Common Core State Standards

California has adopted the Common Core State Standards in K-12 Mathematics and K-12 English Language Arts released by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. With the adoption of these state-led education standards, California is in the first group of states to embrace clear goals for learning to prepare children for success in college and work.  The Common Core standards are more rigorous than the previous California state standards. 

 

• The full California Common Core standards can be viewed at:  http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/index.asp 

• LGUSD Math Pathways - Middle School Mathematics Progression

 

The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent statement for teachers, students, and parents about what a child should know and be able to do at the end of each grade level. The CCSS standards were designed to encourage the highest achievement of every student, by defining the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level. The standards are clear goals for students learning that build throughout grades K-12.   This clarity allows teachers and parents to align instruction and support that is focused on what the students need to know. 

 

The teachers and administrators in Los Gatos Union School District have been preparing for Common Core instructional implementation since their inception in California in 2010.   The staff remains committed to implementing a successful transition from our current state standards to the new Common Core Standards and assessments by:

• Building a strong understanding of the new standards, 21^st Century Learning Skills, assessment development, Capacities of the Literate Individual and the Standards for Mathematical Practices
• Supporting teachers with on-going professional development
• Creating a culture to support the Professional Learning Community across the district with Teacher Leaders at every school site who are experts with Common Core and who share in the responsibility to support their colleagues with a successful transition
• Providing informational evenings for parents, as well as attending county and district professional development sessions, the Teacher Leaders along with the grade level teams/departments have attended extensive professional development provided by Learning Systems Associates in curriculum mapping and aligning instruction to the Common Core Standards.  This work currently continues as teachers align assessments to the Common Core Standards.  We are excited about the potential to provide curriculum that allows students to delve deeper into conceptual understanding in a robust and challenging way.