Many school leaders and teachers in Ohio are facing the full implementation across all grade levels for the Common Core Curriculum in Ohio - English Language Arts and Literacy next year and in Mathematics the following year. So, how have schools prepared and what are they doing to make the transition work?
As an authorizer of charter schools in diverse communities across Ohio, we want to hear from our school leaders – to inform and educate us on what is happening in their schools and in their classrooms in regard to the Common Core and PARCC assessments. Over the next several weeks, we will be reporting back on the following questions:
1. What's your biggest worry?
2. What do you need to put in place before this all starts?
3. Do you have all the technology needed for testing?
4. What skills do your teachers have that will make this easier?
5. What could ODE do to make sure things go as smoothly as possible?
6. What do you want your parents to know about CC?
We will be posing these questions to the following leaders in Fordham’s portfolio of sponsored schools:
1. Foresta Shope, principal of Sciotoville Elementary Academy
2. Dustin Wood, principal of KIPP:Journey Academy
3. Dr. TJ Wallace, Executive Director of Dayton Leadership Academies
4. Dr. Glenda Brown, superintendent of the Phoenix Community Learning Center
5. Chad Webb, head of school Village Preparatory Academy
6. John Dues, School Director of Columbus Collegiate Academy Main Street Campus
What do we think we might hear?
1. Biggest worry - Not having complete resources across all grade levels.
2. What needs to be put in place before this starts - Matching assessments to interventions.
3. Do you have all the technology needed for testing – No, and we’ll need help to get there.
4. What skills do your teachers have to make it easier – Content knowledge and how to use data analysis.
5. What can ODE do – Provide regional support to assist with training and having answers to questions; from professional development to what interventions work best.
6. What do you want parents to know - It will not make school more difficult for their child(ren).
These are 6 different schools in some very different communities -we’ll see what they have in common.
