The new Common Core Standards for math and language arts are scheduled to be rolled out in the 2014-2015 school year, and 44 states plus the District of Columbia are starting to shape how the Common Core will play out in their education systems. Teacher preparation programs, professional development, and Read more
You won’t believe this, but MasteryConnect has just released a free app with searchable Common Core Standards for math and language arts. So now, if you’re in a long line at the grocery store and wondering what the standards are for reading informational text in 5th grade, you’ve got the Read more
Yesterday I blogged about a journal article in Educational Researcher that found that the Common Core Standards were not aligned well with international standards. Today, I present a dissenting opinion. ACT has released a research report, titled “Affirming the Goal: Is College and Career Readiness an Internationally Competitive Standard?” This Read more
A recent article in Education Researcher by UPenn education dean Andy Porter and several of his colleagues explains similarities and differences between the Common Core and current state and international standards, using the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) as its metric. The SEC is an analytic framework developed at the Read more
The National Association of State Boards of Education has posted a number of Power Point presentations from their 2011 Central Regional Conference and 2011 Northeast Regional Conference related to the Common Core. To download, click the title, or visit http://www.nasbe.org/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=category&category_id=23&Itemid=1125 A Systems Approach to Common Core: Critical Issues of Implementing Read more
Last month, I blogged on The Shanker Institute’s manifesto, A Call for Common Content. This manifesto, available at http://www.ashankerinst.org/curriculum.html, urges the creation of curricular materials that support the Common Core Standards and bridge the gap between the standards and the new assessments being developed. These curricular materials would be voluntarily Read more
At this writing, 44 states and thousands of districts are crafting summer and fall plans to support system-wide transition to the Common Core Standards. A high priority in every plan is to ensure principals are prepared to successfully lead their schools through this transition, and to ensure principals are equipped Read more
Findings have been released from Part I of MetLife’s twenty-seventh annual education survey, which focuses on what it means to be “college- and career-ready.” In this poll of middle and high school teachers, students, public-education parents, and executives of Fortune 100 companies, MetLife investigates how stakeholder groups feel about the Read more
The Albert Shanker Institute has issued a “Call for Common Content.” The proposal would go beyond the academic standards adopted by all but 9 states to seek more specific details regarding the knowledge, skills and understandings required of students to meet each standard. Specifically, the “Call” states, “Attaining the goals Read more
Pearson has launched a new Common Core Standards website. While much of the site is commercially based — selling the products and services of Pearson — there are several useful (and free!) webinars: Common Core: Math Standards – Implementation for Success As part of its commitment to help states transition Read more
Today, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) released a new report on states’ progress and plans for implementing the voluntary K-12 common core state learning standards. As more states sign onto common core standards in English language arts and math, CEP identifies the major changes these states plan to make, Read more