Common standards

20 States Have Adopted the Common Core Standards

maureen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:03:38 -0500

But the question remains: When will Washington adopt the Common Core standards? We're hearing rumors that state leaders may announce adoption of the standards next week.

For an interactive map that lists the states that have already adopted the standards, check out the Common Core Standards Initiative website.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Class of 2010

maureen — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:53:39 -0500

Class of 2010 Stays on Track, But Math Remains a Problem
Washington on Track to Adopt Common Core Standards
State Announces Teacher and Principal Evaluation Pilots

Class of 2010 Stays on Track, But Math Remains a Problem

While 93 percent of 12th graders in the class of 2010 passed the reading and writing state exams, the number of students graduating proficient in math remains low. That’s according to the preliminary results of the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) released yesterday by Superintendent Randy Dorn. The HSPE replaced the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) and was administered for the first time this year.

Only 69 percent of 12th graders passed the HSPE in math and it is estimated that little more than 20 percent met the graduation requirement by earning two math credits after 10th grade.

This year’s ninth graders, the class of 2013, will be the first to be required to pass all four state exams: reading, writing, math and science. Those students won’t have the option of earning additional math credits if they don’t pass the exam.

“This state has done well with its reading and writing curriculum,” Dorn said. “We’ve got to raise math to that level.”
Beginning with the class of 2013, students must earn three math credits to graduate. They will also be expected to pass end-of-course exams in algebra I and geometry.

Results for the high school science exam and the Measurements of Student Progress (MSP, for grades 3-8) will be released in late August. Passing rates for the high school science exam have historically been around 40 percent for 10th graders. Beginning in spring 2012, the state will offer an end-of-course exam in biology as the class 2013 finishes its 11th grade year.

“We have to make science instruction a higher priority in all grades if we are going to expect students to achieve and pass an exam to graduate.” Dorn said.

Preliminary results for 10th graders in the class of 2012 show that 78 percent passed reading and 84 percent passed writing in their first attempts at the HSPE. Just 43 percent of 10th graders passed the math exam. For 11th graders in the class of 2011, 88 percent have passed reading, 90 percent have passed writing and 57 percent have passed math in two years of taking the exam.

The need for accelerating student progress is math and science has never been clearer. Washington state leaders, educators and policymakers must come together to ensure that all students are receiving the class time and quality instruction necessary to graduate with skills they need to succeed. This means holding firm on Washington’s commitment to graduation requirement timelines, communicating those timelines clearly to teachers, parents and students, and providing schools and students that are struggling with intervention and support.

To learn more about the requirements for the Class of 2010 and the upcoming requirements for the Classes of 2011-2013, visit OSPI’s resource page.

View more information on OSPI’s HSPE score release in the presentations below.

OSPI Score Release Presentations

Class of 2010 Slides

Class of Supplemental Slides

Washington on Track to Adopt Common Core Standards

On June 2, the day after states submitted their Round Two Race to the Top applications, the Common Core Standards Initiative released the final Common Core Standards for math and English language arts. These standards mark almost two years of work on behalf of the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and numerous other groups such as Achieve, ACT and the College Board.

Due to the federal government’s support of the standards, the emphasis placed on adopting the standards in Race to the Top, and the endorsements of numerous education experts, Kentucky, Hawaii, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin have already agreed to formally adopt the standards and are now beginning the process of implementation. Based on commitments made in state Race to the Top applications, many other states will soon follow.

Washington leaders are currently comparing the common standards to the state’s current standards and are expected to announce adoption plans soon. Early this year, Superintendent Randy Dorn expressed his preliminary support for the standards:

"I embrace the idea of multiple states working together to ensure that all students are prepared to succeed in college and careers and to compete globally," said Supt. Dorn. "As the population of the U.S. is increasingly mobile, it is critical to support all students with a strong and consistent curricular foundation. It is my hope that this initiative will promote increased collaboration among states in developing curriculum resources and identifying best practices that will lead to Washington students being well-prepared to enter our 21st century global economy."

As a component of Washington’s Race to the Top legislation (SB 6696), Supt. Dorn may provisionally adopt the standards by August 2, 2010. The Washington legislature will approve the state’s adoption of the standards during the 2011 legislative session.

Washington is also leading a consortium of states to design common assessments for the new common standards, and plans to submit an application for the Race to the Top Common Assessment grant by June 23, 2010. Winning applications will be announced in Fall 2010 with lead states required to implement the assessment system in their state no later than 2014-15.

To learn more about the Common Core Standards in Washington, including frequently asked questions about the adoption process, visit OSPI’s website.

State Announces Teacher and Principal Evaluation Pilots

Last week, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) announced that eight districts and one consortium of districts will begin pilots this fall of new teacher and principal evaluation systems.

The districts are Anacortes, Central Valley, Kennewick, North Mason, North Thurston, Othello, Snohomish and Wenatchee. The consortium is composed of eight districts: Almira, Davenport, Liberty, Medical Lake, Pullman, Reardan-Edwall, Ritzville and Wilbur. Districts will receive between $100,000 and about $180,000 a year for the two years of the pilot.

