customized professional development services for new york...

Common Core State Standards

Customized Professional Development Services

for New York City Department of Education Schools2011–2012

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Professional Development ServicesImplementing the Common Core State Standards in NYC, 2011–2012

Pearson offers expert services to support New York City teachers and school and network

leaders as they implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in year 2. In

particular, our services provide support for meeting the New York City Department of

Education’s directives for the 2011–2012 school year to use student work to guide curriculum

revisions and to develop at least one unit of study aligned to the CCSS.

America’s Choice® senior fellows Sally Hampton and Phil Daro not only led the development

of the CCSS, but have also guided our organization in providing CCSS professional

development. We tailor our professional development offerings to meet your specific needs

and interests as you align curriculum content and practices to the standards.

For over a decade as America’s Choice, we have provided New York City schools with

professional development that has helped school leaders transform instruction in the

classroom and raise students’ achievement levels. Now, with the world-renowned resources

and experience of Pearson behind us, we look forward to continuing our work with you.

To learn more about our services or to schedule an appointmentwith a Common Core specialist, please contact us:

[email protected] | 877.530.2716 | http://www.americaschoice.org/contactus

4 NYC Customized Professional Development Services

ContentsLeadership Teams for Grades, Schools, and Networks

Symposium on Teacher Effectiveness through the Lens of the Common Core State Standards ....

Shoulder-to-Shoulder Technical Assistance .....................................................................................

Supervision of Instruction: The Value of the Common Core State Standards Leadership in a Standards-Based Environment ..............................................................................

Incorporating the Common Core State Standards into aResponse to Intervention (RTI) Program .........................................................................................

English Language Arts

Foundational Overview of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts ............

Digging Deeper into the Common Core State Standards for Reading ............................................

Digging Deeper into the Common Core State Standards for Writing ..............................................

Digging Deeper into the Common Core State Standards for Speaking and Listening ....................

Looking at Student Work in English Language Arts through the Lens of the Common Core State Standards and PARCC AssessmentsStructured Collections of Student Work ..........................................................................................

Curriculum Planning in Literacy with the Common Core State Standards ......................................

Curriculum Planning Using Genre Studies—America’s Choice Writing Aviator® ............................

Technical Assistance: Units of Study ...............................................................................................

Using Rubrics to Inform Writing to the Common Core State Standards ......................................... .The Common Core State Standards: Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners .............

Using Formative and Summative Data to Inform Literacy Instruction .............................................

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CONTACT: [email protected] | 877.530.2716 | http://www.americaschoice.org/contactus 5

Mathematics

Foundational Overview of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics ...........................

Deconstructing the Domains in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics ...................

Focusing on the Mathematical Practices in the Common Core State Standards ...........................

Performance-Based Assessments for Mathematics .......................................................................

Using the Common Core State Standards in a Standards-Based Mathematics Classroom ..........

Looking at Student Work in Mathematics through the Lens of the Common Core State Standards and PARCC AssessmentsStructured Collections of Student Work ..........................................................................................

Curriculum Planning in Mathematics with the Common Core State Standards and PARCC Assessments .....................................................................................................................

The Language of Mathematics—Properties ...................................................................................

Content Areas

The Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History and Social Studies .............................

The Common Core State Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects ....................

Using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge to Increase Rigor in Classroom Tasks and Questioning ........

High School Forums: The New York State Regents Exams and the Common Core State Standards .....................................................................................................

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Leadership Teams for Grades, Schools, and Networks

Symposium on Teacher Effectiveness through the Lens of the Common Core State Standards

Vicki Phillips, director of education, College Ready, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, wrote in her June 23, 2010, blog:

Over the past four decades, research has consistently confirmed what we have known intuitively all along—that no school-based factor matters more for a student’s learning than having an effective teacher.

It’s ironic, then, that we give teachers so little useful feedback on the quality of instruction—the strengths they bring to the classroom and the gaps in their practice that need to be filled.

We have decades of experience supporting teachers and principals with powerful professional development—delivered through workshops, shoulder-to-shoulder technical assistance, and coaching—now linked to the expectations of the CCSS and informed by Teacher Compass™, a tool developed in partnership with Johns Hopkins University that has been used in K–12 schools for over 10 years. Our deep experience can help ensure accountability and support for teacher effectiveness.

