Connecting district interest in CCSS with Stanford efforts related to CCSS

Most school districts have the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on their radar.  In many cases, districts chose to partner with outside service providers to build the capacity of their personnel to implement the standards.

Someone recently asked me what efforts at Stanford University focus on CCSS.  I decided to share the list I came up with more widely for those who are interested.  This list is just a start as there are likely other efforts brewing that have yet to surface.

To preface this list, I would recommend districts ask themselves these questions:

· What groundwork is already in place at schools that support the CCSS?

· What structures do your schools/district need in order to sustain work with CCSS?

· What changes need to be made to central office to support schools’ work with CCSS? 

· What does a CCSS service provider offer and how will it be used to build capacity across schools and the district?

Beyond Stanford, I might suggest exploring this list of promising practices and tools meant to support CCSS implementation. The list was put together by the Council of State School Officers and seems to be pretty comprehensive. I have not personally vetted all of these practices and tools, but these seem worth exploring.

http://www.ccsso.org/documents/2012/common_core_resources.pdf

Here is a growing list of efforts at Stanford University focused on the Common Core State Standards as well as the Next Generation Science Standards. I will update this list as I learn about more.

Understanding Language http://ell.stanford.edu/

Understanding Language aims to heighten educator awareness of the critical role that language plays in the new Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Through these efforts, they are seeking to improve education of all students, and especially English Language Learners. They recently issued a set of papers focusing on the shifts, challenges, and opportunities found in the new Standards. The papers offer insight into the language demands and opportunities contained in the new Standards.  (I especially like the videos that accompany each of the papers.) Understanding Language also has resources like model lessons and examples of instruction on their website that teachers can access. For example, Understanding Language’s Executive Director Martha Castellon presented at SFUSD’s administrators institute in July 2012 where she presented the three key shifts required by CCSS related to language in the ELA standards. Click here for the presentation and materials shared by Dr. Castellon.

Center to Support Excellence in Teaching http://cset.stanford.edu/   

The Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) purpose is to improve student achievement through research, design, and development activities that improve the quality of K-12 teaching. CSET has a number of projects supporting to the Common Core State Standards. One example, CSET’s PLATO project  (PLATO = Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observations) developed a classroom observation protocol used to standardize classroom observations of teaching English language arts at the secondary level. Professor Pam Grossman is using PLATO as a tool to design professional development for teachers aimed at shifting classroom practice and raising student achievement. The elements in the PLATO protocol are aligned with the English language arts CCSS, and therefore, when used in professional development, should help teachers learn how to use the standards.

Stanford History Education Group http://sheg.stanford.edu/

The Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) has a number of resources that support the trans-disciplinary skills addressed in the CCSS.

· Reading Like a Historian Curriculum – SHEG developed a curriculum called Reading Like a Historian, which engages students in historical inquiry.  The Reading like a Historian curriculum builds literacy skills outlined by the CCSS.

· Beyond the Bubble Website – SHEG also created a website titled Beyond the Bubble that uses primary documents from the library of congress to create a new generation of history assessments. The assessments are posted on the website, and the CCS standards associated with each assessment are also referenced. https://beyondthebubble.stanford.edu/