Maybe it's not the CCSS

Many have lamented the affect of the standardized assessments, especially for those students who are behind, learn differently, and those who have distractions and limitations that keep them from achieving as well as their age and grade peers. (Jill Berkowicz and Ann Myers at Education Week)

The above comes from a piece about the Common Core State Standards at Education Week. To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.  

Assignments Matter Task Jam Workshop

All Red River Valley Writing Project Teacher Consultants and colleagues are invited to an Assignments Matter Task Jam Workshop on Saturday, January 24, 2015, from 8:30-3:30 at the Probstfield Center for Education, 2410 14th St. S., Moorhead, MN, facilitated by RRVWP TC Karen Taylor, ELA teacher at Horizon Middle School in Moorhead, MN.

Assignments Matter is a collaborative, knowledge-building and sharing experience that supports teachers in creating effective writing prompts for grades 6-12 across the curriculum based on the understanding that meaningful classroom tasks create powerful student results. At the Assignments Matter Task Jam Workshop, participants will be introduced to a framework for developing assignment prompts that are clear, concise, and connected with the Common Core State Standards.  Participants will generate and discuss classroom writing prompts paying particular attention to key concepts in the areas of reading, writing, synthesizing, and the application of content from all academic areas. Participants will also learn how developing effective prompts directly connected with the CCSS makes it easier to grade student work and how data from such assignments can help refine their teaching approaches. 

There is no charge for this workshop, but participation will be limited to the first 25 people who register.  Online registration needs to be completed by Wednesday, January 21. Those attending will receive a certificate of participation for five clock hours.

For more information about this opportunity, please see the listserv post or contact Karen Taylor at <ktaylor[at]moorheadschools[dot]org>.

CCSS working well

It hasn't been a good year for the Common Core.

Onetime Common Core allies ranging from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, have backed away from the initiative. Public support is dropping, and even Common Core supporters acknowledge it's become a politically toxic brand.

But one state has become a Common Core poster child: Kentucky. ( Libby Nelson at Vox)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text. 

Check out our 2014 summer workshops!

Below is a list of summer workshops offered by the Red River Valley Writing Project. This information is also available if you click the "Summer Workshops" at the right side of the blog.

2014 Intensive Institute in Fargo: Common Core and More 

Preinstitute May 16-17; Institute July 8-17, NDSU Campus

The intensive summer institute offers a place to read and discuss ideas about teaching writing and using writing to teach—plus time to write. Readings include common and grade-specific selections to meet the needs and interests of all teachers participating in the institute. Teachers also share best teaching practices through hands-on teaching demonstrations and explore the teaching of writing by writing. Participants receive a stipend to reimburse the cost of tuition for the institute. They also receive books and a supportive community of fellow teachers. Institute fellows are eligible for graduate credits through NDSU. Teachers of any subject, at any grade level, may apply. The 2014 Summer Institute is funded through a SEED Leadership Grant.

2014 Open Institute in Fargo: Build Your Argument Toolkit--Rhetoric in the K12 Classroom 

July 22 and 23, 8:30 - 4:30, NDSU Campus, one credit

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts place tremendous emphasis on the “evidence-based argument,” but there’s a more important word buried (and sometimes misdefined) in the standards: “rhetoric.” “Rhetoric,” in the classic sense, is the study of persuasion, and it’s difficult to teach students to read or write arguments without it. It encompasses everything from coming up with sound claims to the selection of evidence to audience analysis to persuasive techniques to word choice. This mini-institute is designed to give K12 teachers an introductory course in classical to contemporary rhetoric, so that we might select useful ideas, terms, and techniques for our students and our teaching. Participants are eligible for one continuing education credit through NDSU.

2014 Open Institute in Grand Forks: Narrative Writing and the Physical World

July 28 - 31, 8:00 - 4:30, UND campus, two credits

Participants will explore what narrative writing entails and learn how the physical surroundings in a story can help propel the action forward and create more authentic characters and dialogue. Participants will read, analyze, and discuss model narratives and actively engage in writing, revising, and sharing their own narratives. Participants will also discuss applications of new learnings to classroom practice. Designed for educators K-16.

The debate over CCSS continues

TWO RECENT media dust-ups over Common Core State Standards have underscored just how arrogant and out of touch its cheerleaders are--and just how confusing it can be to navigate the political opposition to these new education standards.

Common Core State Standards set new guidelines for what students should know in English language arts and math. With next-to-no input from actual educators, the standards have been adopted by 45 states and four U.S territories (including the District of Columbia) as of this writing.  (Jeff Bale at SocialistWorker.org)

Remedying CCSS nervousness

State education leaders are moving to calm political tempests over the Common Core State Standards by adopting or reaffirming policies aimed at asserting local control over data, curriculum, and materials. But the classroom-level impact of those moves could be negligible as states forge ahead on common-core implementation. (Andrew Ujifusa at Education Week)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Yes....the CCSS have people talking

It's no secret that there has been plenty of heated debate about the Common Core State Standards. Supporters say we need the standards to strengthen our workforce. Opponents contend that control over educational expectations should rest with local school boards and teachers, causing some lawmakers to back away from the standards. In May, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed legislation delaying common-core implementation in his state; funding for the standards has stalled in Michigan; and bills scrapping the common core are pending in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. (Thomas Toch at Education Week)

The fight for the CCSS

Representatives of major corporations today urged their peers in the business community to take up the fight to defend the Common Core State Standards—and warned them to steel themselves for opposition from some quarters, and apathy from others.

At an education forum held by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at its headquarters, leaders from Intel Corp., Cisco Systems, and the ExxonMobil Foundation described their efforts to promote the standards through different strategies, including coast-to-coast advertising campaigns and outreach to company employees and parents in the overall community. That salesmanship will continue over the coming months, they said. (Sean Cavanagh in an updated piece at Education Week)

Will the CCSS improve education?

