CCSS 101 and PARCC 101

What these projects mean to education in

Berkshire County

November 28, 2012

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College and Career Readiness:

The Rationale for Change

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Rationale for change:

• Our current marker is 10th grade requirements for the Competency Determination (CD).

• One-quarter of our students do not enroll in college within 16 months of graduating from high school.

• 37% of graduates take at least one remedial course during their first semester in college; that number rises to 65% at community colleges.

Rationale for change, continued:

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• All students need to be prepared for and encouraged to pursue postsecondary education/training opportunities (with college as just one option) by taking a rigorous and relevant program of study.

• All students need to be prepared for and encouraged to pursue postsecondary education/training opportunities (with college as just one option) by taking a rigorous and relevant program of study.

• More Massachusetts adults will need to have higher levels of education in order to be prepared for jobs in 21st century careers that allow them opportunities for advancement.

The Process of Developing a Definition of College and Career Readiness (CCR) for Massachusetts

•Massachusetts sought public review of a draft definition in Fall 2012.

•The Boards of Elementary and Secondary Education and Higher Education are set to deliberate on the proposed draft in December 2012.

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From the Massachusetts Draft Definition of College and Career Readiness:

•Build the academic knowledge and develop the intellectual and personal qualities that are essential to successfully complete entry-level, credit-bearing college courses and enter economically viable career pathways

•Ensure academic preparation in essential learning competencies in English language arts/literacy and mathematics as contained in the Common Core State Standards and MassCore

•Develop learning competencies including mastery of learning strategies, collaboration, communication, and skills in problem solving

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From the Massachusetts Draft Definition of College and Career Readiness (cont.):

•Demonstrate higher order thinking skills of analysis; synthesis and evaluation; and thinking critically, coherently, and creatively

•Build a foundation grounded by motivation, intellectual curiosity, flexibility, discipline, self- advocacy, responsibility, and reasoned beliefs

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Draft Definition Survey Summary

•1360 participants– with 48% from P-12 and 47% from higher education

•Of the participants 75% were P-12 teachers and 67% were higher education faculty

•For each section of the definition 49% agreed and over 29% agreed strongly

•For each section of the definition less than 10% disagreed and less than 4% strongly disagreeing 8

Draft Definition Survey Summary-continuedMany comments were provided which help provide improved wording, clarity and clear context for the definition in

Comments focused in several areas:• The expectation of “all students…”and what if a student does not

meet expectation• Lack of attention or mention of ELL , Special Education and other

groups of students with specific learning challenges• Confusion around shared education foundation between college and

career• Subject areas not mentioned e.g. sciences, arts…• More state control and testing• Singular emphasis on job training

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Why Common Core State Standards?• Preparation: The standards are anchored in College and Career Readiness.

• Competition: The standards are internationally benchmarked.

• Equity: Expectations are consistent for all (not dependent on a student’s zip code)

• Clarity: The standards are focused, coherent, and clear.

• Collaboration: The standards create a foundation to work collaboratively across states and districts

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*Ready for first-year credit bearing, postsecondary coursework in mathematics and English without the need for remediation.

45 states + D.C. have adopted the Common Core State Standards

11* Minnesota adopted the CCSS in ELA only

Common Core State Standards

English Language Arts and Literacy in History/ Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

Key Shifts in ELA/Literacy

Source:

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1. CONTENTBuild knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

and informational texts

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2. TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Reading and writing are grounded in textual evidence

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3. TEXT COMPLEXITYRegular practice with complex text and

academic and domain-specific vocabulary

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There’s also a new standard:

Listening and Speaking

Motifs in the Reading Strand

• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature [informational texts] at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature [informational texts, history/social studies texts, science/technical texts] at the high end of the grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

• By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature [informational texts, history/social studies texts, science/technical texts] at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently. 18

Overview of Writing Strand

• Expect students to compose arguments and opinions, informative/explanatory pieces, and narrative texts

• Focus on the use of reason and evidence to substantiate an argument or claim

• Emphasize ability to conduct research – short projects and sustained inquiry

• Require students to incorporate technology as they create, refine, and collaborate on writing

• Include student writing samples that illustrate the criteria required to meet the standards (See standards’ appendices for writing samples)

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Speaking and Listening and Language StrandsSpeaking and Listening • Focus on speaking and listening in a range of settings, both formal and

informal academic, small-group, whole-class discussions

• Emphasize effective communication practices

• Require interpretation and analysis of message as presented through oral, visual, or multimodal formats

Language• Include conventions for writing and speaking

• Highlight the importance of vocabulary acquisition through a mix of conversation, direct instruction, and reading

• To be addressed in context of reading, writing, speaking and listening

Media and Technology are integrated throughout the CCSS20

Standards for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

Reading Standards for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects• Knowledge of domain-specific vocabulary • Analyze, evaluate, and differentiate primary and secondary sources • Synthesize quantitative and technical information, including facts presented

in maps, timelines, flowcharts, or diagrams

Writing Standards for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects• Write arguments on discipline-specific content and informative/explanatory

texts• Use of data, evidence, and reason to support arguments and claims • Use of domain-specific vocabulary

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Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics

Key Instructional Shifts in Mathematics• The Common Core State Standards emphasize coherence at each

grade level – making connections across content and between content and mathematical practices in order to promote deeper learning.