This one-day symposium will engage participants in practical ways to address the complex issues related to teacher effectiveness as schools move toward implementing the CCSS. The symposium is offered at no cost and is open to cluster, network, and school leaders. Date and location to be announced.

Contract Number: QC4390I

Shoulder-to-Shoulder Technical Assistance

Shoulder-to-Shoulder Technical Assistance provides job-embedded professional development for teachers, coaches, department heads, assistant principals, principals, and network leaders. The focus of technical assistance is determined by the CCSS and the expressed needs and interests of the school and/or network. Technical assistance is conducted on-site in conjunction with the participants’ performance of their regular work roles.

Technical assistance is designed to help schools integrate professional development into the daily work of the school, align professional development with the school’s instructional systems, and develop differentiated professional development that matches teachers’ needs and interests. It includes diagnosing professional development needs and teachers’ learning-style preferences, developing self-managing study circles, promoting the effective use of professional development time, and implementing strategies for building a professional community.


Activities might include the following:

• Unit-mapping review and instructional planning—co-planning with a teacher or teachers, combined with lesson observation and debriefing

• Guiding teachers in the development of performance tasks that are aligned to the CCSS

• Developing a specific teaching and learning strategy through a combination of teacher meetings and in-class support. For example:

– Refining lesson openings and closings– Revising current routines– Developing questioning techniques and promoting effective student discussion– Modifying a Read-Aloud to include a more complex reading task while still using a

lower-level text that meets students at their instructional level – Making the transition from a focus on reading and writing narratives to more

emphasis on the reading and writing of informational text and opinion/argument – Using a CCSS-based rubric in writing conferences and making the transition from

manipulatives to modeling in the mathematics classroom

• Differentiating instruction—working with faculty to develop systems for identifying students’ needs and planning lessons that provide for varying levels of scaffolding of students’ learning, together with systematic monitoring of the effectiveness of the scaffolding technique

• Enhancing coaching—working with the coach to identify strengths and areas for growth, develop identified skills, determine priorities and goals, develop a results-driven work plan that reflects those priorities and goals, and plan systems for monitoring progress

• Assessing needs and strategic planning—working with the coach, faculty, and supervisors, as appropriate, to identify professional development needs, establish goals, prepare and refine individual teacher plans and department-level plans through lesson study, determine processes for evaluating the achievement of the goals, and apply these processes. For example, we would assist teachers, coaches, and supervisors in effectively translating the use of strategies such as Understanding by Design or backward mapping into actual classroom instruction.

• Supporting leadership teams through activities such as focus walks, peer visitation, and building schedules with time for professional development and professional learning communities

A day of Shoulder-to-Shoulder Technical Assistance includes a full school day and may extend to include a teacher meeting or other activity before and after the normal school day.



Supervision of Instruction: The Value of the Common Core State Standards Leadership in a Standards-Based Environment Supervision of Instruction: The Value of the Common Core State Standards provides a comprehensive and integrated range of services and technical assistance for principals, school leadership teams, and school staff that will help improve students’ performance and assist in achieving accountability goals. For example, participants will explore strategies for assessing and increasing the use of academic language in their schools. The services will help school leaders identify the characteristics of constructive post-observation feedback, including the use of best instructional practices. The alignment of instruction and curriculum to the CCSS and other resources identified by the New York City Department of Education, such as ARIS, PARCC guidelines, and Danielson’s Framework for Teaching, will serve as the lens for supervision.


Incorporating the Common Core State Standards into a Response to Intervention (RTI) Program

In this five-day workshop, school and network leadership teams will explore strategies and develop a school-based timeline for meeting the July 2012 New York State mandate for the development of an RTI program that incorporates the CCSS. Participants will explore how effective instructional planning and teaching of struggling learners are dependent on establishing a teaching and learning cycle within an aligned instructional system. The three interlocking lenses of standards, assessments, and instruction inform the cycle and indicate the appropriate pedagogical and instructional supports for struggling learners. To effectively develop an intervention plan that meets the needs of struggling learners, participants will come to understand the characteristics of students in Tiers 1, 2, and 3. They will learn how to use the CCSS to identify the sub-performances students need to demonstrate as well as how to develop students’ metacognitive skills.



