Common Core State Standards - Better Preparing Tennessee's Students for College and Career

Taking Note Superintendent Selection in2012 May Tennessee: A Brief History These ambitious goals for Common Core standards present the possibility for cross-state collaboration and sharing of innovative strategies in support of enhanced college and career readiness for students nationally. Tennessee’s Steps to Improve College and Career Readiness Spring 2015 Why did Tennessee adopt Common Core? According to the most recent available ACT data, only 15 percent of Tennessee 11th graders are prepared for college-level work across all four tested subject areas—English, reading, math, and science— without remediation. One in five first-time first-year students at four-year public universities in Tennessee required remedial or development coursework in Fall 2010. Nearly half of first-time students required remedial or developmental coursework at two-year public institutions that semester. iv Large numbers of graduates are also under-prepared for the workforce, as reflected by Volkswagen’s recent decision to conduct a national search to fill many of its 800 open positions at its Chattanooga facility. Governor Bill Haslam responded to this decision by stating plainly, “We really do have to train more students” in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.v Adopting and implementing rigorous standards are key components of the state’s approach to better preparing high school graduates for success in college, which in turn will better prepare them with the skills they need to contribute as members of the state’s workforce. Only 15 percent of Tennessee high school graduates are ready for collegelevel work in all four ACT subjects: English, reading, math, and science. - ACT 2011 Common Core standards draw from the most rigorous curricular standards of states across the country and from the best practices in curriculum design from high-performing countries around the world. By adopting these standards, Tennessee joins nearly every other state in committing to enhanced rigor in its K-12 educational offerings to better prepare students for success beyond high school. Further, Tennessee serves on the governing board of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a consortium of states designing common assessments to evaluate student learning progress both throughout the academic year and at the end of courses. Under Common Core standards, Tennessee high school graduates will acquire more in-depth knowledge and advanced critical thinking skills over the course of their public school years, better preparing them for life beyond 12th grade. The state’s commitment to increasing the rigor of its educational standards is driven by the ongoing need to better prepare graduates for success in college and the workforce. Page 2 Student assessments fully aligned TCAP scores begin to rise Spring 2011 Spring 2010 Students take new TCAP aligned to new standards, and scores predictably fall January 2008 Tennessee receives an “F” from the US Chamber of Commerce in rigor and approves Tennessee Diploma Project standards Source: TNCore, 2012 How will instruction change under Common Core? The Common Core standards are intended to improve teaching and learning by adding focus, coherence, clarity, and rigor in ways that are anchored in promoting college and career readiness. The standards are based on high quality research and reflect the highest international standards. Clearer standards will help students, parents, and teachers better understand what is expected of them. The Tennessee Department of Education partnered with Achieve to engage in a Crosswalk Study to determine the alignment between Tennessee’s standards and the Common Core. Although the Crosswalk Study found that there was significant alignment between the two sets of standards, the Common Core requires a deeper engagement with a smaller number of standards than what Tennessee currently requires. The crosswalk analysis, which remains under development, is available at http://www.tncurriculumcenter.org/common_core. Common Core provides grade-specific standards organized by groups of years: K-5, 6-8, 9-10, and 11-12. This grouped approach enables students to receive age-appropriate instruction that enables them to build literacy, analytical, and argumentation skills. Literacy standards are also established through Common Core for history/social science, science, and other technical subject areas in grades 6-12. English/Language Arts Standards Common Core establishes seven attributes of literacy for college and career readiness. According to the standards, literate students: vi • Demonstrate independence • Build strong content knowledge • Respond to varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline • Comprehend as well as critique • Value evidence • Use technology and digital media strategically and capably • Understand other perspectives and cultures

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