October 2012 VOL. 2 ISSUE 2 Division of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement Division Curriculum, Instruction , & Assessment Inside This Edition: Common Core Q & A and Resources, pgs. 1 – 3 Upcoming Assessments, pg. 4 PARCC and FCAT, pg. 5 DPP Reflective Practice, pg. 6 MTSS, pg. 7 Concordant Scores and Action Research, pg. 8 Social Studies, pgs. 9 - 10 PE and Health, pg. 10 Celebrate Literacy Week!, pg. 11 Math Bytes, pgs. 12 - 13 Science News, pgs. 14-15 All Things Literacy, pgs. 16-20 More CCSS on SHARE, pg. 21 Early Childhood Links to Literacy Conference. Pg. 21 St. Lucie Public Schools St. Lucie Public Schools Why is the Common Core State Stand- ards Initiative important? We want to make sure that every child across the country is given the tools they need to succeed. High standards that are consistent across states provide teachers, parents, and students with a set of clear expec- taons that everyone can work toward together. This will ensure that we maintain America’s compeve edge, so that all of our students are well prepared with the skills and knowledge necessary to compete with not only their peers here at home, but with students from around the world. These standards are a common sense first step toward ensuring our children are geng the best possible educaon no maer where they live. Of course, standards cannot single-handedly improve the quality of our naon’s educaon system, but they do give educators shared goals and expectaons for their students. For example, the common core state standards will enable parcipang states to work together to: Make expectaons for students clear to parents, teachers, and the general public; Encourage the development of textbooks, digital media, and other teaching materials aligned to the standards; Develop and implement comprehensive assessment systems to measure student performance against the common core state standards that will replace the exisng tesng systems that too oſten are inconsistent, burdensome and confusing; and Evaluate policy changes needed to help students and educa- tors meet the standards. Will more standards mean more tests? No. For states that choose to adopt these common standards, having one set of standards will make it easier for states to pool informaon and resources to develop a shared set of high-quality tests to beer evaluate student progress. The goal is not to have more tests, but to have smarter and beer tests that help stu- dents, parents, and teachers. Common Core State Standards Common Core State Standards Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions Source: http://www.corestandards.org/frequently
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October 2012 VOL. 2 ISSUE 2
Division of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment
Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
Division of Curriculum, Instruction , & Assessment
Inside This Edition:
Common Core Q & A and
Resources, pgs. 1 – 3 Upcoming Assessments, pg. 4
PARCC and FCAT, pg. 5 DPP Reflective Practice, pg. 6
MTSS, pg. 7 Concordant Scores and Action Research, pg. 8
All Things Literacy, pgs. 16-20 More CCSS on SHARE, pg. 21
Early Childhood Links to Literacy Conference. Pg. 21
St. Lucie Public Schools
St. Lucie Public Schools
Why is the Common Core State Stand-ards Initiative important? We want to make sure that every child across the country is given the
tools they need to succeed. High standards that are consistent across
states provide teachers, parents, and students with a set of clear expec-
tations that everyone can work toward together. This will ensure that
we maintain America’s competitive edge, so that all of our students are
well prepared with the skills and knowledge necessary to compete with
not only their peers here at home, but with students from around the
world.
These standards are a common sense first step toward ensuring our
children are getting the best possible education no matter where they
live.
Of course, standards cannot single-handedly improve the quality of our
nation’s education system, but they do give educators shared goals and
expectations for their students. For example, the common core state
standards will enable participating states to work together to:
Make expectations for students clear to parents, teachers,
and the general public;
Encourage the development of textbooks, digital media,
and other teaching materials aligned to the standards;
Develop and implement comprehensive assessment systems to measure student performance against the common core state standards that will replace the existing testing systems
that too often are inconsistent, burdensome and confusing; and
Evaluate policy changes needed to help students and educa-
tors meet the standards.
Will more standards mean more tests?
No. For states that choose to adopt these common standards,
having one set of standards will make it easier for states to pool
information and resources to develop a shared set of high-quality
tests to better evaluate student progress. The goal is not to have
more tests, but to have smarter and better tests that help stu-
dents, parents, and teachers.
Common Core State Standards Common Core State Standards Frequently Asked QuestionsFrequently Asked Questions
Division of Curriculum & Instruction Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
St. Lucie County
Your CCSS Questions and Clarifications
K-2 The learning targets represented on the scales are the CCSS. Some teachers have said, "What about the simpler ideas, the
CCSS are so broad." This is true. The CCSS are end of course, broad expectations for student learning.
We have moved towards a stronger focus on standards based grading. The targets are the learning targets outlined by CCSS. Teachers define daily learning targets in order to obtain each target over a specified unit/time length of instruction.
