Ughh. We have a “Bug”

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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 us to honor join requests. We have a solution as Edmodo resolves this, however, and you can join using this code: x532f4. If you unfamiliar with using a code to join a group, these directions might help.

You can join the 6th grade BAP group with this code: epgplm

You can join the Leading the Core group with this code: 0w8bfl

(The codes will expire in two weeks.)

 

 

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Toolkits and Guides for the CCSS

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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, as the toolkit describes, “is to catalyze the impact that the CCSS can have on student achievement by increasing the prevalence of CCSS-aligned, high-quality instructional and assessment materials.”

The table below highlights the tools within the toolkit. For district personnel, there are rubrics for evaluating resources to support teachers as they implement the CCSS. For teachers, the toolkit can assist with lesson and unit design.

Toolkit TableThe August 1st ICCS newsletter also directs readers to a CCSS guide for school counselors developed by American Counseling Association. The guide lists 10 things counselors need to know about the Core including why their efforts are “critical” to a site’s successful implementation of the CCSS.

The toolkit can be found here and the guide here.

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August 2nd A&S Meeting Materials

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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 the PowerPoint here and find the guides here.

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‘Favorite ELA CCSS Resources’

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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.

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Site Leads Prepare for August 8th

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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 of the day. August 8th will include a keynote, work with the Instructional Practice Guides, and content that is relevant and fits the focus on a school’s School Performance Plan.

Schools chose three sessions, from fifteen offerings, that were in keeping with a school’s goals. Each session explores items related to the instructional shifts and the Instructional Practice Guides The sessions are all self-contained and require no background before engaging in the content.

The sessions are diverse exploring the Basal Alignment Project; Social Emotional Learning; Formative Assessment; English Language Learners; Writing to Sources; Speaking and Listening; Building a Coherent Body of Knowledge; Interactive Notebooks; 5 Big Ideas within CCSS; SBAC; 21st Century Learning; Depth and Complexity Icons, and Text Complexity.  You can gain full access to the sessions by joining the August 8th Edmodo group here.

Training PowerPoint

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Lake Charles, LA Materials

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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 Evidence Guides) can be found at this post.

Instructional Shifts Handout

6=3 (crosswalk between the 6 shifts and 3 shifts)

Lazarus Close Reading Exemplar

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K-2 Creating Aligned Materials Opportunity!

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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) is launching in December.

We know many of you have been asking about K-2 BAP revisions and we have heard you! But we are not planning to do basal alignment work for K-2. Here is why: BAP and AAP were designed to be a temporary solution to the problem of not having CCSS aligned materials. They also have the wonderful side effect of training lots of teachers in text dependent questions and good tasks. They have also been a marvelous example of putting the ‘common’ good into the Common Core.

But in K-2, there are now good reading programs published as of this summer. That means you don’t have to make your own. One such program is freely available for the download and printing. It is on Engage NY and is called the Core Knowledge Language Arts program NY edition. By mid-August it will have a full set of materials Continue reading →

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CCSS “Aligned” Materials

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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 Rubric in ELA (to judge alignment) that can be found here and we blogged on it here.

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NEW Instructional Practice Guides (aka Evidence Guides)

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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 bands with specific documents for daily and yearly planning. The guides are located at SAP’s website here or can be downloaded from the links below.

The guides will be instrumental in future district work. They will be part of the A&S meeting on August 2nd and the Professional Development launch on August 8th.

K-2 Daily Instructional Practice Guide

K-2 Yearly Instructional Practice Guide

3-5 Daily Instructional Practice Guide

3-5 Yearly Instructional Practice Guide

6-12 Daily Instructional Practice Guide

6-12 Yearly Instructional Practice Guide

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Common Core Test Costs

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

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, SBAC members can gain access to the formative assessments.

You can read the entire EdWeek article here and learn the specific differences between PARCC and SBAC

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