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    Technology in Common Core State Standards

    May 30, 2013

    EDET 780

    Group Research Project

    Abigail Magaro

    Koshon Mitchell

    Susan Moore

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    TOPIC

    The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are academic standards that school

    systems across the United States are adopting in order to better prepare students

    for our current progressive, competitive society. As of 2010, CCSS have developed

    standards for mathematics and English language arts. The Standards in both contentareas focus on common themes, such as coherence and collaboration. In addition,

    the CCSS will require a deeper, thorough, and rigorous understanding of limited

    skill sets, or broad topics, instead of scraping the surface of numerous smaller

    topics. These skill sets are then re-examined and the content is built upon, creating

    progressive, ladder-like building blocks that continually investigate topics.

    CCSS was created to join all 50 states in a functional unit of instructional standards

    to unify the content and skills that are taught throughout the country. Before the

    creation of the CCSS, each state followed their own set of standards, which meant

    that requirements varied for each grade across the nation. CCSS was also developed

    to better appease the federal mandate of No Child Left Behind, and to correct themisalignment between the standards and college and career requirements... With

    the unified adoption of the CCSS, the state standards are no longer dysfunctional,

    and the performance of students in Maine will be able to be accurately analyzed in

    comparison with the performance of students in Oregon.

    The standards of CCSS were developed after careful and extensive research of other

    high-achieving countries and with the expertise of educational leaders (Parks,

    2013). These standards have an interesting background, as they were designed

    backwards experts decided on the content and skills that students should have

    acquired upon graduation, and then worked backwards grade level by grade level to

    determine how the content and skills are learned and developed along the way.

    All in all, the CCSS strive to properly ready students for college, workforce training,

    and life in a technological society. The CCSS will meet these goals by engaging

    students in learning and practicing comprehension, evaluation, synthesis, and

    research. Woven throughout the standards is the mention of technology. In fact,

    according to Amber Parks article in The Learning Project, it is imperative educators

    teach students how to effectively utilize technology, from typing to evaluating the

    accuracy of web content. This command reflects todays society: if the CCSS seeks

    to prepare students to be global citizens, these new standards must prepare

    students not only to become familiar with, but how to utilize technology in almost

    every aspect.

    Technology is currently utilized today for much more than simple desk jobs.

    Today, citizens depend on technology for communication, collaboration, creativity,

    and critical thinking. Technology has made it possible for someone in Oklahoma to

    communicate and see someone in China, almost instantly. Tasks are now done on a

    simple hand-held cell phone that once took an entire building and days at a time to

    complete. Children are no longer playing board games, but virtual simulation games

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    on mobile tablets. Technology is constantly evolving on a daily basis, and the CCSS

    desires to mold successful students that will not only keep up in this society, but aid

    in the continued advancement.

    LITERATURE REVIEW

    Plenty of research has been conducted and numerous articles and essays have been

    written in response to the dynamic rise in technology in society, along with the role

    it is beginning to play, or should play, in education. It is clear that as our

    environment is changing, so should our educational system in order to remain up-

    to-date. However, search results narrow immensely when searching for the topic of

    technology and CCSS. This is strange as technology should be a vital portion of CCSS,

    and should be intertwined in the classroom on a regular basis. The following

    literature examines technology in CCSS, as well as Common Core mathematics and

    the relation between and technology in general, to accurately reflect the research

    problem and questions that follow.

    Tucker (2012) discusses technology in CCSS as the key to collaboration. He claims

    that collaboration, in turn, is an essential skill to success beyond high school.

    According to Tucker, the Common Core Standards require students to "use

    technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact

    and collaborate with others." In addition to collaborating online, students must

    "prepare for and participate effectively in a range of [real-time] conversations and

    collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their

    own clearly and persuasively." While this might relate directly to English language

    arts, one could very easily find the correlation between collaboration and

    mathematics, as students should build on others ideas and express their own inmany mathematical situations. Collaboration means that students are actively

    involved in their own learning process, which is a key principle of the Common Core

    Initiative. The article continues to list examples of specific programs that teachers

    and students may utilize in class to aid in their collaboration.

    Ohler (2013) criticizes the CCSS due to their lack of certain competencies and

    understandings that are tied to creativity and technology. Ohler recognizes the

    importance of technology in the CCSS, but does not believe that the Initiative was

    successful in incorporating four of the most important skills and principles: artistic

    skill, new media grammar, the interrelatedness between creativity and critical

    thinking, and the instruction, encouragement, and opportunities of students to valueinnovation. Students should be encouraged to use critical thinking (blending

    creativity and critical thinking), and should learn to be problem solvers as well as

    problem finders. He recognizes that creativity has a much different definition today

    than it did in the past, and now involves creating something new that demonstrates

    some kind of media. The challenges faced by 21stcentury students could lead to the

    finding of extraordinary solutions that will better society as a whole, and Ohler

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    concludes that these solutions will only be produced through the use of creative

    ideas.

