Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
Slides 1-2
ACTIVITY
Video: Instructional Shifts
 {show video}
Introduction to the Shifts
Organizer
FACILITATOR TIPS

Today’s session is an overview of
the key shifts that the Common Core
State Standards require for
mathematics. We will be learning
about the 3 shifts through this slide
show as well as through some handson activities to help us understand
the key components of the shifts.
Through this we hope to gain a better
understanding of the Standards for
Mathematics which in turn will better
prepare our students.
 This video, produced by The Hunt
Institute, can be seen in its
entirety at
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=dnjbwJdcPjE”
 William McCallum and Jason
Zimba (two lead writers of the
Common Core State Standards
for Mathematics) on the
background of writing the
Standards.
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
 Power Point Slide Show
 Council of the Great City Schools
Video: This video, produced by
The Hunt Institute, can be seen
in its entirety at
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=dnjbwJdcPjE”
 Speakers ( for Video)
 Markers/ pens/pencils/small Post Its
GROUPINGS
Whole Group
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
Slide 3
ACTIVITY
Background on Common Core
FACILITATOR TIPS

To have more students meeting
the requirements for post-secondary
success, there needed greater clarity
in what is expected of students each
year during k-12 education.

Typical state standards that
preceded the Common Core were too
vague and too long to realistically
inform instruction.

So the Common Core was
designed to be a set of standards that
are fewer in number, clearer in
describing outcomes, and higher.
What is included is what is expected
for ALL students.

To help students achieve these
standards, all practitioners must be
honest about the time they require.
Teaching less at a much deeper level
really is the key to Common Core
success.

The decisions surrounding how to
focus the standards had to be
grounded in evidence regarding what
students in fact need in order to have
a solid base of education and to be
well prepared for career or college
demands.
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
 Power Point Slide Show
GROUPINGS
Whole group
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
ACTIVITY
FACILITATOR TIPS

There had to be many decisions
about what not to include. The focus
was narrowed to what mattered
most. You can look at the anchor
standards and probably agree that all
of them are skills you would really
want every student you know and
care about to leave school able to
exercise.

So the CCSS represent that rarest
of moments in education when an
effort starts by communicating that
we must stop doing certain things,
rather than telling educators about
one more thing they can add to their
already overbooked agenda to help
support their students. You can think
of the standards and this focus on the
shifts that really are at the center of
what is different about them as the
“power of the eraser” over the power
of the pen.
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
Slide 4
ACTIVITY
College Math Professors Feel
HS students Today are Not
Prepared for College Math
FACILITATOR TIPS

We see that there is a disconnect
between how prepared high school
math educators believe their students
are for college mathematics and how
prepared post secondary math
instructors feel the students are.

Notice that this slide shows that
HS math teachers feel that 89% of
their students are ready for college
level math, while college math
teachers feel only 26% of their
students are prepared.

Rather than spend too much time
and energy placing blame or thinking
about why this disconnect exists, let’s
instead turn to the implications of
such a disconnect.
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
 Power Point Slide Show
GROUPINGS
Whole group
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
Slide 5
ACTIVITY
What The Disconnect Means
for Students
FACILITATOR TIPS

As mentioned before, many
students in two and four year colleges
need remediation in math which
often lowers their odds of finishing
the degree or program they are in.
Shouldn’t students who graduate
from high school be prepared for
postsecondary education and
training?
MATERIALS
 Power Point Slide Show
GROUPINGS
Whole group
Slide 6
Mathematics Shifts Review


Whole group
The Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics were
designed to address these issues. To
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
Power Point
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
ACTIVITY
Slide 7
Defining Rigor
FACILITATOR TIPS
learn more about the Standards we
are going to talk about the three
shifts, which represent the
overarching messages in these new
Standards.

Here are the three shifts in
mathematics. {Read the slide}

These are not only things I’m
(we’re) telling you, these are things
I’m (we’re) asking you to tell other
people. These are what you need to
be fighting for. These are what you
need to be thinking about when a
speaker at a workshop or a publisher
or even members of your district tell
you about CCSS – you can test their
message against these things. You can
test anyone’s message against these
touchstones. They are meant to be
succinct, and easy to remember; we’ll
discuss them each in turn.


What does Rigor mean? {Read
slide}

Rigor, as defined here, does not
mean hard problems. It doesn’t mean
more difficult.

Rigor, here, means something
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
GROUPINGS
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
Slides 8-10
Slides 11
ACTIVITY
 Defining conceptual
understanding,
fluency, and
application.
Frequently Asked Question
about Rigor
FACILITATOR TIPS
very specific. We are talking about
the balance of these components of
conceptual understanding, fluency,
and application.


Reading definitions from slides
MATERIALS
How can we assess fluency other than
giving a timed test?
When you talk about assessment items
that get at fluency, it is not always only
going to be weekly timed tests. That may
be an instructional practice that works for
certain people, but it is not a mandate
that everyone across the country will be
doing timed tests. There are lots of
different ways to get to this idea of
fluency and there are lots of different
ways to know if a student is fluent in
something. On a side note, it is important
to remember that assessing fluency is not
necessarily the same as practicing fluency.
Often schools will do timed tests 3 days a
week and think they are fulfilling the
“fluency requirement.” Students need
Power Point Slideshow
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
Power Point Slideshow
GROUPINGS
Whole group
Whole Group
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
ACTIVITY
FACILITATOR TIPS
opportunities to practice fluency, as well.
MATERIALS
GROUPINGS
Is it really possible to assess conceptual
understanding? What does it look like?
So, how do you take the math that we
want students to know out of context and
how do we ask them something that just
by doing the problem will tell us that they
have conceptual understanding?
We will be doing a set of sample problems
in a moment. Spend some time really
thinking about the problems under
conceptual understanding and see what is
different. Asking students to show work
and explain can be informative, but it isn’t
the only way to assess conceptual
understanding and can become tiring for
students.
Lastly, are the Common Core Standards in
Math all about application and
meaningful tasks?
It is a common misconception that
CCSSM is only about rich application
tasks. That is only one piece of the
puzzle. You cannot just do these tasks
and think that everything else is going to
happen. This is not a criticism of the tasks
that are out there.
The tasks are often good. Performance
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
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ACTIVITY
Slide 12
Video: Phil Daro on Rigor
Slide 13
Defining Rigor
FACILITATOR TIPS
tasks are great, but where in those
performance tasks are you getting at
procedural skill and fluency? Where are
you getting at conceptual understanding?
We cannot just expect those things to
happen if we only do those tasks.
Remember that rigor in the Standards is a
balance of time spent on conceptual
understanding, procedural skill and
fluency, and application. The Standards
themselves will typically guide the reader
to what aspect of rigor is expected.
 Video is 17 min 4 sec.
 Phil Daro goes into detail on the
problems of "Answer-getting," one
of the practices that the new
Common Core Standards intend to
greatly reduce.


Here are some of the key words to
look for when determining if a
standard should be assessed for
conceptual understanding, procedural
skill and fluency, or through an
application type problem.
What are some other words that
would highlight a “conceptual
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
GROUPINGS

Watch video
Vimeo.com/30924981
Power Point Slide Show
Whole group
Power Point Slide Show
Whole group

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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
ACTIVITY
FACILITATOR TIPS
understanding” standard? (Interpret,
recognize, describe, explain…)
 Of course, these three aspects of rigor
are not always addressed separately
from each other, but what is clear is
that the wording of each standard can
help the teacher determine what the
main goal of this standard is.
MATERIALS
GROUPINGS
Slide 14
Activity with Sample
Problems



Small
Groups/whole
group



After taking some time to work
through the sample problems, discuss
the following question with those
around you:
Why you must have a balance
between all 3 aspects of rigor?
Discuss how and why in instruction
the order of conceptual
understanding, then bits of fluency
when students are ready, and bits of
application mixed in throughout units
makes sense, but in assessment you
usually see fluency followed by
conceptual understanding questions,
followed by application questions.

