Business Resources for a
College- and CareerReady America
MAKE THE CASE: Supporting a College- and Career-Ready America
MAKING THE CASE
Supporting a College- and Career-Ready America The facts are simple: • Not enough students graduate from high school. • Those who do are unprepared for college and the workforce. • Students aren’t gaining the critical thinking, communications, and problemsolving skills they need to succeed in the real world. 3
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MAKING THE CASE
Supporting a College- and Career-Ready America These challenges impact U.S. businesses’ ability to find qualified talent in an increasingly competitive global economy.
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RESOURCES FOR A COLLEGE- AND CAREER READY AMERICA
MAKING THE CASE
Supporting a College- and Career-Ready America Nearly every state is building a better and stronger academic foundation to prepare all students for college, careers, and life.
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New college- and career-ready (CCR) standards raise expectations for all students and provide the academic foundation on which successful science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education should be built.
MAKE THE CASE: Supporting a STEM Pipeline
MAKING THE CASE
Supporting the STEM Pipeline Companies are competing with each other for a limited number of students graduating in STEM fields.
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RESOURCES FOR A COLLEGE- AND CAREER READY AMERICA
We must secure our nation’s future by supporting high-quality STEM education to prepare a skilled workforce and strengthen U.S. competitiveness.
MAKING THE CASE
Supporting the STEM Pipeline
Promoting STEM education — anchored in college- and career-ready standards — nurtures a skilled workforce, widens the pool of desired job applicants, and strengthens U.S. competitiveness.
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1
http://www.bhef.com/publications/documents/BHEF_Research_Brief-STEM_Interest_and_Proficiency.pdf
2
http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/documents/stemfinalyjuly14_1.pdf
MAKING THE CASE
Supporting the STEM Pipeline • Academic standards provide the necessary foundation upon which the rest of the system can be built. • These new standards – the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards – encourage students to apply their knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems starting in the early grades to engage students at all levels.
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• Implementing science standards will help build a more robust STEM pipeline by preparing more high school graduates for the rigors of sciencebased college courses and careers.
MAKE THE CASE: Keeping Our International Advantage
MAKING THE CASE
Keeping Our International Advantage
Our education system simply has not been keeping up with mounting competition from developed and developing countries. U.S. educational achievement rates are staying flat.
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MAKING THE CASE
Keeping Our International Advantage
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Our education system can’t compete internationally unless we set the right expectations and goals for them. Standards, such as the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards, provide the necessary foundation.
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1
National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2012, Table 2-33. www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c0/appendix.htm#c4
IN DEPTH: College- and Career-Ready Standards in Mathematics and English/Literacy
IN DEPTH
What Are “Standards”? Standards are the “what”: • They define the desired outcomes of instruction in English Language Arts/Literacy, Mathematics and Science.
Curriculum provides the “how”: • States, districts, schools and teachers determine the instructional approaches and materials to teach the standards.
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IN DEPTH
College- and Career-Ready Standards: Mathematics and English Literacy Academic standards set the foundation for our schools. While state standards historically have been inconsistent and unfocused — and not anchored in real-world expectations — 46 states and Washington, D.C., have taken a step forward by adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for mathematics and English literacy.
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IN DEPTH
College- and Career-Ready Standards: Key Advances in Mathematics • Standards for Mathematical Practice, or mathematical “habits of mind,” that foster reasoning, problem solving, perseverance, decision making, and engagement among students. • A sharper focus on key topics in each grade to allow educators and students to go deeper into the content, and students to better understand concepts and tackle more complex content as they progress.
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• An emphasis on mathematical modeling — the use of mathematics and statistics to analyze economic, social, and everyday situations and make informed decisions.
IN DEPTH
College- and Career-Ready Standards: Key Advances in English/Literacy • A balance between literature and informational texts to reflect reading demanded on the job and in college. • Speaking and listening expectations, applied through presentations and group work. • An emphasis on explanatory writing, including writing from sources and using evidence.
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• Literacy standards for science, history, and technical subjects to enable students to read and write in a wider range of contexts.
IN DEPTH
College- and Career-Ready Standards: Mathematics and English Literacy • To ensure that all students have greater opportunities and access to the careers of their choice, we need a K-12 education system that imparts the knowledge and skills most valued by employers and higher education. • While standards alone are no silver bullet, they provide the necessary foundation upon which the rest of the system should be built.
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• The Common Core State Standards aim to help all students graduate from high school with the core academic skills and knowledge needed to excel in the workplace.
IN DEPTH: Assessing Common Core State Standards
MAKING THE CASE
How Will Students Be Assessed on the Common Core State Standards? • The new assessments are being developed by two state-led consortia: • Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) • Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)
• The new computer-based assessments aligned to the Standards will be first administered in fall 2014 for grades 3-8 and in high school.
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MAKING THE CASE
Two State Consortia Developing Assessments for Common Core State Standards: PARCC & SBAC
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Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)
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Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)
IN DEPTH: College- and Career-Ready Standards in Next Generation Science
IN DEPTH
College- and Career-Ready Standards: Next Generation Science Academic standards set the foundation for our schools. While state science standards historically have been inconsistent and unfocused— and not anchored in real-world expectations — 26 states took a step forward by developing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
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IN DEPTH
College- and Career-Ready Standards: Next Generation Science • The integration of rigorous content and application to reflect how science is practiced in the real world — and on-the-job in STEM occupations. • A focus on a few disciplinary core ideas to ensure coherence within and across grades. • A clear set of expectations for how scientific knowledge and engineering applications intersect across the disciplines. 24 BUSINESS
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IN DEPTH
College- and Career-Ready Standards: Next Generation Science • We need new science standards that stimulate and build interest in STEM education. • While standards alone are no silver bullet, they provide the necessary foundation upon which the rest of the science (and STEM) education system can be built.
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• The NGSS aim to help all students graduate from high school with the scientific skills and knowledge needed to excel in the workplace, in turn, leading to more STEM-ready employees at all levels.
TAKE ACTION
How Can I Support My Child’s Learning? • Refer to the PTA parent guides on the CCSS: http:// pta.org/parents/content.cfm?ItemNumber=2910 • Learn more about the NGSS: http://www.nextgenscience.org/ • Talk with your child and ask questions about what he/she is learning • Actively communicate with your child’s teachers about how he/she is integrating the new Standards into the classroom
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• Be patient: the new standards are more rigorous and will introduce a new way of teaching, meaning the assessment results will reflect higher expectations
TAKE ACTION
How Can My Company Support CCSS? • There are numerous ways to strategically and effectively support the Common Core State Standards implementation and sustainability. • First and foremost, your company can be an advocate for the new standards and related reforms, by:
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Getting informed on the issues,
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Making the connection between the reforms and your workforce needs,
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Engaging your leadership,
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Engaging your employees,
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Engaging policymakers, or
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Engaging your business coalition.
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