This document discusses the Common Core Learning Standards and their focus on preparing all students for college and careers. It notes that surveys found 42% of college instructors and 45% of employers feel recent high school graduates are not prepared. The Common Core aims to change this by establishing consistent, higher standards across states in key areas like higher-order thinking skills, close reading, research skills, and problem solving. It emphasizes skills like comprehension, analysis, and argumentation. The Common Core also wants students to develop independence, value evidence, understand different perspectives, and use technology strategically. Its goal is for all students to graduate with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed after high school.

1. Barbara Stripling
Jim Belair
Sue Kowalski

2. Vision of the Common Core
Learning Standards
All students will graduate from high
school with the knowledge and skills
to succeed in entry-level, credit-
bearing academic college courses
and in workforce training programs.

3. “Your Vision is the
promise of what you
shall one day be.”
— James Allen

5. 5
College Instructors and Employers Say Graduates
Are Not Prepared for College and Work
Average estimated proportions of recent high school
graduates who are not prepared
42% 45%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
College Instructors Employers
Source: Peter D. Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies, Rising to the Challenge: Are High
School Graduates Prepared for College and Work? prepared for Achieve, Inc., 2005.

6. Turn and Talk
What does it mean to be college
and career ready today as
compared to 10 years ago?
20 years ago?

8. Salary Comparison
8

9. What are the Common Core
Learning Standards?
 Internationally-benchmarked and evidence-based
standards for P-12
 Consistent set of expectations for what students
should learn and be able to do, so that we can ensure
that every student across New York State is on track for
college and career readiness

10. Why are the Common Core
Learning Standards important?
The CCLS
 Provide educators, parents, and students with clear, focused
guidance about what skills to teach
 Prepare students with higher-order knowledge and skills
 Ensure consistent expectations regardless of a student’s zip code
 Lead to new more rigorous assessments that will drive changes
in curriculum and teacher practice
10

11. How does the Common Core prepare
all students for college and career?
11

12. Higher-Order Thinking Skills
12
Moving from… Moving to…
Basic Comprehension:
What color is the sweater that Mrs. Price
makes Rachel wear?
Basic Comprehension:
What’s happening in this story?
Interpretation:
Why do you think Rachel’s teacher insists the
sweater is Rachel’s?
Interpretation:
Why does Rachel react so powerfully to the red
sweater?
Analysis:
Underline all the figurative language in this
story.
Analysis:
Choose 3 examples of figurative language and
explain how each furthers your understanding
of the characters or events.
Note: questions relate to the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros

13. Increased Emphasis on
Persuasion and Explanation
13

14. Increased Emphasis on Inquiry

15. Attention to New Literacies

16. Source: Ann Shannon and Associates
Assessment through Authentic Tasks
16

17. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students demonstrate independence.
Grade 4: Reading Standards for Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details
 RI.4.1. Refer to details and examples in a text when
explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text

18. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students build strong content knowledge.
Grade 7: Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social
Studies
Text Types and Purposes
 WHST.7.1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific
content
 a. Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and
distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims,
and organize the reasons and evidence logically

19. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students respond to the varying demands of
audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
Grade 2: Speaking and Listening Standards
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
 SL.2.4. Tell a story or recount an experience with
appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking
audibly in coherent sentences

20. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students value evidence.
Grade 5: Writing Standards
Text Types and Purposes
 W.5.1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point
of view with reasons and information
 a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an
organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to
support the writer’s purpose
 b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and
details

21. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students use technology and digital media
strategically and capably.
Grade 9: Writing Standards
Production and Distribution of Writing
 W.9.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce,
publish, and update individual or shared writing products,
taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other
information and to display information flexibly and dynamically

22. College and Career Readiness
Capacities
Students come to understand other
perspectives and cultures.
Grade 10: Reading Standards for Literature
Craft and Structure
 RL.10.6. Analyze a particular point of view or cultural
experience reflected in a work of literature from outside
the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world
literature

23. Social and Emotional Growth

24. Curious
Social

25. Changing Focus of Resources

26. Increased Emphasis on Reading
Informational Text
26

27. Rethinking Text Complexity
27
•Level of meaning or
purpose
•Structure
•Language
conventionality and
clarity
•Knowledge demands
(life experiences,
cultural/ literary
knowledge,
content/discipline
knowledge)
•Flesch-Kincaid
Grade Level test
•Dale-Chall
Readability
Formula
•Lexile Framework
for Reading
Educator judgment to match texts
to particular students and tasks –
cognitive capabilities, motivation,
knowledge, experiences

28. Providing Access to Diverse
Perspectives and Resources

29. Why should we care?

30. What can we
do to help all
our youth
develop the
capacities and
attitudes to
succeed?

32. Expectations for Today