English Language Arts

1. English Language Arts Common Core Implementation and PARCC ASSESSMENT Presented to Essex County Curriculum Directors/Supervisors August 19, 2014 NJ Department of Education-Office of Literacy

2. History National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) June 2010- Final draft released; NJ State Board of Education adopts CCSS in Math and in ELA NJ moves to have all schools write curriculum for and fully implement the Common Core in ELA by September 2013 NJDOE begins to provide resources to aid implementation 2014 – NJ State BOE readopts the CCSS in Math and ELA

3. What is different? • Three major instructional shifts: • Regular practice with complex text and its academic language • Reading, writing, speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational • Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

4. What Should Be Changing What we are asking students to read What kinds of questions we are asking What we are asking students to write What words we may be choosing for instruction What we are asking students to know about credibility of sources, claims and counterclaims, evidence that supports an author’s point of view

5. How Should We Be Reading Analyze paragraphs Investigate meaning through specific word choice Probe each argument, each key detail, each idea – observe how they build to a whole Examine the direction of an argument or explanation and the impact of the shifts Consider what is left uncertain or unsaid

6. Literary v. Informational Grades K-5 50% Literary/50% Informational Grades 6-8 45% Literary/55% Informational Grades 9-12 30% Literary/70% Informational

7. Why text selection matters Gap: high school and college text Predictor of college success Vocabulary and syntax

8. How do we determine text complexity • Quantitative measures • Qualitative Measures • Reader and Task • Considerations for students who struggle

9. Scaffolding Text Multiple Readings Close Reading Read Alouds Close Readings Chunking Annotation Vocabulary Instruction

10. Considerations for struggling readers • Universal Design for Learning • Present information and content in different ways • Allow students to demonstrate their learning in different ways • Stimulate interest in and motivation for learning

11. Considerations for ELLs

12. Evidence grounded in text Emphasis on what the author/text says Ability to locate evidence in the text and use it to substantiate your claim, response, writing et al.

13. Informational text Vast majority of college and workplace text Relies on academic vocabulary – scholarly work Helps readers become stronger writers

14. PARCC Resources PARCC evidence statements Test blueprint Sample items Practice tests Professional development – presentations parcconline.org

15. Additional Resources njcore.org Model Curriculum Framework End-of-Unit Assessments Student Achievement Partners – achievethecore.org

16. Evidence Tables Reading, Writing and VocabularyMajor claims and the evidence to be measured on the PARCC summative assessment Evidence describes what students may say or do to demonstrate mastery of the standards Items on the PARCC assessments may measure multiple standards and multiple evidences

17. ELA/Literacy Claims for the PARCC Summative Assessments

18. Reading evidence tables

19. Evidence Tables in Grades 6-12

20. Instructional Uses for Evidence Tables • To see ways to combine standards naturally when designing instructional tasks • To help determine alignment of a complex text with standards for instructional passage selection • To develop the stem for questions/tasks for instruction aligned with the standards • To determine and create instructional scaffolding (to think through which individual, simpler skills can be taught first to build to more complex skills)  • To develop rubrics and scoring tools for classroom use

21. Assessment • 2014- NJASK and HSPA continued; PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) Field Test (NJ participated) • 2015 – PARCC becomes the NJ assessment • Grades 3 through 8 • End-of-year for English I, II and III

22. Classroom instruction • 90-/80-minute blocks for literacy instruction (grades 3-8) with additional time for ESL instruction • Tiered approach • Short whole group instruction • Small group instruction • Co-teaching • Intervention in the classroom • Additional intervention outside the block • No replacement/pull outs for grade level instruction (during the block) • Technology as a part of the instruction

23. Focus on the CCSS Two texts used for comparison/contrast Reasoned judgment/opinion/fact/speculation Claims/counterclaims/argument Explicit evidence from text (Where is the answer supported?) Academic vocabulary – Tier II – explicit references to text; context Illustrations and their support of text

24. PARCC Assessments Diagnostic assessment (earlier in the year) – not designed to become mandatory – available to districts for use in classroom instruction Mid-year performance based assessment (PBA) – research simulation task and literary and informational sets ; Writing End-of-Year assessment – summative – Evidence Based Selected Response

25. New Jersey’s Participation Governing State Executive Board State Lead Operational Work Groups Core Leadership Group State Educator Review Committee Test/Forms Construction Data Review

26. Contact Information Mary Jane Kurabinski Director, Office of Literacy NJ Department of Education 100 Riverview Plaza Trenton, NJ 08625 mary-jane.kurabinski@doe.state.nj.us 609-633-1726