Meeting Standards by Design: Embedding Standards in the UbD™ Framework for Curriculum, Assessment, and Learning

Grant Wiggins

Standards are like building codes: you have to meet them, but they are not the point of the design. The point of a curriculum is to honor both the school’s mission and important learning goals. 

So, a course or unit should provide rich, engaging, and rigorous ways of meeting the Common Core State Standards and assessing against them, not merely touch on related content. 

Grant Wiggins will present this thought-provoking and practical webinar, providing practical strategies to ensure that the standards are validly addressed in an engaging, effective, and robust curriculum.

May 23, 2012, 3:00 p.m. eastern time

Common Core State Standards: Where Does Differentiation Fit? 

Carol Ann Tomlinson and Sherida Britt

Curriculum, assessment, and instruction create a system of interdependent parts. Bring the standards and curriculum to life by using differentiated instruction methodologies to maximize the capacity of each learner. By the end of this webinar, presented by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Sherida Britt, participants will be able to  

• explain why common core calls for attention to student differences.
• determine the ways differentiation supports the instructional shifts of the common core.

June 6, 2012, 3:00 p.m. eastern time

The Principal's Role in Bringing the Common Core State Standards to Routine Use: Essential Levers for Change

Judy Carr

Presenter Judy Carr will focus on the role of the principal in using key levers for change to bring the Common Core State Standards to routine use throughout the school. 

Within the context of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards and research on change, participants will examine how to drive implementation of the Common Core using

• A common vision of effective implementation.
• Professional development and support.
• Teacher evaluation and walkthroughs.

Recorded May 15, 2012

Transitioning to the Common Core State Standards: Making Your Efforts Effective Through a Focus on Text Complexity Demands

Meredith and David Liben

How do the Common Core English language arts standards differ from predecessors? What do they emphasize? What are logical focus points for early implementation? The English and language arts standards depart radically with their insistence on text complexity and close reading skills. 

This session will look at various aspects of text complexity: how it is defined by the standards, as well as a range of measurement tools—including some newly developed and tested by the Race to the Text project—and how to use the tools for professional development. 

The focus on text complexity, close reading, and informational text has clear educational implications. The presenters will examine some strategic focus areas for literacy instruction and explore ideas for bringing all constituencies to a fuller understanding of the Common Core and the features that make text complex.

Recorded May 9, 2012

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: Shifts and Instructional Implications

Sandra Alberti

During this session, participants will learn about the overarching priorities of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy. Sandra Alberti will discuss the major instructional shifts required by the standards, including the evidence behind the shifts. These same shifts will be represented in both consortia assessments. 

Additionally, Alberti will present a few recommendations for how to introduce changes in a thoughtful, concrete way to prepare both teachers and students for full implementation of the standards.

Recorded May 2, 2012

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics: Shifts and Instructional Implications

Sandra Alberti

Learn about the overarching priorities of the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. Sandra Alberti will discuss the major instructional shifts required by the standards, including the evidence behind the shifts. These same shifts will be represented in both consortia assessments. 

Additionally, Alberti will present a few recommendations for how to introduce changes in a thoughtful, concrete way to prepare both teachers and students for full implementation of the standards.

Recorded April 17, 2012

Common Core: Assessment Shifts

Susan Brookhart

Discover the kinds of formative and summative classroom assessments that best coordinate with the new generation of testing consortia for the Common Core State Standards. 

Participants will take a close look at the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments and discover how to create classroom assessments that form a balanced system that supports student learning and aligns to the Common Core State Standards. In addition, Brookhart will

• Overview SBAC and PARCC assessments.
• Identify assessments shifts.
• Share the implications of the Common Core for school-based formative and summative assessments.

Recorded April 3, 2012

Creating Communities of Support for Implementing the Common Core State Standards

Judy Carr

You don’t have to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) alone! District, school, and classroom personnel can collaborate and create communities of support toward successful implementation. In this webinar, Judy Carr will provide specific protocols and processes that attendees can use immediately. In addition, participants will

• Explore questions and processes for gaining shared understanding of the standards.
• Discover how to become critical consumers.
• Learn how to use data and engage in "Data Dialogues" as a key element of collaboration.
• Learn how to support learners to successfully attain the CCSS.

Recorded March 13, 2012

Common Core 101

John Kendall

Now that the Common Core State Standards are coming to just about every school, what every school leader needs is a straightforward explanation that lays out the benefits of the common core in plain English and gets everyone thinking about how to transition to this promising new paradigm. 

In this webinar, John Kendall, author of Understanding Common Core State Standards, will overview the new standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics, highlighting their key aspects. He will also suggest transition activities for teachers and districts to consider, including

• Creating a Crosswalk, which compares the content of the common core with your current standards.
• Developing transition documents that support deeper understanding of the Common Core State Standards by using current standards as a bridge.
• Taking the longer view of implementing the common core systemically.

Recorded November 9, 2011

Common Core: Policy and Implementation

David Griffith and Efrain Mercado

ASCD Director of Public Policy David Griffith will discuss in-depth the various education effects adoption of the Common Core State Standards have had on education policy from the Department of Education down to the school district level.

Using his insight from the field, Common Core State Standards Lead Strategist Efrain Mercado will share common hurdles and questions associated with implementing the new standards.

Recorded November 15, 2011

The Common Core of a Whole Child Approach

Molly McCloskey

Too often high standards and a whole child approach are seen as opposite ends of the education spectrum. In this webinar, Molly McCloskey debunks the myth of standards versus support and shares the relationship between the Common Core State Standards and a school improvement approach that ensures each child, in each school, in each community is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

Learn about the comprehensive indicators of a whole child approach for each child and how to integrate the Common Core State Standards so that they can be most effective in improving student success. Explore the best questions schools should ask themselves as they raise their standards for students and staff and identify crucial alignment strategies to ensure that the common core is not just one more thing.

Going beyond the silos of too many school reform efforts, this webinar will explore integration, collaboration, and comprehensive framing rooted in high expectations for student and staff achievement.

Recorded Tuesday, November 22, 2011