Category Archives: Student Achievement Partners

Close Reading—Six Months Later (Core Shifts Blast 13)

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Core Shifts Blast 13 focuses on close reading and what the district and the Curriculum & Instruction Department have learned over the last six months. Kim Price, a Common Core Champion and 4th grade teacher at Echo Loder Elementary, shares … Continue reading →

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Complex Text, Core Shifts Blast, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged Core Knowledge, Echo Loder Elementary, Fisher, Harvard, iteachicoachiblog, Kim Price, Student Achievement Partners, Torrey Palmer | Leave a comment

Reflecting on the Anthology Alignment Project

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Cristal Cisneros, the SIOP and Curriculum Implementation Specialist at Dilworth STEM Academy, shares her experience with the Anthology Alignment Project (AAP). The AAP is a collaborative effort, across districts, to align grade 6-10 anthologies in a manner similar to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Basal Alignment Project, Common Core State Standards, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged AAP, Anthology Alignment Project, CCSS, Cristal Cisneros, Dilworth, Washoe County School District | Leave a comment

Evidence Guides for CCSS Implementation

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

At the April 19th Administrative and Supervisory Meeting, district leaders explored the CCSS Guides for Planning and Practice. Developed by Student Achievement Partners, the guides aim “to provide concrete examples of what the Common Core State Standards for English Language … Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Core Task Project, Informational Text, Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners, Text-Dependent Questions, Writing to Sources | Tagged CCSS, Danielson Group, Evidence Guides, instructional shifts, Student Achievement Partners | 3 Comments

School Psychologists Review Shift 1

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

School district psychologist learned more about the “instructional shifts” with specific attention to shift 1—building a coherent body of knowledge with rich non-fiction text. The videos, which included a review of a MetaMetrics study and a presentation by Robert Pondiscio, … Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Content Knowledge, Instructional Shifts, NEA, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged CCSS, Cohesive body of knowledge, Common Core State Standards, informational text, Robert Pondiscio, shift 1 | Leave a comment

The Rise of Open Educational Resources

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

The Hechinger Report posted the following piece (here) on Open Educational Resources. They highlight national efforts including a number of items matched to the Common Core State Standards. Of note is this: In Wiley’s home state, 30 teachers and 6000 … Continue reading →

Posted in Basal Alignment Project, Common Core State Standards, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged America Achieves, BAP, Basal Alignment Project, Student Achievement Partners | Leave a comment

Publisher’s Criteria Webinar

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

The Council of Great City School and Student Achievement Partners hosted a webinar describing the Common Core State Standards Publisher’s Criteria (here). You can download the criteria for K-2 here and for 3-12 here. The webinar highlights key features of … Continue reading →

Posted in CCSS, Common Core State Standards, Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged Amy Briggs, CCSS, Common Core, Council of Great City Schools, Karen Vaites, publisher's criteria, Student Achievement Partners, webinar | Leave a comment

Complex Text: It’s Complicated

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Laura Varlas shares a piece for Education Update on the importance of text complexity and strategies for accessing standard 10 (here). She underscores the importance of keeping instruction anchored in the text with these notes: Instructional time: Complex texts take time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Complex Text, Student Achievement Partners, text complexity | Tagged Complex Text, education update, Laura Varlas, Liben, text-to-self, Wiggins | 1 Comment

CTP Inservice Course Offered

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

If you are interested in participating in the Core Task Project, you can earn one half-credit by taking advantage of a spring version of the course. The inservice CTP takes place over 2 four-hour sessions on May 9th and May … Continue reading →

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Core Task Project, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged Core Task Project, course, credit, CTP, inservice, Jody Westmont, K-6, Kim Price | Leave a comment

What are Districts doing to Implement the CCSS?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

In August, WestEd cosponsored a conference on the Common Core State Standards. You can access video of presentations by Linda Darling-Hammond, David Liben, Bill Honig, and Kenji Kakuta here. A report, following the conference, was just released that describes what … Continue reading →

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Core Task Project, Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged Bill Honig, CCSS, Common Core State Standards, David Liben, instructional shifts, Kenji Kakuta, Linda Darling-Hammond, WestEd | Leave a comment

Contra Costa Trains on the CTP

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

The Contra Costa County Office of Education sponsored a training on the Core Task Project to assist with refining and aligning instruction to the Core. Close to 100 educators, from the region, gathered to move through the first day of … Continue reading →

Posted in CCSS, Close Reading, Core Task Project, Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged 3rd grade, 5th grade, CCSS, Close Reading Exemplar, Common Core State Standards, Contra Costa, Core Task Project, instructional shifts | Leave a comment