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Making the Common Core Standards Work
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Making the Common Core Standards Work
Using Professional Development to Build World-Class Schools

Foreword by Dan Domenech



November 2012 | 288 pages | Corwin

Essential reading for school leaders!

With the Common Core State Standards adopted by the vast majority of U.S. states, educators face the challenge of translating the standards into successful, positive change within schools. Written for school leaders, this practical guide offers a blueprint for implementing and exceeding the new standards using very targeted professional development.

Readers will find realistic strategies supported by examples from a diverse range of schools. Topics include

  • Empowering teachers and staff as partners in planning for and implementing the new standards
  • Adapting existing curriculum to meet goals for mathematics and language arts at each grade level
  • Designing assessments that measure mastery of the standards
  • Ensuring that the standards benefit learning for all students, including multicultural learners

Lead your school or district in fulfilling the promise of the Common Core State Standards and preparing students for a competitive global economy.

"This book looks at the implementation of CCSS within the context of all of the components that face public schools, and, in doing so, puts the CCSS in a proper perspective. This is a book that could actually help make a difference in the improvement of instruction in the public schools."
—Martin J. Hudacs, Superintendent
Solanco School District, Quarryville, PA

"Making the Common Core Standards Work provides a detailed approach to systems thinking and how to manage a real-life paradigm shift."
—William Richard Hall, Jr., Principal
R. C. Longan Elementary School, Henrico, VA


 
Dedication
 
Foreword by Dan Domenech
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Introduction: Why American Schools Must Move Toward Common Core State Standards
 
Section I. Designing Competitive Curriculum for a Global Economy
 
1. Common Core State Standards: What Are They?
Common Core State Standards: More Than Standards With an International Flavor

 
A Quick Trip Around the World

 
Moving Forward

 
 
2. The School Leader's Role in Making the Common Core State Standards Work
Creating Guiding Ideas to Implement the Common Core State Standards

 
Guiding Ideas and Evidence

 
Getting to How: Operationalizing Your Guiding Ideas

 
Identifying the Innovation

 
Teaching the Change

 
The Social and Emotional Literacy Components of the Common Core State Standards

 
School Leaders and Teachers Partner to Help Students

 
Inspiring Trust, Creativity, Transparency, and Success: A Framework for Loose Versus Tight Leadership

 
Part I: Building Understanding About the Issue and Its Impact on Your Organization

 
Part II: Moving From Understanding to Action

 
 
Section II. Helping Communities Create a New Future
 
3. Designing Local Curriculum to Absorb the Common Core State Standards in English
Real-World Applications

 
Grades K-2, Phonological Awareness (One Topic)

 
Grades K-2: Key Ideas and Details and Craft and Structure

 
Grades 3-4: Fluency (One Topic)

 
Grade 5: Reading With Fluency and Accuracy

 
Grades 6-8: Key Ideas and Details (One Topic)

 
Grades 9-10: English Language Arts Curriculum

 
Grades 11-12: Reading and Writing

 
 
4. Designing Local Curriculum to Absorb the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics
Comparison of State and Common Core State Math Standard Emphasis

 
Common Core State Math Standards

 
Kindergarten Common Core State Standard and Local Curriculum Math Standards

 
Grade 1 Common Core State Standard and Local Curriculum Math Standards

 
Grade 2 Common Core State Standard and Local Curriculum Math Standards

 
Grade 5 Common Core State Standard and Local Curriculum Math Standards

 
Six Domains of Instructional Strategies for All Students

 
Purpose of the Math Common Core

 
Grade 7 Common Core State Math Standards: Ratios and Proportional Relationships

 
Grades 9-10 Common Core State Math Standards: The Real Number System

 
Grade 10 Common Core State Math Standards for Geometry: Congruence

 
Grade 12 Common Core State Math Standards for Statistics: Using Probability to Make Decisions

 
 
5. Challenges to the Implementation of Rigorous Common Core State Standards
Testing Policies Do Not Improve Schools

 
The Common Core State Standards: Opportunities for Equity and Excellence

 
 
Section III. Helping Teachers Redefine Their Profession
 
6. How to Assess Mastery of the Common Core Curriculum State Standards
Direct Instruction

 
The Power of Formative Assessments

 
Formative Assessment Examples From Real Schools

 
Building Successful Schools

 
Special Education and General Education

 
 
7. The Leadership Challenge: Creating Common Understandings of the Common Core State Standards
The Role of School Leaders

 
Envisioning Excellence

 
We Get the Results We Design Schools to Achieve

 
Vision or Nightmare?

 
Enter the Common Core State Standards

 
 
8. Dialogue: Providing Opportunity So Facts Influence Opinions
Creating Context for the Common Core State Standards

 
Teachers Need Deep Understanding of the Common Core State Standards

 
Identifying Gaps: Current Versus Desired Reality

 
 
Section IV. Creating Systems That Accelerate Learning for All
 
9. Multicultural Issues That Teachers and School Leaders Must Face Beyond the Common Core State Standards
Common Core State Standards Lift Us Beyond Difference

 
What All Teachers and School Leaders Need to Know About Multiculturalism

 
Grouping and Labeling Students

 
Building a Multicultural Learning Community

 
 
10. An Effective Intervention in Schools That Improves Instruction and Learning
Creating Sustainable Change in Struggling Schools

 
Leaders Create the Context and Design for Change to Succeed

 
Homework

 
Student Work and Deficit Assumptions

 
Focus Groups

 
School Leaders

 
Parent Involvement

 
Students

 
Changing Public Mental Models About School Reform

 
 
11. Public Policy: Helpful and Harmful
 
References
 
Index

"Making the Common Core Standards Work provides a detailed approach to systems thinking and how to manage a real-life paradigm shift. Having that coached in the context of core standards is somewhat unique and provides an opportunity for enhanced dialogue across grade levels and disciplines in areas of the country where those discussions may not have occurred on their own."

William Richard Hall, Jr., Principal
R. C. Longan Elementary School, Henrico, VA

"Making the Common Core Standards Work looks at the implementation of CCSS within the context of all of the components that face public schools, and, in doing so, put the CCSS in a proper perspective. This is a book that could actually help make a difference in the improvement of instruction in the public schools."

Martin J. Hudacs, Superintendent
Solanco School District, Quarryville, PA

"The book is easy to read and offers concrete suggestions without establishing walls that prohibit creative practices. Making the Common Core Standards Work pushes educators to plan, reflect, and revise cooperatively to move from a traditional scripted approach of teaching to one that promotes critical thinking and analysis for all students."

Charlotte R. Bihm, Instructional Specialist
St. Landry Parish School Board, Opelousas, LA

"As a busy superintendent who is very careful with her time, I’ve been searching for what seemed to be an impossible … one resource that is full of good, solid research and practical information on CCSS. Manley and Hawkins are practitioner scholars…and they created, in Making the Common Core Standards Work, exactly what I need to intelligently and confidently move my district forward …thanks!"

Roberta Gerold, Superintendent, Middle Country Schools, Centereach, NY
President Elect, Suffolk County School Superintendents Association
Key features
All in all, we have attempted to provide practical advice, examples, and design considerations that are modifiable for any culture, school, or district that is serious about being part of the new age of American achievement and prosperity.

For instructors

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