VTS: Blog Topic #7

BLOG TOPIC #7: Common Core Survey

·      Describe your experience with the Common Core State Standards to date.

o   What do you know about the CCSS?

o   What is the source of this knowledge?

o   How is your school/district disseminating information about the CCSS?

In my position as a curriculum content leader I have been exposed to a lot of training sessions dealing with CCSS. Our district Literacy Coordinator and Director of Student Learning have conducted numerous workshops, we have brought in Susan Gendron from the SMARTER Balance Assessment Consortium, and assembled a CCSS task force to develop a plan for rolling out the CCSS to our district. Currently we are training Content Area Literacy Leaders (in Electives, Soc. St., and Sci. - the areas not directly labeled as standards but also affected by CCSS) I am somewhat familiar with the Math standards and ELA (reading, writing, speaking & listening, & language) standards, including Literacy in History, Science, and Technical Subjects.  

·      Discuss your attitude(s) towards the Common Core State Standards.

o   With regard to education in general?

o   With regard to art education specifically?

I am a big believer that CCSS will be affecting not just the areas that the standards are explicitly written for (ELA & Math), but that every teacher will be responsible for educating children in ways that will meet their needs as 21st century citizens and will enhance their skills in ways to make them more college and career ready. The Next Generation Assessments are more performance based, cross curricular, and in my opinion, more relevant to students' lives than our previous standardized tests. 

In regards to art education specifically, the Common Core Standards emphasizes literacy. Visual Literacy is an important part of a 21st century learner's college and career readiness skills. I also see a lot of overlay with the Math Skills as well if the skills are thought of in terms of the production of art. Many of the performance skills, such as "Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them" also apply to the discipline of art. 

·      Do you see a place for VTS in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards?

o   If so, briefly describe.

o   If not, why do you believe it doesn’t fit?

I absolutely see VTS playing what could be a major role in CCSS. Like Dr. Unrath says, if you replace the word 'text' with 'visual text' and think of the literacy standards in terms of the application of VTS they are completely transferable.