WA Core to College Implementation Partnership Teams:

Summer Institute 2013

William S. Moore, Ph.D., Policy Associate, SBCTCDirector, Core to College Alignment &

Transition Mathematics Projectbmoore@sbctc.edu

What Have You Learned about the Common Core?

I. How are the Common Core State Standards different from previous

state standards in math and English language arts?

II. What are the benefits to higher education of shifting to the CCSS?

III. What are the current challenges in implementing the CCSS?

Common Core State Standards• Clear, consistent,

rigorous standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics

• Knowledge and skills needed for college and career success

• Developed voluntarily and cooperatively by states with input from teachers and college faculty Source:

www.corestandards.org

Common Core State Standards:Contrasting Views

“Obama Core is a comprehensive plan to dumb down schoolchildren so they

will be obedient servants of the government and probably to

indoctrinate them to accept the leftwing view of America and its history.”

Phyllis Schafly, October 2012, cited by Benjamin Riley, “Common Core-spiracy”

OR

“I see the common core as a fertile and rich opportunity for really important professional learning by teachers [because it] rests on a view of teaching as complex decision making… [requiring] instructional strategies that enable students to explore concepts and discuss them with each other, to question and respectfully challenge classmates’ assertions.”

Charlotte Danielson, interview with Education Week, 3/13/2013

Major Shifts in the CCSS:“Fewer, Higher, Clearer, Deeper”

MATH• Focus strongly where the

standards focus

• Coherence: Think across grades and link to major topics within grades

• Rigor: Require conceptual understanding, fluency, and application

www.corestandards.org

ELA• Building content knowledge

through content-rich nonfiction

• Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational

• Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

Standards for Mathematical Practices

9

Increased quantity of materials and instructional time devoted to informational

text

English Language Arts

Literaturefiction, drama,

poetry

Literary Nonfiction

Social Studies, Science, Technical Subjects

Other informational Text

David Coleman talks about cross-content

ELA: Texts Worth Reading, Questions Worth Answering

DEVELOPMENTDraft K-12 English Language Arts and Mathematics StandardsReleased for State Input

Summer 2009

WA INVOLVEMENT:Input on working drafts (CCSS Workgroup, 100+ educators)

REVIEW/INPUTPublic ReviewRevision Process

Fall 2009 / Winter/Spring 2010

WA INVOLVEMENT:- Workgroup input- Statewide survey for input- Comments on Final Drafts

ADOPTIONStates have discretion to voluntarily adopt CCSS

Finalized June 2010

WA STATUS:- 2010 Provisional Adoption- Statewide Outreach & Input.- June 2011 Bias and Sensitivity Review- July 2011 Formal Adoption

BUILD AWARENESS & CAPACITY

State Collaboration and Sharing

WA STATUS:- Phase-in support resources and structures starting in 2011-12 school year

TRANSITION & APPLICATION

•Aligned instructional materials and resources

•Aligned Assessment Systems

•Statewide assessment in 2014-15

Washington’s CCSS Implementation Effort(Summer 2009 to Present)

We are here

“I see the common core as a fertile and rich opportunity for really important professional learning by teachers [because it] rests on a view of teaching as complex decision making…[requiring] instructional strategies on teachers' parts that enable students to explore concepts and discuss them with each other, to question and respectfully challenge classmates’ assertions.”

Charlotte Danielson, interview with Education Week, 3/13/2013

Implementation Partnerships

PLUS…School DistrictsHigher EducationStatewide Education and Content Associations

Washington

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

• 26 states & territories (22 governing, 3 advisory, 1 affiliate)

• K-12 & Higher Education Leads in each state

A Balanced Assessment System

Common Core State Standards specify

K-12 expectatio

ns for college and

career readiness

All students

leave high

school college

and career ready

Teachers and schools have information and tools

they need to improve

teaching and learning Interim

assessments Flexible, open,

used for actionable feedback

Summative assessments

Benchmarked to college and

career readiness

Teacher resources for

formative assessment

practicesto improve instruction

Describe Explain

Interpret

Level One(Recall)

Level Three(Strategic Thinking)

(Extended Thinking)

Level Two(Skill/

Concept)

