Fifth Graders Take their Learning to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Common Core Standards

Parents are certain to have heard bits and pieces of information about the newly adopted Common Core Standards.  Standards are “what” schools teach.  Alabama, along with 47 other states, has adopted these math and English Language Arts standards.  Our state made some minor additions to the CCS and refers to them as College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS).  They are essentially the same.  Alabama public schools are implementing the math standards this year; English Language Arts standards will be fully implemented during the 2013-2014 school year. 

What are Common Core Standards?The Common Core State Standards are K–12 academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy.  They were developed by states, and states voluntarily chose to adopt them.  They are aligned to the expectations of two- and four-year colleges and have been internationally benchmarked.

The Common Core help ensure comparability across states, districts and schools, mitigating challenges with student and teacher mobility.  Standards are a critical first step in improving America’s education system.  They provide the necessary foundation for local decisions around curriculum, assessments and instruction.

Why the Common Core?

To compete in a knowledge-based global economy, the United States must improve the educational outcomes of all students.  Consider: 20% of students entering four-year colleges, and at least 40% of students entering two-year community colleges, must take remedial courses — relearning at their expense what they should have already learned in high school. (National Center for Education Statistics) 62% of new jobs available in 2018 will require some postsecondary education.  Americans without the requisite knowledge and skills will struggle to access good jobs in the increasingly competitive global economy.  Our state chose to adopt the K–12 Common Core State Standards to help ensure that all students graduate from high school with the core academic knowledge and skills necessary for success in college, careers and life, for the benefit of their futures and the future of our nation.

Who Wrote the Common Core Standards?

The K–12 Common Core State Standards are the result of a collaborative effort between state departments of education, teachers, experts in a wide array of fields, and professional organizations.  The standards allow students to become increasingly more proficient in understanding and using mathematics and English Language Arts with a steady progression leading to college and career readiness by the end of high school.  The standards are grounded in evidence, including the best work of states and high-performing nations, frameworks developed for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), academic research, curriculum surveys, assessment data on college- and career-ready performance, and input from educators at all levels and from a variety of subjects. By drawing on the best lessons from high-performing countries, the standards provide the foundation for redesigning and focusing the math curriculum—in an attempt to move away from the “mile wide and inch deep” curricula currently in place throughout the U.S. The focus in the K-5 standards is comparable to that seen in high-performing countries. It allows students time to master topics by developing procedural fluency as well as conceptual understanding—rather than the current practices by which many students learn enough to get by on the next test, but forget it shortly thereafter, only to review again the following year.

To Learn More about the Common Core Standards

Click on the links below to read grade specific information about CCRS.

http://www.pta.org/5th_Grade_June30.pdf

http://www.pta.org/4th_Grade_June30.pdf

http://www.pta.org/3rd_Grade_June30.pdf

Standards Based Report Cards

I am pleased to announce that this school year, Paine Intermediate will use standards based report cards for third, fourth, and fifth graders.  This is an exciting step towards making sure all students are successful at meeting grade level requirements. 

Educators are expected to teach to the Common Core State Standards and to assess student learning along the way using a variety of assessments.  The standards based report card gives us a tool to accurately communicate to parents and  to students the progress they are making on learning the essential standards for each grade level.  The essential standards have been identified by our teachers as the fundamental standards that students need to master in order to be successful in the next grade level. 

The new report card communicates whether or not a student’s work is secure and exceeds grade level standards with consistent accuracy, a student’s work is secure and meets grade level standards, a student’s work is developing, but is not meeting grade level expectations,  or a student’s work is significantly below expectations.  The report card will be issued three times a year and provide information on student progress and proficiency in core subject areas, as well as learner qualities. 

The standards based report card is helpful in several ways.  First, it assures more consistency of expectations from teacher to teacher.  It helps teachers and students focus on the standards from the very beginning of the school year, giving students the opportunity to get help early if they are not making adequate progress.  Finally, it gives parents information on how their student is doing based on the standards.