus have a large stake in trying to assure that consortium assessments represent these goals. Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, UCLA's National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) is monitoring the extent to which the two consortia's assessment development efforts are likely to produce tests that measure and support goals for deeper learning. This report summarizes CRESST findings thus far, describing the evidence-centered design framework guiding assessment development for both Smarter Balanced and PARCC as well as each consortia's plans for system development and validation. This report also provides an initial evaluation of the status of deeper learning represented in both consortia's plans. Study results indicate that PARCC and Smarter Balanced summative assessments are likely to represent important goals for deeper learning, particularly those related to mastering and being able to apply core academic content and cognitive strategies related to complex thinking, communication, and problem solving. At the same time, the report points to the technical, fiscal, and political challenges that the consortia face in bringing their plans to fruition.   [More]  Descriptors: Consortia, Student Evaluation, Educational Testing, Academic Standards

Chan, Monnica (2013). More on the Core, New England Journal of Higher Education. From a higher education perspective, new "Common Core" standards could improve student college-readiness levels, reduce institutional remediation rates, and close education gaps in and between states. As a national initiative to create common educational standards for students across multiple states, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) represent a new chapter in American education. In keeping with the tradition of state and local control over education policy, this initiative was driven by state governors and state education commissioners across the country. Participating states committed to improving college-and career-readiness rates at a time when international comparisons showed the U.S. lagging behind in educational performance, college attendance and degree attainment. Yet, the CCSS are neither a federally-mandated curriculum nor a prescription for operating a classroom. The CCSS are rather grade-level expectations of what students are expected to learn. It is up to states and school districts to implement the standards and develop accompanying curricula that align to the standards. However, it's hard to see CCSS succeeding without higher education. In particular, awareness and support from the higher education community is needed in two areas: (1) assessing post-CCSS students' college readiness; and (2) teacher preparation. Building upon this initial understanding and support for the standards and college-ready assessments will be even more important in the coming months. As P-20 education communities there must be a "staying the course" to support schools, school district leaders, and teachers in raising expectations and helping students meet the challenges of being college and career ready.   [More]  Descriptors: Higher Education, State Standards, Academic Standards, State Government

Boyles, Nancy (2013). Closing in on Close Reading, Educational Leadership. "A significant body of research links the close reading of complex text–whether the student is a struggling reader or advanced–to significant gains in reading proficiency and finds close reading to be a key component of college and career readiness" (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, 2011, p. 7). When the author read this statement in the content frameworks of one of the consortia now creating assessments for the Common Core State Standards, she was frankly a little insulted. "Of course" she teaches students to read closely–both her university students and younger students, through her literacy consultant work. But on closer examination, she realized she may not be encouraging students to read closely enough to meet the expectations set by these standards. Exactly what do the Common Core standards mean by close reading? And what principles and practices should guide educators as they implement close reading in the classroom–particularly in elementary classrooms? Much of the available information about close reading centers on secondary schools, where this skill seems to fit most comfortably. By the time students are in these later grades, they are more inclined to think abstractly. They read complicated texts by great authors that beg for careful analysis. But close reading can't wait until 7th grade or junior year in high school. It needs to find its niche in kindergarten and the years just beyond if educators mean to build the habits of mind that will lead all students to deep understanding of text.   [More]  Descriptors: Student Evaluation, State Standards, Academic Standards, Elementary Secondary Education

Howell, Tracey H. (2013). On the Nature of and Teachers' Goals for Students' Mathematical Argumentation in High School Classrooms, ProQuest LLC. In an era of new standards and emerging accountability systems, an understanding of the supports needed to aid teachers and students in making necessary transitions in mathematics teaching and learning is critical. Given the established research base demonstrating the importance of justification and reasoning in students' mathematics learning and the heightened emphasis on students' abilities to demonstrate the mathematical practices outlined by the Common Core State Standards Mathematics Practice Standards, this study is timely in that it examined mathematical argumentation as it is currently enacted in today's classrooms. The study investigated students' mathematical argumentation as it is currently practiced in high school classrooms to understand the ways in which the teacher education and professional development communities may better support teachers in this new era of standards and accountability. Five high school Algebra I teachers and their classes comprised the sample. Using a multiple case study design, data in the forms of classroom observations, teacher interviews, and detailed field notes were collected and analyzed. The within- and cross-case analyses revealed a modest number of episodes of mathematical argumentation with a primary focus on using definitions, properties, and procedures to establish students' claims. Further, teachers fostered mathematical argumentation in their classrooms for a variety of reasons, many of which focused on factors affecting learning not explicitly supporting the learning of new mathematical ideas. Findings suggest that teachers may view argumentation as a means of assessing students' knowledge rather than as a mechanism of learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta…   [More]  Descriptors: High School Students, Persuasive Discourse, Mathematical Logic, Teacher Expectations of Students

