Monday, October 29, 2012

Common Core Standards

Parents are certain to have heard bits and pieces of information about the newly adopted Common Core Standards.  Standards are “what” schools teach.  Alabama, along with 47 other states, has adopted these math and English Language Arts standards.  Our state made some minor additions to the CCS and refers to them as College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS).  They are essentially the same.  Alabama public schools are implementing the math standards this year; English Language Arts standards will be fully implemented during the 2013-2014 school year. 
What are Common Core Standards?The Common Core State Standards are K–12 academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy.  They were developed by states, and states voluntarily chose to adopt them.  They are aligned to the expectations of two- and four-year colleges and have been internationally benchmarked.
The Common Core help ensure comparability across states, districts and schools, mitigating challenges with student and teacher mobility.  Standards are a critical first step in improving America’s education system.  They provide the necessary foundation for local decisions around curriculum, assessments and instruction.
Why the Common Core?
To compete in a knowledge-based global economy, the United States must improve the educational outcomes of all students.  Consider: 20% of students entering four-year colleges, and at least 40% of students entering two-year community colleges, must take remedial courses — relearning at their expense what they should have already learned in high school. (National Center for Education Statistics) 62% of new jobs available in 2018 will require some postsecondary education.  Americans without the requisite knowledge and skills will struggle to access good jobs in the increasingly competitive global economy.  Our state chose to adopt the K–12 Common Core State Standards to help ensure that all students graduate from high school with the core academic knowledge and skills necessary for success in college, careers and life, for the benefit of their futures and the future of our nation.
Who Wrote the Common Core Standards?
The K–12 Common Core State Standards are the result of a collaborative effort between state departments of education, teachers, experts in a wide array of fields, and professional organizations.  The standards allow students to become increasingly more proficient in understanding and using mathematics and English Language Arts with a steady progression leading to college and career readiness by the end of high school.  The standards are grounded in evidence, including the best work of states and high-performing nations, frameworks developed for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), academic research, curriculum surveys, assessment data on college- and career-ready performance, and input from educators at all levels and from a variety of subjects. By drawing on the best lessons from high-performing countries, the standards provide the foundation for redesigning and focusing the math curriculum—in an attempt to move away from the “mile wide and inch deep” curricula currently in place throughout the U.S. The focus in the K-5 standards is comparable to that seen in high-performing countries. It allows students time to master topics by developing procedural fluency as well as conceptual understanding—rather than the current practices by which many students learn enough to get by on the next test, but forget it shortly thereafter, only to review again the following year.
To Learn More about the Common Core Standards
Click on the links below to read grade specific information about CCRS.






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