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California Education System

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If there is one thing that all American’s can agree on it is that the education provided for our youth serves as the foundation for the continuation and prosperity of our nation’s future. On the smaller scale, the students that live and learn here in the state of California will become our congressmen, doctors, policemen; the future of our great state. The adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was necessary for improving the education policies in place for the youth in California. For one, it replaced the failing academic system, the No Child Left Behind Act. Second, the CCSS drives students to build deeper conceptual understandings of course material and foster their critical-thinking and analytical skills. Next, the CCSS levels …show more content…

This means that all K-12 students in California will be learning and tested on the same content material during the same grade level. For example, a 9th grade algebra student in San Diego is learning how to reason as abstractly and quantitatively as a 9th grade algebra student in Bakersfield (Thomas & Edson, 2015). It also means that students in low-academic performance areas are being held to the same learning standards as those in high-performance areas. All students will now have access to the same information and no student will be deprived of the opportunity to learn what his/her fellow students across the state are learning. In addition, California can use education funding to provide students with the same materials across the state. Since all schools are being held to the same standards, California can adopt a statewide textbook per grade level to ensure all students are receiving the same basic instruction in means of their academic texts. Similarly, educators can circulate similar assessments to ensure their students are being tested against the same material. As a result, it is clear that the CCSS levels the academic playing field for students across the state. Furthermore, since California is one of many states who have adopted the CCSS, it also means that the United States is working to level the academic playing field throughout the nation. This …show more content…

Since all students in California are receiving the same educational information, all students who graduate from CCSS state certified high schools are all equally prepared and able to attend college. More specifically, while it does not guarantee that all graduating students will go to college, it ensures that all of the students who are exposed to and are competent in the Mathematics and English Language Arts standards will be ready and prepared to take college leveled courses. Attaining higher education is an option that California would like to provide all of its students and the adoption of the CCSS presents that opportunity to those students who want it. For those who do not desire to go to college straight out of high school, the CCSS also provides students with skills applicable in the workforce. One of those includes critical thinking skills. “Also known as ‘higher-order thinking,’ [critical thinking skills include] the capacity to examine and evaluate ideas, solve problems, question assumptions, identify biases and work collaboratively” (Clemmitt, 2015). In January 2015, a survey concluded that “81 percent of U.S. employers called critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills ‘very important’ traits for new hires” (Clemmitt, 2015). Thus, it is necessary that the students of California work on fostering such

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