Now It's Minnesota's Turn

Ouch! Looks like Minnesota is the latest state to see its scores decline with test aligned to the new Common Core standards. I know that this is discouraging, but remember that this does not have to happen. A few schools have worked hard to implement the standards early and have actually seen their scores go up.

English Language Learners and Common Core

How can we prepare ELL students to meet the demands of the Common Core State Standards? It will be challenging. The new standards have a strong emphasis on challenging texts with more complex language. Even in math, the linguistic demands will be greater. There will be more word problems, and students will need to be able to explain their reasoning.

The good news is that it can be done. In Washington D.C. ELL students actually showed some small gains in math as the district moved to tests aligned with the Common Core. While they showed some slippage in reading scores, they did not experience the dramatic drops that occurred for all student groups in other areas as they moved to Common Core aligned tests.

What needs to be done to help ELL students to succeed as we move to the Common Core? It will be important to focus on direct instruction in tier 2 words. But there is something that is even more important, and gets very little attention. Students need to be taught how to gain word knowledge from their reading. They should be able to sound out unknown multisyllable words. Then they have to be able to infer the meaning of a word from its context. These skills are essential. An individual with a good vocabulary will know around fifty thousand words. You will never be able to teach all of these words directly.

Here is an example:

I am longing to get a pet kitten.

This is just the kind of language that an ELL student is likely to have trouble 

understanding. They will think that they know the meaning of the word longing 

because they know the meaning of the word long. But the idea of length makes 

no sense in the context of the sentence. Students need to be walked through 

sentences like this. Don't just tell them the meaning. Discuss what makes sense 

in context. With my complete phonics program students are exposed to 

vocabulary in context on a daily basis. Their word knowledge grows rapidly 

because they gain the skills needed to grow their vocabulary with independent 

reading.

Grandparent's Day

Are you ready for Grandparent's Day? It's celebrated on the Sunday after Labor Day. That means that Grandparent's Day will be on September 8 this year. It's a great holiday for school children. The timing is perfect. The kids are all settled in for the beginning of the year. It isn't around the same time as any other major holidays. It's early enough in the school year so that the students are still in that “honeymoon” period, and late enough so that the placement testing is squared away. Because it's not a well known holiday, you are free from the stress of trying to meet expectations. Hey, its even got its own song.

The children in my class have always gotten a kick out of Grandparent's Day, and the families appreciate it. It's a great way to start off the year.

Points of Light

Both Kentucky and New York saw their test scores drop as they made the change to Common Core aligned tests. But there are some important exceptions to this, and we should look closer to see what we can learn from them.

As I noted in an earlier post, while most New York City schools saw significant drops in their math scores on the new tests, the Success Academies had a strikingly different outcome. Their math scores were extraordinary. All of the schools did very well, and at one school 97% of students scored proficient in math. It's interesting to note that while they also did well on the ELA tests, it is in math that the results are truly striking. Success Academies have a longer school day, but so do many schools that did poorly on the new tests. It's tempting to write this off as a side effect of excessive test prep, but, once again, many schools that are notorious for their emphasis on test prep saw their test scores fall dramatically. I see two things that really stand out on the Success Academy web site. The program is activity based and the students are encouraged to share their mathematical thinking.

Another bright spot is the District of Columbia. While these results are not as strong as what the Success Academies achieved, they are important because they include a much larger and more diverse group of students. It is clear that the Washington D. C. district has devoted resources to the Common Core transition. I like this series documenting how this transition is working out because it really brings home what this is like for real teachers as they struggle to help their students.

Explain Your Answer

Of all the things required by the new Common Core State Standards, explaining your answer in math is one of the most perplexing. How do we teach this skill? After all, most of us did not have to explain our math answers when we were in grade school. What does this even look like? It can be difficult to know what we should be looking for in an explanation.

That is why I was so glad to find this set of annotated Common Core sample questions. The questions are separated out by grade level. Especially useful are the samples of explanations for math problems. The questions are graded on a 0, 1, 2 scale. This site presents several examples for each grade on the scale. It really helps to make expectations clear.

Could Chess Make a Difference?

While most schools did show significant drops in test scores for the new Common Core aligned tests in New York, not all schools showed these declines.

When I checked out the web sites of schools that had shown improvement with the switch to the more rigorous standards, I saw things that anyone might expect. These schools showed a strong emphasis on math discussion. Students were expected to justify their answers both orally and in writing.

I did see one thing that I had not expected. Many of these schools offered chess programs for elementary students. Could this be part of the answer? Chess teaches patience and problem solving skills. The game format may even be helpful. Elementary school chess is part of the curriculum in many countries known for their high achievement in math. It could be worth trying in your school.

