Common Core Standards (info taken from www.corestandards.org)
Authors: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers Title: Common Core State Standards. Publisher: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington D.C. Copyright Date: 2010
- Set of high-quality standards in mathematics and English Language arts/literacy (ELA)
- Outlines what a student should know by the end of each grade
- Ensure students graduated from high school with skills and knowledge to succeed in college and career. All the ELA and Math standards incorporate problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills
- Adopted by 42 states, D.C, 4 territories and Department of Defense Education Activity
- Targeted for K-12 grades
Table of Contents
Advantages
Key Shift in English LA
- Incorporating complex texts with academic language
- Rather than just solely on reading and writing
- Want reading comprehension to progress to be ready for college, career, life
- To prepare for that growing complexity, teach vocabulary in a variety of content areas. Use conversation, instruction, and reading to teach vocabulary
- Having students answer based on textual evidence: encourages careful reading and analysis of the text, rather than just prior knowledge and experience. This also is transferred into writing: more evidence-based writing
- Build knowledge through information reading (nonfiction) and literary reading emphasized
Key Shifts in Math
- Focus on fewer topics, narrow the topics and teach at a deeper level
- Aimed at helping students build stronger foundations, better procedural skills and be able to apply them outside and inside the classroom
- Each new grade level is a new extension of previously learned skills: coherence in topics across the grades
- Apply them to word problems, not as stand-alone topic
- More rigorous in teaching concepts, increase speed and accuracy in calculation, and application in mathematical situations
- The sequence of math is important:
- Mathematical progressions, or sequence of topics, is standardized so that topics move up or down in a consistent grade level sequence. If a student switches district, the teacher will be able to accommodate and pick up from where the student has left off.
Why Common Core?
- Ensure that education standards are consistent across the states so that teachers, parents, and students are all on the same page
- Ensure success in college, career, and life
- Enables collaboration among states on range of tools and policies, such as
- Textbooks, digital media, and other teaching materials
- Common comprehensive assessment tests to measure student performance that gives teacher specific feedback
- Developing ways to help all educators and schools learn about these new standards
- Developmentally conscious: standards are backed by research and experience educators to incorporate standards that are also developmentally appropriate for children. For example, kindergarten math standards also include play-stating and engaging young children in cognitive activities
What parents should know
- Standards are built upon the most advanced current thinking to stay competitive with international curriculum models
- No state is lowering their standards.
- Common Core are College and Career Ready standards
- Encouraging children to “exercise” their brains
- Teachers are being more flexible with teaching approaches
- Teachers will make sure students are ready on one step before they more on to the next step
- Changing testing assessment to measure progress, so that educators, parents, and student are all on board