Parents go back to school at Common Core workshops
October 4, 2013 (茄子视频): SCUSD is staging a series of
workshops to give parents hands-on experience with the new Common
Core State Standards.
Parents attending the sessions will be challenged to write to
essay prompts, annotate informational texts, flex their speaking
and listening skills and solve math problems 鈥� all strategies
associated with the new standards. By the end of a three-part
series, parents will have a clear picture of how Common Core
standards are changing SCUSD classrooms.
鈥淭he days of students sitting silently in rows, memorizing facts
and bubbling-in multiple-choice tests are ending,鈥� said SCUSD
Superintendent Jonathan Raymond. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 classrooms are much
more about exercising curiosity, solving problems and thinking
deeply about relevant issues. Parents need to understand the
shift so they can learn how to support students at home.鈥�
The workshops, which begin on October 8, will also provide
comparisons of the paper-and-pencil test students used to take
each spring with the new Common Core-aligned online
assessments.
The Common Core State Standards in math and English were adopted
in California in 2010 and will replace the outgoing California
Content Standards in 2014-15. Standards are learning expectations
for students. The Common Core State Standards specify what
students should know and should be able to do at every grade
level from kindergarten through senior year.
The Common Core State Standards are tied to college- and
career-readiness, meaning they are aimed at giving students the
knowledge and skills necessary to be successful after high school
graduation in any path they choose: a four-year university,
two-year college, trade apprenticeship, vocational school or
certificate program.
SCUSD is working with principals and teachers to develop new
curriculum and teaching strategies to meet these new learning
expectations for students. The new online tests aligned to the
standards will begin in the spring of 2015, but the passage of AB
484 鈥� signed into law by Governor Brown on October 2 鈥� provides
the district with an opportunity to pilot these tests this school
year. As a result, SCUSD is accelerating its work to prepare for
the new online assessments.
To learn more about SCUSD and the Common Core, including a list
of the dates and locations of the parent workshops, visit
www.scusd.edu/common-core.