COMMON CORE STATE

STANDARDS --- MATHEMATICS

What are they?

  • CCSSM is a core of K-12 Mathematics Standards that are aligned with college and work expectations and are internationally benchmarked. They resulted from an initiative through the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to ensure that all students will be prepared for both careers and post-secondary education.
  • CCSSM includes grade level CONTENT STANDARDS for each grade K-8 and for coursework in 9-12 STANDARDS FOR MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE for K-12 .

What does this mean for Wisconsin?

  • Wisconsin adopted the CCSSM as its state standards for curriculum, instruction, and assessment in June 2010. At this time 44 other states have also adopted the CCSSM. This will support more consistent learning across states.The Department of Public Instruction is partnering with other organizations to develop resources for implementing the CCSSM.

How have the standards in CCSSM changed from the previous WI State Standards for Math?

  • The CONTENT STANDARDS are organized in Domains that span one or more grade levels in K-8 and in Conceptual Categories in 9-12. Each Domain has Clusters of Standards.
  • There are eight STANDARDS FOR MATHEMATICAL PRACTICEfor K-12 that should be integrated within all of the content Domains and Conceptual Categories.
  • “These Standards are not intended to be new names for old ways of doing business. They are a call to take the next step. It is time for states to work together to build on lessons learned from two decades of standards based reforms. It is time to recognize that standards are not just promises to our children, but promises we intend to keep.” (CCSSM, p.5).
  • New state assessments will be implemented in SY 2014-15. Two multi-state assessment consortia are developing summative and formative assessments aligned with CCSSM. Wisconsin is part of the SMARTER BALANCED Assessment Consortium. Both Content Standards and Standards for Mathematical Practice will be assessed.

What will CCSSM mean for teaching and learning mathematics in Wauwatosa?

For Students:

  • Increased rigor
  • Emphasis on reasoning & sense-making
  • Learning with understanding
  • Greater focus on communication of thinking

For the District and the Math Content Team:

  • Planning the phases toward full JK-12 implementation of CCSSM
  • Planning for on-going opportunities for staff development and grade level/course team work
  • Aligning current instructional materials with CCSSM Content and Practice Standards
  • Revising current common assessments in alignment with CCSSM

TRANSITIONING TO CCSSM IN WAUWATOSA

Implementation of CCSSM will need to follow a timeline of phases that ensures that our students are prepared to be successful on CCSSM assessments in 2014-15 at all grade levels.

K-8 Content Team Leaders

  • Ten K-8 teachers and the District JK-12 Math Coordinatorare part of a four-district, one-year grant in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee called, Common Core Leadership in Mathematics (CCLM). Our Wauwatosa Team and teams from Mequon-Thiensville, Milwaukee Public Schools, and South Milwaukee will be leaders in their district’s implementation of the CCSSM.
  • These Wauwatosa teachers have completed a two-week summer CCLM Institute and will complete work on individual goals and projects as well as team projects to support Wauwatosa’s first phase of transition to teaching with the CCSSM in the next school year. The team will share resources developed through the grant projects from all four districts with other Wauwatosa teachers.
  • Teachers on the CCLM Team will continue their learning about CCSSM and the content from several Domains during the school year as teams from all four districts meet on fourteen Tuesday evenings from September to May.
  • To learn more about CCLM:

Phase 1:SY 2011-12

Initiative / Purpose / Timeline
Summer Math Institute
June 20-30 for CCLM District Teams (see Wauwatosa’s team members listed above) / To develop background on the Content and Practice Standards and to begin work on projects and resources to support instruction with the CCSSM
To further develop math content knowledge in the Domains of Counting/Cardinality, Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, and Fractions / June-July-August
CCLM Team Conversations with Building Principals / To increase general knowledge about CCSSM and the impact they will have on teaching and learning
To enlist administrative support for CCLM implementation projects
To enlist support for expanding efforts around CCSSM in the district to all teachers of math, including creating opportunities for staff development and vertical teams / On-Going
CCLM Team Work on Individual and Team Projects for classroom implementation / To incorporate summer learning in classroom teaching and learning
To develop additional resources for district use in teaching and assessing with the CCSSM / Sept - May
CCLM Coursework on 14 Tuesday evenings with UW-M Team and the teams from Mequon-Thiensville, Milwaukee Public Schools, and South Milwaukee / To continue learning about the CCSSM and best practices for teaching and learning mathematics in K-8
To continue to build math content knowledge in the Domains of Operations & Algebraic Thinking, Base Ten, Fractions, Expressions & Equations, Ratios & Proportional Relationships
To collaborate on additional initiatives for implementing CCSSM in Wauwatosa / Sept - May
Grade Level Team or Middle School Math Department Conversations in PLCs / To develop awareness of CCSSM for teachers and administrators in all elementary and middle school buildings / Aug - May
Staff and Department Meeting Updating / To briefly share examples of teaching strategies and student work samples from implementation of CCSSM by the CCLM team members, building the awareness level of other teachers of K-8 mathematics and to begin vertical team conversations / Jan - May
In-Service Day Scavenger Hunt with CCSSM documents / To familiarize other teachers of K-8 mathematics with the format and organization of CCSSM
To build an understanding of the meaning of “understanding mathematics” in CCSSM / March

DRAFT DOCUMENT, UNEDITED COPY. This material was developed for the

Common Core Leadership in Mathematics project at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. (07.01.2011)