This document discusses the Common Core Learning Standards and their focus on preparing all students for college and careers. It notes that surveys found 42% of college instructors and 45% of employers feel recent high school graduates are not prepared. The Common Core aims to change this by establishing consistent, higher standards across states in key areas like higher-order thinking skills, close reading, research skills, and problem solving. It emphasizes skills like comprehension, analysis, and argumentation. The Common Core also wants students to develop independence, value evidence, understand different perspectives, and use technology strategically. Its goal is for all students to graduate with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed after high school.
2. Vision of the Common Core
Learning Standards
All students will graduate from high
school with the knowledge and skills
to succeed in entry-level, credit-
bearing academic college courses
and in workforce training programs.
3. “Your Vision is the
promise of what you
shall one day be.”
— James Allen
4.
5. 5
College Instructors and Employers Say Graduates
Are Not Prepared for College and Work
Average estimated proportions of recent high school
graduates who are not prepared
42% 45%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
College Instructors Employers
Source: Peter D. Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies, Rising to the Challenge: Are High
School Graduates Prepared for College and Work? prepared for Achieve, Inc., 2005.
6. Turn and Talk
What does it mean to be college
and career ready today as
compared to 10 years ago?
20 years ago?
9. What are the Common Core
Learning Standards?
Internationally-benchmarked and evidence-based
standards for P-12
Consistent set of expectations for what students
should learn and be able to do, so that we can ensure
that every student across New York State is on track for
college and career readiness
10. Why are the Common Core
Learning Standards important?
The CCLS
Provide educators, parents, and students with clear, focused
guidance about what skills to teach
Prepare students with higher-order knowledge and skills
Ensure consistent expectations regardless of a student’s zip code
Lead to new more rigorous assessments that will drive changes
in curriculum and teacher practice
10
11. How does the Common Core prepare
all students for college and career?
11
12. Higher-Order Thinking Skills
12
Moving from… Moving to…
Basic Comprehension:
What color is the sweater that Mrs. Price
makes Rachel wear?
Basic Comprehension:
What’s happening in this story?
Interpretation:
Why do you think Rachel’s teacher insists the
sweater is Rachel’s?
Interpretation:
Why does Rachel react so powerfully to the red
sweater?
Analysis:
Underline all the figurative language in this
story.
Analysis:
Choose 3 examples of figurative language and
explain how each furthers your understanding
of the characters or events.
Note: questions relate to the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
17. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students demonstrate independence.
Grade 4: Reading Standards for Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details
RI.4.1. Refer to details and examples in a text when
explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text
18. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students build strong content knowledge.
Grade 7: Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social
Studies
Text Types and Purposes
WHST.7.1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific
content
a. Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and
distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims,
and organize the reasons and evidence logically
19. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students respond to the varying demands of
audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
Grade 2: Speaking and Listening Standards
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
SL.2.4. Tell a story or recount an experience with
appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking
audibly in coherent sentences
20. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students value evidence.
Grade 5: Writing Standards
Text Types and Purposes
W.5.1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point
of view with reasons and information
a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an
organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to
support the writer’s purpose
b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and
details
21. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students use technology and digital media
strategically and capably.
Grade 9: Writing Standards
Production and Distribution of Writing
W.9.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce,
publish, and update individual or shared writing products,
taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other
information and to display information flexibly and dynamically
22. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students come to understand other
perspectives and cultures.
Grade 10: Reading Standards for Literature
Craft and Structure
RL.10.6. Analyze a particular point of view or cultural
experience reflected in a work of literature from outside
the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world
literature
27. Rethinking Text Complexity
27
•Level of meaning or
purpose
•Structure
•Language
conventionality and
clarity
•Knowledge demands
(life experiences,
cultural/ literary
knowledge,
content/discipline
knowledge)
•Flesch-Kincaid
Grade Level test
•Dale-Chall
Readability
Formula
•Lexile Framework
for Reading
Educator judgment to match texts
to particular students and tasks –
cognitive capabilities, motivation,
knowledge, experiences
1 minuteAdopted by New York State in July 2010 with the understanding that the state may add additional K-12 expectations (up to 15%, as necessary) and adopt aligned pre-kindergarten standards. In January 2011, the Regents approved the incorporation of pre-K standards and the addition of an 11th anchor standard in reading literature called Responding to Literature. With this approval, the CCSS are now referred to as the NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards.The Common Core has been adopted by all except 8 states and represent what students should understand and be able to do; it is not a curriculum – that is left up to teachers.
1 minute review
Difficulty of college textbooks is increasing, word difficulty in scientific magazines and journals has increased, and work place reading exceeds grade 12 complexity significantly. Despite this, K-12 reading texts have actually trended downward in difficulty in the last half century. (From Appendix A of the Common Core)Qualitative dimensions of text are those best measured or only measured by an attentive human reader who can discern levels of meaning (literary texts such as satires) or purpose (informational texts), who can determine low or high complexity of text structure, readability based on language conventionality and clarity, and the assumption made about the reader’s life experiences and depth of their cultural/literary and content/discipline knowledge.