Archive for the ‘Common Core Standards’ Category
Forty-eight states along with Washington, D.C. Agreed to help develop these core standards. Four states to date have pledge to adopt these standards, Kentucky being the first. The National Association of State Boards of Education point out that if a state decides to adopt these standards, “they will have to develop curricula, align assessments, and train teachers and other staff.”
There is no question that the concept of national standards is long over-due particularly in this day and age where families are so mobile. The question in my mind is the timing, Like all other educational policies and mandates I have seen passed, it is usually under funded or not funded at all. Teachers are being laid off, budgets are being defeated, schools are closing and you want to do what? Develop curricula? Align assessments? Train teachers and staff? Just how will this be paid for? And as you read through the standards, much is still left to the interpretation of schools, districts, states. Do they really think that money won’t play a major role in how states implement these standards? Aren’t we then back to where we started; segregating education by the money each state can but into the adoption?
“The only way to get this adopted on a widespread basis is with a fair amount of arm-twisting and coercion,” said Jay P. Greene, a professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “States and districts are in a horrible budget crisis, so support follows the money.”
That may be true. Only time will tell. Here were will hold a Common Core Standards watch. Meanwhile, take time to look at the standards yourself. Go to www.corestandards.org/ and read them for yourself. Look at your town’s school district and your state department of education. Is this going to be another educational bandwagon idea or will it accomplish the goal of delivering high quality education to every child regardless of where they live?
add comment | (0 Comments)
A brief summary of the common core standards for mathematics include:
* Assuring that students in the K-5 grades have “a solid foundation in whole numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals.”
* Kindergarten students will focus on numbers, , how they correspond to quantities and how to put numbers together and take them apart.
* Teachers will have “detailed guidance” on how to teach the k-5 students difficult topics such as fractions and negative numbers.
* “Conceptual understanding, in addition to procedural skills, will be essential.”
* Once K-5 students have a solid foundation as described above then they should be prepared for such content as geometry, algebra, and probability and statistics.
* High school students will be expected to apply mathematical ways of thinking to real-life situations.
* “Mathematical modeling” (“use of mathematics and statistics to analyze empirical situations, understand them better, and improve decisions” will be emphasized.
A year-long collaboration of content experts, state officials, teachers, school administrators and parents ended June 2 with the release of the final version of the Common Core Standards. The purpose of these standards is to insure consistent learning goals across the states.
These English, language arts,and math standards are to ensure that all students have the same learning opportunities. As time goes on, we will see if this becomes a reality. Children in the same state, the same School!, don’t have the same learning opportunities. Online Education is trying to address that issue, But I wonder so let’s get back to the Core Standards.
After approximately 10,000 public comments on the draft version, the National Governors Association along with the Council of Chief State School Officers released their final version. Those involved in the development staid that they looked at top-performing countries as their guide.
Delaware Governor Jack Markell believes that “through collective state actions such as these, (core standards and Race to the Top) we can provide all the country’s children with a world-class education. These standards lay the groundwork for students to live and compete in today’s global world.”