    Killion (2013) identifies a few basic yet vital characteristics that technology must

    possess in order to lead to success. He states in his article his belief that technology

    creates opportunities for more professional, focused learning, which is the keyingredient to CCSS. Technology should be utilized to address issues of

    personalization, collaboration, access, and efficiency. Technology-based learning

    should include practice, feedback, and support to develop and deepen learning.

    Technology definitely has the potential to increase the productiveness of CCSS and

    prepare students for the global economy by making learning personal, easy to

    access, and effective.

    Cosmah and Saine state in their article Targeting digital technologies in common

    core standards that many teachers are giving their students pieces of technology

    but not really implementing it into their lessons. A student who uses a laptop in the

    classroom to complete an assignment is not an example of a teacher implementingtechnology. That article states without receiving proper training of technology

    integration and support, teachers are left to learn by trial and error in a time where

    accountability is at the forefront of determining success. This is something that we

    have been looking at for a long time now. Teachers who know how to use

    technology in their lessons and are comfortable in doing so will use the technology

    they are given. Technology cannot be cast upon teachers with the expectation that

    teachers will have the time to learn how to use it on their own time while also

    preparing lessons for their classes. If a district is going to make the investment

    towards technologies in the classroom, the investment in teachers education in

    technology is necessary.

    Mathis states in The Common Core Standards Initiative that For career-ready,

    the requirements for a pipe-fitter are not the same as for a salesperson or anaccountant. Thus, while college- or career-ready standards are touted as high

    standards, in reality, the skill levels within this open-ended phrase are very diverse.

    While teachers can implement as much technology into their lesson as they can, the

    fact still remains that some students will not necessarily need that knowledge for

    their future careers. I think that it is also part of the teachers jobs to encourage

    students to dream bigger with the hopes that with this new knowledge of 21st

    century technology, they will pursue active careers that require the use of this

    technology.

    The Common Core Standards are becoming the national academic standards for K-

    12 schools in the United States and have now been adopted by 45 states. This makes

    them the pre-eminent source of what is being taught in the vast majority of public

    schools in America. Since theyre only available for English-Language Arts and Math,

    its difficult to get a full picture for how they will impact public education. Schools

    across the globe are disrupting the traditional educational model through the

    incorporation of technology into instruction.

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    With common core standards becoming the future of teaching, the integration of

    technology is becoming more prevalent. Teachers need to be prepared with the

    new technologies that states will be putting into their schools. Hew and Brush

    states that lack of specific technology knowledge and skills is one of the common

    reasons given by teachers for not using technology. If teachers lack the necessary

    skills needed to use these technologies, they will not use them and our students willbe at a loss.

    RESEARCH PROBLEM

    The CCSS claim to want to develop global citizens and prepare them for future

    success in college and career, yet there is limited inclusion of technology, which

    seems to be one of the more prominent skills of a global citizen. In specific, math is

    easily overlooked when adding technology into curriculum. In order to prepare ourstudents effectively for success in school as well as success in society, we must find a

    way to include the teaching and utilization of technology in the mathematics

    standards of CCSS.

    Research QuestionsStating the Research Questions (discuss each) (Koshon)1. Will technology in CCSS promote creativity in mathematics?2. Does technology allow for more self-motivation in mathematics?3. Will the use of technology increase learning for students who already have

    self-motivation and a desire for future learning?

    4. Is the use of technology in the mathematics classroom preparing our youthfor the mathematics field?

    RESEARCH DESIGN (Koshon)

    METHODS

    Setting

    Our research will be conducted in a high school setting using chronically low

    performing students to assess the impact of technology on their End of Course Test

    Scores. The data will be collected from 200 students enrolled in Math II, Accelerated

    Math II or Math II support at TW Josey High School divided into twelve classroomsat the 10th grade level in a predominantly low income school (98% free or reduced

    lunch). The school is entering its second year of implementation of their school

    improvement plan. Recent funding has allowed the school to be wealthy in

    technology, but lack training by some staff members due to high teacher turnover.

    Classrooms and labs have promethean boards, active vote devices, active

    expressions and math classes are equipped with TI-nspire Calculators. The school

    has 6 computer labs with 4 designated for math first. The media center has 4

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    portable laptop labs that can be checked out and the entire school has Wi-Fi access.

