Reconciling NYS mandates of CCSS with the Realities of LD

Annmarie Urso, Ph.D.State University of New York at Geneseo

What led up to the development of CCSS?

Assessment Results!• PISAs, ACTs, NAEPs results in

Reading in US students – even after NCLB’s mandated assessments and demands for AYP made by schools and students.

• Less rigorous reading material!

1. More complex texts2. Teach advanced comprehension3. Emphasis on “Close” and

“Deep” literary textsand informational texts.

How many students struggle with Reading?

In K-12 public & private schools

54,000,000

IDENTIFIED as @ risk for reading

failure:23,000,000 (42%)

Title 1:19.9 million

IDEA eligible:6.3 million

ESOL:10.9 million

Meeting Standards32,000,000

Reading Performance on NAEPs in 2009

8th graders

12th graders

Below BasicApproachingAt or above 27% 38% 35%

26% 42% 32%

0 50 100

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Data, 2009. Retrieved June 3, 2011, from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

65% of 12th graders and 68% of 8th graders read below grade-level.

• WE HAD ACCOUNTABILITY WITH NCLB– STANDARDS BASED

INSTRUCTION– AYP

• WE HAD ASSESSMENT WITH NCLB

• WHY DO THESE POOR RESULTS CONTINUE?

What we know about why this continues…

BIG ISSUES:POVERTYDISPARATE READINESS FUNDING MECHANISMS TEACHER TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

WHAT THE “FIXABLE” ASSUMPTION IS AS TO WHY IT CONTINUES:LACK OF COMMON CURRICULUM WITH EXPECTATIONS AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND PRINCIPALS.

What are the CCSS?

What they are:• Developed in 2010 and adopted by 45

states.• Designed to bolster the college and

career readiness of students after high school.

• Variety of constituents drafted the standards.

• Some areas consistent with research and other areas just reflect current ideas.

• Describe what students should know in order to succeed beyond high school but don’t specify how students should learn the subject matter.

What are the CCSS in ELA?

CAUTIONS • “No single series of model lessons or

curriculum guide can describe the variations in content & methodology to reach all students.” Louisa Moats, 2012

• Teacher-directed, systematic, sequential, explicit approaches that work best for students with LD and learning challenges (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

• Variations in learning readiness and abilities are NOT ADDRESSED IN CCSS or in the model lessons, videos produced by

CCSS< think> tanks; engageny, etc.

SLOs -

While the CCSS authors have provided guidelines regarding the implementation of the CCSS for ELLs and students with special needs, they have left the specifics of that implementation to districts and states.

NJ SLOs – provided by NJSED

CAUTIONS ABOUT THE CCSS in ELA for students with disabilities:ReadingLacking:• Sequence of

instruction• Critical milestones

& relationships among:

PHONOLOGYWORD RECOGNITIONSPELLINGFLUENCYCOMPREHENSION

WritingCCSS only focus on composition.• Explicit guidance

regarding importance of foundation writing skills.

• Interdependence among: Oral language-written language, reading foundations, writing foundations, and higher level goals in comprehension and composition

Recommendations for students with learning disabilities

EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION MATTERS! • SCIENTIFICALL

Y BASED EVIDENCE

• EXPLICIT• INTENSIVE

1. RTI & CCSS are mandated in NYS – regular classroom instruction is critical to changing growth trajectories – just as critical as remediation!

2. We need to catch students EARLY to improve their reading scores (progress that closes gaps).

3. INTENSIVE EFFORT on both the teachers and the students is

required to achieve maximum growth.

• EARLY IS BY 2nd GRADE• WE NEED HIGHLY SKILLED

TEACHERS • WE NEED INTERVENTION &

INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS DRIVEN BY ASSESSMENT

• WE NEED TEACHER TRAINING• WE NEED A COMMITMENT TO

THE HUMAN & FINANCIAL RESOURCES NEEDED TO IMPLEMENT CCSS

1. Effective instruction matters!• Explicit, intensive,

scientifically based instruction taught by highly trained teachers.–Scaffolded instruction

2. Universal Design for Learning.• Removing barriers inherent

to curriculum for access.3. Advocate where it counts! • Teacher training programs,

access to PD, and support for teachers.

CULTURE OF HIGH EXPECTATIONS:Instructional supports for learning― based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning(UDL)―which foster student engagement by presenting information in multiple ways andallowing for diverse avenues of action and expression.

David Rose, CAST“The Goal of UDL is not to eliminate challenge-which is essential to learning-but to reduce extraneous barriers that are not core to the learning goals…simply reducing barriers to access is the first step to reducing barriers to learning.”

Recommendations from CCSS developers:Instructional accommodations ―changes in materials or procedures― which do not change the standards, but allow students to learn within the framework of the Common Core.Assistive technology devices and services to ensure access to the general education curriculum andthe Common Core State Standards.

UDL is a framework for making curriculum more inclusive

Recognition Strategic Affective

WEBSITESwww.cast.orgCenter for Applied Special Technologies- UDL/DIwww.engageny.orgEngage NY – NYSED website on CCSShttp://ukcrl.orgUniversity of Kansas Center for Research on

Learningwww.reading.orgInternational Reading Associationhttp://www.interdys.orgInternational Dyslexia Association

www.geneseo.edu/education/urso