December+2014

**December 4**
Higher level thinking is a critical component of the PARCC Assessment. Below is an article taken from “Educational Strategy of the Week/Edivation” =The Importance of Teaching //For//, //Of//, and //About// Thinking =

In his new //Growing Thinking Students in Thinking Schools // LumiBook (cloud book), David Hyerle offers a brief analysis of the last 100 years of research on thinking, from early psychological testing based on IQ to the 1950s behaviorist views to constructivism and the “thinking skills” movement of the 1980s. This “thinking skills” movement, which included Howard Gardner’s challenge of the constraining definition that bound thinking to an intelligence quotient, was introduced into classrooms by education leaders including Dr. Art Costa and Dr. Ron Brandt to help bring about a change in educational practice by emphasizing the idea of teaching //for //, //of //, and //about // thinking in every classroom. These cogent, practical approaches to thinking align with and support the Thinking Schools model, and are well worth a closer look. With this approach, teachers and administrators create a positive environment that promotes the development of students’ thinking and includes a variety of perspectives, such as consistent problem-posing by teachers which facilitates creative thinking, being open to a range of student ideas and learning styles, and teaching content. While Teaching //for // Thinking is based on the teacher using strategies that create a rich environment for improving thinking, Teaching //of // Thinking is based on teachers directly instructing students in skills and macro-strategies for thinking, as well as dispositions or habits of mind. These include cognitive skills, steps in problem-posing and solving, and reflective thinking. The desired outcome is that students will consciously apply and transfer thinking processes across content areas. Teaching //about // Thinking focuses on supporting students as they become more conscious of their own thinking processes and providing background knowledge about how the human brain functions as the seat of learning. This approach steps back and allows students to see a broader view of thinking as it occurs in everyone, including how the human brain functions, how they think as individuals, and how knowledge is constructed.
 * 1. Teaching **//**for **//**<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Thinking **<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">. This can be summarized as creating an environment in the classroom for student thinking to improve, including teaching strategies that foster different types of thinking.
 * <span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">2. Teaching **//**<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">of **//**<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Thinking **<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">. With this approach, teachers instruct students in the skills and strategies of thinking directly and/or implementing thinking programs.
 * <span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">3. Teaching **//**<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">about **//**<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Thinking **<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">. In this approach, teachers help students become aware of their own and others’ thinking processes for use in real-life situations and problem solving.
 * <span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The result: getting students to think about thinking **

<span style="font-family: Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> As students enter the upper elementary level, they will likely become more interested in what is going on in their heads. All three of these approaches, as identified by Costa and Brandt, work to get students thinking about thinking, especially as they are mastering several models of thinking for daily learning, and form a common sense way of framing avenues for classroom practice. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">This link will take you to the online practice site. [|http://practice.parcc.testnav.com/#]

=December 11=
 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">Updates Based On Last Year’s Field Test **

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">The vast majority of items were approved through this rigorous review process. Approximately 89 percent of mathematics items and 78 percent of ELA/L text sets were approved. This cycle of field testing and data review is standard for all assessment systems, and the approval rates are typical for test items.

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">These items and text sets will be added to the PARCC item bank, which is the pool of items eligible to be used in the PARCC assessments.

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">The ELA/L PBA consists of three tasks: literary analysis, research simulation, and narrative writing. For each task, students are asked to read or view one or more texts, answer several short comprehension and vocabulary questions, and write an essay that requires them to draw evidence from the text(s). The PARCC assessments use both printed and multimedia texts. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">The ELA/L EOY assessment consists of two to four literary and informational texts — including social science/ historical, scientific, and technical texts at grades 6–11. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">Each text has five to six short comprehension and vocabulary questions associated with it. A text and its associated questions are called a “text set.”
 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">2014-2015 Assessment **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS/LITERACY **

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">The mathematics PBA has tasks that assess whether students can apply math in real-world situations and reason about math concepts. Some of the tasks ask students to explain how they solved a problem or show their work. Other tasks on the PBA assess conceptual understanding, skills, and applications using multiple-choice and technology-enhanced items. The mathematics EOY assessment consists only of tasks which assess a balance of conceptual understanding, brief applications, and skills and procedures. The EOY assessment tasks are all multiple choice and technology enhanced items and can be scored using technology.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">MATHEMATICS **

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">This link will take you to the online practice site. [|http://practice.parcc.testnav.com/#]

December 18

 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">December Update from the PARCC Website **

<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For teachers and students getting ready for the PARCC tests (and parents who may be interested), there are many resources available, [|including practice tests, student tutorials, test coordinator and test administrator manuals, and online training modules]. Additional [|educator resources] are available on the PARCC website.

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif;">This link will take you to the online practice site. [|http://practice.parcc.testnav.com/#]