    The student population is 98% African-American, 1% Hispanic, 1% White/Other.

    Participants

    The participants in this are not only the students in the mathematics classes, but

    also the teachers. All of the students enrolled in the support classes have not metstandards on their Math 1 EOCT but received 70% or above in the course. The

    participants in this group will include 4 math teachers and their students (n=160). Two ofthe teachers are in their first year and one is in a program for alternative certification, the

    other two teachers have been in education for more than 5 years. Not included in our

    control or experimental group are students from a neighboring school that have receivedthe same funding but decided to direct their resources on professional development and

    not as much on technology, data will be compared to theirs for additional assessment of

    effectiveness. It is important to understand the students opinions and views of using

    technology specifically in a mathematics classroom. The teachers beliefs in

    technology being used in their mathematics classrooms are also an important part

    of this research. The technological experience is an important aspect of the studythat the researchers need to know.

    Design

    Prior to taking the exam the students in our control group will complete tasks using

    the Carnegie learning software created by Carnegie Learning collaboratively with

    the Department of Education. Standards addressed in the software are aligned with

    standards addressed on the EOCT. The research will be conducted over a 33 week

    period beginning at the start of the school year and ending after the exam. Student

    skill mastery and participation will be tracked throughout in order to align or

    hypothesize additional correlations between technology usage, mastery and

    performance outcomes on their EOCT. In order to eliminate bias and increase thevalidity of our research all the factors that play a role in the effectiveness of any

    technology, this study will include both qualitative and quantitative methods to

    obtain data. Before beginning the research study, the teacher and student

    participants will be administered a survey. The teachers survey will determine (1)

    Does technology in the lesson increase your students creativity, (2) Does using

    technology increase your students motivation, (3) Is the technology being used

    preparing your students for their future careers, (4) Is the technology being used

    preparing your students for their future careers, and (5) Would you be interested in

    workshops devoted to implementing technology in a mathematics classroom? The

    students survey will determine their perceptions of technology in the

    classroom. The surveys ask students (1) Does your instructor use technology inyour mathematics classroom, and (2) If technology is being used, do you feel it is a

    vital part of the lesson? The research will be conducted over a 33 week period

    beginning at the start of the school year and ending after the exam. Student skill

    mastery and participation will be tracked throughout in order to align or

    hypothesize additional correlations between technology usage, mastery and

    performance outcomes on their EOCT. The software allows teachers adjust the

    placement of students and create customized lessons to accommodate students that

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    may require additional examples or in some instances they may demonstrate

    mastery of particular standards. Students will have access to utilize the software

    away from school because it is an online module. We decided to include an

    additional variable to manipulate the impact of the software usage. All students will

    be considered a novice, but 1 of the teachers using the software has received 8hrs of

    professional development on utilizing the software including data tracking, studentplacement and customizing lessons to include or exclude examples as needed.

    Student Survey

    Question Answer Choices

    Does your instructor use technology in

    your mathematics classroom?

    a) Yes, everydayb) Yes, a few times a monthc) Not at alld) Not applicable

    If technology is being used, do you feel itis a vital part of the lesson?

    a) Yes, without it the lesson couldnot go on

    b) No, the instructor would be finewithout it

    c) Not ApplicableDoes the technology enhance your

    learning experience?

    a) Yes, I am learning more becauseof the technology

    b) Yes, although I would not bestruggling without it

    c) No, I would succeed just the samed) Not Applicable

    How motivated are you to learnmathematics?

    a) Very motivatedb) Somewhat motivatedc) Not motivated at all

    Does using technology increase your

    self-motivation?

    a) Yes, absolutelyb) Yes, somewhatc) Not at all

    Do you feel as though you will use the

    information learned in your

    mathematics class in the future?

    a) Yes, for my careerb) Yes, for college classesc) No, I will never use this

    information

    Do you feel comfortable using

    technology?

    a) Yes, very comfortableb) Yes, somewhat comfortablec) No, not comfortable at all

    Teacher Survey

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    Question Answer Choices

    Does technology in the lesson increase

    your students creativity?

    a) Yes, very muchb) Yes, somewhatc) Not at all

    Does using technology increase your

    students motivation?

    a) Yes, very muchb) Yes, somewhatc) Not at all

    Is the technology being used preparing

    your students for their future careers?

    a) Yes, very muchb) Yes, somewhatc) Not at all

    Is the technology being used preparing

    your students for their future careers?

    a) Yes, very comfortableb) Yes, but I would like more

    practice

    c) No, but I would like to learn mored) No, I am doing just fine

    Would you be interested in workshops

    devoted to implementing technology in amathematics classroom?

    a) Yesb) No

    DATA ANALYSIS

    Once the survey, observation and test data are collected, the data will be put into

    charts so it can analyzed systematically using a one-way analysis of variance to

    determine the effectiveness of the technology: The data will determine whether

    technology is being implemented on a regular basis in a mathematics classroom.

