Curriculum and Instruction Common Core State Standards (CCSS) The process of implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) affects every area in education. Increasing the complexity is the need to align CCSS with the LCFF and LCAP and with assessments. Common Core State Standards represent a sea change in teaching and learning in California’s schools. It changes what students learn, how teachers teach, and how student learning is assessed. It also changes how teachers are evaluated. In , conducted, by Stanford’s Milbrey McLaughlin, teachers and administrators expressed a wide range of concerns regarding implementation. One of the most significant findings of the report is that local educators feel unprepared and generally unsupported in their efforts to implement CCSS. The study notes that local leaders lament the absence of local frameworks and a comprehensive vision of teaching and learning. According to the findings, few districts have developed a comprehensive design to inform instruction, and the instructional modules selected by teachers do not always sum to a coherent approach to teaching and learning. At the top of the list of practitioners’ implementation concerns was the availability and quality of CCSS compatible curriculum materials. In addition to problems related to curriculum development and instructional materials, there were a host of human capital concerns. They included concerns about the capacity of teachers to make the necessary changes and to carry out the kinds of teaching that CCSS requires as well as concerns about district and school leadership in support of those changes. Teachers expressed a lack of confidence in their own skills and knowledge. The concern was echoed in a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) survey which found that three-quarters of respondents, including 80 percent of parents, are concerned that teachers are unprepared to implement CCSS. Another critical finding in the McLaughlin study is the uncertainty about the ability of local administrators to design and lead change. McLaughlin’s study pointed also to three “implementation hot-spots”, implementation issues across multiple school districts. They are the following: Middle school curricula and competencies: educational and practical issues associated with the new math curriculum sequence. Integration and alignment among and between feeder elementary, middle, and high schools. Mathematics as the trouble spot in CCSS; standard will be difficult for teachers to unpack and teach.
Curriculum and Instruction Common Core State Standards (CCSS) The process of implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) affects every area in education. Increasing the complexity is the need to align CCSS with the LCFF and LCAP and with assessments. Common Core State Standards represent a sea change in teaching and learning in California’s schools. It changes what students learn, how teachers teach, and how student learning is assessed. It also changes how teachers are evaluated. In , conducted, by Stanford’s Milbrey McLaughlin, teachers and administrators expressed a wide range of concerns regarding implementation. One of the most significant findings of the report is that local educators feel unprepared and generally unsupported in their efforts to implement CCSS. The study notes that local leaders lament the absence of local frameworks and a comprehensive vision of teaching and learning. According to the findings, few districts have developed a comprehensive design to inform instruction, and the instructional modules selected by teachers do not always sum to a coherent approach to teaching and learning. At the top of the list of practitioners’ implementation concerns was the availability and quality of CCSS compatible curriculum materials. In addition to problems related to curriculum development and instructional materials, there were a host of human capital concerns. They included concerns about the capacity of teachers to make the necessary changes and to carry out the kinds of teaching that CCSS requires as well as concerns about district and school leadership in support of those changes. Teachers expressed a lack of confidence in their own skills and knowledge. The concern was echoed in a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) survey which found that three-quarters of respondents, including 80 percent of parents, are concerned that teachers are unprepared to implement CCSS. Another critical finding in the McLaughlin study is the uncertainty about the ability of local administrators to design and lead change. McLaughlin’s study pointed also to three “implementation hot-spots”, implementation issues across multiple school districts. They are the following: Middle school curricula and competencies: educational and practical issues associated with the new math curriculum sequence. Integration and alignment among and between feeder elementary, middle, and high schools. Mathematics as the trouble spot in CCSS; standard will be difficult for teachers to unpack and teach.
final_cisi_resource_guide_-_2015-2016.docx