The California Common Core Standards

Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects

Agenda• Literacy and the CCCSS• Implications for Curricula• Pedagogical Implications• Smarter Balance Assessments• Unpacking a Standard

LITERACY AND THE CCCSS

Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

• “In a departmentalized school, responsibility for improving reading comprehension of instructional materials should be shared by teachers of all subjects, particularly teachers of history-social science and science.”– Reading/Language Arts Framework, pp.

175, 192.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS AND LITERACY IN HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES, SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL SUBJECTS

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

• Three main sections– A comprehensive K-5 section (includes

standards for foundational skills)– English language/arts– Literacy in history/social studies,

science, and technical subjects

What’s New?• Increased commitment to technology • Value of group dynamics (speaking

before listening)• Standards for writing in the

disciplines • Explicit attention to informational

texts (beyond textbooks and not just in English classes)

Reading Standards• Reading standards are in two

components: – Literature – Informational text

• And also in two literacy components (6-12): – Literacy in History/Social Studies – Literacy in Science/Technical Subjects

Let’s Take a Look• Read the Anchor Standards for

Reading K-5 (p. 10) and in the Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects section (p. 60).

• What do you notice?

Let’s Take a Look• Read the Anchor Standards for

Writing K-5 (p. 18) and in the Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects section (p. 63).

• What do you notice?

Reading Standards• Literature and Informational Text K-

12• Literacy Standards (grades 6-12)

ONLY Informational Text

Text Complexity

Key Ideas and Details Grade 7

Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text (7. RL & I.1)

Grades 9-10

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (9-10. RL&I.1)

Grade 8

Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (8RL&I.1)

Grades 11-12

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. (11-12. RL&I.1)

Writing Standards: Text Types and Purposes

• Students (in all grades) focus on three types of writing: – Arguments – Informative/explanatory texts – Narratives

Writing Standards: Production & Distribution of Writing

• Overall development and organization—emphasis on clarity

• The writing processes of planning and revision

• Use of technology for production and publication both of individual and, for the first time, group writing projects

Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

• A focus on discipline-specific vocabulary• An acknowledgement of unique text

structures found in informational text• The expectation that students will read

and write in non-ELA classrooms• The expectation that students will

develop information/technical writing skills, and

• A focus on critical analysis and evidence

IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRICULUM

A Foundational Premise• “Meeting the demands of the Literacy

Standards requires substantially expanding the literacy requirements in history/social studies as well as in science and technical subjects. The adoption of the Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects therefore requires several significant shifts in these curricula.” – Source: Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards

in English Language Arts and Literacy, Grades 3-12

Curricular Implications• Part of “content knowledge”

becomes:– understanding disciplinary genres;– understanding disciplinary language

conventions; and– understanding disciplinary language.

• Cross-disciplinary discussions about literacy development.

• Students at the center.

Curricular Implications• Less dependence on textbooks.• Using text complexity as a way to

spiral students’ intellectual growth.• Broader understanding of “text” and

wider use of multiple text genres.• Increased use of multiple texts within

an instructional sequence.• Writing, reading, reading writing!

Curricular Applications• Literacy everywhere• Real world applications• Project-based learning• Cross-disciplinary collaborations

IMPLICATIONS FOR PEDAGOGY

Pedagogies• Speaking and Listening• Teaching for Transfer• Writing to Learn• Reading to Write• Student-centered Learning• Hands-on Learning

DISCIPLINARY LITERACYAN INTRODUCTION

“Content Literacy: A Definition and Implications” (Michael C. McKenna and Richard D. Robinson)

• The ability to use reading and writing for the acquisition of new content in a given discipline

• Includes 3 principle cognitive components:– General literacy skills– Content-specific literacy skills – Prior knowledge of content

“Imagining a New Kind of Self: Academic Language, Identity, and Content Area

Learning” (Jeff Wilhelm)

“We need to think of teaching…as inducting students into new ways of being, apprenticing them into new roles and identities, acculturating them into new ‘communities of practice’ (i.e. groups of people who do real disciplinary work).”

“Imagining a New Kind of Self: Academic Language, Identity, and Content Area

Learning” (Jeff Wilhelm)

• In any discipline, the learner’s doing and thinking is expected to gradually approximate that of the experts.”

SMARTER BALANCE ASSESSMENTS

Interim Benchmark Assessments

• These are formative assessments– Repository of tools available to teachers

to support quick adjustment and differentiated instruction

– Help define student performance along the CCSS learning progressions

Interim Benchmark Assessments

• Allow for finer grain of measurement (e.g., end of unit)

• Inform teachers if students on track to be proficient on summative assessments

• Multiple opportunities for students to participate

• Scale scores help inform growth model

Summative Assessment• Measure full range of CCCSS• Computer Adaptive Testing for

precision• Timely results• Engage Institutions of Higher

Education to ensure achievement standards reflect college and career readiness

Performance Tasks• To assess aspects of CCCSS difficult

or impossible to assess traditionally;• “They will involve student-initiated

planning, management of information and ideas, interaction with other materials and/or people, and production of an extended response such as an oral presentation, exhibit, product development, or an extended written piece.”

Performance Tasks• One in reading• One in writing• Two in mathematics• Roughly half of the performance

tasks for grades 9-11 will assess ELA or math within the context of science or social studies.

A Performance Task for ELA Using Science Content

End-of-Year Summative Assessments

• Final 12 weeks of school year

An Opportunity• Comments and

Questions?

Thank You!