English Language Arts

Foundational Overview of the Common Core State Standards forEnglish Language Arts

This comprehensive, two-day workshop provides participants with an opportunity to explore all components of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. The first day emphasizes the implications of the standards for content, curriculum, and assessment in English language arts. This session addresses the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for four strands and the progression and integration of the performance expectations in each strand. The second day focuses exclusively on the reading and writing standards. The reading portion of the workshop focuses on comprehension, text complexity, and informational texts. The writing portion highlights the three genres emphasized by the CCSS, particularly argument.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to accomplish the following:

• Describe the four strands included in the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts as well as key features of their progression and integration

• Create an outline that illustrates how the anchor standards progress in each strand• Use Appendix B as a model for creating performance-based assessments• Explain the central importance of text complexity to the reading standards• Review and discuss the definitions of the three writing genres specified by the CCSS• Trace the development of the genre of argument through the grade spans• Plan for the impact of the CCSS on content, instruction, and assessment


Digging Deeper into the Common Core State Standards for Reading

This one-day workshop provides participants with a deeper look at the Common Core State Standards for Reading. Participants dig deeper into the topics of reading comprehension, text complexity, and informational texts. They learn how to select appropriately leveled texts and materials so that students are supported in meeting the high standards embedded in the CCSS. Strategies for teaching English language learners are also addressed during the workshop.


• Plan appropriate classroom libraries and other reading materials to provide scaffolding for students to meet higher standards

• Apply grade-appropriate instructional strategies that enrich the comprehension of complex text, vocabulary, and fluency

• Incorporate reading-comprehension strategies specific to informational texts• Support English language learners in achieving the CCSS reading standards



Digging Deeper into the Common Core State Standards for Writing

This one-day workshop provides participants with a deeper look at the Common Core State Standards for Writing. Participants dig deeper into the writing genres, particularly argument and explanatory text. They plan appropriately leveled writing prompts and assignments. Strategies for teaching English language learners are also addressed during the workshop.


• Plan appropriate writing prompts and assignments to provide scaffolding for students to meet higher standards

• Apply grade-appropriate instructional strategies that support students in writing opinion/argument and informative/explanatory texts

• Support English language learners in achieving the CCSS writing standards


Digging Deeper into the Common Core State Standards forSpeaking and Listening

This one-day workshop provides participants with a deeper look at the Common Core State Standards for Speaking and Listening as well as Language. Participants will explore how to incorporate the speaking and listening standards and the language standards into reading and writing lessons. Strategies for teaching English language learners are addressed during the workshop.


• Plan reading and writing lessons that incorporate speaking, listening, and language standards

• Support English language learners in achieving the CCSS speaking, listening, and language standards



Looking at Student Work in English Language Arts through the Lens of the Common Core State Standards and PARCC AssessmentsStructured Collections of Student Work

In this series, developed in consultation with our senior fellow Sally Hampton, participants will explore how to translate the expectations of the CCSS into data-based instruction and how to use this information to guide the development of a unit of study. This series guides participants through a process of studying student work with reference to the standards, models approaches for using student-work samples to scaffold students’ learning, and develops participants’ facility in using different protocols to support the collaborative study of student work.

Participants will engage in the following activities:

• Analyzing student work with reference to the standards and Appendix B tasks• Developing college-ready performance tasks and integrating them into instruction• Using student-work exemplars and anchors to develop a shared understanding of the

characteristics of student work that meets the standards• Identifying patterns of learning in collections of student work and analyzing instructional

needs• Using a range of protocols for analyzing student work and exploring the differing uses of

these protocols• Using student-work samples to provide effective feedback• Developing a plan for using information gained from this series to develop more informed

Lesson Study criteria in participants’ schools • Considering ways of developing and using formative assessments aligned to the CCSS in

all modalities (reading, writing, and speaking and listening) in all content areas

A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this series is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for the application of learning between sessions.


Curriculum Planning in Literacy with the Common Core State Standards

This three-day workshop helps supervisors, teachers, and coaches develop units of study that are aligned to the CCSS. The workshop provides support for building interdisciplinary units of study, based on themes, that help students achieve literacy in content areas. In developing units of study for grades K–5, participants explore the role of foundational skills and the use of appropriate resources to support students in meeting grade-level expectations. During the workshop, standards-driven curriculum units are presented as models to guide teachers in providing students with a scaffolded sequence of learning experiences.

The workshop is designed to help schools establish systems that use student work to ensure the alignment of curriculum and instruction in literacy throughout the grades as well as alignment with the expectations of the New York State testing program and the CCSS. The workshop focuses on developing a coherent curriculum map, balancing a shared scope and sequence with instruction targeted to individual students’ needs, and engaging in the systematic use of the standards to plan for instruction. The workshop gives participants experience in using a process for standards-based lesson planning as well as for periodically reviewing curriculum maps and ensuring the continuing alignment of instruction.



