This school year marks the third year of implementing the Common Core State Standards and the first year of full implementation in the Novato Unified School District. To keep you well informed, we're initiating a newsletter dedicated to this transition: "Raising the Bar in Novato."

Preparing our young people for the world of tomorrow means equipping them with the knowledge and skills today that they will need to succeed in the workforce. To do that, we need to update our goals for learning. These learning goals work grade-by-grade, step-by-step toward what modern careers and colleges expect, so that when students graduate, they are ready for college, ready for work - ready for life.

So what does it mean to be "ready?" In our fast-changing world, readiness involves having a very flexible kind of skill set - like a rope that can be used in many circumstances. We need workers who can adapt to new situations and apply what they know to unforeseen problems. By making it a priority that students are able to weave together knowledge from different subject areas, develop problem-solving skills and the ability to communicate and work in teams, we're asking educators to shift their approach to teaching. We will be putting more emphasis on giving students chances to integrate what they learn in various subjects.

For the past two years, teachers have participated in a variety of professional development - inviting everyone to rethink the way they teach and to prepare for the transition. The objective of these professional development opportunities is to provide the tools to create rich, engaging and rigorous classroom environments. Further, new curricular resources have been identified and purchased to support this transition including a comprehensive secondary math curriculum and many new literature and non-fiction books for English language arts classrooms.  

The new standards emphasize literacy across all subject areas as well as increasing students' ability to understand more complex writing over time. There is also a focus on developing students' research skills and an emphasis on writing to discuss and inform. While the standards focus on providing students with increasing opportunities to understand and analyze non-fiction resources, this does not impact the requirement that students read and understand important works of literature. In fact, the standards simply increase the amount of reading that students are expected to do. The new math standards are different in that they emphasize both procedural fluency (how it's done) and conceptual understanding (why it's done) in the early grades. In the higher level math courses, the emphasis is on the mastery of complex concepts via hands-on learning and mathematical modeling. This approach to mathematics results in the student's ability to apply their skills to real-world situations. The standards do not require a certain teaching method rather they define what students are expected to know and be able to do.

The new assessment called the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) aligns to these standards in that the questions require students to demonstrate a deeper understanding. In the example below, students are required to apply their knowledge in a more complex manner.

(CST - California Standards Testing, SBAC - Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium also CAASPP)

The Novato Unified School District piloted these tests for the past two years giving us the opportunity to troubleshoot the process. More information on the CAASPP will be provided in upcoming newsletters.

Our common goal, in the words of Barbara Stengel, Director of Secondary Education at Peabody College, "...is to prepare our children to become powerful leaders, inventors, explorers, innovators and role models. These children will soon be adults who will influence our country and the world - and it's our job to pull together and get them there."

Here at NUSD, we believe our students can achieve anything they set out to do and we want to give them the tools and opportunities to do just that. 

Sincerely,

Julia Kempkey, Director, Secondary Programs 

Ruthanne Bexton, Director, Elementary Programs