Common Core State Standards
The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-initiated effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. While these new standards are being implemented by most states, there is much vocal opposition.
Doing a web search can bring up more opinion than facts. Here are some resources that may help.
Academic Benchmarks maintains a map showing current in-depth state-by-state adoption status. Sorry, the map itself does not display on our thumbnail. You can click each state to see their adoption (and in a few cases, withdrawal) details.
For all the controversy, Common Core is being adopted in the vast majority of the country.
Scott Clement at the Washington Post has a good post on the status of Common Core and the challenges ahead. Some highlights...
- Support for Common Core in polls ranged from 33 percent to 59 percent in a single month in 2014.
- Americans support the broad goals of Common Core ... [but] The more people say they have heard about the program, the more they oppose it.
The anchor standards define college and career readiness, in part, as the ability to integrate and evaluate content present in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
U.S. News has a great article outlining why groups on all ends of the political spectrum are opposing Common Core Standards. The reasons range from states rights & local control to a recruiting tool for home schooling to a dislike of standardized evaluations.
The article also points out that while teachers like the standards, "they complain the curriculum, created without teacher input, is inflexible, its installation has been disorganized, and administrators and parents will blame them if student test scores implode."
Three-Minute Video Explaining the Common Core State Standards
This video, put out by the Council of the Great City Schools, explains why we need Common Core and how results are measured. But viewing the video can give you an idea of the confusion and fear that people have latched on to to oppose Common Core Standards.
- Vimeo URL
The California PTA Association has a set of web pages outlining what Common Core is (and is not), why it matters, and breaks the requirements down grade-by-grade. Your state may have similar resources.
This news article talks about resources used by small school districts in Arizona. Check with your administrators and colleges about resources for your state.
An interesting article on how we got to where we are today -- looking at the options taken and not taken. It concludes with a look at the future of the Standards Movement.
In this ASCD webinar, John Kendall, author of Understanding Common Core State Standards, gave an early overview of the new standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics, highlighting their key aspects. He also suggested transition activities for teachers and districts to consider during this changeover. Check out the Q&A session at the end of the video.
In addition to Common Core, there are other standards in the works out there.
The Next Generation Science Standards ("NGSS") were developed by twenty-six states, in collaboration with partners (sounds familiar). It will be coming on-line over the next few years.
You Can Help
If you've found a particularly helpful Common Core resource, please let us know by clicking on the Your Feedback link below. We will add it to this list.
Other Areas To Check Out...
• EdTech Leaders Online
• Environmental Education Standards
• Mathematics Curriculum Standards
• Multi-lingual Browsers & Translators
• National Science Teachers Association - Content and Research
• Parent Involvement
• State Guidelines and Standards
• Teacher As Researcher
• The Library of Congress