Warren County Schools is getting ready for partial integration of Common Core Standards for the fall of 2012. This integration will require lots of training and a new way to approach curriculum and instruction by all of our teachers.   

We are pleased to have ground roots training in common core as Mr. Bobby Cox, our current Supervisor for K-12 Teaching and Learning, now serves on the State Common Core Council and 3 Warren County Math teachers have been named to the Common Core Coaching staff for the state Math trainings that will occur throughout the state in July. 

Mr. Cox has already been spending many weekends and week nights working toward common core implementation by the state by going through some rigorous training and by helping to establish the training and the process of moving to Common Core Standards state wide. His knowledge and experience in this project will help push Warren County to the forefront as we evolve from partial implementation to full implementation to Common Core Standards by 2014.      

Our Core Coaches are Ms. Mandy Blankenship, Mr. Tim Farris, and Ms. Tammy Byars. These 3 Warren County Educators submitted applications and went through a rigorous application and interview process in an effort to be named Math Core Coaches. This is a great honor for them, but more importantly, a great opportunity for all of our teachers and our students in Warren County to have these instructors trained in the strategies and techniques that are so very important in implementation of Common Core.  We will be tapping into their training and expertise in the summer and throughout the year as our teachers plan together for the success of our students. 

Mandy, Tim, and Tammy will receive additional training throughout the summer and the fall next year. The Institute for Learning, from Pittsburg University, has been secured to assist the core coaches in understanding some of the characteristics of a classroom that must be present if we are to be successful in application of these new standards. The new common core standards will require that students have a deep mastery of the content that can be applied not only to the discipline, but to real work situations as they will appear in the life of the student. 

This summer will be a very intense summer of training for all teachers in Warren County. 

I want to celebrate the efforts of our teachers as they face this new challenge. They will be preparing as they have never before done in an effort to make our students ready for college and careers. 

The focus of our 2012-2013 professional development for teachers will target implementation of the Math and Reading / Language Arts standards for K-8 with training for all content areas integrated into the local summer trainings. All K-8 teachers will receive 3 days of training this summer to understand the shift in standards and the rigor that will be imbedded into these new standards. Our high school teachers will begin their training with a single day of common core training this year that will allow them to see the curricular jumps that will be present as students enter high school in the next couple of years. High School EOC tests will not change next year, but will undergo some changes in 2014 when full implementation for all content areas and all grade levels is realized. Additional training will be forth coming for our high school teachers in summer 2013-2014. 

Our K-8 Math teachers will also attend a summer institute for 3 days developed by the state using these Common Core Coaches to specifically work on Common Core grade level focused Math standards with assessments that also match the new PARCC testing methodology.  (Partnership for Assessing Readiness for College and Careers). 

Common Core Training in Warren County this summer will be conducted by Smith Education Services. The C.E.O. of SES is Dr. Connie Smith formerly of the Tennessee State Department of Educations. Dr. Smith was one of the lead agents in developing and writing the Race to the Top application that brought millions for federal dollars to Tennessee for Education. Dr. Smith and her staff will introduce our teachers to the new way of thinking as we embrace Common Core standards and will allow teachers to see the progression of work that will be necessary as we add rigor and relevance to education in Tennessee and Warren County. 

It is a great challenge for our teachers - but our community and our students deserve no less! 

Helpful Resources for Common Core

The standards documents and general FAQs: http://www.corestandards.org/

Resources for implementing standards http://www.achieve.org/standards-0

Assessment information from PARCC consortium: http://www.parcconline.org/

Site created by David Coleman and Jason Zimba, co-authors of the standards http://www.achievethecore.org/

Grade by Grade parent guides: http://www.pta.org/4446.htm

Common Core video series: http://engageny.org/resource/common-core-video-series/and http://vimeo.com/album/1702025/page:3

Common Core Articles and resources: http://math.berkeley.edu/~wu/ 

Math

Blog on math tools by Bill McCallum, lead author of math standards: http://commoncoresools.me/

Visual Organization of the standards by Bill McCallum http://illustrativemathematics.org/

TNCoreSpecific

Common Core Crosswalks http://www.tncurriculumcenter.org/common_core

ITunes videos http://www.tnelc.org

 

Warren County School System does not discriminate on the base of race, sex, color, age, religion, national origin, handicap, or veteran status in educational opportunities, programs, activities, and opportunities for employment and benefits. Student and Employee Rights, grievance procedures and forms can be found in the Warren County Board of Education Policy Manual, posted in the schools or at the Central Office.

E l Sistema de Escuelas del Condado de Warren, no discrimina en base a raza, sexo, color, edad, religion, origen natal, impedimento o condicion de veterano en la medida de oportunidades educacionales, programas, activitidades, oportunidades de empleo y beneficios.

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