DEFINING COLLEGE AND CAREER READY
They Are Ready
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
WHAT DOES COLLEGE AND CAREER READY MEAN FOR CMS STUDENTS? The descriptions that follow are not standards themselves, but instead offer a portrait of students who meet the standards. As students advance through Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools and master the standards in reading, writing, speaking, listening and language they are able to exhibit these capacities with increasing fullness and regularity. In order to demonstrate independence, students must develop social and emotional learning competencies. Students demonstrate independence. They comprehend and evaluate complex texts across a range of types and disciplines.
Students perform computational thinking and logical reasoning.
They construct effective arguments and convey intricate or multifaceted information.
They persevere in solving problems across disciplines by combining essential skills in numeracy, literacy, and reasoning.
They independently discern a speaker’s key points, request clarification, and ask relevant questions.
They use appropriate tools responsibly, efficiently, and precisely in their calculations.
They build on others’ ideas, articulate their own ideas, and confirm they have been understood.
They can utilize structure and repeated reasoning to compute and reason in various situations, and they evaluate solutions to 21st Century problems through a lens of equity and accuracy.
They demonstrate command of standard English and know when and where to use it. They acquire and use a wide-ranging vocabulary. They become self-directed learners, effectively seeking out and using resources to assist them, including teachers, peers, and print and digital reference materials. They make sense of problems and can persevere in solving them.
They can defend their reasoning based on evidence and communicate their findings effectively to various audiences. Social and emotional learning competencies: identification of problems, analyzing situations, solving problems, perspective-taking, evaluation, communication, reflecting, and ethical responsibility.
They are able to manage academic stress, set goals, and monitor progress towards short and long-term goals.
Students respond varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
They exhibit a growth mindset, leading to positive motivation, hope, and optimism.
They adapt their communication in relation to audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
They exercise effective strategies to maintain academic balance.
They set and adjust purpose for reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use as warranted by the task.
Self-confidence, self-efficacy, organizational skills, stress management skills, goal setting, communication skills, self-motivation, identification of problems, analyzing situations, solving problems, evaluation, reflecting, and ethical responsibility.
Students value evidence. They cite specific evidence when offering an oral or written interpretation of a text. They use relevant evidence when supporting their own points in writing and speaking, making their reasoning clear to the reader or listener They constructively evaluate others’ use of evidence while being mindful of diverse points of view. Social and emotional learning competencies: Self-confidence, organizational skills, appreciating diversity, respect for others, communication, evaluating, and ethical responsibility.
They appreciate nuances, such as how the composition of an audience should affect tone when speaking and how the connotations of words affect meaning. They also know that different disciplines call for different types of evidence (e.g., documentary evidence in history, experimental evidence in science) and different application of skills in speaking, writing, reading and listening). They take action to improve conditions, viewing themselves as players in the world and participating reflectively. Social and emotional learning competencies: Identifying emotions, accurate self-perception, self-confidence, impulse control, goal setting, perspective-taking, appreciating diversity, respect for others, communication, social engagement, analyzing situations, evaluating, and ethical responsibility.
Students comprehend as well as critique. They are engaged and open-minded—but discerning — readers and listeners. They work diligently to understand precisely what an author or speaker is saying, but they also question an author’s or speaker’s assumptions and premises and assess the veracity of claims and the soundness of reasoning. Learners apply a variety of protocols to critique the work of others and themselves. They are skilled at asking questions about inequity and challenging the status quo. They are passionate about constructing their own knowledge. Social and emotional learning competencies: Identifying emotions, self-discipline, self-motivation, perspective-taking, empathy, appreciating diversity, respect for others, communication, social engagement, analyzing situations, evaluating, reflecting, and ethical responsibility.
Students build strong content knowledge. They establish a base of knowledge across a wide range of subject matter by engaging with works of quality and substance. They become proficient in new areas through research and study. They read purposefully and listen attentively to gain both general knowledge and discipline-specific expertise. They refine and share their knowledge through writing and speaking. Social and emotional learning competencies: Self-confidence, impulse control, self-motivation, organizational skills, communication, analyzing situations, evaluating, and reflecting.
Students use technology and digital media strategically and capably. They will navigate the digital world responsibly and be good stewards of digital tools in order to expand their knowledge and experiences to improve the lives of themselves and others. They employ technology thoughtfully to create authentic products through the design thinking process that demonstrate mastery of reading, writing, speaking, listening and language use and make an impact on their community. They become empowered to be creative, connected and integrate what they learn through technology and offline. They are familiar with the strengths and limitations of various technological tools and mediums and can select and use those best suited to their communication goals. Social and emotional learning competencies: Impulse control, self-discipline, organizational skills, communication skills, analyzing situations, evaluating, and ethical responsibility.
Students recognize and draw on their own perspective and culture. They investigate the world beyond their immediate environment. They are aware of and can articulate their own cultural worldview. They recognize the culture and experiences they bring to learning are a key resource. They are from both dominant and non-dominant cultures are able to transfer the logical structures of their knowledge and map them onto the school curriculum. Through this understanding of their own cultural perspective and the perspectives of others, students are able to facilitate their own learning. Social and emotional learning competencies: Identifying emotions, accurate self-perception, recognizing strengths, self-confidence, self-efficacy, perspective-taking, empathy, appreciating diversity, respect for others, communication, social engagement, and reflecting.
Students understand other perspectives and cultures. They appreciate that the twenty-first-century classroom and workplace are settings in which people from often widely divergent cultures and who represent diverse experiences and perspectives must learn and work together. They actively seek to understand other perspectives and cultures through reading and listening, and they are able to communicate effectively with people of varied backgrounds. They evaluate other points of view critically and constructively. Through reading works of literature and nonfiction and informational texts representative of a variety of periods, cultures, and worldviews, students can vicariously inhabit worlds and have experiences much different than their own. Social and emotional learning competencies: Perspective-taking, empathy, appreciating diversity, respect for others, communication, social engagement, relationship building, evaluating, and reflecting.
Students collaborate effectively. They are able to work cohesively towards a shared goal or purpose, creating a positive school culture and supporting each other to combine individual strengths to enhance school and classroom community. They are able to cultivate, establish, and maintain appropriate relationships. Social and emotional learning competencies: Identifying emotions, recognizing strengths, selfefficacy, impulse control, perspective-taking, empathy, appreciating diversity, respect for others, communication, relationship building, teamwork, analyzing situations, and ethical responsibility.
SOURCES Drawn from the work Students Who are College and Career Ready in Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, & Language. (2010). National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington, DC. http://www.corestandards.org/introduction/students-college-and-career-ready CASEL Social and Emotional Learning Core Competencies. (2014). American Institutes for Research. Center on Great Teachers and Leaders at American Institutes for Research. https://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Competencies.pdf. Hammond, Z., & Jackson, Y. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Hanley, M. S., Noblit, G. W., Sheppard, G. L., Barone, T., & Bell, L. A. (2013). Culturally Relevant Arts Education for Social Justice: A Way Out of No Way. New York: Routledge. Kozleski, E. B. (2010). Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters! ERIC Clearinghouse. Oaks, CA: Corwin, a SAGE Company. Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
VISION, MISSION, BELIEFS, WE CREATE CHANGE
2024 STRATEGIC PLAN
DEFINING COLLEGE AND CAREER READY
+ The CMS Way
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
+ What Matters Most
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
They Are Ready
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cms.k12.nc.us V.05.20.19
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools