College and Career-Ready Standards for School Leaders

By Stephen Krashen

At first glance, the assessments now being developed to accompany the Common Core State Standards do not appear to be much more than we already have, at least in terms of subject-matter covered and grade level.

Via The Digital Shift

A librarian’s ability to find quality texts, like all good magic acts, blends art and science to amaze the audience. We can accomplish things with Google and databases that exceed the ability of the average user. But should we keep this magic to ourselves?

"States must move forward with the Common Core, and that business must be a key champion for the effort, especially when the going gets tough."

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush captured the scale of the challenge when he told the gathering on the first morning that states are heading for a “train wreck.” He noted that when the new standards and assessments come fully online in 2014-15 that many communities, schools and families are in for a rude awakening.

Governor Bush said that the more rigorous Common Core standards, if backed up by equally rigorous assessments, will show that only one in three children in America would qualify as college or career ready. Bush warned that such bluntness about the poor health of American education and student achievement will trigger serious political backtracking. He said, “My guess is there’s going to be a lot of people running for cover and they’re going to be running fast.”

1. The more energy (working memory) students use for procedures, the less energy (working memory) they have for problem solving.
2. And the less energy (working memory) they have for problem solving, the less likely they are to gain conceptual understanding.
3. A lack of procedural fluency can therefore contribute to a lack of conceptual understanding.

By Catherine Gewertz

1. Lack of teacher capacity

2. Few people understand the key instructional shifts required

3. School Culture: some kids still held to higher expectations than others

4. The need for the development of aligned curriculum

5. Scope of the change

By Paige Kowalski, Data Quality Campaign

"Without high-quality and comparable student AND teacher data, policymakers will not have the information they need to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement."

I’m all about cooperative learning. As research has proven students tend to learn best by teaching others, experiencing, and discussing.

The cooperative learning advocate in me believes that creating opportunities for our students to work together will be a key to succeeding with the Common Core.

I have begun creating card packs for a strategy that I'm calling Fix-It. Students have to think a bit deeper by finding incorrect answers and then fixing what is wrong.

You can find out more about the strategy and download the new freebie HERE

Curator's Note: The change history of many teachers will get in the way of effective implementation of the Common Core State Standards.

Paying attention to the following big issues will help make this effort more successful:

1. Extensive and ongoing professional development, well in advance of expected implementation.
2. Sharing best practices across district and state lines
3. Access to fully aligned classroom materials, provided by school districts
4. Err on the side of moving slower