One of the presentations to the Canby School Board last night was K-12 readiness for new graduation requirements. The underpinnings for our students to receive a regular diploma rely on teachers' ability to adapt their instruction to meet the new common core standards. In addition, vertical and horizontal alignment is critical for our students to be able to access the necessary content from year to year.
For many elementary classrooms increasing reading selections to include 50% informational text will be a shift that will impact instruction. At grade 6-12 there is an increase in literacy in the content area, meaning students will be expected to learn from what they read in science and social studies classes.
In order to prepare students for the difficulty of text there is a shift in grade-level text complexity with the expectation all students read the "grade-appropriate text around which instruction is centered." See Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated
Lexile Ranges attached.
There is increased expectation that students at each level, K-12, are able to engage in grade level appropriate rich and rigorous conversations. This includes students able to pose an oral and written argument or opinion (see writing examples below) with their peers, which is seen as early as kindergarten.
If you are wondering how Canby teachers can begin to provide students with high levels of student engagement aligned to the CCSS ELA standards look to your building's instructional focus and best practices. Consider changes in your instructional practices that re-establish a learning environment where there is more student talk than teacher talk, students posing critical thinking questions to each other in addition to the teacher. Canby School District have effective systems with collaboration, instructional focus and best practices that will certainly provide a jumping off point.
Below are 3 documents indicating the extent of the shift towards CCSS in English Language Arts K-12:
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