As states and districts begin the work of turning common academic standards into curriculum and instruction, educators searching for teaching resources are often finding that process frustrating and fruitless.
Teachers and curriculum developers who are trying to craft road maps that reflect the Common Core State Standards can find themselves in a dispiriting bind: Their current materials fall short, and there is a dearth of good new ones to fill the void.
鈥淭eachers are struggling, and very few people are helping. Almost nothing is available for them to use,鈥� said Aaron Grossman, a former 5th and 6th grade teacher in Nevada鈥檚 Washoe County district who now works at the district office writing curriculum.
Many school leaders are finding a rough road as well.
Greg Netzer, the principal of Van Horn High School in Independence, Mo., said he hasn鈥檛 heard much from his district about new curriculum. Teachers at his school have banded together to search for material to inform course development and meet weekly to discuss and share what they鈥檝e found.
鈥淭here seems to be very little out there, or it鈥檚 just not in places we can find it,鈥� Mr. Netzer said. 鈥淭o say we are prepared for common core would be a misconception.鈥�
Such frustrations are widespread. A report last fall by the Washington-based Center on 91制片厂视频 Policy found school districts divided about how much curriculum change was truly required and reluctant to move forward with common-standards implementation, in part because of inadequate guidance from their states. In an on the common standards last summer, the question most frequently asked by the 1,600 participants was where to find instructional resources for the new standards, which cover K-12 English/language arts and mathematics and have been adopted by all but four states.
Ironically, educators鈥� frustrations take shape during an unprecedented buzz of activity to build knowledge about the standards and prepare resources for them. States and districts are bringing educators together to discuss the fundamental shifts demanded by the standards, which were unveiled in 2010. Advocacy groups and architects of the standards are holding workshops and posting documents and videos on the Web to illustrate new ways of thinking about and teaching what many now call simply 鈥渢he core.鈥�
But those messages have yet to reach everyone, and the resources and discussions taking shape online can be tough to locate.
Not everyone supports the new standards, however. And some educators who don鈥檛 are quite content with the complications of the current landscape.
鈥淧eople at my school are looking for new stuff, but I just sit in those meetings and nod. I鈥檓 not getting involved,鈥� said a Colorado English/language arts teacher who asked that her name be withheld to avoid sparking the ire of her school鈥檚 leaders. 鈥淎s far as I鈥檓 concerned, it鈥檚 better if we just keep doing what we know works, instead of jumping at every new thing just because someone decides it should work.鈥�
Assembling Resources
The states that have adopted the standards鈥攁nd districts in those states鈥攈ave been responding to the need for knowledge and resources in a variety of ways. for the standards is drawing attention. Sample instructional units and other resources on New York state鈥檚 website have been widely used. Officials from the largest school districts have been meeting, through the Council of the Great City Schools, to help one another craft curricula.
Educators from across state lines are flocking to to help teachers evaluate the complexity of texts. Through 鈥渟ummer academies鈥� that convened teachers from across the state, the Kansas education department began to build a storehouse of model lesson plans and other resources forged by its own teachers.
鈥淲e wanted to carve out a space for teachers to say what they鈥檝e created or found useful,鈥� said Matt Copeland, an English/language arts and literacy consultant to the state education department. 鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful. But it can be a double-edged sword, because teachers can be overwhelmed with information.鈥�
Sharing news of its resources with a national organization of state English/language arts coordinators generated a 鈥渂uzz鈥� about the site, Mr. Copeland said, and Kansas watched other states pick up and build on its work. 鈥淲e saw what a great opportunity for state collaboration it was,鈥� he said.
Louisiana, one of the states that made use of Kansas鈥� text-complexity work, teamed up with Kansas last month for hosted by the Council of Chief State School Officers, which helped spearhead the common-core initiative with the National Governors Association. Within three weeks, it had been viewed by 2,200 people, according to the CCSSO.
Subject-matter groups have been creating resources for teachers. The , which has taken a neutral stance on the new standards, has issued a that guide teachers in lesson planning for the standards and highlight stories of how teachers thought through their own approaches. The organization has also hosted webinars and offers expert members as consultants to schools.
The NCTE has also joined with the , the two national teachers鈥� unions, and other groups to form a coalition that will provide policymakers and practitioners with the 鈥渋nformed, independent, and, when possible, collaborative perspectives鈥� of teachers on the transition to the new standards, said Barbara Cambridge, the director of the NCTE鈥檚 Washington office.
The major mathematics education groups formed the , which is building resources into its website, including guidance on choosing or writing math curricula and a series of explanatory videos featuring lead writers of the math standards.
The coalition鈥檚 website also includes widely used links to two other projects by architects of the math standards: the , which offers examples of tasks for each standard in each domain and grade level, and which describe how knowledge builds through the grades in each topic.
A Valuable Gap
Even as such resources can help educators shape curriculum, they can鈥檛 address the need some feel to have lesson plans available immediately, said Mike Shaughnessy, the president of the Reston, Va.-based National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, one of the Math Common Core Coalition members.
