Meredith Brannon

Joining the Conversation Step #3

April 29, 2013

Professional Development and its Effect on Implementation of Common Core State Standards in Mathematics: A Dialogue
Setting: PTA meeting, W.C. Friday Middle School Gymnasium, Dallas, NC Characters: Meredith Brannon (concerned parent) Teresa Beck (8th grade math teacher) Stephen Sawchuk (assistant editor, Education Week magazine) Marilyn Burns (founder, Math Solutions professional development service) Kim Anderson (researcher, Regional Educational Laboratory at UNC Greensboro) Cristina Marks, (State Policy and Implementation Support, Achieve, Inc.) John Kendall (author of Understanding Common Core State Standards) Other concerned parents and teachers

(Meredith bangs gavel on podium; murmurs in crowd cease. Meredith turns on wireless microphone) Meredith: Can everyone hear me? Parent audience: Yeah. Yes. Meredith: Aww-right, good. Ladies and gentlemen, let me first thank each and every one of you for attending this special meeting of the W.C. Friday Parent-Teacher Association. After last months very vocal meeting regarding the Common Core curriculum being taught next year at Friday, I decided to invite several experts to come out and talk to us about the plans to make the Common Core work in the Math Department. Ive also compiled a list of questions that I wanna ask these experts at some pointsome questions are my own, others I got via email from other parents. Id like to ask that everyone please be respectful and listen to the experts as they talk. Dont interruptwe dont let the students talk while the teachers do, so neither should yall!

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So first, Id like to welcome Mr. John Kendall, whos fixin to give us a short overview of the Common Core State Standards and what they mean for middle schools like W. C. Friday. Mr. Kendall? (Meredith sits down in a chair near stage left. Kendall stands up and walks to the podium.) Kendall: Thanks for having me here today, Ms. Brannon, and thank you all for coming out to listen. I understand a lot of parents and even teachers are having trouble understanding the idea of the Common Core State Standards. So let me try to explain. The Common Core State Standards Initiative is an effort led by states like North Carolina to set up a shared set of expectations for what students in all grades, Kindergarten through 12th, will be expected to learn and know in English and Math classes. This set of expectations was coordinated through two organizations: the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers (Kendall 1). These expectations were released to the state education agencies in June 2010 and North Carolina was one of the first states to adopt them for future implementation. The main benefit to adopting these standards are that they are nationwideschools from coast to coast will be teaching all students in the same ways using very similar resources and will assess their students performance using the same examinations (Kendall 1). This will give all US students higher level of education that will prepare them for college. It will also allow teachers to access a great deal of professional tools developed so as to effectively teach to the Common Core. Implementing these Standards requires a massive amount of work and preparation on the part of teachers, parents, administrators, and state agencies, but this will be

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worth it when the Common Core curriculum produces high school graduates on the level with those in top performing nations like Japan and Finland. Meredith: Aww-right, thank you for that introduction, Mr. Kendall. So can you tell me whats so different about the Common Core standards when you compare em to the old educational standards in North Carolina, particularly for Math? Kendall: Sure, Ms. Brannon. The Common Core standards dictate that Math curricula across the grade levels will change and be spread out to a larger extent than it is now. Several Math concepts will be introduced to students earlier in their careers compared with the curriculum based on traditional standards. For example, take the Pythagorean Theorem. Students will be introduced to it in 6th grade and by 8th grade will prove it, whereas the current standards say it shouldnt be introduced until 7th grade (Kendall 25). Common Core calls for a step-wise approach, where students will build a foundation in early grades and continue to expand their base of knowledge with analysis of known concepts and integration of these old facts with new ideas (Kendall 24). (Beck raises her hand forcefully from her seat on stage.) Meredith: Thanks, Mr. Kendall. (Meredith pauses, notices Becks raised hand) Yes, Ms. Beck. You had a question? (Beck stands up and looks at Meredith.) Beck: You bet I do, Meredith. (Turns to Kendall) Mr. Kendall, can you tell me where this curriculum design came from? How do we know itll work?

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April 29, 2013

Kendall: Hmm, Id better let Ms. Marks answer that. (Turns to look at Marks) With me here today is Cristina Marks from Achieve, Incorporated. Achieve is one of the organizations that worked with the governors and school officers to develop the Common Core Standards. She knows more about this than anyone. Cristina? (Anderson sits down. Marks stands up and walks to stand behind podium.) Marks: Thanks, John. Well, Ms. Beck, the answer to your questions is simple: Japan. We at Achieve have studied educational systems in countries like Japan who continually turn out the highest performing students based on international standardized tests (Achieve, Inc. 1). The Japanese Course of Study was a very important starting point for the development of Common Core (Achieve, Inc. 2). We basically took the Japanese standards and improved them. Basically, we made them more specific, more detailed, and more organized. We did this in the hope that educating our students to better standards will make them better students, just like the ones in Japan (Achieve, Inc. 3). Meredith: Thank you, Ms. Marks. So with more rigorous standards developed and adopted, whats the plan for makin em work in North Carolina Math classes? You wanna take this one, Ms. Anderson? (Marks returns to her seat as Anderson rises and goes to stand behind the podium.) Anderson: Sure, Ms. Brannon. Hey, yall, Im Kim Anderson, and I work at the Regional Educational Laboratory at UNC Greensboro studying educational policy. I helped compile and publish a report on how North Carolina has studied, adopted, and implemented Common Core State Standards.

Meredith Brannon

Joining the Conversation Step #3

April 29, 2013

So we adopted em here for K-12 Math and English halfway through 2010. The State Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh began workin on resources and professional development courses for teachers, the plan bein to have this info given out to teachers in a couple different ways: webinars, TV broadcasts to the outlying districts, and face-to-face instruction through what we call Professional Learning Communities. Teachers will be attending workshops and return to their schools prepared to function as trainers to other teachers on the Common Core standards and teaching methods they can use to make the new standards work (Regional Educational Laboratory, et al. 13). Ms. Beck, right? (Anderson catches Becks eye, both nod.) Ms. Beck will be attending the Common Core Summer Institute at Meredith College in June to become the Professional Learning Community coordinator for the Math Department here at W.C. Friday. Then shell pass that knowledge right on over to the other teachers. Also, all the teachersll have access to the Math Wiki page developed by the Department of Education. Powerpoints, SmartBoard lessons and worksheets are bein uploaded there right now for teachers to use in class. Later on, the State Department will ask the teachers to give em some feedback so that the tools can be tweaked and made more useful for both teachers and students. Meredith: Thanks, Ms. Anderson. I had an email question you might be willing to answer. (Reads from papers in her hand) So, with all these new standards in place, whats in store for students with End-of-Grade and End-of-Course tests? Anderson: Well, the assessments are being developed and field tested even as we speak. North Carolina officials elected to be a part of a federally-funded assessment consortium called SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium or SBAC (Regional Educational Laboratory, et

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al. 4). Alabama and South Carolina have also hooked up with SBAC. This consortium has worked to develop examinations and teacher assessments that are aligned to the Common Core Standards and the results of testing these new assessments will be reviewed at the end of the school year. Then, the State Department of Public Instruction and SMARTER will set up the first set of achievement standards based on the field test results and continue to work on changing policies and assessments before the 2014-2015 school year starts (Regional Educational Laboratory, et al. 13). In that year, students and teachers will be assessed based on Common Core standards for the first time and well see for sure how we did with implementing the new standards. Ms. Beck: (standing) And just howre we gonna know what to teach if were supposed to teach so kids can pass a testbut those tests havent even been written yet?! (sits down hard in chair) Meredith: Oh, good question, Ms. Beck. So, um, whats the main thing you think teachers will have to change in their Math classes if they and their students are gonna be ready for Common Core assessments? Burns: (Stands up quickly) Ooh, ooh, Ill answer that! (Anderson nods at Burns and quickly sits down. Burns hurries to the podium and smiles brightly at the audience.) Burns: Im Marilyn Burns, and way back in the Dark Ages I wrote a book called I Hate Mathematics. For those of you young folks, the Dark Ages means the seventies! (Giggles) So now, I run a professional development service called Math Solutions that helps teachers teach Mathematics so that the students will NOT hate it! I think the Common Core Math standards are very well-designed because they are structured in two parts: Practice Standards and Content

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Standards (Burns 43). Content Standards are different for each grade and build upon one another to form a solid Mathematics education, but consistent throughout the grade levels are the Practice Standards. These are golden, folks, and quite the game-changers. They outline eight ways where we want students to engage with the Math theyre learning (Burns 43). Now, not all eight standards will come into play with every Math lesson, but we at Math Solutions recognize that each Math Practice Standard is important if a teacher wants to get his or her students ready for these new tests (Burns 44). Meredith: Thanks, Ms. Burns. You sound very passionate about Math in general. Wish Id had more Math teachers like you in school. Now, how do you propose teachers start to help their students and implement these Common Core Math Standards? Burns: Well, Meredith, I think the first step you have to take is to learn about each students numerical reasoning skills (Burns 44). What I mean by that is how they go about solving problems using the calculator in their heads and not the ones with all the Justin Bieber stickers stuck all over them! (Laughs) As Math teachers, we traditionally spend very little time teaching kids how to solve problems in their heads. Instead, we devote the large amount of class time to crunching numbers with pencils and paper (Burns 44). But the Common Core tests are going to require kids to use those heads and figure out not just the answer, but more. The right answer on new tests will require kids to explain just how they arrived at that right answer, too. Its gonna mean bringing a bit of English into the Math class, cause kidsll have to understand the concept of multiplication as well as knowing their times tables (Burns 44). And it also means spending more time teaching kids how to explain their reasoning strategies--

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Beck: (Interrupting loudly) But thats not exactly easy! Kids today think the right answer is the only thing that matters. Once theyve got the right one, theyre done! How do you go about figuring out how kids reason out problems, and once you do, how do you make them better at it? I dont want to just show them tips and tricks theyll just memorize and maybe even forget before the test! Burns: Another very good question, Ms. Beck. (Smiles over at Beck) You know, I really like your passion! Ive actually developed this little test called the Math Reasoning Inventory, or MRI, that can help with that. (Audience breaks out into confused whispers.) Burns: Dont worry! No electromagnets here, just video cameras. Okay, so we know kids read a prompt on a writing test and respond to it in different waysMaths no different than that, really (Burns 45). Therere as many different reasoning styles out there as Harlem Shake videos! So we have to teach em the basics if theyre gonna pass these new Common Core testsand we have to do it fast! So, with help from some other teachers and educational researchers, I observed how students explained how they solved Math problems. They may have all crunched the same numbers and gotten the same right answer, but several of them struggled when I asked them to me how they arrived at that answer without the pencil and paper to help them out. So, using the information I got from these students responses, I developed the MRI to assess a students numerical proficiency and Mathematical reasoning skills as defined by the Common Core standards. Questions on the MRI are based on Math concepts through the 6th grade for three topicswhole numbers, decimals, and fractions. The test works like this: each student takes a Math test with questions from one of the topics I mentioned before and then has a pow-

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wow with the teacher to explain how they got figured out the right answers. The teacher then analyzes the students responses and test answers to determine where they may be lacking in certain skills. With these results, the teacher can make a plan for their improvement using tracking tools and lesson plans on the MRI website (Burns 46). Good news, too--Its totally free and available any time to any teacher who wants to use it! Meredith: Sounds like a pretty useful resource, Ms. Burns. Thanks for sharing that with us today. (Burns returns to her seat on stage.) Aww-right, are there any more questions for the experts from the audience? (Sawchuk raises his hand and stands.) Meredith: Mr. Sawchuk? Sawchuk: (Lowers hand) Thanks, Meredith. Im a parent of two, and I happen to write for Education Week Magazine. I have been researching Common Core for a while now and I am concerned because Im not hearing great things from educational researchers out there. A bunch of them claim that Common Core is just another fad system that will fade out in a few years (Sawchuk 16). What do you folks say to that? Burns: (approaches the podium) Well, you know, I think weve all jumped onto a bandwagon of change sometime in our educational careers only to see it abandoned on the roadside for the next shiny new idea. The difference here is that the Common Core is nationwideand its gonna take a lot of time and money to see it work. That said, I dont think the government wouldve granted funds to an initiative like this one unless they thought it was necessary and had even the smallest chance of success in closing the achievement gap. I, for one, believe this to be a step in

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the right direction for improving math education on a large scale (Burns 43). Thats why Im so excited and so ready to help Common Core work! Meredith: Anyone else care to weigh in on that? Burns sits down as Anderson approaches the podium.) Anderson: I want you to know that I totally get where youre coming from, Mr. Sawchuk. And Marilyn is rightwe have seen a lot of good ideas come and go. Whats different here is that its a nationwide plan and the implications are just as big as our country is. We have to look at the benefits of adopting such a uniform set of standards and curb the tendency to pick and choose which standards we think we can implement (Regional Educational Laboratory, et al. 3). With No Child Left Behind, many states lowered the bar on student achievement to avoid any penalties, the result being that the US has consistently underperformed compared with other industrialized countries on standardized tests. Other sets of standards have been developed and abandoned so quickly that support and professional development seemed pointless to most state agencies. This time, the states are approaching it differently. Officials in North Carolina reported that adopting something as far-reaching as Common Core will allow for the development of tools and resources that might actually be useful and will hopefully allow for increased collegiality among the agencies and educators in the state (Regional Educational Laboratory, et al. 7). We may be in it for the benefit of North Carolina students first and foremost, but we can certainly make it better for the rest of the country as well. And going forward, North Carolina education agencies say they have already outline a plan to work hard and work together to develop the much-needed training for teachers! Meredith: Thanks, Ms. Anderson. Anything to add, Mr. Kendall?

Meredith Brannon

Joining the Conversation Step #3

April 29, 2013

(Anderson sits; Kendall rises and approaches the podium.) Kendall: Sure, Ms. Brannon. You know, I agree with Ms. Anderson. I recognize that there are many drawbacks to the Common Core and we certainly have put ourselves under the gun with implementing it in such a short amount of time. That said, I still think the benefits outweigh the risks. And we all know we need to improve the education were giving our childrencertainly before a high school diploma means next to nothing and you need a Masters in Fry Technology to work at McDonalds. I, for one, dont want to see us get to that point. But we do have a long way to go to get Common Core functional, though. I believe professional development to be a very important step to making Common Core a reality in every state--including this one. The key to this lies in the name of the program and I talk about this in my book. The word core refers to an essential set of skills. And common suggests a social contract and all that it implies: shared benefit and equitable treatment (Kendall 27). Basically, folks, it comes down to this: if we work together to develop these Common Core teaching tools for all educators, we can really make Common Core work in North Carolina and everywhere else, too. Thank you. (Leaves podium and returns to sit in his chair) Meredith: No, Mr. Kendall, thank you! Ms. Marks, anything to add? Marks: (Approaching the Podium) Just that Achieve, Incorporated helped develop the Common Core and devoted a great deal of time in researching the standards we eventually gave to the states (Achieve, Inc. 2). We think theyre the beginning of a new era in American education, one that will be marked with success rather than failure. The United States should be the leader in education, not Japan. So its time we met that challenge head on!

Meredith Brannon

Joining the Conversation Step #3

April 29, 2013

We helped to design the Common Core Math standards for middle grades so that they clearly show the progression from grade to grade, though we chose to introduce some concepts earlier than they do in Japan. With this and the step-wise progression of the knowledge sets inherent in the Common Core Math standards, we at Achieve think teachersll find it easy to understand what we expect them to teach students as well as how we expect them to teach them to do well on the tests (Achieve, Inc. 3). But parents must be behind the Common Core as well, and getting informed is the best way to do that. I encourage everyone to get online and research the Common Core State Standards and learn more about the conceptual knowledge that complements the necessary skills the students will learn in class. You can check out corestandards.org and achieve.org to get started. And Ill be happy to answer any questions about political implications of the Common Core, should you have any. Thanks for supporting your school by coming out tonight and, may I sayGod Bless America! (Leaves podium and returns to her seat) Meredith: Thanks, Ms. Marks. Ms. Beck, anything more from the teachers? Beck: (Stands in place) Just thisparents, please know that this is a major adjustment for students and teachers as we prepare for the Common Core changes. Your support is more valuable than ever as we boldly go where few teachers have gone before. And we know that we, as Americans, are facing huge challenges that the Japanese do not. We educate everyonespecial populations like autistic children and the mentally handicapped and Japan does not. We have a very racially diverse community with its own special concerns. Japan does not. We have only recently begun to place a high value on getting a college education whereas Japan has been doing so for generations. And were not exactly famous for

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disciplining our children, but Japanese children are the epitome of discipline. A lot of these problems can be helped if the school receives more support from the community and the parents. We must mitigate these problems before they become unmanageable and affect academic performance (Beck Interview n.p.). So help us make this work. Lead by example and kids the value of a quality education. And please try to provide a stable home environment free of stressors (Beck Interview n.p.). Your support has always been felt by the teachers here at W.C. Friday, and well need it now more than ever before if Common Core is to have even a small chance of success. Thanks for coming out and lending us your support, tonight and every night from now on. (Sits down) Meredith: Yes, thanks to everyone once again for coming out on a lovely spring evening to show your support for W.C. Friday Middle School. If anyone has any business items for next month, please let me know before next week so I might include them in the agenda for May. This meeting is adjourned. (Audience claps for speakers and Beck briefly. Audience files out and Meredith, Beck and Sawchuk begin to stack chairs in a corner.) Meredith: So, Teresa, tell me how you really feel. That last answer was a bit PC, especially for you! Beck: (Sighs deeply) I was trying not to make a scene up there, yall, but Law, did I want to! Meredith: What do you mean? What didnt you say up there?

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Beck: Thisthat I think weve put the cart before the horse when it comes to Common Core. I hope its not a fad, but Ive seen a great number of similar standards flicker and die out before they can make anything good happen (Beck Interview n.p.). Meredith: So whats the one thing North Carolina is doing right when implementing Common Core? Beck: (Lifts chair onto stack) These Summer Institutes for one. I think more teachers ought to be able to go. I think the Professional Learning Community is a good idea in theory, not practice. I get that its certainly cheaper for one teacher to go to Raleigh, instead of all ten of us. But its like playing the telephone gamecrucial info almost always gets lost in the retelling. In my opinion, we need to figure out a way to get all teachers to learn how to teach Math again. This means that we need to find a way to get all these teachers into a program that will teach them higher-order thinking and analysis. Some of these people havent been students themselves in over a decade. Theyve got a lot to remember about learning and I think the best way to do that is for the teachers to become students for a time. Wow, I dont even think that I remember what thats like! (Beck Interview n.p.) Sawchuk: Good point, Ms. Beck. We have to teach them concepts and analysis tasks and recent studies show teachers already struggle with teaching kids these skills cause they cant do it themselves. Theyre already struggling with lessons and curricula that dont line up, and we have to teach them soon (Sawchuk 17). Common Core-based exams are coming in 2014-15! Meredith: So, it looks as if we are in need of a fundraiser to teach our teachers how to teach our students! Okay, I think we can make that workjust give me a moment Beck: Should I hum the theme from Jeopardy!?

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Meredith: Okay, so you think we need to send all ten Math teachers to this Summer Institute on Common Core Mathematics? Well have to sell a lot of Krispy Kreme doughnuts this spring! Beck: I think its the only way to ensure that these older, set-in-their-ways teachers will ever stand a chance of learning how to teach to this new set of standards (Beck Interview n.p.). Theyve had their way for too long. Time to throw them a breaking ball! Think we can swing it? Meredith: What do you think, Stephen? Sawchuk: Honestly, ladies, I think we have no other choice! Weve got to get these teachers prepared in any way possible. We should also look into changing how the principal evaluates teachers. Other states like Michigan and Delaware have already changed their teacher evaluations, forcing teachers to get creative in order to develop ways to teach to the Common Core right now (Sawchuk 20-21). Just sayin, its something to think aboutand this is just the beginning, ladies. Weve a long way to go to make this work around here. Meredith: Youre totally right. Principal White has gone to Raleigh already this week to attend a conference on the Common Core-based assessments. No doubt shell want to work on changing the teacher evaluations to reflect how well teachers are teaching to the Common Core. We should also see if the NC Department of Education has any preliminary guidelines for this process so that we are prepared. Well put the Summer Institute fundraiser on the agenda for the next PTA meeting. Shouldnt be a problem, they all know whats at stake here. Beck: (Grabbing another chair) And Ill check out Marilyn Burns Math Reasoning Inventory (Burns 46). Free help is always preferable to paid help, in my opinion. It sounds like the test could be a winner at helping our kids learn to reason out answers to questions. We need a good excuse to banish those infernal calculators anyway, at least until the last half of the year!

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Otherwise, these kids are going to end up older versions of HoneyBooBoo and Im not gonna be responsible for that! Sawchuk: (Laughs) Whoa, lets hope it doesnt come to that! I just hope we can get it together and make Common Core work for us. So many experts I talked to say its doomed to fail because so little time has been given to folks to implement it after the states adopted it. Thats why I know well have to make every effort to get the teachers ready (Sawchuk 16). I definitely think itll be much harder than some of those talking heads up on that stage think itll be to teach to these new Standards. But who knows? Maybe itll be like that movie Field of Dreams! If we teach them, good students will come! I just hope they come out of this on top rather than on bottom! (Grunts, lifts a chair onto the stack) Meredith: I agree with you both. Common Core sounds great, but weve got a long way to go to make it to great. Shoot, I just learned tonight how different these Mathematics standards are when you put them next to the old ones. That means we need a game-changer for real! Bottom line: we have to get the teachers ready by any means necessary and we need to start working on that now. Geez, more like yesterday! Cause even the best of our teachers is not prepared for this new curriculum. What do you think, Teresa? Beck: You aint just whistlin Dixie there, Meredith. It wont be easy, and we could definitely use some more time for preparation of our staff to teach this new, detailed curriculum. Too bad no one at the state level ever asked the teachers if teaching to the Common Core was possible or even sensible (Beck Interview n.p.). Guess no one thought we would object, huh? Anyway, we just have to do our best and hope that our preparation now will get us ready for those Common

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Core-based exams and assessments. Theyre happening whether the teachers and students are ready or not! Meredith: (Lifts a chair onto the stack) Exactly! Ready or not, hear Common Core comes! (Laughs) Despite all the negative feelings, I still think its a good direction to travel in. We just need to prepare everyone for this, teachers first and foremost. I, for one, think its possible. I just hope we havent left the professional development too late to make a difference! Beck and Sawchuk (in unison): Lets hope not! (Beck and Sawchuk look at each other and laugh) Beck: Lets also hope theres still coffee and cookies out in the lobby, guys. Come on and lets see! (Meredith, Sawchuk, and Beck finish stacking the remaining chairs and exit the auditorium, talking amiably.)

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Works Cited Beck, Teresa. Personal Interview. 29 March 2013. Kendall, John S. Understanding Common Core State Standards, n.p.: ASCD, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 17 Mar. 2013. Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast, et al. Plans to Adopt and Implement Common Core State Standards in the Southeast Region States. Issues and Answers. REL 2012-No. 136. Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (2012): ERIC. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. Achieve, Inc. Comparing the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and Japans Mathematics Curriculum in the Course of Study. Achieving the Common Core. Achieve, Inc (2010): ERIC. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. Sawchuk, Stephen. Many Teachers Not Ready for the Common Core. Education Week 31 (2012): S12-17. Print. Burns, Marilyn. Go Figure: Math and the Common Core. Educational Leadership 70.4 (2012): 42. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.