• The standards focus on key topics at each grade level to allow educators and students to go deeper into the content.

• The standards also emphasize progressions across grades, with the end of progression calling for fluency – or the ability to perform calculations or solving problems quickly and accurate.

• The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe mathematical “habits of mind” or mathematical applications and aim to foster reasoning, problem solving, modeling, decision making, and engagement among students.

• Finally, the standards require students to demonstrate deep conceptual understanding by applying them to new situations.Source:

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Organization of MA Curriculum Framework for Mathematics

Grade-Level Standards

•PreK-8 grade-by-grade standards organized by domain

•9-12 high school standards organized by conceptual categories

Standards for Mathematical Practice

•Describe mathematical “habits of mind”

•Connect with content standards in each grade

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Eight Standards for Mathematical Practice

•Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

•Reason abstractly and quantitatively

•Construct viable arguments and critique the understanding of others

•Model with mathematics

•Use appropriate tools strategically

•Attend to precision

•Look for and make use of structure

•Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

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Overview of High School Mathematics Standards

• Call on students to practice applying mathematical ways of thinking to real world issues and challenges

• Require students to develop a depth of understanding and ability to apply mathematics to novel situations, as college students and employees regularly are called to do

• Emphasize mathematical modeling, the use of mathematics and statistics to analyze empirical situations, understand them better, and improve decisions

• Identify the mathematics that all students should study in order to be college and career ready

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Format of High School Mathematics Standards

• Content/Conceptual categories: overarching ideas that describe strands of content in high school

• Domains/Clusters: groups of standards that describe coherent aspects of the content category

• Standards: define what students should know and be able to do at each grade level

• High school standards are organized around five conceptual categories: Number and Quantity, Algebra, Functions, Geometry, and Statistics and Probability

• Modeling standards are distributed under the five major headings and are indicated with a () symbol

• Standards indicated as (+) are beyond the college and career readiness (+) are beyond the college and career readiness level but are necessary for advanced mathematics courses, such as calculus, discrete mathematics, and advanced statistics. Standards with a (+) may still be found in courses expected for all students

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Model Course Pathways for Mathematics

Pathway A

Traditional in U.S.

Geometry

Algebra I

Courses in higher level mathematics: Precalculus, Calculus (upon completion of Precalculus), Advanced Statistics, Discrete Mathematics, Advanced Quantitative Reasoning, or other

courses to be designed at a later date, such as additional career technical courses.

Pathway B

International Integrated approach (typical outside of U.S.)

Mathematics II

Mathematics I

Algebra II Mathematics III

The PARCC Consortium

Massachusetts is a PARCC state

•PARCC includes 23 states that have joined together with the goal of creating a next-generation assessment system in Mathematics and English based on Common Core State Standards•MA is one of 19 Governing PARCC states with Commissioner Chester chair of the Governing Board and Commissioner Freeland co-chair of the Advisory Committee on College Readiness•PARCC includes supporting tools that will help states increase the number of students who graduate high school ready for college.

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The PARCC States

PARCC: The Higher Education Context

• The goal of PARCC is to indicate whether high school students are prepared for entry-level, credit-bearing coursework in English Language Arts and Mathematics without the need for remediation.

• PARCC may replace Accuplacer if determined to be a more accurate assessment of a graduate’s proficiency in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics.

PARCC Is a Next-Generation Assessment

• PARCC will offer tools to support teaching and learning—content frameworks, prototype sample assessment tasks, and professional development modules

• PARCC will focus on measuring whether students are on track for college and career readiness

• PARCC will leverage use of technology

Proposed PARCC Performance Levels• Level 5: Superior command of the knowledge, skills, and

practices embodied by the CCSS assessed at the grade level/ course.

• Level 4: Solid command …• Level 3: Partial command …• Level 2: Limited command …• Level 1: Very Limited command …

• Level 4 is pitched to a level of rigor currently described by NAEP’s Proficient level (solid command of the content) and is the proposed level for earning a college and career ready determination.

Assessment Design: English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3-11

End-of-Year Assessment (EOY)

•Innovative, computer-based items•Required

Performance-BasedAssessment (PBA)

•Extended tasks•Applications of concepts and skills•Required

Diagnostic Assessment

•Early indicator of student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD•Non-summative

2 Optional Assessments/Flexible Administration

Mid-Year Assessment•Performance-based•Emphasis on hard-to-measure standards•Potentially summative