Design

Synthesize

Connect

Apply Concepts

Critique

Analyze

Create

Prove

Arrange

Calculate

Draw

Repeat Tabulate

Recognize

Memorize

Identify

Who, What, When, Where, Why

List

Name

Use

IllustrateMeasure

Define

RecallMatch

Graph

Classify

Cause/Effect

Estimate

Compare

Relate

Infer

Categorize

Organize

Interpret

Predict

Modify

Summarize

ShowConstruct

Develop a Logical ArgumentAssessRevise

Apprise

Hypothesize

InvestigateCritique

Compare

Formulate Draw ConclusionsExplain

Differentiate

Use Concepts to SolveNon-Routine Problems

Level Four

Source: Webb, Norman L. and others, “Web Alignment Tool” 24 July 2005. Wisconsin Center of Educational Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2 Feb 2006 15

Assessing the Common Core

Smarter Balanced assessments move beyond basic skills and recall to assess critical thinking and problem solving

Interim & Formative Assessment

Interim Assessment• Optional comprehensive and content-

cluster assessment to help identify specific needs of each student

• Accessible all year• Provides clear examples of expected

performance on Common Core standards

• Includes a variety of question types: selected response, short constructed response, extended constructed response, technology enhanced, and performance tasks

• Aligned to and reported on the same scale as the summative assessments

• Fully accessible for instruction and professional development

Formative Assessment• Not a test – a digital library of

formative assessment tools & professional development resources

• Online, accessible to all teachers• Supports to tailor instruction to student

needs based on information from the assessment system

• Developed with input from teams of approx. 100 educators from each Governing State

• Resources selected according to established quality criteria

• Social media features allow teachers to rate items and share their perspectives

• Launching in September 2014

Smarter Balanced Digital LibraryOne Stop Resource Center• Assessment literacy • Formative assessment resources• Links to other resources and other components of the Smarter online system

Interactive Teacher Space• Opportunities to keep journals of practices• Key words or phrases in the journals will generate suggested lists of resources• Record resources consulted and suggest others • Teachers can request resources matched to student assessment results

Educator Involvement in Building the Smarter Balanced Digital Library

National Advisory Panel (NAP)

• 11-20 experts• Began early 2013• Provides policies and criteria

for resources

State Leadership Team (SLT)• 5- 8 members• Recruiting ends May 14• Provides training for State

Network of Educators

State Network of Educators (SNE)• 70 to 100 members• Representation from LEAs,

AEAs, content leaders, ELL, IHE

• Applications due June 3 (online)

• Provides reviews, feedback

Purposes and Users for the Summative Assessments

Grades Tested Purpose User

3-8 and 11 School/District/State Accountability Federal ESEA/NCLB

11 Student Readiness for Credit-bearing College Coursework

Higher Education Institutions

9, 10, 12 State Designed End-of-Course, Graduation Requirements, etc. State Option

3-8 and 11 Teacher/Principal Accountability State/District Option

Summative Assessment: Benefits and Limitations

Benefits

• Far more sophisticated and comprehensive measure of student knowledge and skills than most existing K-12 accountability or college placement exams.

• Linked to known, high-quality content standards (Common Core).

• Early warning for students not yet college ready.

Limitations

• Summative exams are not diagnostic in nature.

• Will not measure readiness for advanced mathematics (e.g. Calculus) requiring 12th grade instruction.

Summative Assessment:Two-pronged Approach

Computer Adaptive Test• Assesses the full range of Common

Core in English language arts/literacy and mathematics for students in grades 3-8 and 11 (interim assessments can be used in grades 9 and 10)

• Measures current student achievement and growth across time, showing progress toward college and career readiness

• Includes a variety of question types: selected response, short constructed response, extended construction response, technology enhanced

Performance Tasks• Extended projects demonstrate real-

world writing and analytical skills• May include online research, group

projects, presentations• Require 1 to 2 class periods to

complete• Included in both English language

arts/literacy and mathematics assessments

• Applicable in all grades being assessed

• Evaluated by teachers using consistent scoring rubrics

Estimated Testing Times for Summative Assessment

Test Grades CAT Perf. Task Only Total In-Class

Activity Total

English Language Arts/Literacy

3-5 1:30 2:00 3:30 :30 4:00

6-8 1:30 2:00 3:30 :30 4:00

11 2:00 2:00 4:00 :30 4:30

Math

3-5 1:30 1:00 2:30 :30 3:00

6-8 2:00 1:00 3:00 :30 3:30

11 2:00 1:30 3:30 :30 4:00

The testing window is the final 12 weeks of the academic year.