Ouch! Scores Fall with Common Core Assessments

As expected, New York's reading and math scores have dropped with the move to new Common Core aligned tests. Something similar happened earlier with test scores in Kentucky when they switched to tests based of the Common Core State Standards.

Why is this drop happening? Part of the explanation lies in the fact that the tests are harder. In addition, the tests are different. They last longer and require more stamina. This is especially challenging for younger students. Just having the tests online presents new challenges. Schools have to have the infrastructure to support the new testing, and students need to be comfortable with a variety of computer skills. These tests also require more writing than students have had to do in the past. The need to explain math answers is another hurdle.

Scores do not have to drop. But to prevent this, schools will need to be proactive. Most states still have until the 2014/15 school year before the new tests are adopted. It is important to be aware of the changes that are coming and to prepare your students.

What I Love and Don't Love about the New Standards

If you want to know what I love about the Common Core State Standards, you don't have to look any further than this. The new standards really do encourage a depth of understanding that had been missing in the past. I love the way these students are encouraged to explain their thinking and collaborate with their peers. The CCSS really are encouraging a higher standard for teaching and learning.

What is it that I don't love about these new standards? It's the over the top stress on standardized tests. Test scores are dropping with the new standards. Kids are stressed out. Teachers and schools may be judged unfairly.

I do support testing and accountability. And even I would agree that these new tests call for much more in the way of higher order thinking skills. But even the best tests have their quirks. I wish that policy makes would join the call for a testing moratorium to give us the time to work out the kinks in these new tests.

Interpreting Visual Information

Under the Common Core, students will need to be able to use pictures, photos, and graphs as sources of information. The Common Core Reading Anchor standard number 7 says that students are expected to be able to “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.” This is not something new. Teachers have been talking young children through “picture walks” for years. And older students have long been required to answer questions about graphs and charts.

What is different is the way this plays out in the CCSS tests . Students will be expected to cite an image as a source for an essay. This is not necessarily difficult, but it is different from traditional essays.

So how can you prepare your students for this challenge? Start out by teaching students how to refer to a graph, chart, or picture in an essay. The information contained in a graph or chart is relatively straight forward, but how can students use the information contained in a photograph as evidence in an essay? Get images from the internet and display them for a class discussion. For example, what does a photograph of astronauts on board a space station suggest about living conditions in space? How would you write about that? It will be important for your students to refer back to the image. You may want to give them sentence stems:

The photo shows that... 

According to the chart … 

The graph demonstrates that …

For younger students, you will want to teach them how to draw conclusions from pictures. How is the child in the picture feeling? How can you tell? Also, make sure that you are including nonfiction pictures in your discussions. What does the picture tell us about frogs?

I'm confident that your students will actually enjoy this challenge. It's fun for children to look to visuals as a source of information. They just need some explicit instruction.

Another Hidden Standard: Time

Like Kentucky, New York City has decided to implement testing for the new Common Core State Standards before the rest of the nation. It is expected that test scores will drop in New York City as they did for the CCSS aligned tests in Kentucky last year.

Is there something to be learned from these concerns? An important concern raised with the NYC tests that were given last spring was the issue of not having enough time. These tests will require more in the way of written responses and essay questions. Many students were not used to writing essays with such a limited amount of time and were not able to complete the tests in the time given.

If you want your students to do well when the CCSS tests are rolled out in the 2014/2015 school year, you will need to help your students become comfortable with writing under time pressures. I have mixed feelings about this. Students really grow in their writing ability when they are given repeated opportunities to review, discuss, and revise their work. You do not want to eliminate this important practice. However, you may need to add timed independent writing assignments, so that students students become used to wrapping up a piece of writing in a limited time.

Hidden Standards in Math

Check out this online fraction quiz. Now we all know that a deep understanding of fractions is needed to set students up for success in algebra. The CCSS Math Standards focus on this deeper understanding and are important to teach.

But what I want to focus on are the “hidden standards”. These are things that are essential to helping your students do well on standardized assessments but that may not be explicitly covered in the standards.

Students must read questions carefully. Does the question ask you to order numbers from least to greatest of from greatest to least?

Think story problems through. Draw a picture if you need help in visualizing what the problem is asking you to do. Avoid the temptation to just focus on the numbers.

Do not be mislead by extraneous information. If there are 12 boys in room 306, you may not need to do anything with the number 306.

While it is important to check your answers to make sure you didn't forget anything or make an obvious mistake, don't go overboard in second guessing yourself. Research shows that students who erase an answer are more likely to change a correct answer to an incorrect answer than the other way around. Rafe Esquith points this out in his most recent book and gives a good example of how he teaches his students about this.

A Little Word with Big Results

In my last post, I discussed the power of vocabulary. Today I am going to tell you about the power of one small word to change your students' attitudes and to increase their academic achievement. That magical word word is “yet”. Not convinced? Check it out here.