Warren, S.; Christensen, L.; Shyyan, V.; Thurlow, M. (2013). Forum on Addressing Performance Gaps of Low-Performing Students: Implications for Assessment and Instruction, National Center on Educational Outcomes. Sixty-two individuals representing sixteen states, three school districts, eleven testing and testing-related companies, and eleven other organizations participated in a forum on June 19, 2013, in National Harbor, Maryland, to discuss the performance gaps of low-performing students and their implications for assessment and instruction. The forum was a pre-session to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA), and was a collaboration of the Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) and the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO). A primary goal of the forum was to provide the opportunity for participants to share perspectives on the topic. The diversity of low-performing students makes it imperative that teams work together to address low-performing students' assessment and instructional needs. As the nation adopts the Common Core State Standards or other 21st century standards and moves toward the implementation of more rigorous assessments of those standards, the challenges of low performance will continue and increase. Although this report summarizes the introductory information provided to forum participants, its main purpose is to describe the facilitated forum discussions themselves, and the results of the consensus-building process. Summaries of the discussions were developed from notes taken by notetakers, and action plans were synthesized through the consensus-building process. This report first summarizes the introductory material provided to participants, and then presents a summary of the points made during each discussion session. In addition, the results of the consensus building process on action steps are presented. Participants were encouraged to comment and discuss freely, with assurances that no individual's name, nor any state, company, or organization names would be attached to comments that were made. Complete anonymity of statements was assured. This led to frank and open conversations.   [More]  Descriptors: Achievement Gap, Low Achievement, Disabilities, English Language Learners

Schultz, Kyle T.; Bismarck, Stephen F. (2013). Radical Thoughts on Simplifying Square Roots, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. A picture is worth a thousand words. This statement is especially true in mathematics teaching and learning. Visual representations such as pictures, diagrams, charts, and tables can illuminate ideas that can be elusive when displayed in symbolic form only. The prevalence of representation as a mathematical process in such documents as "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" (NCTM 2000), the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010), and the Strands of Mathematical Proficiency (NRC 2001) reinforces the importance of mathematics teachers and their students using multiple representations when exploring mathematical ideas. Simplifying square roots and other radicals is a staple of prealgebra and algebra 1 courses because it is a requisite skill for studying many other topics in the high school curriculum (CCSSI 2010; 8.EE.2). In developing a lesson on simplifying a radical expression for algebra 1 students, the authors sought to address a variety of learning styles. Although they developed verbal and written strategies to supplement teaching the algebraic representation, they struggled initially to determine a way of representing a visual or geometric approach for simplifying radicals. After examining geometric representations of perfect square numbers (1, 4, 9, 16. . .), they developed a way to think about more complicated examples (e.g., 18, 45, 72), creating tactile and virtual manipulatives that enabled students to explore radical simplification and other concepts. In this article, the authors share their visual representation for simplifying radicals and their initial efforts to use this representation with middle school and high school mathematics students as well as prospective mathematics teachers.   [More]  Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Middle Schools, Secondary School Mathematics, Algebra

