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    Sreb Ccss Position May 2013

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    lps2001
    The document summarizes the key aspects and benefits of the Common Core State Standards. It discusses how the standards establish clear expectations for student learning, focus on higher-order skills like critical thinking, and facilitate real-world applications of knowledge through project-based learning experiences like a water quality study conducted by 8th grade students. The standards require students to concentrate more on reading, writing, and applying content knowledge across different subject areas in order to prepare for college and careers.

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    Sreb Ccss Position May 2013

    Uploaded by

    lps2001
    828 views2 pages
    The document summarizes the key aspects and benefits of the Common Core State Standards. It discusses how the standards establish clear expectations for student learning, focus on higher-order skills like critical thinking, and facilitate real-world applications of knowledge through project-based learning experiences like a water quality study conducted by 8th grade students. The standards require students to concentrate more on reading, writing, and applying content knowledge across different subject areas in order to prepare for college and careers.

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    The document summarizes the key aspects and benefits of the Common Core State Standards. It discusses how the standards establish clear expectations for student learning, focus on higher-order skills like critical thinking, and facilitate real-world applications of knowledge through project-based learning experiences like a water quality study conducted by 8th grade students. The standards require students to concentrate more on reading, writing, and applying content knowledge across different subject areas in order to prepare for college and careers.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    828 views2 pages

    Sreb Ccss Position May 2013

    Uploaded by

    lps2001
    The document summarizes the key aspects and benefits of the Common Core State Standards. It discusses how the standards establish clear expectations for student learning, focus on higher-order skills like critical thinking, and facilitate real-world applications of knowledge through project-based learning experiences like a water quality study conducted by 8th grade students. The standards require students to concentrate more on reading, writing, and applying content knowledge across different subject areas in order to prepare for college and careers.

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    May, 2013

    Standards are not the curriculum. Standards define what students should know and be able to do serving as a guideline in the development of curriculum. A curriculum, on the other hand, is developed by teachers and guides the actual teaching and learning processes that take place in classrooms across the state and nation. The Common Core State Standards lay out the expectations for what knowledge and skills students need, grade by grade and subject by subject, in English language arts and mathematics. They are the product of a state-led initiative between the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. They reflect a common interest in having consistent standards across the states to ensure that all students graduate from high school no matter their ZIP code prepared to succeed in whatever endeavors they pursue. The Southern Regional Education Board supports the Common Core State Standards for three reasons. 1. High expectations. The CCSS raise the bar on previous state standards by focusing on what students need to know, grade by grade, so they are ready for a wide range of good paying career options when they graduate from high school many of which will require that students pass an industry exam or earn an industry certification or two-year degree. 2. Clear goals for students. The consistent and specific standards framework helps states ensure that public school students are prepared for the future when they leave high school, no matter where they live or go to school. 3. Increased focus on the classroom. Adopting a common set of standards means that states can focus their resources and efforts on supporting schools as they teach students. In doing so, states can provide teachers with professional training that will help them teach students to think creatively and critically across subjects and grade levels. This kind of high-quality professional development can ensure students academic success from prekindergarten through high school and postsecondary education and into the workforce. The CCSS English language arts standards raise the bar by emphasizing that students learn to read and comprehend text effectively in individual subject areas. Because of the emphasis on reading and literacy within the disciplines, the Common Core State Standards bring greater strength to social studies and the sciences and ensure that teachers in other disciplines focus on reading and writing to build knowledge within their subject areas. The standards focus on mastering complex texts to ensure that schools prepare students to read, write and research in all subjects, including history and the sciences. The CCSS mathematics standards reflect the need for a math curriculum that is focused on raising student achievement by preparing students to understand and apply math skills. The math standards stress not only procedural skill (how to manipulate the numbers to solve a problem) but also conceptual understanding (what it all means) to make sure students are learning and thinking critically so they can succeed at higher levels in math and in other subjects that require mathematical thinking. The high school math standards call on students to practice applying mathematical ways of thinking on realworld issues and challenges a critical need in the rapidly evolving and technological job market. Changing How Teachers Teach and Students Learn In Georgia, the transition from Georgia Performance Standards to Common Core State Standards requires students to concentrate more on reading and writing as a way to learn and apply content knowledge in science, social studies and English language arts and math. A social studies teacher at Kendrick High School in Columbus, Georgia, believes that this switch has enabled her students to think critically and discuss various texts we read and study for each unit.

    In addition, a teacher at Stewart County High School in Lumpkin, Georgia believes that the standards have changed the way we teach, the way our students learn, and the way our classroom looks each day. The ability to understand and apply math concepts is as important for students as the ability to use the right procedures to get to the correct solution. The CCSS addresses the need for this balance by stressing both conceptual understanding and procedural skill to ensure that students are learning the critical information they need and are applying math to succeed. It does not make sense for students to learn the steps and procedures for a system of equations if they are not able to recognize and apply the process to authentic tasks like they will in future careers: Hospital clinical engineers must calculate the return on investment point prior to purchasing an advanced imaging machine, and HVAC technicians must use a series of air flow equations related to ventilation systems to determine the appropriate diameter of pipe to use.

    The Standards Facilitate Real-World Learning Last fall, eighth graders from Henry County Middle School (HCMS) in New Castle, Kentucky were reacting in noisy disgust to the pollutants found in their countys water supply. Students were conducting field research to determine water quality of the Little Kentucky River, and then wrote articles about their findings for the county newspaper. The field trip was the culmination of a month-long study of watershed ecology taught by Larisa McKinney. McKinney has always taught the water unit, but expanded it this year as a result, in part, of training she received in her Common Core professional training. The standards and training pushed her to incorporate more research-based reading and writing into her class assignments. Within the context of the CCSS, students were required to answer a critical question: How do the choices we make in our daily lives impact water quality locally and globally? Students spent more than two weeks in class learning the science involved in answering the question. During that time, they learned the nitrogen cycles role in soil fertilization and macro-invertebrates found in water. They read complex texts that described several scientific tests they would be conducting during their field research. And, they learned to read topographic maps. On the day of the field research at the county waste water treatment plant, eighth-grade faculty members from the school manned information stations that were directly related to the class units learning outcomes. Every student was assigned to a group. Each group conducted nine different water quality tests and analyzed their results:

    A math teacher guided students as they measured stream velocity. A math teacher coached students in charting slope gradient. A social studies teacher conducted a discussion and writing activity on the Clean Water Act. A language arts teacher worked with students to help them select and begin reading/annotating research articles on various factors (ecology, politics, and culture) which impact local and global water quality. One staff member lead students through the plants water treatment lagoon, while another helped students compare their water test findings with expert findings from the Beckmar Environmental Laboratory.

    Students spent the next week reading relevant research and then wrote articles several of which were published for the local newspaper that examined the causes of poor water quality and explain the effect(s) of land and water use decisions. The editor of the local newspaper came to the class and provided feedback on students written drafts. Later on, the editor even wrote an editorial that accompanied the articles written by the students in the class.*

    *More information on the unit lesson and field research can be found at www.8thgradesciencehcms.weebly.com.

    Southern Regional Education Board | 592 Tenth St., N.W. Atlanta, GA 30318 | (404) 875-9211

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