The strand for where to enter grades in Skyward has been labeled. This will help assist teachers when moving towards stand-ards based grading.
Thoughts have been shared that the standards in the units do not match Journeys. This is because the units and scales are based solely on the CCSS not Journeys. Journeys is our resource for teaching the standards. The standards are selected to provide depth and mastery for the identified focus standards for each unit of instruction.
CCSS are end of course expectations. In every new unit, new standards are bold. The standards from the previous unit remain as a reminder of what has been covered.
Other comments concerning the K-2 scales have been....the identified targets seem so difficult. These are the standards for the grade level. If teachers or students need to know what instruction is needed or should have been covered they can look down to the grade levels below. This is the spiral effect of the Common Core State Standards.
3-5
The largest area of clarification centers around the fact that the units do not follow Journeys. No, the units do not follow Jour-neys. The units have been designed to ensure depth and mastery of select, focus standards over a period of time. Journeys moves from skill to skill weekly (Main Idea, Compare/Contrast, Story Structure). Many of the skills are introduced and not formally revisited for weeks — in some instances after FCAT. Using the CLLG, teachers will provide a wide variety of reading selections and expose students to differing skills weekly. The standards identified by the Scope and Sequence as well as on the Scales are focus standards and should be woven into all selections during the specified time frame. Again the premise behind this is to teach for depth and mastery. The Journeys focus skill would simply become an additional learning target for that week.
6-12 Intensive Reading I, II, III are to follow the programs as these are research based interventions. Model scales will be provided
shortly for the intervention programs. Teachers using these intervention programs can utilize the SS and Scales as a bridge for the content focused on in ELA courses or as additional focus points for small group instruction.
English courses are responsible for the Reading standards outlined by SS. This can be supported by looking to the literacy rou-tines at each level. The routine will outline the minutes per week allocated to teaching the Reading standards. This is important due to the fact that this is the access to the guaranteed and viable curriculum for all students. As the content area teachers are focusing on CCSS, NGSSS must be addressed in ELA courses.
Division of Curriculum & Instruction Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
St. Lucie County
Parent Resources: CCSS and More Parent ResourcesParent Resources Parent guides to the CCSS are available from these sites: http://pta.org/4446.htm
http://www.cgcs.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=244 These brochures are available to print and distribute to support the awareness of CCSS expectations and support.
Overview of GraduationOverview of Graduation Requirements Requirements
Secondary MTSSSecondary MTSS The first AIMSweb benchmarking window closed October 15th. There were follow-up training webinars for LAMs on October 18th. At this point, everyone should be just about finished with survey level assessments, determining goals for students and scheduling progress monitoring. Now that we have the bench-marking data, we need to fill out an inter-vention summary form for each Tier 2 group. This should occur during a Group PST meeting. Please contact your RtI specialist if would like assistance with this process. Structured and protected time for your different PSTs to meet is the biggest key to your successful MTSS implementation, and most middle and high schools are right on track! Core PST meetings are scheduled and Group PSTs have been meeting weekly according to the meeting calendar. If you haven't scheduled your meetings yet, please contact Amy Slacum for assistance.
Division of Curriculum & Instruction Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
St. Lucie County
MTSS ElementaryMTSS Elementary
Why is Walk to Intervention recom-
mended for students in Grades K-5?
All Students are involved in direct instruc-
tion in their specific area of need. (FAPE) Writing
Science
Math
Reading
FCAT Prep
Enrichment
Only intervention teachers will need to be
trained on implementing the identified
research based materials. Progress Monitoring
Forms / Attendance
Response Meetings
Communication efforts through adminis-
trators and coaches to 12-15 intervention
teachers will support a focused approach. RTI Meetings
Trainings
Data Collection
Monitoring PM Probes
The tiered paperwork is not as heavy with
12-15 interventionists. Forms
Attendance
Graphs
Easy to Manage Groups
Materials for Tier 2 and 3 interventions are
shared among intervention teachers in
grades K-5.
Concordant Scores to Meet Concordant Scores to Meet
High School Graduation High School Graduation
Requirements Requirements
Differ by 9Differ by 9thth Grade CohortGrade Cohort
For the cohort entering 9th Grade 2009-
2010, concordant score opportunities remain the
same as they were (current ACT or SAT concord-
ant scores). Students may also meet the gradua-
tion requirement with a score of at least 241 on
the FCAT Reading 2.0
Retake exam. (The
FCAT 1.0 for
Reading has been elim-
inated, so the 241
score replaces the old
score requirement.)
Most students im-
pacted by this information are our current sen-
iors.
