K-12 Curriculum Development

On March 10, 2010, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) released the official draft of the K-12 Common Core State Standards, which will be open to public comment until April 2. The process of developing these standards has been state led by the governors and chief state school officers in 48 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia, with input from a wide range of stakeholders- including educators, researchers, content experts, national organizations, and community groups.

The standards cover mathematics, English-language arts, and briefly, literacy in history, social studies and science and lay out grade-level specific goals, as well as college- and career- readiness standards. The CCSSO and NGA Center have said that once these standards are finalized, they will develop a set of common core standards in science and potentially other subject areas.

The standards are based on the following criteria:

• aligned with college and work expectations;

• clear, understandable and consistent;

• include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;

• build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;

• informed by other top performing countries;

• and evidence-and research-based.

National standards and college- and career- readiness have been an ongoing theme across the current initiatives of this administration, including Race to the Top, the ESEA rewrite, and within the President’s budget. While the Obama administration did not have a role in the drafting of the standards, both the President and Secretary Arne Duncan have avidly pushed for the development of a common, higher set of standards as part of an overall education reform agenda.

“We will end what has become a race to the bottom in our schools and instead spur a race to the top by encouraging better standards and assessments… And I'm calling on our nation's governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don't simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity.”
                                                - President Barack Obama, March 10, 2009

While adoption of the Common Core Standards is voluntary for states, qualification for the $4 billion Race to the Top fund is heavily tied to the development and implementation of national standards. Also, with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization hearings currently underway, the Department of Education has indicated that it would like to see a set of national standards included in the rewrite.

The full set of documents, (70 pages of math standards and 60 pages of English-language arts standards), are posted at www.corestandards.org.  The deadline for public input is April 2, 2010.

What are your thoughts on the Draft of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and English?

Source:
http://trianglecoalition.blogspot.com/2010/03/common-core-state-standards-draft.html