Curriculum Planning Using Genre Studies—America’s Choice Writing Aviator®

Writing Aviator, for students in grades K–10, helps all students develop into confident, effective writers and prepares them for meeting the Common Core State Standards for Writing. Using the program, teachers deliver deep instruction in writing that is aligned to the CCSS writing skills and genres (narrative, informative/explanatory text, and argument). Teachers administer performance assessments to obtain comprehensive, authentic measures of students’ knowledge and skills. Explicit support for building the language and writing skills of English language learners is embedded in the program.

In addition to preparing teachers for implementing Writing Aviator, this four-day workshop shows teachers how to integrate reading and writing and gives them knowledge of genre-specific writing and reading structures aligned to the CCSS. Teachers will learn how to analyze student work against the CCSS and how to develop rubrics with their students to help them meet the CCSS expectations. They will learn how to use the Writing Aviator resources as a framework for developing curriculum maps that reflect aligned instruction and assessment to meet the rigorous requirements of the CCSS.


Technical Assistance: Units of Study

Follow-up technical assistance for the development of grade-specific units of study is available to participants who have attended Curriculum Planning in Literacy with the Common Core State Standards and/or Curriculum Planning Using Genre Studies—America’s Choice Writing Aviator®. Literacy specialists will facilitate grade-level teacher meetings to develop units of study and analyze student work to determine how to revise units if necessary.

Contract Number: QC43901


Using Rubrics to Inform Writing to the Common Core State Standards

Standards-based writing rubrics can help make standards transparent for teachers and students alike. They can provide an instructional planning guide for teachers and help students assume increased responsibility for their learning. This workshop helps teachers employ rubrics to achieve these aims, using our extensive collection of rubrics with benchmarked student work and commentaries in each of the writing genres included in the CCSS as well as released tasks from PARCC and Appendix B of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Participants will analyze collections of student work and commentaries to identify strengths and weaknesses in student writing, thereby developing an understanding of the continuum of performance from exceptional to below standard. They will learn how to use their knowledge of student work to plan instruction and will explore strategies for the co-construction of genre-specific rubrics as well as techniques for helping students conduct self-evaluations based on rubrics. Participants will also discuss the use of classroom artifacts and student portfolios. The workshop can range from one to five days.

Contract Number: Q068808

The Common Core State Standards: Meeting the Needs ofEnglish Language Learners

Many schools struggle to effectively meet the needs of the English language learners (ELLs) in their classrooms. This five-day workshop focuses explicitly on meeting the needs of ELLs in the following ways:

• Providing general-education teachers with a foundation in the research on second language acquisition and applying the research to key strategies for supporting English language learning in the classroom

• Exploring the development of co-teaching models to maximize the effectiveness of teaching resources and the monitoring of students’ progress

• Identifying strategies for incorporating the Common Core State Standards for Speaking and Listening into all curriculum to build capacity among staff to serve the needs of ELLs across the school

Participants can include general-education, special-needs, and ESOL teachers of English language arts, social studies, and science.



Using Formative and Summative Data to Inform Literacy Instruction

This workshop focuses on the development of systematic approaches to using formative and summative data to drive literacy achievement. The workshop can be used to frame the work of a data-inquiry team and to develop a school-wide approach to planning for results to provide for the alignment of all aspects of literacy instruction, including curriculum and instructional strategies, classroom organization, differentiation of instruction, instructional intervention, professional development, instructional supervision, and the allocation of resources.

The workshop emphasizes establishing and maintaining a cyclical approach to the use of formative-assessment data. This approach includes implementing an annual cycle of summative accountability assessments and documenting the process systematically to provide the basis for school-wide reflection about the impact of instructional practices on student learning.

