LEADING  E.D.G.E.
607-316-0573
518-891-5915
  • Home
    • Who Are We?
    • Our History
    • Clients
  • Education
  • Meeting Design & Facilitation
  • Teambuilding & Problem-Solving
  • Adk Trails & Lodging
  • Jack's Blog
  • Resources
    • SPEC - Resources
    • Common Core Standards - Resources
    • Common Core Standards - Workshop
    • TUPPER LAKE CS
    • Hammond CS
    • Workshop Presentations
    • Wilderness Education

Leading E.D.G.E.'s Take on the Common Core Standards - by Bruce Bonney

10/13/2011

0 Comments

 
Last spring several of our clients asked Leading EDGE to design a half/full day workshop to help teachers understand the “essence” of the new reforms (i.e. The Regents Reform Agenda) coming their way from the NYSED.

In preparation, I’ve been spending a great deal of time exploring the on-line resources available to support teachers who are just now trying to grasp the implications of this massive three-pronged reform effort that promises to fundamentally change the nature of public instruction here in NYS (1. P-12 NYS Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) in ELA/Literacy and Mathematics, 2. Data-Informed/Driven Instruction, 3. Annual Professional Performance Review). I am sure my response is not much different from any other New York State educator who has spent time in a similar pursuit. “Wow”! What a massive amount of information to engage, let alone process thoughtfully or implement effectively.

Clearly, my greatest need was to put together some resources that participants in our workshops can use to streamline and simplify their search for relevant and accurate information. The “overview” documents on our resource page are two that I will be using and that we think might be helpful to a wider audience.

 Initially I decided to just “scout” the territory and see what is out there on-line to help me.

The “Common Core Standards Initiative – Website Resources” is my most up-to-date effort to compile a list of those sites I’ve found valuable.

You’ll note that I say “up-to-date”! Given that this reform effort is a rather classic example of  “rebuilding the plane while it is flying”, the information that is available changes rapidly. Some of the sites I visited last March are no longer current or even on the web. The same goes for some of the information on the sites. Earlier this week a colleague informed me that the research element of the Regents Reform “triad” originally labeled as “Data-Driven Instruction” (D-D-I) was being renamed  “Date-Informed-Instruction” (D-I-I). I can’t verify if that is an “official” change from NYSED or a local modification in nomenclature. Either way it makes clear that we must pay close attention to a reform landscape that is shifting as we speak. This is particularly true regarding the still evolving structure of assessments to measure student progress/achievement. It also suggests checking references across sites --- and creating a scorecard to keep track of the acronyms!

By far the most comprehensive site I visited is www.engageny.org. If required to choose only one web resource to consult, this would be the one for me. I do not claim to be qualified in any respect as an expert in website design, but this site seems to have almost everything an educator in NY might need to get started. I found its organization very helpful and easy to maneuver with some practice. Be warned, however, that virtually all the headings on the homepage “menu” (Teachers, Principals, Network Teams, etc) will take you to links that contain multiple pages of documents and/or instructional video clips. Let no one be misled – slick organization cannot disguise the fact that the scope of this reform agenda is all encompassing. New York State educators are going to be held accountable for expectations, understandings, and processes that take hundreds if not thousands of pages to outline and describe. The mass of information is clearly a “Beast”!

A second document I plan to use in our workshops is the “Tour Guide to New York State’s Common Core Resources”. I created this reference to help workshop participants locate specific documents that will help them address direct questions/issues related to the P-12 NYS CCLS. In addition to a brief description about the document, we’ve put in a web link so that an observer can access and download the document as a personal reference. 

Neither of these workshop resources is comprehensive and both are certainly subject to improvement. It is also important to once again acknowledge that updated or modified versions of these documents may be available but remain undiscovered at this writing. Having registered these disclaimers, we nonetheless think these are a useful guide to exploring the vast terrain of this reform effort.

Let us know what you think.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Jack Drury's Leading E.D.G.E. Blog

    Sharing Observations on Education, Wilderness, and
    New York State's  Adirondack Park

    Picture
    Jack with his wife Phyliss and Yellow Lab Cedar on the shore of Lower Saranac Lake.

    About the Author

    This blog was created and is maintained by Jack Drury with contributions from Bruce Bonney. Jack and Bruce have been working together since 1984 providing professional development in four areas:
    * Education
    * Meeting Design & Facilitation
    * Teambuilding & Problem Solving
    * Wilderness Adventure

    Categories

    All
    Education
    Outdoors
    Wilderness


    Leading E.D.G.E. is proud to be a founding partner of the
    Adirondack
    Forest Preserve
    Partnership
    Picture

    Links:

    • 21st Century Skills
    • Antioch University New England - Critical Skills Blog
    • Antioch University New England - Center for School Renewal - Challenges
    • Antioch University New England - Center for School Renewal 
    • Adirondack Curriculum Project - Challenges
    • Authentic Assessment Tools
    • Broadwing Adventures
    • The Common Core
    • Edutopia - Project-based 
    • Institute for Learner Centered Education
    • Experiential Adventures Blog
    • Organization, Coaching, & Collaboration

    Archives

    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    September 2010
    July 2009
    March 2009

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn
Leading E.D.G.E. - Educators Designing Growth Experiences