Bush, Sarah B.; Karp, Karen S.; Bennett, Victoria Miller; Popelka, Liz; Nadler, Jennifer (2013). Framing Measurement: An Art Gallery Installation, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. In this article, the authors describe how mathematics teachers and art teachers were able to enthusiastically engage seventh- and eighth-grade students in an interdisciplinary activity focused on scaling, proportional reasoning, and measurement by recreating artwork on a famous private collection. Using the artwork from The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the middle school's art teacher worked with students to help re-create the original paintings through the use of scale drawings and proportional reasoning. Then, in mathematics class, students used measurement to position the paintings in the school hallway to duplicate two gallery walls. This activity meets the seventh-grade and eighth-grade standards found in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010), which state that students should "compute unit rates associated with ratios of fractions, including ratios of lengths, areas and other quantities measured in like or different units," (p. 48). It also speaks to the geometry domain, which states that students should engage in "reproducing a scale drawing at a different scale" (p. 49). Additionally, this activity addresses "attend to precision," number 6 of the Standards for Mathematical Practice, which states that mathematically proficient students "are careful about specifying units of measure" and "calculate accurately and efficiently" (p. 7). "Using appropriate tools strategically," number 5 of the Standards for Mathematical Practice, states that "mathematically proficient students consider the available tools when solving a mathematical problem" (p. 7). Moreover, this activity supports the essential understanding that "A ratio is a multiplicative comparison of two quantities, or it is a joining of two quantities in a composed unit" (Lobato and Ellis 2010, p. 18).   [More]  Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Secondary School Mathematics, Teaching Methods, Art Activities

Youngs, Peter (2013). Using Teacher Evaluation Reform and Professional Development to Support Common Core Assessments, Center for American Progress. The Common Core State Standards Initiative, in its aim to align diverse state curricula and improve educational outcomes, calls for K-12 teachers in the United States to engage all students in mathematical problem solving along with reading and writing complex text through the use of rigorous academic content. Until recently, most teacher evaluation systems in this country did not measure or promote the ability of teachers to practice in these ways. This report discusses efforts to develop and implement Common Core standards and assessments in the 45 states and the District of Columbia that are initiative members, and outlines how past attempts to enact standards-based reform have been impeded by limitations in teacher evaluation. It also draws on the notion of "standard of care," from the field of medicine, to note that advances in the understanding of subject matter, pedagogy, how students learn, and technology call for teachers to continually acquire new knowledge and to refine their instructional practices by participating in comprehensive professional development on a regular basis. Several new approaches to evaluating teachers hold promise for promoting the type of ongoing teacher learning and changes in instruction that would be associated with a professional standard of care in K-12 teaching. These approaches include classroom observation protocols, student surveys, value-added models, and teacher performance assessments. This report details these approaches and explains their potential to strongly support the enactment of the Common Core standards and assessments. At the same time, it also considers a number of challenges connected with implementing each of these. The approaches to teacher evaluation presented here, when combined with comprehensive professional development for teachers and school leaders and changes in the organization and capacities of school districts, have the potential to support the types of teacher knowledge acquisition and changes in instructional practices called for by the Common Core standards and assessments.   [More]  Descriptors: State Standards, Outcomes of Education, Teaching Methods, Teacher Characteristics

Achieve, Inc. (2013). State Transition to High-Quality, College/Career-Ready Assessments: A Workbook for State Action on Key Policy, Legal, and Technical Issues. Updated. Over the next few years, states will be transitioning to new, high-quality assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or other state college- and career-ready (CCR) standards. States are committed to making this transition in a manner that is determined and thoughtful–to help transform teaching and learning, advance CCR outcomes, and close achievement gaps. The purpose of this document is to provide states with a workbook to inform this transition to high-quality, CCR assessments, with a particular focus on the policy, legal, and technical decisions states must address. This workbook (along with state team meetings and other supports) is meant to help each state (1) evaluate its current readiness for this important transition, (2) identify priority issues for state action, and (3) develop a work plan to guide assessment transition over time. This workbook was initially presented in draft for use at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) state team meeting on transition to high-quality, CCR assessments on August 20-21, 2013. Revisions are continuing to expand as appropriate to keep information updated and relevant. As states move forward on implementation of CCSS/CCR standards, they must address three overlapping sets of issues: (1) Instruction and Supports; (2) Communications and Coalition-Building; and (3) Policy, Legal, and Technical Issues. This workbook focuses primarily on the third piece of this puzzle–the array of policy, legal, and technical issues implicated by the transition to CCR assessments. These issues are detailed here, and the workbook is designed to provide a framework and template for each state to chart its own best path. This includes, in Part II, an overview of the policy, legal, and technical issues, and guiding questions for each state to determine its priorities, readiness, and action items. Part III includes a brief analysis of each issue and deeper-dive questions to guide state decision-making.   [More]  Descriptors: College Readiness, Career Readiness, State Standards, Workbooks

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