The focus and length of the workshop will be determined by schools’ existing practices and needs. Participants might develop approaches to using formative and summative data suchas the following:

• Establishing challenging, yet realizable goals that are based on an analysis of past student performance, related to accountability measures, and aligned to improvement plans

• Engaging the faculty and school community in the process of goal setting and related planning

• Determining key strategies for achieving goals, based on an analysis of current practice and research into best practices to promote student learning; supporting the implementation of these strategies with professional development and other resources

• Conducting formative assessments and analyzing data• Communicating information gathered from formative assessments• Engaging stakeholders (at grade or department level, as appropriate) in the process of

interpreting formative-assessment data and using the data to inform instructional decision making in a timely manner

• Ensuring that instructional decision making includes differentiating instruction according to students’ needs

• Ensuring that resources are focused on instruction and are allocated effectively and efficiently in relation to students’ needs



Mathematics

Foundational Overview of the Common Core State Standardsfor Mathematics

This one-day workshop provides participants with an opportunity to explore all components of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, with an emphasis on the framework for learning they provide for college and career readiness. The workshop focuses on the domains, concept categories, and learning progressions in the K–12 Standards for Mathematical Content while addressing the mathematical habits of mind required by the K–12 Standards for Mathematical Practice. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to identify the domains and concept categories included in the K–12 Standards for Mathematical Content.


Deconstructing the Domains in the Common Core State Standardsfor Mathematics

The CCSS present a learning progression containing domains—groups of related standards that build from kindergarten to grade 12. In this one-day workshop, participants map one domain from the K–5 band to the middle and high school domains to understand how the domains are related. Understanding the learning progression in the CCSS is essential for effective instructional planning, since the standards progress from developing mathematical concepts to understanding and applying concepts.



Focusing on the Mathematical Practices in the Common Core State Standards

This two-day workshop examines how connecting the Standards for Mathematical Practice to processes, proficiencies, and problem solving impacts student learning. The first day focuses on the eight practices and the use of existing resources to promote and routinely assess the practices. During the second day, participants unpack the content standards while continuing to consider the routine integration of the Standards for Mathematical Practice. They examine specific considerations for differentiation and support for all students.


• Connect the Standards for Mathematical Practice to the NCTM process standards and the proficiencies as detailed in Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics

• Identify a structure for collaboration and the use of the eight practices • Connect current successful instructional practices to the changes needed to implement the

Standards for Mathematical Practice• Articulate ways to routinely promote and assess the mathematical practices• Describe how specific mathematical practices are embedded in the Standards for

Mathematical Content• Identify the attributes of a rich, problem-based approach to instruction and the ways such an

approach can support access to the Standards for Mathematical Practice• Identify sub-performance tasks as a means for giving students the opportunity to routinely

demonstrate the eight practices• Connect the analysis of student work to ongoing support for meeting the Standards for

Mathematical Practice


Performance-Based Assessments for Mathematics

This one-day workshop explores performance-based assessments in relation to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, with a focus on the eight mathematical practices in the CCSS. Participants discuss the implications of performance-based assessments for classroom instruction and assessment. They review sample performance tasks, develop a template for creating similar assessments, and learn strategies for implementing the assessments.


• Apply strategies to create and evaluate performance-based assessments • Use the sample performance tasks as models for creating performance-based assessments • Use student samples in appendices as models for evaluating student work • Connect the K–12 Standards for Mathematical Practice to the NCTM process standards and

the proficiencies as detailed in Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics• Identify ways to promote classroom discourse that help students develop mathematical

proficiency• Identify aspects of the mathematical practices that help teachers better see what students

need in order to progress • Connect current successful instructional practices to the changes needed to implement the

Standards for Mathematical Practice



Using the Common Core State Standards in a Standards-BasedMathematics Classroom

This one-day workshop supports teachers in helping students meet the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Participants examine teaching through problem solving in a standards-based classroom as a means for engaging students and helping them make sense of mathematics. Participants experience firsthand the benefits of an instructional model that takes into account what students already know and that engages students in mathematical problems and tasks, while building a community of learners in which justifying answers and methods is valued.


• Articulate a structure for teaching through problem solving that incorporates the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice

• Connect the design of a lesson to the opportunity for focused instruction and ongoing formative assessment

• Identify scaffolded tasks as a means for differentiated instruction and an entry point forall students

• Articulate daily instructional routines and classroom rituals that build independence of learning• Connect common mathematical misconceptions to potential opportunities for student learning• Identify ways to appropriately challenge students


Looking at Student Work in Mathematics through the Lens of the Common Core State Standards and PARCC AssessmentsStructured Collections of Student Work

In this series, developed in consultation with our senior fellow Phil Daro, participants will explore how to translate the expectations of the CCSS into data-based instruction and how to use this information to guide the development of a unit of study and related tasks. The series guides participants through a process of studying student work with reference to the standards, models approaches for using student-work samples to scaffold students’ learning, and develops participants’ facility in using different protocols to support the collaborative study of student work.

