Common Core Standards: An Analysis

The new Common Core State Standards for Mathematics bring a new opportunity to the classrooms of the United States that many people view as a controversial. According to the NCTM (2013) “The Common Core State Standards offer a foundation for the development of more rigorous, focused, and coherent mathematics curricula, instruction, and assessments that promote conceptual understanding and reasoning as well as skill fluency” (par. 1). While some people believe that the Common Core State Standards may hinder progress in the classroom for many reasons including too much government control, teaching to the test, an excessive focus on language arts and math, and wasted resources, others agree with the NCTM statement about that claims the standards help increase conceptual understanding, reasoning, and skill fluency.

In chapter seven of Pathways to the Common Core by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, and Christopher Lehman (2012), the authors explain that teachers often dismiss the Common Core writing standards as unrealistically high demands for their students, but clarify that through examination of the standard in a horizontal fashion, the standards are ultimately realistic and attainable. Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman encourage teachers to begin with reading the kindergarten standards (no matter which grade level you teach) and look at the trajectory through next grade levels. The chapter continues by explaining that viewing the standards in this fashion and collaborating with teachers across grade levels will not only create a more realistic view of the standard, but allow students to meet the learning objectives through smaller steps across each grade level (Calkins, Ehrenworth & Lehman, 2012).

Adopted by forty-two out states in 2010, the Common Core State Standard Initiative strives to provide an educational structure which details what English language arts and mathematics should be taught from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The initiative is the federal government’s attempt to ensure all students who graduate from high school are adequately prepared to enter a two or four year college or the workforce. Despite their intentions, the Common Core has caused much controversy in the education community. The thought behind Common Core is very valid and has the potential to help students, however changes must be made to unrealistic standards and wordy statements. Common Core must first be rewritten so that the language is clear and can be easily understood by the general public. Next ask experts on childhood development and elementary school teachers to review the standards and rewrite standards they see as unneeded or irrelevant as well as unrealistic.

Over the years one major issue of grade inflation has often come up. Teachers frequently question the importance of grades and how that data is used to compare students. Many teachers see the need to place a high emphasis on grades, thus causing stress and anxiety when students have a low performance. As a result, we have a school wide problem of grade inflation from teachers who believe students effort and work habits should determine the grade they earn. I would propose taking a deeper look into the purpose of testing. Thoughtful educators see the goal of testing as the observation of progress being made by a student. We need to begin to hold students to high standards by gathering a balanced picture of a student’s ability and mastery. In doing so we must use different forms of assessing students, and not solely test or papers. Once we can begin to utilize all forms of assessments we can begin to get parent involvement in helping children to learn and develop proper work habits and study skills, hopefully resulting in true grade

While Governor Jindal’s case is arguably the most publicized in the issue of adopting a set of common standards which may violate the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution, it is not the only case. The first case challenging the use of Common Core State Standards, Adams v. Kentucky Education Officials (2008), was filed because the Kentucky Legislature is ultimately responsible for education but never voted as a body to approve Common Core and some of the related agreements with the US Department of Education, the adoption of Common Core was not legally performed (Kentucky parent sues to block Common Core State Standards, n.d.). The case was dismissed on grounds that Mr. Adams didn’t have a personal injury and thus could not file suit. In 2015, a group of Missouri residents and taxpayers filed a petition for relief against Missouri Governor Nixon in Sauer V. Nixon (2015). This case alleged that it was illegal for Missouri to be a member of a consortium to develop national standards and assessments based on the grounds that it violates federal law guaranteeing state and local control of curriculum, programs of instruction. While the case was eventually dismissed, it was clear by the rationale presented by Sauer that the 10th Amendment is valid and should be

The national Common Core standards assist in education by the use of a system of academic expectations students across the country must satisfy in order to move to the next grade level or graduate from high school. Consistency can occur because all students’ basic skills in English and math standards are evident. Why, therefore are there concerns about the implementation and use of Common Core standards? To discern this question, assessment of concerns Christians and parents have related to the issue of the implementation and use of the standards are discussed first. Then an analysis of the purpose and perspectives of the standards will demonstrate how there is a solid biblical basis supporting that the standards make sense and are

