Where Did YOU Go on Your Summer Vacation?

Easter Island? Chitzen Itza? New Zealand? Turns out it's a really big world after all, and EdGate is ceaseless in its pursuit of international standards for our repository. Publishers look to us for the most comprehensive database of standards and New Zealand is among them! Currently, New Zealand's Ministry of Education oversees standards for Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.  

And now, New Zealand's Education Ministry of Education is working to provide more opportunity for all children to participate in early childhood education (ECE), with a particular focus on supporting at-risk children. To that end, "The Green Party announced today that its key social platform for this election will be to tackle child poverty and inequality by ensuring every child in New Zealand has enough to thrive." The first of the key policy points for achieving this is to extend subsidies to cover 20 hours of free early childhood education for New Zealands's two-year-olds. Read the full press release. 

In 2016, 98% of children starting school will have participated in quality ECE and through its Early Learning Information system (ELI) the ministry will have aggregated data to monitor performance of ECE services and parents will be able to make better informed choices about which ECE services might benefit their children. The implementation of the ELI system for the electronic transfer of enrollment and attendance data to the Ministry of Education means students get their National Student Numbers a year or two younger, enabling administrators and educators to see a more comprehensive picture of individual needs.

At this time, each of the United States has its own Early Childhood Education standards, with Head Start standards being the National set. With the focus on early learning in New Zealand, new standards may follow; and if they do, EdGate will have them.  

PARCC Assessment Standards Now Available!

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) has released a set of test specification documents, including assessment blueprints and evidence statement tables, to help educators and the general public better understand the design of the PARCC assessments.

Blueprints are a series of documents that together describe the content and structure of an assessment. These documents define the total number of tasks and/or items for any given assessment component, the standards measured, the item types, and the point values for each.

Evidence statements describe the knowledge and skills that an assessment item or a task elicits from students. These are aligned directly to the Common Core State Standards, and highlight their advances especially around the coherent nature of the standards.

The EdGate Standards Repository now includes the PARCC End of Year Evidence Statements for:
 

• English Language Arts Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-10, and 11
• Mathematics Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and High School (9-12)
• Science (Literacy) Grades 6, 7, 8, 9-10, and 11
• Social Studies (Literacy) Grades 6, 7, 8, 9-10, and 11
   

As an EdGate client, if you are interested in adding these standards, please contact your Project Manager or a member of our Sales Team.

For more information on the PARCC documents, visit http://www.parcconline.org/assessment-blueprints-test-specs 

States Are Scrambling To Adopt New Education Standards

States that drop the Common Core State Standards face the prospect of less time to create new academic standards, and are under intense political pressure. In Oklahoma, the state board normally reviews or revises standards for each content area every six years, while in South Carolina the period is seven years. Now, both states will have just over one year to develop new content standards for both English/language arts and math for the 2015-16 academic year.

U.S. 15-year-olds Score Average in Financial Literacy

When it comes to demonstrating knowledge in saving money, balancing a checkbook, investing and other financial skills needed to be successful, 15-year-olds in the United States perform right around average compared to other countries. According to a report to be released today, more than one in six American 15-year-olds lacks proficiency in financial literacy, meaning they know only the bare minimum when it comes to making financial decisions.

Amid Common Core Debate, North Carolina Opts to Tweak, Not Abandon, Standards

Lawmakers in North Carolina agreed Wednesday to come up with an alternative to the Common Core State Standards in math and reading. The House and Senate agreed to a compromise that creates a commission to reexamine the Common Core standards and find ways to improve on them.

In this issue of the EdGate Observer, we would like to introduce you to a member of our Management and Sales Team, Larry Johnson.

Larry has been with EdGate since 2004. His extensive science background gives him very broad expertise to serve the needs of his clients. One of his strengths is developing solid relationships with clients, helping them get the most out of EdGate's many services and opportunities to best suit their needs. His experiences include 30 years of curriculum development and teaching in all science areas to junior and senior high students.

 

• Alabama - Social Studies (2010 Revised April 2013)
• Florida - Language Arts (2014)
• Florida - Science (2014 Literacy)
• Florida - Social Studies (2014 Literacy)
• Indiana - Mathematics (2014)
• PARCC Assessment Standards - Language Arts (2013)
• PARCC Assessment Standards - Mathematics (2013)
• PARCC Assessment Standards - Science (2013 Literacy)
• PARCC Assessment Standards - Social Studies (2013 Literacy)

• Ohio Science (adopted 2011)
• Ohio Social Studies (adopted 2010)
• Ohio World Languages (adopted 2012)
• Oklahoma Science (adopted 2014)
• South Carolina Science (adopted 2014)
• Tennessee Social Studies (adopted 2013)
• Texas TEKS Mathematics Grades K-8 (adopted 2012)