Education standards undergoing changes

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

— WESTSIDE - The face of education in local public schools will be undergoing major changes in the next few years due to the state's implementation of new national standards. The following questions and answers on the Common Core State Standards explains some of the basic changes to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the Common Core State Standards?

A: The Common State Standards (CCSS) are a set of shared K-12 learning expectations for students in English-language arts and mathematics. The standards are the result of a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The CCSS for grades K-12 were developed in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, including content experts, state education leaders, teachers, school administrators and parents. The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn in K-12 mathematics and English language arts. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. The CCSS supports the college and career ready expectations.

Q: Why does Arkansas need common educational standards?

A: Today, each state has its own process for developing, adopting, and implementing standards. As a result, what students are expected to learn can vary widely from state to state. We know that our graduates will compete for jobs with students from other states and countries with more rigorous standards. Common standards help ensure that all students, no matter where they live, are prepared for success in postsecondary education and the workforce. Common standards will help ensure that students are receiving a high quality education consistently, from school to school and state to state. Common standards will provide a greater opportunity to share experiences and best practices within and across states that will improve our ability to serve the needs of students.

Q: Will the Common Core State Standards prevent local teachers from deciding what or how to teach?

A: No. The Common Core State Standards are a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help our students succeed. Local teachers, principals, superintendents, and others will decide how the standards are to be met. Teachers will continue to develop lesson plans and tailor instruction to the individual needs of the students in their classrooms. Local teachers, principals, superintendents, and school boards will continue to make decisions about curriculum and how their school systems are operated. Standards do not tellteachers how to teach, but they do help teachers figure out the knowledge and skills their students should have so that teachers can build the best lessons for their classrooms.

Q: Will the new Common Core State Standards completely replace Arkansas’s existing academic standards for mathematics and English language arts?

A: No. Many of Arkansas’s existing academic content standards align to the CCSS, but in some cases students will be introduced to content in earlier grades.

Q: The Common Core State Standards are more rigorous than existing state standards. Will it be harder for schools to meet state and federal requirements?

A: Parents, students, and teachers should understand that lower scores will not mean students know less than they did the year beforeor that they are somehow “doing worse in school.” The new standards require a higher level of mastery of information and concepts and this higher bar will impact student scores, at least initially. Communities must recognize that it will take time for students to catch up to these more rigorous standards.

Q: What is ADE doing to help schools transition to the Common Core Standards?

A: Moving to Common Core in two content areas and replacing the statewide assessment in these subjects represents a major change for Arkansas. A state implementation team led by ADE and comprised of educators, administrators and education stakeholders is working to develop a comprehensive implementation plan,which includes a timeline and identified resources. The Department has completed a crosswalk table that compares the Common Core State Standards to the Arkansas learning standards. This document illustrates which standards have moved to different grade levels and includes comments that will assist teachers as they begin reviewing the new Common Core. The crosswalk has been sent to each school district and education cooperative and is also available on the ADE Web site. Professional development opportunities will begin during the spring semester and will help guide the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. In addition to state designed professional development resources, ADE will leverage national collaborative efforts that are currently underway to provide K-12educators a variety of tools and resources, including shared curriculum.

Q: Will States receive financial help to implement the Common Core Standards?

A: Due to the commonality of the CCSS, resources designed to support the standards have the potential to be shared readily with states. A Joint Task Force on the Mathematics, which includes the four major mathematics education organizations in the country have united to help supportmathematics educators in the implementation of the new CCSS. A primary goal of this group is to create a CCSS implementation Web site that includes a variety of tools and resources for K-12 teachers. A Common Core Curriculum Mapping Project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has designed English language arts curriculum maps for use by school districts. It is anticipated that in the future textbooks and curriculum could be available through open-source environments for use by all participating states.

The benefits of adopting the Common Core Standards far outweigh the short-term costs districts will require in the transition. With national standards, Arkansas will no longer need to spend money to revise and update standards on its own. The economies of scale that the Common Core will bring to Arkansas will allow our state to spend more of its K-12 budget on other vital efforts to support teaching and learning in the classroom.

Q: When will students begin to see these changes in the classroom?

A: Students could begin seeing Common Core content next school year (2011-12) in grades K-2. Districts will first need to work with teachers to "unpack" the standards to understand the knowledge and skills contained within each learning expectation. Teachersat each grade level need to understand what new content they are responsible for teaching at their grade-level and what is no longer in their grade-level. While many of Arkansas’s existing Academic Content Standards align to CCSS, some content is introduced in earlier grades in CCSS.

Q: The Common Core State Standards will require a common assessment. When will that take effect?

A: It is expected that states adopting the Common Core State Standards will also implement a student assessment system aligned with the CCSS beginning in the 2014-15 school year.Along with 25 other states, Arkansas is a member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) which has formed to create an historic assessment system to provide more services and supports to students and teachers than are currently available. The common assessment is a natural continuation of the work already underway in Arkansas and builds on our current assessment system. By partnering with other states, we will be able to leverage resources, share expertise, and produce a system that will meet the needs and expectations of Arkansas students and teachers. Until a common assessment is designed, piloted, and implemented, ADE will continue using Benchmarks and End of Course exams to assess students in mathematics, English language arts andscience.

For more information about the Common Core, go to: http://arkansased. org/educators/curriculum/ common_core.html.

School News, Pages 9 on 01/12/2011