Opening the Common Core
How to Bring ALL Students to College and Career Readiness

First Edition

Carol Corbett Burris - Rockville Centre School District, NY
Delia T. Garrity - Educational Consultant, Texas

Other Titles in:
Teaching At-Risk Students | Teaching Methods & Learning Styles | Teaching Strategies for Diverse Students

May 2012 | 192 pages | Corwin

The Common Core opens the door to successDo you wish you could leverage the Common Core State Standards to equip all studentsùnot just high achieversùwith the higher level thinking skills they need? You can, and this book will show you how. The authors helped lead their districtùRockville Centre, in Long Island, New Yorkùin closing achievement gaps and increasing the number of students who completed four-year college programs. The results of their efforts show a remarkable increase in both excellence and equity in English language arts, math, and science. This book outlines the authors' research-based ACES framework for instructional improvement: Acceleration rather than remediationCritical thinking Equity in education for all studentsSupportEducators will find practical strategies that are applied and developed in model lessons linked to the CCSS and KSUS (Knowledge and Skills for University Success) standards. Understanding why we need to prepare all children to be college and career ready is easy. Making it happen is not. Learn from those who have succeeded, and your students will reap the rewards.

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Foreword

Introduction

1. Becoming College and Career Ready

2. Accelerated Instruction for All Learners—the A in ACES

3. Critical Thinking Skills: the C in ACES

4. Equity-The E in ACES

5. Support – The S in ACES

6. Using ACES to Build Learning

References

Resource A

Index

"This book is perfectly timed for the release and implementation of the Common Core State Standards. This is exactly what a school needs to use the implementation of the CCSS as an opportunity to change its moral imperative to include a mission to prepare all students for post-secondary education."

Michael Horton, AVID Administrator

Riverside County Office of Education, CA

“The authors equip school and district leaders with a practical, research-based approach to providing an engaging, equitable learning experience for all students.”

Jeff Ronneberg, Superintendent

Spring Lake Park Schools, Minneapolis, MN

“Burris and Garrity use a combination of academic acceleration, equity results, critical thinking, and teacher support to paint a concrete picture of what it takes to get results. They provide both the framework and specifics to create a rich curriculum and instructional strategies that engage all students. The message of combining the CCSS with the recognition and enlistment of teacher talent and ideas is infectious. Engaging and persuasively written.”

Henry M. Levin, Founder of the Accelerated Schools Project

Teachers College, Columbia University

“The authors helped move their district toward national recognition for outstanding teaching and learning founded upon the development of teachers as knowledgeable, trusted professionals. Their book gives teachers and school leaders practical, useful tools grounded in experience and research—tools that help provide all students with excellent and challenging learning experiences that are deep, meaningful, preparatory and not driven by testing.”

Kevin G. Welner, Director, National Education Policy Center

University of Colorado, Boulder, School of Education

“At a time when testing pressures are narrowing the curriculum in too many schools, Burris and Garrity show readers how students can be led to college readiness through sound instructional practices that recognize research and honor good teaching. This book provides teachers and school leaders with clear examples of strategies and lessons that recognize that equitable access to rich learning experiences for all students is critical as we strive for excellence.”

Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and Founding Director

Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, Stanford University