With help from experts at Florida State University, a team of more than 40 teachers, curriculum specialists and higher education faculty have developed a series of online maps that visually show connections among the Common Core State Standards used by teachers in Florida and in many other states.
One of standards progression maps that the CPALMS team has made available online.Teachers in mathematics and English language arts can use the maps to help identify gaps in student understanding and to determine steps of study for advancing students.
“Teachers can use the maps in a number of ways,” said Rabieh Razzouk, who as the CPALMS director at the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (FCR-STEM) led the mapping project. “If a student is struggling with a concept, the teacher can use a map to look back to what standards are best to review. If an advanced student wants to move faster, the teacher can use a map to determine what related concepts are good choices for the student’s next step.”
Rabieh Razzouk, CPALMS director at FCR–STEM, led the mapping project.In addition, experts in the Florida Department of Education and in districts statewide can use the maps to help them develop curriculum in mathematics and English language arts.
“Standards are the foundation of education in Florida’s public schools, and so understanding how one standard supports another is vital to effective instruction,” said Dr. Adam Santone, a CPALMS science specialist and coordinator of the mapping workshops. “With these maps and with our mapping tools, we hope to empower teachers to explore these connections and build on their understanding of how students progress and expand their knowledge and key skills.”
The standards progression maps are available online and can be used by teachers and educators. “We want to make the maps easily accessible by educators and by parents and students, so FCR-STEM also developed an online tutorial that quickly demonstrates how the maps work,” Razzouk said.
Dr. Adam Santone, a CPALMS science specialist, coordinated the mapping workshops.“Creating maps is an excellent professional development experience,” said Robert Legacher, the CPALMS K-8 mathematics coordinator and a facilitator in the mapping project. “The process engaged participants in deep examination and discourse centered on the standards. I believe educators throughout Florida will learn a lot about the Common Core as they collaborate on building maps that meet their needs.”
The maps are part of the larger CPALMS initiative, an innovative portal developed by FCR-STEM. CPALMS.org, the official source for state K-12 standards and course information, provides teachers automatic and immediate access to high-quality professional development and to tested and approved teaching resources linked to each element they select for their class plans.
CPALMS also provides teachers with online tools to support planning, collaboration, and communities of instructional practice.
The CPALMS standards progression maps draw upon the Common Core State Standards, so maps developed by the FCR-STEM team or by educators in Florida can be used by teachers in the 45 states that have adopted the standards as guides for K-12 instruction in mathematics and English language arts. Florida adopted the Common Core State Standards for mathematics and English language arts in 2010.
Robert Legacher, K-8 mathematics coordinator for CPALMS, helped facilitate the mapping project.The maps use arrows to show relationships among standards and use colors to indicate the strength of each connection. A blue arrow shows an immediate connection, indicating that a student must understand the concepts and skills in the first standard to understand the fundamentals of the second. A black arrow shows a supportive relationship — mastery of the first standard is helpful but not necessary to a student’s success with the second.
To build the CPALMS maps, the team used a Web tool developed by FCR-STEM, which offers the tool to teachers and others. FCR-STEM encourages educators to use the tool to develop maps and to share those maps with the education community.
“CPALMS is designed for collaboration, so anyone can create a map and share it with their colleagues,” Razzouk said.
FCR-STEM wants teachers and other educators to explore the maps and find ways to use them in planning their classes in mathematics and English language arts. “The maps have the potential for transforming the way teachers use standards, from atomistic approaches that present standards or clusters in isolation to integral approaches that stress a more holistic perspective,” said Lance King, the lesson study coordinator for CPALMS and a member of the mapping team.
“I was truly amazed by the product created during the mapping project,” said Felecia Clemons, a Palm Beach County teacher who helped develop the math maps. “The Standards Progression Maps provide teachers with a graphical representation of the continuum of the standards. This, in turn, gives them a visual of the standards as they ‘progress’ one building block at a time. Teachers can use these maps to provide detailed differentiated instruction that includes both remediation and enrichment.”
FCR-STEM also recommends that districts use the maps in professional development. “Building maps affords teachers the opportunity to engage the standards in context with one another,” King said. “This experience encourages educators to become experts in the Common Core State Standards, which will help them teach the standards with new clarity and depth.”
FCR-STEM is part of Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute, a multidisciplinary research and development organization that designs innovative strategies to address critical challenges facing our world. Also part of LSI are the Florida Center for Reading Research, the Center for International Studies in Educational Research and Development, the Center for Learning and Performance Systems, and the Partnerships Advancing Library Media Center.
CONTACTS:
Dr. Adam Santone, ASantone@lsi.fsu.edu
Bill Edmonds, bedmonds@lsi.edu.fsu, (850) 644-8770