The pilots will be conducted in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years. Midway through the pilot period, and at its conclusion, OSPI will collect and analyze materials from the pilot districts and make recommendations to the Legislature regarding adopting one or more of the systems for use by districts in the state.

The cornerstone of any effective evaluation system is its ability to produce robust data that can be used to meaningfully differentiate performance, improve teaching and learning and inform strategic human capital decisions, such as tenure, professional development, assignment and compensation. It is our hope that the work of the pilot districts will help educators, policymakers and the public determine how to develop and implement highly effective evaluation systems for the entire state.

For more information on Washington’s teacher and principal evaluation pilots, visit OSPI’s website. And, for additional resources on teacher and principal evaluation, visit The New Teacher Project, National Center on Teacher Quality, and Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession websites.

Common Core Standards Finally Complete!

maureen — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:35:03 -0500

Achieve Applauds Final K-12 Common Core State Standards Commends State-Led Effort for Producing Standards Based on the Best State and International Benchmarks

CONTACT: Sandy Boyd, Achieve, (202) 419-1542 or sboyd@achieve.org

WASHINGTON – June 2, 2010 – Achieve today praised the final K-12 Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English and mathematics as grounded in evidence about what it takes for high school graduates to be ready for college and careers. The standards were released today by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Achieve served as a key partner in the effort.

“The standards released today provide a clear path – from kindergarten to high school graduation – for college and career readiness for all students. Importantly, they provide teachers, administrators, parents and students with the information they need to succeed,” said Michael Cohen, President of Achieve. “These standards, fully implemented, will provide all students with a K-12 education that will give high school graduates a full range of options and opportunities to choose their path after high school. High expectations for all students that reflect the demands of the real world will open more doors for all, rather than just a few.”

“Achieve encourages states to adopt and fully implement the Common Core State Standards as part of their college- and career-ready agenda,” continued Cohen. “That means aligning graduation requirements, curriculum materials and instructional tools, educator preparation and professional development, assessments, accountability indicators and data systems with the Common Core State Standards so that the whole system – down to every classroom – is geared toward the same end goal: all students graduating, ready for college, careers and life. Fortunately, no state or local school district will have to tackle these implementation challenges on its own. With common standards they can pool their expertise and resources to create high quality tools.”

Achieve – a long-time advocate of college and career readiness for all students – has developed materials to help states, policymakers and other advocates better understand the CCSS. These materials are available at www.achieve.org/achievingcommoncore.

To learn more about the Common Core State Standards Initiative, visit www.corestandards.org.

To learn more about Achieve’s college- and career-ready agenda, visit www.achieve.org.

# # # #

Created in 1996 by the nation’s governors and corporate leaders, Achieve is an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit education reform organization based in Washington D.C. that helps states raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability. Achieve is leading the effort to make college and career readiness a national priority so that the transition from high school graduation to postsecondary education and careers is seamless. To make college and career readiness a priority, in 2005 Achieve launched the American Diploma Project Network. Starting with 13 original states, the Network has now grown to include 35 states educating nearly 85 percent of all U.S. public school students. Through the ADP Network, governors, state education officials, postsecondary leaders and business executives work together to improve postsecondary preparation by aligning high school standards, assessments, graduation requirements and accountability systems with the demands of college and careers. For more information about the work of Achieve, visit www.achieve.org.

A Call to Invest in Innovation

maureen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:58:40 -0600

A Call to Invest in Innovation
The Common Core Standards Initiative: Uniting States Around Student Learning

A Call to Invest in Innovation

The Department of Education released the final guidelines and rules for the Investing in Innovation (i3) grant program this week. The i3 program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designed to foster and expand innovative education strategies at the local level in one of four areas:

Innovations that support effective teachers and principals
Innovations that improve the use of data
Innovations that complement the implementation of high standards and high-quality assessments
Innovations that turn around persistently low-performing schools

The $650 million i3 fund shares the goals of Race to the Top to drive and stimulate reform, but also spur the systemic transformation needed to impact student achievement and bolster our economic competiveness as a nation. Unlike the Race to the Top grant program, however, the i3 fund accepts proposals from individual districts, or groups of districts, and from non-profits that are collaborating with individual districts or groups of districts.

In order to be eligible for an i3 grant, applicants must meet nine specific eligibility requirements including a focus on high-need students, demonstration of prior success, evidence to scale-up programs and the ability to secure 20 percent in matching funds from the private sector.
Applicants may apply for one of three types of grants under i3, each with different requirements and funding levels:

Scale Up, up to $50 million: requires strong evidence and ability to scale at the national, regional or state level;
Validation, up to $30 million: requires moderate evidence and ability to scale regionally or at the state level; and,
Development, up to $5M: requires reasonable evidence and the ability to further develop and scale.

