August 23, 2018

Standards and Instructional Support Newsletter

Reminder: Districts have two years to implement revised standards

Districts will have two years to review and revise their local standards as needed with implementation scheduled for the 2020-21 school year.

The department anticipates that all final versions of approved standards will be available by the end of August.

The 2020 CAS online standards tool is now available. Through this online tool educators have the opportunity to explore the eight standards across every grade as well as discover cross content connections to support instructional integration of multiple subjects.

In addition to the online tool, CDE will also release the support plan for implementation of the standards. On Wednesday, Sept, 19, the first six in a series of online learning modules will be made available to support schools in their transition. This implementation guidance has been designed to take advantage of the transition time allotted for implementation to help ensure the smoothest transition possible. 

Finally, be on the lookout about this time for input opportunities regarding implementation for the revised science standards. This additional feedback is being sought to help determine the best approach for the updated requirements with this revision due to the incorporation of the Next Generation Science Standards.

Overview of the upcoming Extended Evidence Outcomes work

The Office of Standards and Instructional Support is collaborating with the Exceptional Student Services Unit to revise the extended evidence outcomes based upon the changes in the 2020 Colorado Academic Standards.  

The extended evidence outcomes are designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities in all grades in the content areas of reading, writing, and communicating; mathematics; science; and social studies. These are designed to assist educators in giving all students the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to succeed in post-secondary environments and the workforce. This process will begin in September and continue throughout the spring of 2019. This revision of the extended evidence outcomes will follow a similar process as the standards review and revision shown below.

Computer Science Resource Bank

CDE has developed a Computer Science Resource Bank containing a variety of materials for computer science educators, including standards, curricula and materials for professional educator development.

This work was prompted by H.B. 17-1884, Modern Technology Education in Public Schools and completed in collaboration with Colorado Succeeds.  

The resource bank is designed to be a repository of resources developed for computer science educators by educators and stakeholders.