    The data will also let researchers know how the technology is affecting learning and

    if it is a beneficial tool based on the results of the survey.

    1) Types of instructional strategies used with students and degree of frequencyoutside of the lab setting.

    2) Professional development opportunities provided to teachers and number of

    hours of professional development.

    3) Student perceptions of the e-learning environment and perceptions of their own

    performance.

    4) Formative assessment data from EOCT scores noting progress from both groups

    of students.

    10th Graders Using E-

    learning Software

    10th Graders not using E-

    learning Software

    EOCT Math scores Before

    EOCT Math Scores After

    (Same Standards)

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    From the data analysis, it should be easy to determine if seminars and workshops

    should be put in place so that teachers know a) how to use the technologies they are

    given and b) how to incorporate these technologies into their lesson plans.

    After the workshops and seminars and the teachers have had some time toimplement the new technologies, the students and teachers will be given the survey

    again. The data from the previous survey and the new survey will be compared to

    one another to determine if educating teachers in technology promotes the

    implementation of technology in the classroom.

    CONCLUSION

    The results of this study will help inform educators and assist in the creation of the

    most effective curriculum and related lesson plans. Technology is a main aspect of

    our entire society, and we must find a way to educate our students accordingly.Technology must be used as a vital supplement to the Common Core State Standards

    in order to properly prepare our students for any college path or career available.

    The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of

    what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need

    to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real

    world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in

    college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our

    communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

    This topic yields a variety of options for further research. For one, different levels of

    education could be investigated, such as technology in the primary and elementarysetting. In addition, a variety of subjects could also be explored, such as CCSS English

    language arts. One could even choose to research a more specific aspect of math,

    such as accelerated math or even math geared towards students with special needs

    and abilities. Examples of the way technology can disrupt the traditional educational

    model can be seen in tools like I-Books and I-Tunes-U. With I-Books, students can

    interact with text by writing notes and sharing those notes with their peers and

    teachers. They can define unfamiliar words as they read them or even have the

    pronunciation of those words spoken to them. It is clear that our students will have

    to apply the same higher order thinking asked of the Common Core to an on-line

    assessment.

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    REFERENCES

    Brush, T., & Hew, K. (2007). Integrating technology into k-12 teaching and learning:

    current knowledge gaps and recommendations for future

    research.Association for Educational Communications and Technology

    Killion, J. (2013). Tapping Technologys Potential. Journal Of Staff Development,

    34(1), 10-14. Retrieved from

    https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86180081&site=ehost-live

    Cosmah, M. Saine, P. (2013). Targeting Digital Technologies in Common Core

    Standards: A Framework for Professional Development, 48(2). Retrieved

    from

    https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx

    ?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86427470&site=ehost-live

    Mathis, W. J. (2010). The Common Core Standards Initiative: An Effective

    Reform Tool? Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center

    & Education Policy Research Unit. Retrieved [date] fromhttp://epicpolicy.org/publication/common-core-standards

    Ohler, J. (2013). The Uncommon Core. Educational Leadership, 70(5), 42-46.

    Retrieved from

    https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx

    ?direct=true&db=eft&AN=85177950&site=ehost-live

    https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86180081&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86180081&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86180081&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86427470&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86427470&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=85177950&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=85177950&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=85177950&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=85177950&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=85177950&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86427470&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86427470&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86180081&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=86180081&site=ehost-live
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    Parks, A. (2013) Understanding the central themes of the Common Core Standards

    and the need to develop digital literacy and 21stcentury skills in todays

    classrooms. The Learning Project. Retrieved May 27, 2013 from

    http://daleadershipinstitute. com/sites/daleadershipinstitute/files/Digital-

    Literacy-Common-Core-white-paper-121029.pdf

    Tucker, C. (2012). Common Core Standards: Transforming Teaching with

    Collaborative Technology. Teacher Librarian, 39(6), 30-37. Retrieved from

    https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx

    ?direct=true&db=eft&AN=82862808&site=ehost-live

    http://daleadershipinstitute/http://daleadershipinstitute/https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=82862808&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=82862808&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=82862808&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=82862808&site=ehost-livehttps://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=82862808&site=ehost-livehttp://daleadershipinstitute/