CCSS Vocabulary

The CCSS standards emphasize the importance of requiring students to grapple with more complex vocabulary. The focus is on tier two vocabulary. These are words that are more advanced than what a student would typically encounter in spoken speech without being so highly specialized that they are of limited use. Thus big would be a tier one word. Immense would be a tier two word. While lithosphere would be a tier three word.

Then there are specific terms that relate to testing. There are a number of leveled lists that can be helpful with this. There are some important things to consider here. If there are multiple words for the same concept, it will be important to include each of these words. For example, students should know how to find both the root word and the base word.

Students will be expected to know common prefixes and suffixes  and be able to apply these the determine the meaning of a word. This has been somewhat controversial because prefixes and suffixes can be misleading. The argument is that if a child believes that un- at the beginning of a word always means “not” then he is likely to conclude that unicycle mean “not a cycle”. As an experienced teacher, I know that teaching prefixes and suffixes has a big payoff as long as you help students to apply their knowledge flexibly and always attend to context.

This brings me to the most important insight about teaching vocabulary for the Common Core. If you want your students to do well on the tests, you must move beyond merely having them memorize lists of words and definitions.

This was brought home to me years ago when our reading specialist explained that some struggling students were unable to pass the state reading test because it asked them to summarize a passage instead of using the phrase “write a summary”. Why should this have been such a problem? They knew how to write summaries and the meaning of the word summarize should have been clear from the context.

The students were anxious. They weren't sure what to do when they encountered an unknown word, so they just shut down. Children need to have a strategy for dealing with words that they haven't seen before.

First, they have to be able to sound out a new word while being comfortable with the fact that their pronunciation may not be perfect. For years I thought that those little appetizers people served at parties were called horse divorces. Obviously, my pronunciation of the words hors d'oeuvres was not quite correct, but it didn't stop me from understanding the basic meaning.

Context is king. Students need to feel confident that they can understand the meaning of a new word from the way that it is used. This is especially important with multiple meaning words. I remember hearing a little girl tearfully explain why she couldn't answer all the questions on the reading test. “It asked about a reading passage. I know about the Northwest Passage, but how can reading be a passage?”

Finally, students need to realize that they can understand the basic meaning of what they are reading even if they don't have a complete understanding of a word's definition. For example, look at this sentence:

The sad man is glum.

It contains a near synonym and it is fairly easy to determine the meaning of the word “glum”. Now read this sentence:

The kitten finds big dogs distressful.

The reader can make a guess about what the word probably means, but the exact definition is unclear. This is typical of most unknown words that your students will encounter in their reading. The exact meaning will not be immediately clear, but each exposure to the word will give them a better idea of what the word means.

This is why I have had so much success with my phonics program. It really works so much better than the traditional “word of the day” vocabulary program. You can never be confident that you have taught your students every word that they might run across. This program sets them up to tackle any word that they see. My kids don't shut down when they see an unfamiliar word, they attack because this is what they have been doing all year. Check out this sample page:

57.Word Attack

1. The bad man will threaten him with his fist.
   
   
2. I ate some bread at breakfast.
   
   
3. She dreaded meeting the mean man.
   
   
4. That is a leaden pipe.
   
   
5. The big blast was deafening.
   
   
6. Jane dove headlong into the lake.
   
   
7. Exercise is healthful.

The “Hidden Standards” Part 2

As I have mentioned before, in addition to the Common Core State Standards, there are what I refer to as “hidden standards” that your students will need to master if they are to do well on the Common Core tests this spring.

Getting the right answer will not be enough. Your students should get into the habit of justifying any conclusion they make about a passage by referring back to specific sentences in the text. Get out high lighters and have them mark sentences that help them answer questions.

Make sure that they are reading questions carefully. Are they being asked to select one or two answers to a multiple choice question? Should they only highlight one sentence or are they allowed to select several sentences to support their argument?

Once is not enough. These questions are challenging. Encourage students to go back and read again before selecting an answer. On listening portions, make certain that students understand that they can and should listen to the selection over again before answering. This skill can be practiced with recorded stories or with online resources.

Yes, You Will Be Evaluated by Student Scores

I don't like it, and I'm guessing that many of my readers won't either, but you will be evaluated by how your students score on standardized tests including the new tests based on the Common Core State Standards.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Common Core Standards with their rigor and focus on higher order skills. I even believe that the new tests will in many ways be an improvement over the old state tests. But I cringe at the idea of teachers being evaluated by how their students score on these tests. This is especially problematic as we make the change from the existing tests to the new CCSS tests in 2014.

I agree with Rafe Esquith that so much more goes into good teaching than can ever be captured by a score on a standardized test.