鈥淭eachers want something right away, but I say, 鈥楲ook, this is going to take some time. We have to stay the course.鈥� Lots of folks are working on this, and there will be some good things,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it will take some time.鈥�
The schism between demand and supply, however frustrating, is productive, said Michael D. Casserly, the executive director of the , a Washington group that represents the nation鈥檚 largest school districts.
鈥淭his period has value, even though it appears chaotic, because it forces people to get into the guts of the standards and what they mean,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he weight of the lift involved here is so substantial that it鈥檚 not realistic to think there are going to be extensive materials out there just yet.鈥�
Some of the most abundant and easiest-to-find resources for the common standards come from the major educational publishers.
, for instance, has produced supplements that teachers can use with their existing reading programs to meet the common standards, said Dan Caton, the division鈥檚 president. It is also writing new reading programs based on the standards, he said.
On the math side, McGraw-Hill has revised as Everyday Math and also published new ones based on the standards, such as the elementary-level My Math, Mr. Caton said. In addition, the company has created explanatory materials that are intended to 鈥渦npack and demystify鈥� the standards for teachers.
91制片厂视频 companies have been dogged by skepticism about how truly their materials embody the common standards, however. Many issued statements within a month or two of the standards鈥� final release, claiming their materials were 鈥渁ligned鈥� to or 鈥渃ompliant鈥� with the common core.
One teacher told 91制片厂视频 Week that the publisher of his district鈥檚 basal-reader program sent information to the district explaining how each lesson in the program reflected the standards. But when he and a colleague studied and compared them, the two concluded that 鈥渨hat we had on our hands was something entirely different, that it wasn鈥檛 just a matter of rejiggering things.鈥�
The teacher asked that he and the publisher not be named to avoid damaging his district鈥檚 relations with the publisher.
Mr. Caton said McGraw-Hill has been careful to make distinctions between materials that were created to bridge gaps between existing resources and the common core and those that were 鈥渂uilt from the ground up鈥� to reflect the standards.
Lead Writers Expand Role
The chief writers of the common standards are playing an expanding role, meanwhile, in building the storehouse of help for the standards. One, William McCallum, a University of Arizona math professor, is leading the Illustrative Mathematics Project and sharing its progress . Another math writer, Jason Zimba, is co-leading work on the draft progressions.
Mr. Zimba and two of the lead English/language arts standards writers, David Coleman and Susan Pimentel, launched a new website last month, , through the New York City-based nonprofit they founded, Student Achievement Partners, that will serve as a repository of sparingly chosen free resources. (鈥淕E Foundation Gives Grant For Common-Core Work,鈥� Feb. 8, 2012.)
Among the website鈥檚 starting stock of tools are guides to 鈥渃lose reading鈥� and creating text-dependent questions鈥攂oth key emphases in the new standards鈥攁nd a delineation of the core areas of math focus in each grade. Mr. Coleman said Student Achievement Partners will work with teachers across the country to develop and post additional resources.
The , too, has drafted a that it considers useful in the transition to the common standards.
It includes explanatory materials about the standards, such as guides for parents, implementation workbooks for state policymakers, and resources that bear directly on teaching, such as instructional tools being created by math and literacy 鈥渄esign collaboratives鈥� and tried in eight states, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (The Gates Foundation also helps underwrite coverage of business and innovation in 91制片厂视频 Week.)
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to share high-quality resources as widely as possible,鈥� said Chris Minnich, the interim director of the CCSSO鈥檚 standards, assessment, and accountability initiative. The organization won鈥檛 be crafting instructional materials, said Margaret Millar, who co-leads the group鈥檚 common-standards work, preferring instead to focus on being a convenor of state officials, teachers, principals鈥� groups, and professional-development groups for those purposes.
The two groups of states that are designing tests for the new standards are also working on instructional resources, but few are complete. The , or PARCC, has produced that could guide teachers and curriculum developers. It plans an online resource center that will hold an array of tools, such as model instructional units and released assessment tasks.
The other state test-design group, the , is working on its own version of a digital library, including written and videotaped instructional exemplars and training to help teachers understand and use formative-assessment techniques.
Later this year, the Council of the Great City Schools plans to release guides to help teachers 鈥渟caffold鈥� the standards for English-learners and use response-to-intervention techniques in teaching the standards, Mr. Casserly said.
Much of the push to produce common-core resources is鈥攁nd should be鈥攁bout changing teaching, said Barbara A. Kapinus, a senior policy analyst at the National 91制片厂视频 Association.
鈥淢any conversations about 鈥榗reating resources鈥� are really about professional development,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat we need is not a bunch of lesson plans online. It鈥檚 not a simple matter of step A, step B, then step C.
鈥淭eachers really have to monitor kids鈥� progress and understand the development of their thinking,鈥� Ms. Kapinus said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a complex array of skills, not just 鈥榝inding the main idea.鈥� Many teachers have not been teaching kids to do the things that these standards require, so they don鈥檛 know how. What we need is really responsive teaching, and support for that.鈥�
