Culture at the Core Sandra Alberti Student Achievement

Culture at the Core Sandra Alberti Student Achievement Partners December 9. 2014 @salberti

Our Plan • Context: Why are we doing this? • Content: What is this? • Implications: What is our contribution? • Q and A PAGE 2

Why are we doing this? We have had standards. Before Common Core State Standards we had standards, but rarely did we have standards-based instruction. ü ü Long lists of broad, vague statements Mysterious assessments Coverage mentality Focused on teacher behaviors – “the inputs” PAGE 3

Results of a lot of hard work Previous state standards did not improve student achievement. ü ü Gaps in achievement, gaps in expectations NAEP results High school drop out issue College remediation issue This is about more than just working hard! PAGE 4

Principles of the CCSS Fewer - Clearer - Deeper • Aligned to requirements for college and career readiness • Based on evidence • Honest about time PAGE 5

Content: The Shifts

Mathematics: 3 shifts 1. Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus. PAGE 7

The shape of math in A+ countries Mathematics topics intended at each grade by at least two-thirds of A+ countries 1 Schmidt, Mathematics topics intended at each grade by at least twothirds of 21 U. S. states Houang, & Cogan, “A Coherent Curriculum: The Case of Mathematics. ” (2002). PAGE 8

Priorities in Mathematics Grade Focus Areas in Support of Rich Instruction and Expectations of Fluency and Conceptual Understanding K– 2 Addition and subtraction - concepts, skills, and problem solving and place value 3– 5 Multiplication and division of whole numbers and fractions – concepts, skills, and problem solving 6 7 8 Ratios and proportional reasoning; early expressions and equations Ratios and proportional reasoning; arithmetic of rational numbers Linear algebra and linear functions PAGE 9

Mathematics: 3 shifts 1. Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus. 2. Coherence: Think across grades, and link to major topics PAGE 10

Mathematics: 3 shifts 1. Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus. 2. Coherence: Think across grades, and link to major topics 3. Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application PAGE 11

Mathematical Practices 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. PAGE 12

ELA/Literacy: 3 shifts 1. Complexity: Regular practice with complex text (and its academic language) 2. Evidence: Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text PAGE 13

ELA/Literacy: 3 shifts 1. Complexity: Regular practice with complex text (and its academic language) 2. Evidence: Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text 3. Knowledge: Building knowledge through contentrich informational texts PAGE 14

Key Shifts Build Toward College and Career Readiness for All Students Engage with Complex Text Extract and Employ Evidence Build Knowledge PAGE 15

Our Contribution

“Real appreciation demands… We must begin by laying aside as completely as we can all our own preconceptions, interests and associations… We must use our eyes. We must look, and go on looking til we have certainly seen exactly what is there. We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of any art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. ” pgs. 18 -19 The difference between using art and receiving it. PAGE 17

Cultivating Wonder and Student Engagement …so much depends on a good question. A question invites students into a text or turns them away. A question provokes surprise or tedium. Some questions open up a text, and if followed, never let you see it the same way again. What are we doing that causes students to think? PAGE 18

Let’s start thinking about how our organizations strengthen and support students in meeting these expectations, rather than just viewing this as an alignment project. PAGE 19

Q&A Thank You! Sandra Alberti salberti@studentsachieve. net www. achievethecore. org Twitter: @salberti