Pilot Testing & Practice Test• Pilot Test held February 20 to May 24, 2013

5,200 schools volunteered to test ~1 million students Purpose: Evaluate first 5,000 items & tasks

• Open access Practice Tests available now! Both subject areas, grades 3 through 8 and 11 Approx. 23 items & 1 performance task in ELA Uses same software as operational test Features refreshable Braille , pop-up Spanish glossary,

and other accessibility/accommodation tools• Enhancements by this Fall:

Performance tasks for math ELA classroom-based activities ASL translation and other accommodation tools Scoring rubrics

Field Test &Standard Setting

• Field test in Spring 2014 will target 2 million students — roughly 20% of eligible students in each state

• Educator recruitment has begun for item authoring and review as well as range-finding (1,000 K-12 teachers and higher education faculty will participate).

• Standard-setting will occur after field test (summer 2014). In addition to traditional workshop, Smarter Balanced will

invite broad stakeholder involvement. Stakeholders can review items and make their own cut

score recommendations. Crowd-sourced data will inform standard-setting

workshop.

Other Current Issues Cost--estimates as of March 2013:

~$22.50 per student for Summative only; ~$27.30 per student for Summative, Interim, & Formative

Sustainability: Working with UCLA/CRESST (National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, & Student Testing) to serve as host and partner for a sustainable Smarter Balanced

State messaging: toolkit for communication and implementation Modules on messaging, cost analysis, technology readiness,

and implementation planning States forming task force to use toolkit to develop state-

specific messages and implementation plans.

Smarter Balanced and

Higher Education

Common Core Standards Implementation: Important Roles for Higher Education

Teacher and School Leader Preparation

and Professional Development

Clear Expectations (Assessments,

Course Requirements)

Aligned Curricula (adult,

developmental, and general education)

High School Interventions (early

college, dual enrollment, etc.)

New K-12 Curricular Materials

Higher Education After Smarter Balanced:

What’s Changed?• Instead of multiple tests, with differing performance standards, all public schools in consortium states use the same test, content standards (Common Core) and performance standards.

• Grade 11 performance standards are pegged to college content-readiness, with standards for earlier grades mapped to Grade 11.

• In each state, K-12 and higher education set requirements for Grade 12 (may vary by institution type).

• Students, parents and teachers know where the academic “goal line” is and students can address deficiencies in high school.

• Working together, K-12 and higher education can develop appropriate grade 12 experiences for students at differing achievement levels.

• Colleges can target students for special programs based on Grade 8 scores (or earlier).

Higher Education After Smarter Balanced:

What Hasn’t Changed?• High school exit: Some states may use the Smarter Balanced assessment—with a lower performance standard—for high school exit, but no state currently plans to use the college content-readiness standard for this purpose.

• Admission : Colleges will continue to admit students according to their current standards and practices – the college content-readiness policy applies only to admitted students.

• Placement: While honoring the exemption from developmental education for students who have earned it, colleges may use other means to determine appropriate course placement.

• Dev ed reform: Colleges can place any student into credit-bearing courses; grades-only placement policies are unaffected.

• STEM: Colleges will need to assess additional evidence for students seeking to enter more advanced mathematics courses.

Implications of CCSS for Community & Technical Colleges

Introduce the 11th grade Common Core assessment as one element in a set of measures used in placement

Align developmental education and intro college math and English courses to the Common Core

Work directly with local K-12 partners to improve college readiness of students and reduce need for remediation in college

Barnett & Fay, February 2013, National Center for Postsecondary Research

Summary of “Thorny Issues” from End of Year Reports

Cascadia Evaluation

Clark How do we extend and build in this professional time and opportunity to support our professional growth; ways to share and distribute the work of doing tasks differently.

Spokane For cross-institutional teams visiting participating schools with a summary of the collected gap analysis data and advocate for alignment through the implementation of the CCSS: What will be the composition of the visiting teams? To what extent will the message be common to every school and how will it be unique? What is the appropriate balance of strong advocacy of alignment and respect for the processes and perspectives of the institutions visited? How can we make this effort an effective agent toward greater alignment?

Shoreline Transcript based placement, joint norming of student work, implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessments, etc.; concerns raised that the Common Core State Standards create new and additional challenges for high school teachers that may detract from their ability to achieve their goals with their students.

Wenatchee Valley

Ensuring that there is a common HS/college understanding of the level of rigor expected for students earning an “A” or a “B” in a particular course.