Power Point Slide Show
Activity: Participates need a copy of
sample problems
Problems from:
http://www.achievethecore.org/ma
th-common-core/professionaldevelopment/deep-dive-math-shifts
How can assessing (with tests, HW
problems, exit tickets) all 3 aspects of
rigor affect student learning?
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
ACTIVITY
FACILITATOR TIPS
 (Problem Activity Sheets)
 Problems from:
http://www.achievethecore.org/math
-common-core/professionaldevelopment/deep-dive-math-shifts
MATERIALS
GROUPINGS
Slide 15
The Shape of Math in A+
Countries

There are no detailed labels here
because I want you to see visually
that the overall shape of math topics
in A+ countries and those typical in
the US (pre-Common Core) is
different.
Each row is a math topic, like
fractions, or congruence.
In 2/3rds of the high-performing
countries, the foundations are laid
and then further knowledge is built
on them. The design principle is focus
and coherent progressions. These
progressions and focus lead to Rigor!
In the U.S., the design principle is
to teach everything every year that
can possibly be taught… as well as
many things that cannot.
 Power Point Slide Show
Chart on slide from: Schmidt, Houang, &
Cogan, “A Coherent Curriculum: The
Case of Mathematics.” (2002).
Whole group
The Mathematical Practices are the
same for all areas in Math. These will
be assessed on the new Smarter
Power Point Slide Show
Whole Group



Slide 16
The Mathematical Practices


Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
ACTIVITY
Slide 17-18
background on the
assessment consortia
FACILITATOR TIPS
Balanced Assessment.
•
In an effort to provide ongoing
feedback to teachers during the
course of the school year,
measure annual student growth,
and move beyond narrowlyfocused bubble tests, the U.S.
Department of Education has
awarded two groups of states
grants to develop a new
generation of tests. The new
tests will be aligned to the
Common Core State Standards.
The tests will assess students'
knowledge of mathematics and
English Language Arts from third
grade through HS. PARCC (The
Partnership for Assessment of
Readiness for College and
Careers) and SBAC (Smarter
Balanced Assessment
Consortium) are the two
assessment consortia.}
Both Smarter Balanced and PARCC are
committed to focusing their assessments
on the major work of each grade.
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
GROUPINGS

Whole Group
Power Point Slide Show
The content emphases can be found
at the achievethecore.org website.
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
Slide 19-20
ACTIVITY
PARCC Model
Content Framework
Discuss the (green)
Major Clusters and
what will be covered
by the Smarter
Balanced Assessment
FACILITATOR TIPS
• Say that each of these areas are
unpacked in each course, after
the Content Emphases by Cluster
in the PARCC Model Content
Frameworks. Look at the
document (paper) or
electronically. Choose a grade
level to discuss.
• Discuss in your small group:
Fluency Expectations,
Mathematical Practices in
Relation to Course Content
• Where do you see Fluency,
Conceptual Understanding and
Application? Here is an example
of how focus and coherence
works in a single conceptual high
school area. The green boxes
represent the major work of
Algebra I, the blue are the
clusters that support the major
work of Algebra I and the yellow
are the additional clusters.
• The emphases charts make visible
the intended focus and coherence
of the subject matter by
identifying the major work (focus)
and the supporting and additional
work (coherence within and
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
MATERIALS
 Power Point Slide Show
 PARCC Model Content Framework
for Mathematics
GROUPINGS
Whole
group/small
groups
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Delaware Department of Education: Professional Development Model High School: Common Core Instructional Shifts: Rigor
TOPIC
ACTIVITY
FACILITATOR TIPS
across)
• Smarter Balanced Assessment will
focus about 70% on the Major
Clusters (seen here with a green
box), 20% on the Supporting
Clusters (topics next to the blue
boxes) and 10% on the Additional
Clusters (topics next to the yellow
circles).
MATERIALS
GROUPINGS
Slide 21
Slide 22-26
Summarizing
Resources for Teachers
Follow notes with slides
Resources are found under the resources
folder


Whole Group
Whole group
Delaware Math Common Core State Standards Instructional Shifts Overview: Rigor Module
Slideshow
Have resources available to email or
copy for participants
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