Each of the three types of grants will be scored against the same 100-point scale, based on seven criteria:

Need for the project and quality of the project design
Strength and research, significant effect and magnitude of effect
Experience of the eligible applicant
Quality of the project evaluation
Strategy and capacity to bring to scale or to further develop and bring to scale the project
Sustainability
Quality of the management plan and personnel

It is expected that more than 1,000 districts and nonprofit organizations will submit i3 applications to the Department of Education by the May 11, 2010 deadline. All grant awards will be announced in September 2010. To learn more, visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website.

The Common Core Standards Initiative: United States Around Student Learning

Washington students no longer compete with students across the classroom, county or state line, but with students across the globe. To maintain our competitive edge, we need every student to be well prepared to compete not only with their American peers, but with students from around the world. At its core, this means holding all our students to the same rigorous standards—and making sure that our standards are benchmarked not just nationally, but internationally.

This is the mission behind the “Common Core Standards Initiative” and the Initiative’s draft K-12 standards released yesterday for public comment. In a process being led by governors and chief state school officers in 51 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, these draft standards—developed together with teachers, school administrators and experts—seek to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have endorsed the Common Core standards. State adoption of the standards is part of the Race to the Top grant criteria and it is rumored that the Administration may tie adoption of the Common Core standards to Title I funding for disadvantaged students.

“Creating common standards hasn't always been popular,” said Sec. Duncan in July 2009. “Right now, though, there's a growing consensus that this is the right thing to do.”

Due to President Obama and Secretary Duncan’s endorsement, 48 states including Washington, have signed on to potentially adopt the standards and many states have taken legislative action to require implementation. Governor Chris Gregoire and Superintendent Randy Dorn have signed an agreement to participate in the development process and potentially adopt the standards. Washington’s Race to the Top legislation calls for provisional adoption of the standards.

Designated as a Race to the Top finalist, Kentucky has already begun implementing the standards. Thirteen of the other 15 finalists plan to adopt the standards by August 2010. And, for many states, the process of standards adoption is only the beginning.
With assistance from federal State Standards and Assessment Consortium grants ($350 million in total) and organizations such as Achieve, ACT, and the College Board, groups of states plan to band together to build common assessments around the standards.

Washington is currently a member on two such consortia: a formative assessment group working to design a measure of a student’s knowledge at the beginning of a course; and a summative assessment group working to design a measure of a student’s knowledge at the end of the course.

This movement represents a sea-change in national education policy that will ensure that students are receiving the same college-ready curriculum regardless of the state they live in and allow the federal government to truly compare student performance between states for the first time.

So far, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have received feedback from national organizations representing teachers, postsecondary institutions, civil rights groups, English language learners, and students with disabilities. However, both groups encourage those interested in the standards to provide further feedback by Friday, April 2, 2010, at www.corestandards.org. The standards are expected to be finalized in early Spring 2010.

Anne Luce: How Does Washington Measure Up With Race To The Top?

maureen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:32:55 -0500

Much has been discussed on a national level about the unprecedented Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grants announced by the Department of Education in February 2009. Specifically, discussions revolving around the four assurances (Internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments; data systems that measure success and improve instruction; supporting effective teachers and leaders; and turning around low-performing schools) states must meet to be considered competitive for funding are a hot topic. However, discussions on how Washington state measures up to these four assurances has not been a regular conversation piece for the general public. Over the next four blogs I’ll dive into this topic and provide a Washington state scorecard for each assurance – stay tuned!

Assurance One: Washington State & Common Core Curriculum & Assessments

What’s Required?
Prior to the RTTT announcement, forty-eight states agreed to participate in the Common Core Standards Initiative led by the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Together they worked to develop a set of common standards that states could adopt that would allow state-to-state achievement comparisons – incredibly, something that currently is not attainable as each state has adopted its own standards.

RTTT’s first assurance builds off this commitment by the forty-eight states and calls for adoption of the common, college- and career – ready, internationally-benchmarked standards. In addition, RTTT is also requiring that states adopt an assessment system that is aligned to the common core standards. With these tools in place, states can begin to not only compare achievement results but learn and share common practices but states will be better positioned to share high-quality tools that have helped educators and students succeed.

How Does Washington Measure Up?
Washington has made several commitments to boost the rigor of its curriculum and it’s well prepared to meet the first assurance identified by the U.S. Department of Education. Specifically, Washington was one of the forty-eight states committed to the development of a set of common standards and, in addition, the passing of HB 2261 includes several provisions that will move Washington state towards a more rigorous curriculum and better assessment systems.

What Must Washington Do to Be Competitive?
In order to stand out amongst other states, Washington needs to start moving forward with implementation of the HB 2261 and CORE 24 earlier than late 2010. It is critical that Washington stand out amongst other states in this assurance – we have the provisions to do so but must act swiftly against implementing them.

Anne Luce is a guest blogger and graduate student at Seattle University earning a master’s degree in public administration, with a focus on education.

Previous Blogs:

Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers

Way to go, Washington!

maureen — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:40:05 -0500

On Monday, Forty-six states—representing 80 percent of the nation’s K-12 student population—formally agreed to join forces to create common academic standards in math and English language arts through an effort led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Washington was one of them.

This is progress.