Author Archives: Aaron Grossman

Unknown's avatar

About Aaron Grossman

I am a 5th grade teacher at Roy Gomm Elementary in Reno, Nevada. I started working with elementary students as part of the Montana Reads program and AmeriCorps. In 2001, after graduating from the University of Montana and moving to Reno, Nevada, I student taught at Rita Cannan Elementary before receiving a 6th grade position at Veterans Elementary. I moved out of the classroom to be a Literacy Coordinator, then an Instructional Coach, and finally a School Improvement Program Coordinator. In 2011, I began working on the Nevada Academic Content Standards in the district’s Curriculum & Instruction Department. I returned to the classroom for the 2015-2016 school year to teach 4th grade at Huffaker Elementary. Before returning to the classroom, I helped develop the Core Task Project that has been featured by National Public Radio, the Gates Foundation, American Radio Works, Eduwonk, the Fordham Institute, Vox, and the Center for American Progress. In 2014, I received the Leader to Learn From Award for my teacher-centered initiative and work to bring college, career, and civics ready outcomes into Northern Nevada classrooms (here). In 2015, I was appointed by Governor Sandoval serve on the Statewide RPDP Council. The same year, Nevada’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Canavero placed me on the state’s State Improvement Team. This year I will be part of the National Council on Teacher Quality’s Teacher Advisory Group. I am Google Certified Educator and a Nevada Teacher Ambassador. I believe strongly that teaching content is teaching reading and I make sure my students have ample opportunities to work with social studies, history, science and art outcomes. I do what I can to blend the learning for my students and this blog is part of that effort. You can contact me at coretaskproject@gmail.com

Ughh. We have a “Bug”

Many of you have been trying unsuccessfully to join the Edmodo group that houses the August 8th Professional Development sessions. This, as Edmodo has let us know, is because of a “bug” on their end which makes it impossible for … Continue reading

Posted in Basal Alignment Project, SBAC, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Toolkits and Guides for the CCSS

The current issue of Implementing the Common Core Standards (ICCS) features the TOOLKIT for Evaluating Alignment of Instructional and Assessment Materials to the Common Core State Standards developed by Student Achievement Partners and the CCSSO. The purpose of the document, … Continue reading

Posted in CCSSO, Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

August 2nd A&S Meeting Materials

The Instructional Practice Guides were included in the August 2nd Administrative and Supervisory meeting. For the 400 in attendance, work centered on learning the context and basic construct of the guides before engaging in an application piece. You can download … Continue reading

Posted in Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Favorite ELA CCSS Resources’

Rebecca Eastland has created a list of “Favorite ELA CCSS Resources” that include links to helpful sites, information that supports close reading, this blog (thank you!) and other free materials. Eastland’s list can be found here.

Posted in Close Reading, Core Task Project | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Site Leads Prepare for August 8th

On August 8th, Washoe will launch its K-6 CCSS professional development calendar with a day devoted to literacy outcomes.  Site leads worked with personnel from Curriculum & Instruction to preview “sessions” (here) and get a basic feel for the structure … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lake Charles, LA Materials

Elements of the Core Task Project were shared in Lake Charles, Louisiana this week. The elementary (here) and secondary (here) PowerPoints include links to the video and the toolkits from NASSP, NAESP, NEA, and NASBE. The Instructional Practice Guides (aka … Continue reading

Posted in Core Task Project | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

K-2 Creating Aligned Materials Opportunity!

If you participate in the Basal Alignment Project Edmodo group, you may have seen the following post by Meredith Liben of Student Achievement Partners. If you did not, it is worth reading the announcement below. The Read-aloud Alignment Project (RAP) … Continue reading

Posted in Basal Alignment Project, Read-aloud Alignment Project, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CCSS “Aligned” Materials

Edweek reports on publishers sharing “aligned” resources with educational consumers. Catherine Gewertz describes several of these materials to demonstrate that some of these “alignments” deserve our skepticism. You can read the entire article here. Washoe is using of the Tri-State … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core State Standards | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

NEW Instructional Practice Guides (aka Evidence Guides)

The Evidence Guides, which were shared as part of the inservice course Advancing Literacy Practice with the Core, have been updated by Student Achievement Partners and are now called the CCSS Instructional Practice Guides. The guides remain in grade level … Continue reading

Posted in Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Common Core Test Costs

EdWeek reports on what it will costs states, per student, to administer their exams in ELA and math. For PARCC, this works out to be $29.50 per student and for SBAC, $22.50 per student. For an additional $4.80 per student, … Continue reading

Posted in SBAC | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment