Common Core State Standards: Challenge and Collaboration

The Common Core State Standards provide a framework of internationally benchmarked standards that outline what students should know, understand, and be able to do in order to be college and career ready. This essay explores the untapped potential in the sharing of resources across the nation, especially during times of economic challenges.     

The New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension: Future Directions

Abstract

Research in four areas has the potential to dramatically improve how practitioners address the challenges of integrating digital texts and tasks into their literacy curriculum. Advances in defining and measuring key components of online reading comprehension are rapidly emerging. In addition, instructional models, such as Internet reciprocal teaching (IRT), can lead to the acquisition of online reading comprehension, but teachers need access to sustained professional development that is aligned with their own learning goals.     

An Online Collaboration Environment

Helpmate is an Internet based software application that helps teachers, students, executives, managers and teams achieve their strategic goals. Utilising an easy to learn and use, multi panel, web browser based, user interface, users can communicate in real time via a chat room, engage in a video/audio/whiteboard session, communicate in a multi-lingual fashion through real-time translation, see tutor controlled demonstrations on their local PC, view historical data and interact with other students to form a self organising, self help group. It is the only tool of its kind which has the potential to serve senior executives who need to establish that an organization's critical collaborative goals and initiatives translate into successful, multinational, multilingual team projects which produce superior results in internet time.The purpose of this effort is to conduct research directed toward the development of an electronic environment to support a lecturer who wishes to conduct a series of lectures online to a group of undergraduate computer science students. This paper is concerned with the feedback and lessons learnt from this endeavour.     

Online Collaboration in Design Education: an Experiment in Real‐Time Manipulation of Prototypes and Communication

The features of collaboration in design education include effective and efficient communication and reflection, and feasible manipulation of design objects. For collaborative design, information and communication technology offers educators the possibility to change design pedagogy. However, there is a paucity of literature on relative advantages and disadvantages of online collaboration for real‐time manipulation of design objects and prototypes, particularly in web design education. Using survey instrumentations, this study investigated online collaborative design practices with an application by measuring experiences of communication and interaction among twelve designers who are enrolled in a Master's programme in interactive design. The study identified barriers to online collaboration design: (1) real‐time manipulation of design objects and prototypes may increase complexity of communication interaction; (2) records of communication and invisibility of team members may attenuate quality and frequency of critical feedback to each other; (3) students’ attitudes towards collaboration, individual students’ learning goals, and completing tasks in a timely manner could reduce their engagement and increase their reliance on teacher intervention.     

Inquiry learning behaviors captured through screencasts in problem-based learning

This study examined the types of learning behaviors students demonstrated while performing inquiry tasks. It also explored the relationship between the learning behaviors and students’ domain knowledge. We observed fourteen students in five groups during a ninth-grade biology course. Three types of learning behaviors (inquiry, collaborative, and minimally productive behaviors) were identified and time on each type was measured. The results suggest that students demonstrated different patterns according to the types of learning behaviors. Correlation analysis revealed that learning outcomes had a strong positive correlation with the inquiry behaviors but a strong negative correlation with the minimally productive behaviors. The results suggest that attention should be paid to facilitate the more meaningful inquiry behaviors while reducing minimally productive behaviors.     

Relating aspects of motivation to facets of mathematical competence varying in cognitive demand

The author investigated the relationship between aspects of student motivation and performance on mathematical tasks varying in cognitive demand relevant to meeting the expectations of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M). A sample of 479 primarily Latino middle school students completed established survey measures of motivation and a constructed response assessment of two facets of mathematical competence. The assessment measured students' progress toward performing a procedure and demonstrating understanding by providing a written critique of a peer's work, a more cognitively demanding facet. As predicted, higher interest and efficacy in mathematics, lower performance-avoidance goals, and fewer experiences of negative emotions related to performance levels for both facets, while utility and mastery-approach goals (i.e., focusing on understanding mathematics) related only to the more cognitively demanding facet. Implications of these findings for preparing students to be successful mathematical learners, especially in the many states implementing the CCSS-M, are discussed.     

The Common Core State Standards: An Opportunity to Enhance Formative Assessment in History/Social Studies Classrooms

This article discusses the opportunity that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) present for enhancing formative assessment (FA) in history and social studies classrooms. There is evidence that FA can enhance learning for students if implemented well. Unfortunately, teachers continue to be challenged in implementing FA in their classrooms. We examined reading standards for literacy in history and social studies in lesson plans created by preservice teachers in order to discuss opportunities presented by the CCSS for enhancing FA.     

Teaching Problem-Posing and Inquiry to Teachers Using a Non-Traditional Operation

Teaching teachers to participate in mathematical inquiry has the potential to both transform belief systems about mathematics and to transform teachers from consumers of mathematics to producers of mathematics. The focus of this paper is to describe the use of a problem, based on a non-traditional binary operation, to encourage and teach pre-service and in-service teachers inquiry and problem-posing. We present a brief mathematical solution for the problem and we then discuss problem-posing activities and discussions of connections to the Standards of Mathematical Practice from the Common Core State Standards. We discuss several key aspects of the problem that make it well-suited for the purposes of teaching inquiry and problem-posing.     

美国“共同核心州立标准”中K～2年级语言标准简介

美国2010年颁布的"共同核心州立标准"包括《共同核心州立数学标准》和《共同核心州立英语语言标准》。本文介绍了《共同核心州立英语语言标准》的目标、结构以及K～2年级的具体内容。这份标准对我国《3～6岁儿童学习与发展指南》的制订与实施有借鉴意义。     

Leading Deep Conversations in Collaborative Inquiry Groups

Collaborative inquiry groups, such as professional learning communities and lesson study groups, are proliferating in schools across the United States. In whatever form, the potential for impacting student learning through this collaborative work is expanded or limited by the nature of teachers’ conversations. Polite, congenial conversations remain superficially focused on sharing stories of practice, whereas collegial dialogue probes more deeply into teaching and learning. Examples of talk taken from collaborative teacher inquiry groups are used to illustrate these important differences. Specific recommendations are provided, including the role that teacher leaders can play in adopting and modeling specific strategies that support the use of more substantive professional conversation.     

Examining focus,duration, and classroom impact of literacy and mathematics professional development

Over $18 billion is spent annually on professional development for in-service teachers. This study examined the focus, duration, and impact of professional development activities in which elementary (students ages 5–11) and middle school (students ages 11–14) teachers participated. Ninety-eight teacher-participants completed an online survey about their professional development experiences. In the analysis of literacy survey items and mathematics survey items, there were similarities in focus areas that received greater participation and areas that received less. There were also noticeable differences in frequency of participation in literacy and mathematics professional development. Comparisons between literacy and mathematics professional development indicated that more teachers reported participating in literacy experiences. This included workshops as well as ongoing support through planning meetings and mentorship. Overall, the consensus from teachers was that professional development was effective and has a beneficial impact on their classroom. Researchers share implications for the design and research of future professional development programs.     

Engaging Minds in the Common Core: Integrating Standards for Student Engagement

With the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) many teachers continue to search for ways to engage students in the learning process while meeting the rigorous demands of the standards. Researchers suggest that by providing opportunities for higher order thinking, student choice, and creative ways to showcase knowledge, students will find engagement and motivation in the classroom. Many teachers of adolescent students struggle with ways to integrate these approaches while meeting the standards. The purpose of this article is to provide examples of engaging literacy strategies that focus on the Common Core State Standards for middle and high school students.     

美国“共同核心州立标准”中K～2年级数学标准简介

美国2010年颁布的"共同核心州立标准"包括《共同核心州立数学标准》和《共同核心州立英语语言标准》。"共同核心州立标准"的颁布对美国基础教育整体质量的提升有积极作用。本文对《共同核心州立数学标准》的目标、结构以及K～2年级的具体内容作了介绍。美国的经验有一定借鉴价值。     

馆校结合提升学生科学探究能力的现实与反思

如今科学教育中,针对学生科学探究能力的发展,存在着学校教育缺少实践与教学资源、科技馆教育师资与展品效用不足的教育现状。立足馆校结合,以如何有效提高学生的科学探究能力为主体,从理念、师资、课程与资源四个方面探讨了在馆校结合中提升科学探究能力的策略与途径。     

Futurism in the Curriculum

Abstract

Teacher professional development (PD) is a complex, ongoing challenge as educational systems attempt to deliver excellent programming in pursuit of increased student achievement (Opfer and Pedder 2011). This article examines Idaho Total Instructional Alignment (TIA), a model for teacher PD that is currently being utilized in secondary schools throughout the state of Idaho. The implications of this model for effective guidance and support with implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), as well as the factors that indicate readiness of secondary teachers for implementation of the CCSS, are explored.     

在线协作学习中的集体责任与个体生成角色

文章结合社会网络分析法、内容分析法和统计分析法,通过实证研究分析了在线协作学习中集体责任和个体生成角色的发展动态,及其对知识建构过程的协同促进作用。研究结果表明,在线协作学习过程中,集体责任的三个特征(参与意识、协同交互、均衡发展)与个体生成角色(探究引申、知识促进、知识整合、探究管理)的分布形态之间存在相互促进、动态演进的复杂关系,且两者共同影响协作对话本质。探讨在线协作学习中集体责任与个体生成角色之间的关系,有助于创设在线协作学习环境,并为知识建构提供策略性参考。     

The Integration of Common Core and Response to Intervention: Supporting Vulnerable Readers in a Time of Sophisticated Standards

The Common Core State Standards and Response to Intervention are significant contemporary educational initiatives that have emerged largely in isolation from one another. We argue that an integration of these initiatives is beneficial. We trace the independent development of these two initiatives and offer suggestions for how they might fruitfully transact, fully supporting vulnerable readers in their efforts to master sophisticated standards. Results from a school implementing these initiatives as an integrated whole are discussed.     

Web-Based Professional Development Model to Enhance Teaching of Strategies for Online Academic Research in Middle School

High-quality professional development is needed to prepare teachers to help students learn how to conduct online academic research and meet Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. This study created and evaluated a Web-based professional development program with five instructional modules designed to prepare middle-school teachers to teach their students nine strategies for conducting academic research online. The online professional development program was specifically created to help teachers implement the previously developed online SOAR Student Toolkit curriculum with all students in inclusive classrooms. Results of a 2015–2016 pilot study conducted with 13 teachers and 477 students in sixth to eighth grades indicated that most teachers perceived the professional development program to be of high quality and relevant in helping them teach online research skills to their students. Students significantly improved online research skills after learning from trained teachers (27 percentage points improvement, from 18% at pretest to 45% at posttest).     

Placing PISA and PISA for schools in two federalisms,Australia and the USA

ABSTRACT

This paper accepts that the OECD’s PISA has become influential in policy terms globally, but analyses the ways that the main PISA and PISA for Schools tests are positioned differently in Australia and the USA because of contrasting educational federalisms in the two nations. Our argument is that while PISA is undoubtedly influential, its effects are nonetheless mediated by the political structures – here, the different models of federalism – present within different nations, which in turn leads to quite distinct ‘PISA effects’. For instance, Australia oversamples on main PISA to make its data available for national and state-level policymaking, whereas the USA, with its focus on local governance in schooling, does not oversample, meaning that main PISA does not have a comparable policy salience as in Australia. Conversely, the newer PISA for Schools test originated in the USA with pressure from educators and philanthropic interests and has been implemented in a good number of schools, but it has not been taken up in the same way in Australia. Our analyses show how these differences reflect the idiosyncratic workings of federalism in the two nations, in which the federal government has a stronger policy and funding role in Australia than has hitherto been the case for the federal government in the USA.