For the cohort entering 9th Grade 2010-2011 and
later, concordant score opportunities will not be
available until 2013. Concordance studies are in
progress now, but concordant scores on ACT or
SAT will not be set until the studies are completed
and the State Board acts on the results. That
means that students in these cohorts cannot use a
concordant score to meet graduation require-
ments. These students may meet the graduation
requirement in Reading with a 245 on an FCAT
2.0 Retake exam. This would affect our students
who are juniors
now.
Division of Curriculum & Instruction Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
St. Lucie County
Division of Curriculum, Instruction , & Assessment Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
St. Lucie Public Schools
Social Studies is Common Core Social Studies continues to break new ground in the implementation of Common
Core State Standards in Literacy for Grades 6-12. While History Fair is well estab-
lished, over the past three years additional initiatives that, like History Fair, im-
prove content knowledge and support the rigor required by Common Core have
been rolled out.
Project Citizen
For Grade 7 Civics, Project Citizen is a hands-on student-led project where an entire class works
collaboratively to solve a school or community public policy problem. Through research, consensus
building, analysis, and peer teaching, students identify the problem, hypothesize and propose solu-
tions, and develop an action plan to implement a new policy or change an existing one. We began
Project Citizen when the District transitioned to Civics in the 2010-2011 school year. Last year, St.
Lucie County had three of the five finalist teams at the state competition. A team from Dan McCarty
School won best oral presentation at the State Showcase held in West Palm Beach. This year’s Pro-
ject Citizen Showcase will be at Samuel S. Gaines Academy on Thursday, January 17, 2013 from
4:30 to 8:30.
DBQ
We also began a phased roll out of DBQ Project in 2010. DBQ stands for document-based ques-
tion. It is a literacy-based method for teaching social studies content where students analyze multi-
ple primary and secondary source documents incorporating close reading, inferring meaning, and
data analysis to answer a question. The question is answered through an argumentative essay in
which students cite evidence from the sources to justify their response. It has proved both popular
with teachers and students, and effective in improving students’ reading, writing, and critical think-
ing skills.
This year while we continue to increase capacity for document-based
writing in history related courses in Grades 6-11, we also are expand-
ing. In an exciting development, teams of 4th and 5th grade teachers
from four Title I pilot program schools recently completed training to
begin using DBQ Project in their classes. In addition, a gap has existed
at the secondary level in Grade 7 Civics. All Civics teachers will be
trained in the just-released Civics DBQ’s on November 6th leading to a
seamless implementation in Grades 6-11. We will continue to focus on
increasing capacity in all schools as we move forward.
Division of Curriculum, Instruction , & Assessment Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
The 5th annual Celebrate Literacy, Florida! event is coming up January 14-18, 2013. This year we are invit-ing all of our SRO’s to read to their corresponding Elementary school’s VPK, K, and/or 1st grade classes. FDOE will provide the books and will be donating them to the schools after the readings. Please contact your school’s SRO and be sure he/she is on the lookout for more information. Each SRO will be responsible for scheduling a day and time during the event week to read. The schools will be responsible for letting me know how many books will be needed. Thanks and Happy Reading!!
Kelly Seay Kelly Seay, M.Ed. Deputy Director of Educator Rela-tions Florida Depart-ment of Educa-tion Just for Teachers 850.245.5029
2013 Celebrate
Literacy Week
DOE Memorandum
Please view the following links that
were released from the Department of
Education concerning Celebrate
Literacy Week, Florida!
http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/
Get/Document-6533/dps-2012-163.pdf
http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/
Get/Document-6534/dps-2012-163a.pd
http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/
Get/Document-6535/dps-2012-163b.pd
http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/
Get/Document-6536/dps-2012-163c.pd
St. Lucie County
Division of Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
Division of Curriculum, Instruction , & Assessment Partnering to Advance Quality Instruction and Student Achievement
St. Lucie Public Schools
MATH CONCEPT BYTE
Connecting Math to Literacy Common Core
Students should be exposed to solving word problems in all lessons! An effective strategy to use with your students is Close Reading. With students you should read the problem, next have students read the problem, and then students should be involved in text marking. This will help students deepen their knowledge on key ideas, craft and structure and the integration of knowledge and ideas.
MACC.K12.MP.2 - Reason Abstractly and Quantitatively Mathematically proficient students make sense of quantities and their relationships. They are able to
decontextualize (represent a situation symbolically and manipulate the symbols) and contextualize
(make meaning of the symbols in a problem) quantitative relationships. Younger students recognize
that a number represents a specific quantity. They connect the quantity to written symbols. Quantita-
tive reasoning entails creating a representation of a problem while attending to the meanings of the
quantities, not just how to compute them.
To support our students in this practice, we can ask our students:
What do the numbers used in the problem represent?
What is the relationship of the quantities?
Could we have used another operation or property to solve this task? Why or why
not?
Click on the picture to see MP.2 in action!
Contact Liz Pruitt or Chris Sternfels for information!