Participants will engage in the following activities:

• Analyzing student work with reference to the standards • Using student-work exemplars and anchors to develop a shared understanding of the

characteristics of student work that meets the standards• Using a range of protocols for analyzing student work and exploring the differing uses of

these protocols• Identifying patterns of learning in collections of student work and analyzing instructional needs• Using student-work samples to provide effective feedback

A combination of seminar, workshop, and practicum, this series is spaced over 3 one-day sessions to provide time for the application of learning between sessions.



Curriculum Planning in Mathematics with the Common Core State Standards and PARCC Assessments

Developed in consultation with our senior fellow Phil Daro, this four-day workshop helps supervisors, teachers, and coaches develop units of study that are aligned to the CCSS and are consistent with the New York City Department of Education’s focus for the 2011–2012 school year on Standards for Mathematical Practice, number 4: Model with mathematics. During the workshop, standards-driven curriculum units are presented as models to guide teachers in providing students with a scaffolded sequence of learning experiences.

The workshop is designed to help schools establish systems to ensure the alignment of curriculum and instruction in mathematics throughout the grades as well as alignment with the expectations of the New York State testing program and the CCSS. In response to the Department of Education’s focus on modeling, we will support teachers in developing their understanding of the pedagogical practices embedded in the units of study that help students become proficient in applying mathematics to everyday situations. The workshop gives participants experience in using a process for standards-based lesson planning as well as for periodically reviewing curriculum maps and ensuring the continuing alignment of instruction.


The Language of Mathematics—Properties

In this one-day workshop, participants explore the language of mathematics that is integral to the properties of operations (addition and multiplication), the properties of equality, and the properties of inequalities. These properties apply to all number systems, from simple operations to complex mathematics. Participants explore how understanding properties helps students build a conceptual framework that they can use to make sense of mathematical situations. Understanding these properties is essential for students to be able to demonstrate proficiency in the Standards for Mathematical Practice.



Content Areas

The Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History and Social Studies

This one-day workshop focuses on preparing students to be college and career ready. Educators for grades 6–12 will explore how they can support students in meeting the Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies. They will create a plan to support the development of students’ literacy skills in history and social studies, with a focus on reading informational text and writing arguments and informative/explanatory texts.


• Analyze the reading and writing standards for literacy in history and social studies • Implement strategies that support the development of students’ literacy skills in history and

social studies• Plan appropriate writing prompts and assignments that address the genres of argument and

informative/explanatory texts


The Common Core State Standards for Literacy in Science andTechnical Subjects

This one-day workshop focuses on preparing students to be college and career ready. Educators for grades 6–12 will explore how they can support students in meeting the Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects. They will create a plan to support the development of students’ literacy skills in science and technical subjects, with a focus on reading informational text and writing arguments and informative/explanatory texts.


• Analyze the reading and writing standards for literacy in science and technical subjects• Implement strategies that support the development of students’ literacy skills in science and

technical subjects• Plan appropriate writing prompts and assignments that address the genres of argument and

informative/explanatory texts



Using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge to Increase Rigor in Classroom Tasksand Questioning

Teachers in standards-based classrooms need to attend to both content and performance standards to have clearly defined expectations for student learning outcomes. In the first session of this two-day workshop, participants will focus on content and performance standards, explore the links between the cognitive demand of tasks and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) framework, and identify tasks that meet performance expectations. In the second session, participants will explore strategies to differentiate and scaffold entry into these tasks for all learners. Emphasis is placed on the pedagogical practices that support implementing rigorous tasks in the classroom with fidelity. Participants will leave the workshop with strategies for helping students progress toward meeting and exceeding the rigorous CCSS.


High School Forums: The New York State Regents Exams and the Common Core State Standards

This series of four high school forums will enable participants to network with others as they move toward implementing the CCSS while maintaining high student performances on the Regents exams. Each forum will focus on a different topic, enabling building leaders and their representatives to explore new ideas and learn about new resources to support students in meeting expectations. Topics to be announced. The forums are offered at no cost. They will be held in central locations and will be scheduled at times that take into consideration the needs of participants.

To learn more about our services or to schedule an appointmentwith a Common Core specialist, please contact us:


Contact UsTo learn more about our services or to schedule an appointment

with a Common Core specialist, please contact us:


ISBN: 978-0-66364-325-7

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