Greetings Parents:
Our school district hosted a special presentation on Tuesday, October 15, 2013, by Dr. Tracey Severns, New Jersey Department of Education Chief Academic Officer pertaining to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) implementation and the significant impact they will have on the classroom instruction being provided to your children and our students. In addition, Dr. Severns shared information with our staff on how the CCSS will dramatically change how students are assessed on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) when the new assessment replaces the NJASK in the Spring of 2015. Our school district teaching staff and administration are now in our second year of extensive professional development pertaining to both the CCSS and PARCC. Since August of 2012 we have been working with an outside consultant, Mr. Rene Schillinger to provide training on the CCSS. The training has included familiarizing the staff with the new standards and more importantly how teachers must change the instructional strategies / practices they use to ensure that we are effectively addressing the CCSS. This year Mr. Schillinger is working with our teaching staff on how to conduct close reading of informational text and respond to a written prompt based on the close reading. This type of assessment is what will be required of our students on the PARCC.
The shift in instructional strategies and classroom instructional practices is significant and will require our students to change the way they respond to questions on the new state assessment. Not only must we train our teaching staff, but there will be a significant learning curve for the students.
We believe that parents are a critical part of the equation in our staff and students making a successful transition to the CCSS and PARCC. Parents can assist with this transition when they are working with their children at home. Therefore, we believe it is imperative that we provide information about the CCSS and PARCC to parents.
Please reference the attached documents to learn more about the critical initiative of the Common Core State Standards implementation and the transition to the PARCC assessment.
In addition, you may click on the following link to read a very interesting short article pertaining to the nationwide implementation of the Common Core State Standards bigstory.ap.org/article/critical-thinking-hallmark-common-core-class.
The following is some additional information pertaining to Common Core State Standards implementation and the PARCC initiative:
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
In June 2010, the New Jersey State Board of Education (NJBOE) and the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.
Model Curriculum 1.0 and 2.0
The NJDOE has developed a Model curriculum linked to the CCSS. The purpose of providing a model curriculum is to assist all districts and schools with implementation of the Common Core State Standards and New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards by providing an example from which to work and/or a product for implementation.
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC)
In the spring of 2010, NJDOE joined the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC). PARCC is a consortium of 23 states and Washington, DC working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in language arts and math aligned to the Common Core State Standards. These new K-12 assessments will mark students’ progress and provide teachers with timely information to inform instruction and provide student support. The PARCC assessments will be ready for states to administer during the 2014-15 school year.
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