Olympic None cited

Addressing Thorny Issues of Practice (TIPs) through the ‘Step-Back’ Consulting Process

1. Presenting the problem (up to 5 minutes)2. Clarifying the problem (up to 5 minutes) 3. Stepping back (20 minutes)

– Consultee becomes a silent but active observer– “Consultants” take on the problem as if it were

theirs4. Responding to the discussion (up to 10

minutes)

Professional Learning Resources PARCC Model Content

Frameworks: ELA Math

PARCC high school progression documents: Writing Speaking and listening

Achieve the Core

School Librarians & CCSS Resources

Noyce Foundation math resources

Equip rubrics (for lessons and units)

Engage NY

Math Progression documents

Math Publishers’ criteria

Mathematics Common Core Toolbox

Illustrative Mathematics

OSPI Common Core

Smarter Balanced

Core to College wiki

Three Critical CCSS Appendices for ELA

Appendix A: Research support, glossary, text complexity

Appendix B: Reading text exemplars; sample performance tasks

Appendix C: Annotated student writing samples, K-12

Structured Discussion Process:Professional Learning

1. What common themes did you hear across the project activities?

a. Successesb. Ongoing challenges/needs

2. What are the connections of what you’ve heard for the ongoing work in your partnership?

Specific Transition Courses

SREB transition courses

Expository Reading & Writing Course (CSU)

Dana Center Senior Year Capstone Course (AQR/AMDM)

Project TIME, Green River (TMP)(Detailed resources available at TMP site)

ERWC Course (CSU) Module Examples1st Semester• Rhetoric of the Op-Ed Page: What are

ethos, pathos, and logos, and how can we use these concepts to persuade others?

• Racial Profiling: Are racial and ethnic profiling real? What, if anything, do they accomplish? What should we do?

• Into the Wild (Book module): Why would a young man attempt a perilous, solo Alaskan adventure that leads to death? (Nonfiction)

2nd Semester• Language, Gender, and

Culture: How do gender and culture affect what we say and how we say it?

• Left Hand of Darkness (Book module): What if different types of humans lived on different planets within one galaxy?

• Bullying at School (Research project): How can students create and present a school Code of Conduct that deals with bullying?

Structured Discussion Process:Curricular Collaborations

1. What stands out to you about the work and/or resources described?

2. What questions do you have about the work and/or resources described?

3. What common themes/connections did you hear across the project activities?

4. What are the implications for the ongoing work in your partnership?

College Content-Readiness Policy

What is Content Readiness?English Language Arts/Literacy

Students who perform at the College Content-Ready level in English language arts/literacy demonstrate reading, writing, listening, and research skills necessary for introductory courses in a variety of disciplines. They also demonstrate subject-area knowledge and skills associated with readiness for entry-level, transferable, credit-bearing English and composition courses.

Mathematics Students who perform at the College Content-Ready level in mathematics demonstrate foundational mathematical knowledge and quantitative reasoning skills necessary for introductory courses in a variety of disciplines. They also demonstrate subject-area knowledge and skills associated with readiness for entry-level, transferable, credit-bearing mathematics and statistics courses.

Policy Framework for Grade 11 Assessment Results

• Not Yet Content-Ready - Substantial Support Needed• K-12 & higher education may offer interventionsLevel 1• Not Yet Content-Ready – Support Needed• Transition courses or other supports for Grade 12, retesting

option for statesLevel 2• Conditionally Content-Ready/Exempt from Developmental • In each state, K-12 and higher ed must jointly develop Grade

12 requirements for students to earn exemptionLevel 3

• Content-Ready/Exempt from Developmental• K-12 and higher education may jointly set Grade 12

requirements to retain exemption (optional for states)Level 4

Note: Applies only to students who matriculate directly from high school to college.

Core to College Smarter Balanced

Timetable

System policy work group (Fall 2013-Winter 2014)

Cross-sector summit gathering (~Fall 2014)

Confirm SB participation commitment (Fall 2014- January 2015)

Develop specific

proposal for SB use in higher

education

Review and endorse proposal

Explore local school/ college

partnerships

System group and institutional review (Spring 2014)

Placement Process for HS Students?

Key System Decisions re Smarter Balanced Assessment

For students scoring at level 4 on the 11th grade assessment?

For students scoring at level 3 on the 11th grade assessment? For students scoring below “college-ready” on the 11th grade assessment?

Other Key General Decisions to Address?

Other Questions to Address• Connection to multiple measures for placement, especially

use of transcript-based placement?

• Mechanisms for score reporting and cross-sector data sharing?

• Higher education engagement in cut-score setting process for the 11th grade assessment?

• Validation research for higher education purposes/needs?

• 12th grade “Launch Year” opportunities?

Structured Discussion Process:Placement Processes

1. What stands out to you about the work and/or resources described?

2. What questions do you have about the work and/or resources described?

3. What’s your immediate response to the key decisions to be made and the questions to address? What else would you need to know to make these decisions?

4. What are the implications for the ongoing work in your partnership?