Running Head: COMMON CORE STANDARDS PAPER

Common Core Standards Paper

Loredana Perrone
MAT 670: Theory Best Practice Teaching
Dr. Carroll Anthony Green
National University
September 2, 2015

COMMON CORE STANDARDS PAPER

Abstract
This paper will focus on the six shifts in the Common Core State
Standards. It will include a ranking of the first six shifts, from the most
important to the least important for educational change. Each rank will
have a reflection and support for the order of ranking. Additionally, it
will discuss how the ELD standards support the six shifts in the
Common Core State Standards as well as the Diane August webinar in
relation to how we need to support English learners in mastering the
Common Core State Standards.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS PAPER

Common core is a set of high-quality academic standards in

mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning
goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end
of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students
graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to
succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live
(Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2015). When the Common
Core Standards were created, they came along with six shifts in
ELA/literacy as well as six shifts in mathematics. Following, is the
ranking for the six shifts in ELA/literacy with the first one being the
least important to the last one being the most important.
The shift that I would rank the least important of the six would be
shift number 5: Writing from sources: Writing emphasizes use of
evidence from sources to inform or make an argument (EngageNY).
The reason why I put this shift as the least important is because I am
looking at this shift as a final product of a unit, in an essay or project
format. This is the last step in a unit in which students can prove they
learned they concepts in that unit, as a culmination.
The shift that I would rank as the second to least important
would be shift 1: Focus: Students read a true balance of informational
and literary text (EngageNY). I ranked this as second to least
important because to me this is an obvious before and after the
Common Core State Standards were put into place. I remember as a

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student I read a variety of text: expository, fiction, comparison, etc.

Therefore, I do not think this is such an important shift, since it was
present before Common Core.
Next, I would place shift 4 as third to least important. Shift 4 is
the text-based answers where students engage in rich and rigorous
evidence based conversations about text (EngageNY). Being able to
talk about a certain subject is an important part of learning. Not only
can students stand up for and prove what they believe or understand
in a text, they are also exposed to other point of views and ideas,
especially if it is a whole class discussion. However, I believe that
before conversations can arise in a certain unit, other steps must be
taken to ensure that the text is understood in order to talk about it.
Therefore it is ranked third to least important.
The third most important shift is shift number 2: Knowledge in
the disciplines where students build knowledge about the world
(domains/content areas) through TEXT rather than the teacher or
activities (EngageNY). I believe this is an important aspect of Common
Core because it gives the students the responsibility to learn via texts,
not just through activities or the teacher. They are the ones that need
to make sure they are reading, and asking questions as well, in order
to understand and build knowledge. Students before were too focused
on what the teacher was saying, that few students ever read. This used
to happen even in my classrooms when I was in grade school.

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The second most important shift would be shift 3: Staircase of

Complexity [where] Students read the central, grade appropriate text
around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more
timeandspaceandsupportinthecurriculumforclosereading(EngageNY).Ibelieve
allpointinthisshiftareimportanttoanyclassroom.Havingstudentsreadgrade
appropriatetextisessentialbecausethiswillmakestudentpreformatgradelevel.WhatI
meanbythisisthatstudentswilleachbeguidedbytheirteacherstounderstandandbeat
gradelevelbeforemovingontothenextgrade.Therefore,thenextyearsteacherwill
nothavetoplaycatchupwiththeirstudentsbecausetheywillbeuptogradestandards.
Additionally,havingteacherbepatientandcreatetime,spaceandsupportisanessential
partofstudentslearningprocess.Manytimesteacherstrytoracethroughthecurricula
justtobeabletotouchonallpoints.However,whenteachersdothistheyareeithernot
goingdeepintotheelementsoftheunits,orarelosingstudentsbecausetheyaregoingto
fast.Thisshiftputsresponsibilityontheteacherstoensurethattheirstudentsunderstand.
Additionallyitmakestheteachersaccommodateanddifferentiateforallstudents.
Themostimportantshiftformeisshiftnumber6:Academicvocabulary.With
thisshiftstudentsconstantlybuildthetransferablevocabularytheyneedtoaccessgrade
levelcomplextext.Thiscanbedoneeffectivelybyspiralinglikecontentinincreasingly
complextexts(EngageNY).Thistomeisthefoundationoflearning.Inorderfor
studentstounderstandtextsorprompttheymustunderstandthevocabulary.Wecannot
expectstudentstoanalyzesomethingiftheydonotunderstandwhatanalyzingmean.
Additionally,wecannotexpectthemtouseexpositorytextsiftheydonotknowwhatthe

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wordexpositorymeans.Oncestudentshaveagoodvocabularybankfortheunitsthenthe
restoftheCommonCoreshiftscantakeplace.
InCaliforniathereareaplethoraofELDstandardsforthehighschoollevel.
ThesestandardssupportthesixshiftsintheCommonCoreStateStandardsbecausethey
seemtobespecificsofthelearningprocessthatisincludedinCommonCore.WhatI
meanbythisisthatwhileoneshiftinCommonCoreisaboutvocabulary,thereareELD
standardsthatfocusonjustthis.WhileELDstandardsarebeingmet,theyarealso
incorporatingCommonCoreinordertohelpstudentsbecomereclassifiedasfluent
EnglishProficient(RFEP).
IntheDianeAugustwebinarthetopicaboutsupportingEnglishlearnerscameup.
ThissupportisinmasteringtheCommonCoreStateStandards.Itissafetosaythat
Englishlearnersdoneedadditionalsupport,anditistheteachersresponsibilitytomake
surethattheyaremakingtheprogressthatisexpecteddependingontheirgradeleveland
onthenumberofyearstheyhavebeenintheAmericaneducationalsystem.Thismaybe
donethroughextrastepswithineachunitandshift.Differentiationisagreatwaytohelp
supportELs.Wemustrememberthat,whileELsmightbeobtainingtheinformationina
differentwaythatregularstudents,attheendtheymuststillfulfilltheCommonCore
StateStandards.Thus,wemustkeepinmindthattheendgoalisthesameforallour
students,eventhoughELsneedextrasupportandguidance.

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References:
EngageNY. Pedagogical Shifts demanded by the Common Core State
Standards. New York State Education Department. Retrieved on
September 2, 2015 from
https://www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/resource/attachment
s/common-core-shifts.pdf
Common Core State Standards Initiative. 2015. About the Standards.
Retrieved on September 2, 2015 from
http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/