SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

BUSINESS LEADS CONFERENCE

Overview of the Initiative

State-led and developed common core standards for K-12 in English/ language arts and mathematics

Initiative of the National Governors Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)

Standards are the starting point.

Why is This Important for Students, Teachers, and Parents?

Prepares students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and work

Ensures consistent expectations regardless of a student’s zip code

Provides educators, parents, and students with clear, focused guideposts

Offers economies of scale

Features of the standards Aligned with college and work expectations

Focused and coherent

Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills

Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards

Internationally benchmarked

Based on evidence and research, including work readiness data from: U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*Net) – Zone 3 jobs ACT job profile and workforce and educational assessment information Employer survey data gathered by the American Diploma Project (ADP)/National Alliance of Business (NAB) and

by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and its partner organizations The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Research on student preparation for the twenty-first century conducted by Professor Richard Murnane of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and Professor Frank Levy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) research Essential Knowledge and Skill Statements from the Career Cluster Initiative And others….

Standards Development Process

College- and career-readiness standards for English/language arts and mathematics developed summer of 2009

Based on the college and career readiness standards, K-12 learning progressions developed

Multiple rounds of feedback from states, teachers, researchers, higher education, and the general public

Final standards released on June 2, 2010

STANDARDS FOR

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA)

&

LITERACY IN HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES, SCIENCE, AND TECHNICAL SUBJECTS

Design and Organization

Three main sections K−5 (cross-disciplinary) 6−12 English Language Arts 6−12 Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and

Technical Subjects

Shared responsibility for students’ literacy development

Three appendicesA: Research and evidence; glossary of key terms

B: Reading text exemplars; sample performance tasks

C: Annotated student writing samples

Design and Organization

Four strandsReading (including Reading Foundational

Skills)WritingSpeaking and ListeningLanguage

An integrated model of literacy

Media requirements blended throughout

ELA Key Advances

ReadingBalance of literature and informational

textsText complexity

WritingEmphasis on argument and informative/

explanatory writingWriting about sources

ELA Key Advances

Speaking and Listening Inclusion of formal and informal talk

Language Stress on general academic and domain-specific vocabulary

Standards for reading and writing in history/

social studies, science, and technical subjects Complement rather than replace content standards

in those subjects Responsibility of teachers in those subjects

Workforce Readiness

The ELA standards reflect workforce requirements in a number of important ways, including:

Emphasize the need to read, analyze, integrate, and communicate clearly about complex information.

Stress the use of evidence and sound reasoning, a crucial aspect of critical thinking and problem solving.

Focus on research—including the sort of short, focused research useful in producing a memo or a report—as a tool for building and conveying knowledge.

Promote the development of the oral communication, teamwork, and collaboration skills necessary in workplace settings, where employees often must speak and interact with people from different backgrounds.

Insist on precise, clear language use, which is essential for effective communication.

Recognize that skills in producing and using media are a vital part of workforce readiness.

Intentional Design Limitations

What the Standards do NOT define: How teachers should teach All that can or should be taught The nature of advanced work beyond the core The interventions needed for students well below

grade level The full range of support for English language

learners and students with special needs Everything needed to be college- and career-ready

MATHEMATICS

STANDARDS

Design and Organization

Standards for Mathematical Practice Carry across all grade levels Describe habits of mind of a mathematically expert student

Standards for Mathematical Content K-8 standards presented by grade level Organized into domains that progress over several grades Grade introductions give 2–4 focal points at each grade level High school standards presented by conceptual theme

(Number & Quantity, Algebra, Functions, Modeling, Geometry, Statistics & Probability)

Math Key Advances

Focus and coherence Focus on key topics at each grade level. Coherent progressions across grade levels.

Balance of concepts and skills Content standards require both conceptual understanding

and procedural fluency.

Mathematical practices Foster reasoning and sense-making in mathematics.

College and career readiness Level is ambitious but achievable.

Math Key Advances

Focus in early grades on number (arithmetic and operations) to build a solid foundation in math

Evened out pace across the gradesHigh school math focus on using math and solving

complex problems, similar to what would see in the real world

Problem-solving and communication emphasized

Workforce Readiness

The math standards reflect workforce requirements in a number of important ways, including:Overall design

• Math is most useful for work if it is “in your back pocket” to be used when necessary – used on your feet, whether it’s on the shop floor or in the conference room.

• Therefore, focus in the early grades is on building fluency and confidence with fundamental skills, especially arithmetic, mental math, and proportional reasoning.

High school• Emphasis on Modeling to build on those foundations to

improve students’ ability to apply math to non-textbook problems.

Adoption & Implementation

State adoption to date

Arkansas Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Illinois Indiana

Iowa Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Mississippi Missouri New Hampshire New Jersey North Carolina New York

Nevada Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee Utah Vermont Washington (provisional) West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

As of September 20th, 36 states and DC have adopted the Common Core State Standards:

Key Issues

Effective implementationImportance of aligned assessmentsResults of Race to the Top grantsContinued state leadership of standards and

assessmentsPolitics/Elections

NGA & CCSSO Implementation Efforts

Implementation guideSupporting states' implementation

effortsFuture governanceCCSSO Accountability Taskforce and

Implementing the Common Core SCASS

How Can Business Leaders Help Support the Common Core?

Advocate for the importance of college and career readiness standards

Support Common Core implementation

Verify the career readiness elements of the standards for future iterations

www.corestandards.org