A recent research study approached the idea of scientific literacy by assuming that a limited number of vocabulary words were important for the average person to understand scientific articles. Brossard,Dominique and Shanahan, James. Do They Know What They Read? Building a Scientific Literacy Measurement Instrument Based on Science Media Coverage. (pdf) They emphasize not general [...]
About Darcy Pattison
Author, blogger and writing teacher Darcy Pattison writes about publishing, fiction and the Common Core. Published in eight languages, Pattison has written how-to-write books, picture books for children, teacher resource books and middle grade novels.
May 8, 2013
Common Core Tests: Math and ELA Rubrics
The Partnership for Assessment for Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) has released a draft of Performance Level Descriptor (PLD) for each grade. Public comment is open until May 16. I’ve linked to a few documents here that should be of particular concern; see the website for full documentation. English Language Arts Performance Level Descriptors [...]
May 6, 2013
Common Core Tests: Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) has released a draft of its PARCC Accommodations Manual, “a comprehensive policy document that will support local educators in the selection, administration and evaluation of accommodations for the assessment of students with disabilities and English learners on the PARCC End-of-Year, Performance-Based and optional Mid-Year [...]
May 1, 2013
Schools Must Upgrade Computers: XP Support Ends April 8, 2014
With Microsoft ending support of Windows XP, and PARCC supporting Windows 7 or 8, schools must upgrade equipment before the 2014 testing under Common Core standards. Microsoft has announced that it will end support of WindowsXP on April 8, 2014. This is in spite of the fact that over half of users still use XP [...]
April 29, 2013
Kids’ 100 Most Popular Books
What are kids reading today? Let’s find out. The Common Core is in the process of setting up a PII-P20 database to monitor everything that we do in education. PII is data that includes Personally Identifiable Information; P20 refers to a database that monitors students from preschool through college and into the workforce. The purpose [...]
April 25, 2013
Common Core Testing: SBAC and PARCC
States will begin testing students under the Common Core State Standards in 2014. PARCC and SABC are the testing consortiums developing online or computerized tests. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium or SBAC. At $31/student, SABC provides testing services to thirty-one member states (links are to state departments of education): California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, [...]
April 22, 2013
Common Core is Constructivism Math
What is Common Core Math? It is math instruction written from a Constructivist Theory. Every time educators sit down to write a curriculum, they must have a controlling set of ideas, a theory of teaching, that helps them decide what to include or exclude. For the Common Core Mathematics, that education theory is called Constructivist [...]
April 18, 2013
Next Gen Science Standards: What Topic at What Grade?
What is Common Core Science? In a press release on April 9, the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards), it was announced that the final version of the new science standards are now available. Here some answers to questions being raised about the standards, a FAQ. Will the NGSS become the Common Core Science Standards? The [...]
April 15, 2013
The One-Hour Narrative: CCSS Writing Lesson Plan
My friend, Rich Davis, is an extraordinary illustrator who has created the Pick and Draw (PAD) card game to encourage kids to draw with more creativity. It’s such a simple card game that it has been adapted to many activities. My favorite activity is using it to help kids create a character that they care [...]
March 25, 2013
CCSS: Why is a Public Policy Document Copyrighted?
When you think of a public policy document, you rarely think of a document that is copyrighted. Yet, that’s exactly the case for the Common Core State Standards. It’s a strange and unsettling thing. The Common Core State Standards are copyrighted: Any publication or public display shall include the following notice: “© Copyright 2010. National [...]
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