CCSS Systems Implementation Guide
The California Department of Education’s online CCSS Systems Implementation Guide was developed to support local education agencies (LEAs) in developing their own local plan for CCSS implementation, based on local needs and resources. The online guide is organized into seven guiding strategies, including professional learning opportunities, instructional resources, assessment, and communication and collaboration with parents, guardians, and the other learning communities. Each strategy contains numerous resources, suggestions, and opportunities for implementation by LEAs. The guide will be updated regularly as new resources become available.
This “guide” is essentially a web portal linking to many other resources developed to support the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and transition to new assessments. While the linked content is generally of high quality and produced by well-respected organizations, users will likely be challenged by the site’s own organization as well as the different designs and somewhat overlapping nature of the linked resources. For example, the site begins with professional development for educators (Strategy 1) and ends with systems of effective communication (Strategy 7), which one could reasonably argue should begin with effective communications that help all systems work. The site is basically a “pick and choose” library of resources rather than a strategic plan, and users will likely spend considerable time looking for a resource or resources that meet their needs. This website “guide” is certainly worth a look, but users will need to be patient. Those interested in a more comprehensive plan might check out the California leadership plan for implementing CCSS and new assessments at www.scoe.net/castandards/multimedia/common_core_leadership_planning_guide.pdf.