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Moreontheshiftsatachievethecore.org

CommonCoreShiftsforEnglishLanguageArts/Literacy

1. Buildingknowledgethroughcontent-

richnonfiction

Buildingknowledgethroughcontentrichnon-fictionplaysanessentialrole

inliteracyandintheStandards.InK-5,fulfillingthestandardsrequiresa

50-50balancebetweeninformationalandliteraryreading.Informationalreadingprimarilyincludescontentrichnon-fictioninhistory/socialstudies,

scienceandthearts;theK-5Standardsstronglyrecommendthatstudents

buildcoherentgeneralknowledgebothwithineachyearandacross

years.In6-12,ELAclassesplacemuchgreaterattentiontoaspecific

categoryofinformationaltextliterarynonfictionthanhasbeen

traditional.Ingrades6-12,theStandardsforliteracyinhistory/social

studies,scienceandtechnicalsubjectsensurethatstudentscan

independentlybuildknowledgeinthesedisciplinesthroughreadingand

writing.

Tobeclear,theStandardsdorequiresubstantialattentiontoliterature

throughoutK-12,ashalfoftherequiredworkinK-5andthecoreofthe

workof6-12ELAteachers.

2. Reading,writingandspeakinggroundedin

evidencefromtext,

bothliteraryand

informational

TheStandardsplaceapremiumonstudentswritingtosources,i.e.,using

evidencefromtextstopresentcarefulanalyses,well-defendedclaims,and

clearinformation.Ratherthanaskingstudentsquestionstheycananswer

solelyfromtheirpriorknowledgeorexperience,theStandardsexpect

studentstoanswerquestionsthatdependontheirhavingreadthetextor

textswithcare.TheStandardsalsorequirethecultivationofnarrative

writingthroughoutthegrades,andinlatergradesacommandofsequence

anddetailwillbeessentialforeffectiveargumentativeandinformational

writing.

Likewise,thereadingstandardsfocusonstudentsabilitytoreadcarefullyandgraspinformation,arguments,ideasanddetailsbasedontextevidence.

Studentsshouldbeabletoanswerarangeof text-dependentquestions,

questionsinwhichtheanswersrequireinferencesbasedoncareful

attentiontothetext.

3. Regularpracticewithcomplextextandits

academiclanguage

Ratherthanfocusingsolelyontheskillsofreadingandwriting,the

Standardshighlightthegrowingcomplexityofthetextsstudentsmustread

tobereadyforthedemandsofcollegeandcareers.TheStandardsbuilda

staircaseoftextcomplexitysothatallstudentsarereadyforthedemandsof

college-andcareer-levelreadingnolaterthantheendofhighschool.

Closelyrelatedtotextcomplexityandinextricablyconnectedtoreading

comprehensionisafocusonacademicvocabulary:wordsthatappearinavarietyofcontentareas(suchasigniteandcommit).

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Moreontheshiftsatachievethecore.org

CommonCoreShiftsforMathematics

1. FocusstronglywheretheStandardsfocus

Focus:TheStandardscallforagreaterfocusinmathematics.Ratherthan

racingtocovertopicsintodaysmile-wide,inch-deepcurriculum,teachers

usethepoweroftheeraserandsignificantlynarrowanddeepentheway

timeandenergyisspentinthemathclassroom.Theyfocusdeeplyonthemajorwork*ofeachgradesothatstudentscangainstrongfoundations:

solidconceptualunderstanding,ahighdegreeofproceduralskilland

fluency,andtheabilitytoapplythemaththeyknowtosolveproblems

insideandoutsidethemathclassroom.

2. Coherence:thinkacrossgrades,and

linktomajortopics*

withingrades

Thinkingacrossgrades:TheStandardsaredesignedaroundcoherent

progressionsfromgradetograde.Principalsandteacherscarefullyconnect

thelearningacrossgradessothatstudentscanbuildnewunderstanding

ontofoundationsbuiltinpreviousyears.Teacherscanbegintocounton

deepconceptualunderstandingofcorecontentandbuildonit.Each

standardisnotanewevent,butanextensionofpreviouslearning.

Linkingtomajortopics:Insteadofallowingadditionalorsupportingtopics

todetractfromthefocusofthegrade,thesetopicscanservethegradelevel

focus.Forexample,insteadofdatadisplaysasanendinthemselves,they

supportgrade-levelwordproblems.

3. Rigor:inmajortopics*pursue:

conceptualunderstanding,

proceduralskillandfluency,and

application withequalintensity.

Conceptualunderstanding:TheStandardscallforconceptual

understandingofkeyconcepts,suchasplacevalueandratios.Teachers

supportstudentsabilitytoaccessconceptsfromanumberofperspectives

sothatstudentsareabletoseemathasmorethanasetofmnemonicsor

discreteprocedures.

Proceduralskillandfluency:TheStandardscallforspeedandaccuracyin

calculation.Teachersstructureclasstimeand/orhomeworktimeforstudentstopracticecorefunctionssuchassingle-digitmultiplicationso

thatstudentshaveaccesstomorecomplexconceptsandprocedures

Application:TheStandardscallforstudentstousemathflexiblyfor

applications.Teachersprovideopportunitiesforstudentstoapplymathin

context.Teachersincontentareasoutsideofmath,particularlyscience,

ensurethatstudentsareusingmathtomakemeaningofandaccesscontent.

Grade *PrioritiesinSupportofConceptualUnderstandingandFluency

K2 Additionandsubtraction--concepts,skills,andproblemsolving

35 Multiplicationanddivisionofwholenumbersandfractionsconcepts,skills,andproblemsolving

6 Ratiosandproportionalrelationships;earlyexpressionsandequations

7 Ratiosandproportionalrelationships;arithmeticofrationalnumbers2

8 Linearalgebra