Common Core
Common Core is a State-led effort to develop a set of standards for education. The goal was to establish a set of high quality academic standards, consistency and real-world applications in mathematics and English language arts/literacy to ensure all students, regardless of where they lived, are graduating high school and prepared for college, career and life. Common Core standards have been established by using the best state standards already in exsitence, using experience of teachers, content experts, states and leading thinkers, and feedback from the public.
Standards:
|
A Full list of standards can be found be clicking the button below:
Reasons for creating Common Core:
|
|
Pros:
- Benchmarked to international standards
- Allows students to be better prepared for career/college
- Allows standardized curriculum across the states to compare tests scores more accurately
- Decreases the amount of resources each state use for test development
- Increased the rigorousness of education for students to be better prepared for career/college goals
- Continual monitoring tools for teachers to help students that are weak in certain category
- More stability-Allows the student to understand what is expected of them
- If a student moves, the student will have the same requirements of him/her. This allows stability for the student
- More accountability is placed on students through testing and homework. This allows the teacher to see if the student truly understands what the he/she is doing
- Allows the teacher to have more control of how they teach as long as they meet the standards of Common Core
Cons:
- Changing to Common Core has brought a lot of stress on teachers and students who are already accustomed to the previous state standards
- Common Core standards are vague and broad with many clauses
- Curriculum is being taught at a quicker pace than ever before. Causing Pre-K becoming more important
- There is not a separate test for special needs students. Requiring them to take the same test has everyone else.
- Common Core requires a lot more money to be able to meet its standards. The purchase of new technology and books for the schools, leaves less money to improve the schools in other areas. Especially taking into consideration that most of that technology will have to be replaced in a few years.
- Common Core has placed more emphasis on standardization of tests, leading to curriculum to be based around passing the test instead of a concentration on learning.
- Federal education programs withhold funds for areas of the country that are in desperate need, until Common Core has been adopted.
- Only emphasizes on mathematics and English language/Arts, leaving out social studies, science and other education areas.
- Testing is geared more towards passing the tests than understanding and educating. Meaning, more emphasis is placed on the results of the standardized tests than on the children learning specific concepts