discusses myths about Common Core State Standards, some of the admitted challenges and some solutions to these problems

1. adam@opened.io

2. Myths About the Common Core
 It’s a federal government plot and a “national curriculum”
 The standards are too easy
 The standards are too hard
 It creates “cookie-cutter courses”
 It forces teachers to teach outside their expertise

3. It’s a Federal Government
Plot
 The Common Core State standards were developed by the
National Governor’s Association
 But its tied to No Child Left Behind act right?
 But CCSS predates NCLB
 Oh well its Race to the Top then?
 Race to the Top provides incentives for adopting internationally
recognized standards of which CCSS is one
 But the federal government will take them over
 There are no such plans
 This is our federal tax dollars being misused.
 Initial work was funded by both the states and the Gates
Foundation and others. With no federal funding

4. “CC is Too Easy”
 State standards enhance what Common Core offers as a base
 California
 3.1 Solve one-variable equations and inequalities involving absolute
value, graphing the solutions and interpreting them in context. CA
 Create equations and inequalities in one variable including ones with absolute
value and use them to solve problems. Include equations arising from linear and
quadratic functions, and simple rational and exponential functions. CA
 8.1 Derive and use the trigonometric ratios for special right triangles
(30°,60°,90°and 45°,45°,90°). CA
 Know that the effect of a scale factor k greater than zero on length, area, and
volume is to multiply each by k, k², and k³, respectively; determine length, area
and volume measures using scale factors. CA
 Verify experimentally that in a triangle, angles opposite longer sides are larger,
sides opposite larger angles are longer, and the sum of any two side lengths is
greater than the remaining side length; apply these relationships to solve real-
world and mathematical problems. CA
 Graph all 6 basic trigonometric functions . CA

5. “It’s Too Hard Core”
 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/201
3/08/16/is-common-core-too-hard-core/
 “31% of New York students in grades three though
eight met or exceeded math and English
competency standards on tests given over six days
this past April. In 2012, under the older, far easier,
standards, 65% of New York students were
proficient in Math and 55% proficient in English.”

7. Rigorous Standards Matter!

8. Is It Really Too Hard?
 Yes there is a deeper conceptual base
 Word problems demonstrating full understanding are
important
 The CC standards build on each other
 Fractions -> Algebra
 Algebra -> Statistics
 And there are far fewer individual items than previous
efforts
 e.g. California State Standards

9. It Creates Cookie Cutter Courses
 CC is about goals not about methods
 Because of the lack of specific lessons its actually a big
spur to come up with different ways to reach those goals
 Its also more conceptually focused
 Which creates many new options which were probably
underexploited before
 Problem-based
 Project-based
 Games

10. CC Forces Teachers to
Teach Outside Their Expertise
 No doubt due to the “Common Core Literacy
Standards”
 I have seen “English teachers will be forced to teach
Science and Social Studies”
 No true
 Science and Social Studies teachers will be called
upon to teach reading and writing skills
 Presumably they were already but it is no longer
enough to be a “subject matter expert” there

11. Challenges of the Common
Core
 Most teachers self-assess as not knowing all the mandated material for
their subjects
 All students are expected to be exposed to their grade level standards
 Especially in math, emphasizes conceptual understanding which can be
more challenging to teach
 It is by definition more interdisciplinary
 It can be difficult to engage students in the nonfiction language content
 Contrary to some perceptions, CC is LESS prescriptive, putting the
burden on the teacher of “what to teach”

12. Technology Solutions
 Flipping your classroom with video lectures and
games can resolve an expertise problem
 Videos can make nonfiction language content more
engaging
 We still need more video content: needs tools to
enable easy content creation
 Automated quizzing and games can get all students
to basic standard mastery

13. The Ed Content Ecosystem
Edmodo
Moodle
Instructure
Create
Compile
CatalogSearch
Consume
Analyze
OpenEd
Curriki
WatchKnowLearn
OERCommons
KhanAcademy
EdCanvas
Knewton
Agilix
adaptive
learning
tools
LMS student
interfaces
search
engines
BrightStorm
HippoCampus
LearnZillion
creation
assistance
tools
HoodaMath
MathChimp
catalogs LMSes
XPMath
Schmoop
BrainGenie
LRMI
MasteryConnect
Gooru
Knowmia
content sites
google youtube

14. OpenEd – www.opened.io
 Over 200,000 educational resources (videos, games,
exercises)
 Largest catalog of aligned resources on the Internet
 second most is wkl.org with <5,000 aligned resources
 Flipped classroom LMS
 but OpenEd usable from any LMS
 All accessible via open APIs
 And all exception recommendation engine is open source
 99% “recommendation engine”, 1% professional curation
assisted by software

15. Some of the Interesting Remaining Problems
 Content from the ground up focused on standard
 Best ways to flip (projects, problems, teams, questions)
 How to find the best content for your topic and standard
 Mapping between standards, to leverage content
internationally
 How to assess effectiveness of content in addressing
standard
 How to deal with SBAC/PARCC without “teaching to the
test”

16. Questions for Teachers
 What is the content needed for your students?
 How do you find it?
 How will you organize it?
 How will your students get to it?
 How will you assess its effectiveness?