Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Deconstructing CCSS -- Two Questions?


Dear Colleagues:

The CCSS development criteria state that the standards be "Clear, so that educators and parents know what they need to do to help students learn." 

Question 1: Why are state leaders, curriculum specialists, and teachers deconstructing them if they were deemed by the developers to have met the "Clear" criterion? 

Question 2: Would standards deconstructed by individual teachers over 40 states lead to different understandings of the original "CCSS standards" that are intended to meet another development criterion: to be "Consistent across all states, so that students are not taught to a lower standard just because of where they live?"

Start-Up. Given the immediate need to implement CCSS, I believe time would be better spent by teachers designing, pilot-testing, and constantly improving instructional practices that result in improved student demonstrations of the standards as adopted. This is where creativity shows up in teaching and in student products and performances that meet and surpass the intent of the standards. 

Support. This start-up focus would guide state and local officials, subject matter experts, and professional developers to support teachers as instructional leaders as they network with colleagues in classrooms across state lines to answer the essential question for our profession:

"What teaching practices in my classroom lead to 
improved student learning on specific CCSS standards?" 

Source for Development Criteria: