There are some new acronyms out there that you have probably been
hearing. For the purpose of this email, I will attempt
to ruthlessly simplify them. There is a lot of additional information
if you are interested in delving deeper. Links are included.
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)
The
state-led consortium involves educators, researchers, policymakers and
community groups in a consensus driven process. (You can imagine the
challenge of bringing all these stakeholders together to do this work!)
Which
states make up SBAC? California, Conneticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho,
Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North
Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, U.S. Virgin Islands,
Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The
primary function of the SBAC is to develop assessments that are aligned
to Common Core State Standards, and that accurately measure student
progress towards college and career readiness.
SBAC is funded by a grant from the U.S. Dept of Education and some generous contributions from charitable foundations.
Most
of the states that are not a part of SBAC, belong to PARCC (The
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which
has developed very similar assessments)
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
The
state-led effort, driven by the chief school officers and governors, to
develop common standards was begun in 2009, and involved 48 states, 2
territories and the District of Columbia. The goal was to ensure that
all students are measured against consistent, real-world learning goals,
regardless of where they live, that prepare them for college, career
and life. CCSS is aligned to English Language Arts and Math,
specifically.
The standards are designed to
build upon the most advanced current thinking about preparing students
for success in college, career and life. We need college- and
career-ready standards because even in high-performing states, students
are graduating and passing all the required tests but still need
remediation in their post-secondary work.
Standards
do not equal curriculum. Standards establish what students need to
learn, but do NOT dictate how teachers should teach. Districts, schools
and teachers decide how best to help students reach the standards.
The graphic below shows in green the states that have currently adopted the Common Core State Standards.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Through
a collaborative, state-led process new K-12 science standards have been
developed. These new standards are rich in content and practice. The
intent is to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science
education.
It has been almost 15 years since
the National Research Council provided the documents on which most state
science standards were based. Since then there have been major
advances in science as well as in our understanding of how students
learn, which should be reflected in updated science standards.
NGSS
identifies content, and science and engineering practices that all
students should learn from kindergarten to high school. Again,
standards do not define a curriculum. Districts, schools and teachers
will have the responsibility of filling in specific content to help
students learn the key ideas in the standards.
We
do not yet have state assessments aligned to NGSS, but they are
coming! Washington State formally adopted NGSS on October 1, 2013.
Until the new assessments are developed, students will continue to test
on the MSP and Biology EOC. Our teachers have been getting training in
NGSS for several years now and have already begun the shift.
Another website that is loaded with information specific to our state is Ready WA: Real Learning for Real Life
One of the common themes you may have noticed is that each of these are state-led
processes. They have involved a wide range of knowledgeable people,
with K-12 teachers making up a large chunk of the decision making
groups.
To stick with the mountain climbing
analogy of my last email, a way to look at the Common Core State
Standards and Next Generation Science Standards is that they are the
mountain students have to climb. We know where the 'camps' are at each
grade level, and we know the peak is our final goal. But what equipment
we bring and how we choose to climb is up to us. Just like it is up to
districts, schools and teachers to select curriculum and teaching
strategies that will get students to that end goal of being college and
career ready at graduation.
There are big
changes afoot, but in White River we saw them coming and started
preparing. I have the opportunity to converse with folks from a wide
variety of districts, and I frequently leave those conversations
thinking, thank goodness I work in White River!
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