Speaking And Listening Assessment•Locally scored•Non-summative, required

Goal #2: Build a Pathway to College and Career Readiness for All StudentsK-2

formative assessment

being developed, aligned to the PARCC

system

Timely student achievement data

showing students, parents and educators whether

ALL students are on-track to college and career

readiness

ONGOING STUDENT SUPPORTS/INTERVENTIONS

College readiness score to

identify who is ready for

college-level coursework

SUCCESS IN FIRST-YEAR,

CREDIT-BEARING, POSTSECONDARY

COURSEWORK

Targeted interventions &

supports:•12th-grade bridge courses• PD for educators

PARCC Timeline

SY 2011-12

Development begins

SY 2012-13

First year pilot/field testing and

related research and

data collection

SY 2013-14

Second year pilot/field testing and

related research and

data collection

SY 2014-15

Full administration

of PARCC assessments

SY 2010-11

Launch and design phase

Summer 2015

Set achievement

levels, including

college-ready performance

levels

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Task Type Description of Task Type

I. Tasks assessing concepts, skills and procedures

• Balance of conceptual understanding, fluency, and application• Can involve any or all mathematical practice standards• Machine scorable including innovative, computer-based formats• Will appear on the End of Year and Performance Based Assessment

components

II. Tasks assessing expressing mathematical reasoning

• Each task calls for written arguments / justifications, critique of reasoning, or precision in mathematical statements (MP.3, 6).

• Can involve other mathematical practice standards• May include a mix of machine scored and hand scored responses• Included on the Performance Based Assessment component

III. Tasks assessing modeling / applications

• Each task calls for modeling/application in a real-world context or scenario (MP.4)

• Can involve other mathematical practice standards.• May include a mix of machine scored and hand scored responses• Included on the Performance Based Assessment component

For more information see PARCC Item Development ITN Appendix D.

PARCC mathematics assessments will include three types of tasks.

Grade 7 Illustrative Sample Item

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Grade 7 Sample Illustrative Item: Speed

Task Type I: Tasks assessing concepts, skills and procedures Alignment: Most Relevant Content Standard(s)•7.RP.2b. Identify the constant of proportionality (unit rate) in tables, graphs, equations, diagrams, and verbal descriptions of proportional relationships. •In addition, see 7.RP.2d: Explain what a point (x, y) on the graph of a proportional relationship means in terms of the situation, with special attention to the points (0, 0) and (1, r) where r is the unit rate. (The “explain” portion is not required in the task, but the task involves some of the concepts detailed here.)Alignment: Most Relevant Mathematical Practice(s)•MP.2 enters (Reason abstractly and quantitatively), as students must relate the graphs and tables to each other via the unit rate and then to the context at hand.

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Grade 7 Sample Illustrative Item Key Features and Assessment Advances

•The PARCC assessment will seek to preserve the focus of the Standards by thoroughly exploring the major work of the grade. •In this case, a multi-point problem is devoted to a single standard about proportional relationships, which are a major focus in grades 6 and 7. •Unlike traditional multiple choice, it is difficult to guess the correct answer or use a choice elimination strategy. •Variants of the task could probe understanding of unit rates and representations of proportional relationships by showing different scales on the two graphs, and/or by presenting the data in tables C and D with the ordered pairs not equally spaced in time.

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High School Sample Illustrative Item: Seeing Structure in a Quadratic Equation

Task Type I: Tasks assessing concepts, skills and procedures Alignment: Most Relevant Content Standard(s)•A-REI.4. Solve quadratic equations in one variable.

• Use the method of completing the square to transform any quadratic equation in x into an equation of the form (x – p)2 = q that has the same solutions. Derive the quadratic formula from this form.

• Solve quadratic equations by inspection (e.g., for x2 = 49), taking square roots, completing the square, the quadratic formula, and factoring, as appropriate to the initial form of the equation. Recognize when the quadratic formula gives complex solutions and write them as a bi for real numbers a and b.

Alignment: Most Relevant Mathematical Practice(s)a)Students taking a brute-force approach to this task will need considerable symbolic fluency to obtain the solutions. In this sense, the task rewards looking for and making use of structure (MP.7).

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ELA Test Prototype for Grade Seven:

Below are three claims that one could make based on the article “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found.”•Claims

• Earhart and Noonan lived as castaways on Nikumaroro Island.• Earhart and Noonan’s plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean.• People don’t really know where Earhart and Noonan died.

Part A•Highlight the claim that is supported by the most relevant and sufficient evidence within “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found.”

Part B•Click on two facts within the article that best provide evidence to support the claim selected in Part A. 45

ELA Test Prototype for Grade Seven, continued:

You have read three texts describing Amelia Earhart. All three include the claim that Earhart was a brave, courageous person. The three texts are:

•“Biography of Amelia Earhart”•“Earhart's Final Resting Place Believed Found”•“Amelia Earhart’s Life and Disappearance”

Consider the argument each author uses to demonstrate Earhart’s bravery.

Write an essay that analyzes the strength of the arguments about Earhart’s bravery in at least two of the texts. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas.

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ELA Test Prototype for Grade Ten:

Use what you have learned from reading “ Daedalus and Icarus ” by Ovid and “ To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph ” by Anne Sexton to write an essay that analyzes how Icarus’s experience of flying is portrayed differently in  the two texts.

Develop your essay by providing textual evidence from both texts. Be sure to follow the conventions of standard English.

 

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Questions?

Robin Getzen, Lenox Public Schoolsrgetzen@lenoxps.org

Charles Kaminski, Berkshire Community Collegeckaminsk@berkshirecc.edu