Ever since the release of A Nation at Risk, in 1983, the government report issued by Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education, which warned of the threat posed by the declining academic performance of American students, the United States has been in a period of perpetual education “reform.” Education policy has been characterized by a series of sweeping initiatives that politicians claim will transform our schools and propel our children from mediocrity to the top of the heap in academic performance. (Pedro Noguera at the Nation)

To read more, click on the above hyperlinked text.
No: The beginning of the excerpt won't hyperlink even though it should. :(

Primary source resources

The Common Core Learning Standards describe the importance of teaching students how to comprehend informational text. They are asked to read closely, make inferences, cite evidence, analyze arguments and interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text. Primary source documents are artifacts created by individuals during a particular period in history. This could be a letter, speech, photograph or journal entry. If you're looking to integrate social studies into your literacy block, try out one of these resources for primary source documents. (Monica Burns at Edutopia)

Integrating technology to help students learn math CCSS

Aligning instruction to meet the Common Core State Standards is the new norm for educators across most of the United States. In the middle school math classroom, technology can be used to help students reach mastery of these Common Core skills. Let's take a look at a sixth grade geometry standard and how, using technology, teachers can promote engagement through student-centered exploration of this skill. (Monica Burns at Edutopia)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text. 

Smarter Balanced tests and students who are not yet proficient in English

The Smarter Balanced states that are designing common-core assessments have agreed to a series of testing supports for students that include native language translations of test directions and test items in mathematics for students who are not yet proficient in English.

But not every English-learner in the 25 states that make up the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium will have access to the range of available language supports. Member states with laws and regulations that restrict or prohibit the use of languages other than English to teach or assess ELLs do not have to offer such translation options for test takers. (Lesli A. Maxwell at Education Week)

Calculator use and CCSS assessments

Although calculators have not figured prominently in discussions of the common-core math standards, it's likely the complementary tests will result in far greater uniformity in their use on state exams across the nation. Policies emerging from the two state consortia developing common-core assessments would prohibit most students from using calculators on the grades 3-5 tests, for example. At grades 6 and above, they call for calculator "on" and "off" sections and set restrictions on what functionality is allowed. (Both consortia will provide online calculators for the computer-based tests.) (Erik W. Robelen at Education Week)

Report on CCSS available from the Alliance for Excellent Education

While forty-six states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), approximately two-thirds of Americans say they have never heard of them, according to results released on August 21 from the PDK/Gallup Poll.

To better inform the public about the standards while also addressing the many misimpressions surrounding them, the Alliance released a new report, Common Core State Standards 101, that examines how the CCSS initiative came about, what role the federal government did-and did not-play in their adoption, and how to ensure that the standards deliver on their promise to fundamentally improve the quality of teaching and learning in the United States. (from the Alliance for Excellent Education)

To read more, click on the above hyperlinked text. From there, you'll find a link to the report.

How might the CCSS influence standardized tests results?

The release of New York state test scores showing steep plunges in mathematics and English/language arts proficiency from last year has state officials and educators grappling with the growing influence of the common core on standardized-test performance.

Education officials in the Empire State say this year’s scores, released Aug. 7, on tests aligned for the first time to the Common Core State Standards, give schools a more accurate and honest picture of whether students are being adequately prepared for both postsecondary studies and the labor market. (Andrew Usifuja at Education Week)

Open institute on narrative and the CCSS July 22-25 at UND

The Common Core English Language Arts Standards separates writing into three text types: narrative, informative/explanatory, and argument. Narrative may seem the simplest of these, but when we dig into the standards a bit, we see that this type of writing is quite complex. This open institute focuses on the skills and strategies required to construct a variety of narrative texts, and explores the potential of narrative writing to address Common Core language standards, as well.

Strategies: Using the National Writing Project model for teacher development, this open institute relies on teacher writing, reading and discussion, teaching demonstrations, and activities that promote reflective practice and re-design of teaching strategies.

To learn more and to register, click the above hyperlinked text. 

Accountability and upcoming assessments

With the debut of common assessments less than two years away, states and districts are worried about the accountability systems that hinge on those tests. A growing chorus of policy groups is urging more flexibility in how states evaluate teachers, label schools, and enforce other high-stakes consequences during what's likely to be a messy transition. (Michele McNeil and Catherine Gewertz at Education Week)

CCSS could 'disrupt' and 'transform' teaching and curriculum

Educators across the country are facing the challenge of revising their curriculum to meet the demands of the Common Core State Standards. A broader, related challenge involves the changing information landscape and the necessity of preparing students with 21st Century skills. Many educators are attempting to meet this challenge by incorporating the new standards into existing programs and practices. However, we would argue that the Common Core State Standards, coupled with the necessity to develop 21st Century skills, represent an opportunity to disrupt and transform existing instructional practices and ways of thinking about curriculum. (Meg Petersen and Megan Birch at the National Writing Project website)

One way to think about the Common Core

The common core can and should serve as a unique transformational opportunity for our nation’s teaching and learning systems. Educators who leverage these standards to teach and assess such competencies as critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration will lead the way to postsecondary and career success for more students. (Ken Kay and Bob Lenz at Education Week)

CCSS and curiosity

Planned a great lesson? Excited to teach the content because you know what you've planned will excite students and they will learn? Ever planned a lesson like that and then wondered what went wrong? We all have. We have all been there. But there are three keys to avoiding that. No guarantees -- sometimes a lesson just flops. But we can be strategic in including at least one of the following keys to avoid the lesson that just doesn't motivate our students. (Karen Lea at Edutopia)