I find a lot of value in having a standard curriculum that is implemented statewide. I think it will be difficult to plan a uniform curriculum for a student with a disability. I think individual lesson plans should be developed to best suit the student. I understand that, and agree, that there should be shared expectations for student performance, so that no child is left behind. In my opinion, the objective of Common Core State Standards “to offer rigor and depth to a curriculum to better prepare students in the United States for college and careers for the future” (Vaughn, Bos, & Schumm, 2014, p. 306) is a great idea but has failed to be implemented successfully. When I was a student, I had the option of graduating early, when I arrived in

In the past ten years, the Common Core Curriculum has become the driving force in American students education. Adapted in 2010 through the No Child Left Behind Act, it began with vigorous testing that failed to raise educational performance. In order to improve the act, the federal government then created an entire standard based curriculum. This educational initiative became further known as Common Core, which is currently being implemented in every public school across America. Common Core details what kindergarteners through twelfth graders are required to know at the end of each grade in the subjects of math and language arts. Although this initiative is seen by the government as a way to improve and standardize education, a major problem seen by many citizens is that it abolishes creativity and individual thinking in schools. The Common Core Curriculum can be better satisfied by allowing schools the option of whether or not to utilize the initiative, and by completing the standards through state testing.

The Common Core State Standards are a state attempt to create strong educational standards. The standard are created to ensure that students in the country are learning and grasping the information that are given in the classrooms for them to succeed academically. The Common Core plan included governors and education commissioners form forty-eight states and the District of Columbia. They wanted to make sure the standards are relevant, logical and sequential. For content all subjects must have critical-thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. Some positive aspects of this policy is that it prepares our students for a competitive global jobs. It can provide national connections in education. Designed to shape the best standards so that all states will be taking a step ahead in education. These standards had been created after extensive research by professional educators for excellence in education. The CCS focus on what students expectations of learning, and achievements. Educators do not need to worry that the standards will make their jobs look redundant because they are in charge of creating lessons to teach their students the content and skills that the CCS demands. The teachers do not feel that the standards are one-size-fits-all. Some negative aspects of the policy are that is a program created by solely the government. The CCS is a program put together on idyllic situations in education by individuals who have subsidy and students ahead of the learning

Forty-two states, along with the District of Columbia have adopted Common Core State Standards. These standards were created to focus only on English and Mathematics. An effect of states adopting Common Core State Standards is that all other subjects taught in school were emphasized less. History, Science, and many other subjects are no longer stressed; therefore students are limited to being proficient in only two subjects. The Common Core deprives students’ ability to be skilled in multiple areas. These standards do not provide a slight “break” from the challenging and fast paced teaching of English and Mathematics. In addition to limiting education to English and Mathematics, Jill Bowden explains that the Common Core is affecting kindergarteners by taking them “away from materials that encourage playful learning” (36). Simple, beneficial learning materials typically used in kindergarten classrooms are being replaced with workbooks and textbooks. These standards are not benefiting education; instead they suppress enjoyable learning that one could gain from free learning. All grades are affected, but especially kindergarteners. These kindergarteners are too young for authoritative standards, and should be learning concepts appropriate for a child the age of five. Standards were made “to become the backbone for student, teacher, and school accountability systems and will play an increasingly prominent role in the American educational ecosystem” (Gutierrez 78) Therefore,

In education field, it is hard to know if all claims are credible and it is not so easy to assess good research. Curiosity and expertise will be helpful to to decide if you can trust the educational change that has been offered. Science can answer many questions, but not all of them.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was first implemented in 2010, nine years after I graduated from high school. Although I wasn’t personally affected by the new academic standards, it has a direct impact on the current and future generation of leaders, innovators, and world changers including my future children. The initial purpose of the Common Core Standards is to set high-quality learning goals designed to prepare students to be college and career ready. Given the current controversies surrounding CCSS, studies have shown that although the intent was to benefit students in the long-run it may actually be hindering their mathematical and reading skills. To further explore the arguments behind the Common Core initiative, I will

The Common Core education standards were developed by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009, with intentions of creating a more rigorous, concerted program to improve student’s math and literacy skills. Due to poor execution, teachers were left unprepared and lacking resources to teach the new curriculum to their unique students. Emphasis on standardized tests rather than learning necessary tools for the adult world leaves students unprepared for college. By interfering with developmentally appropriate curriculums set by classroom professionals, national education standards fail to reflect every students’ needs and, therefore, should not be determined by the federal government.

Ever since then standardized testing has been a huge part of education. Teachers across the nation had to teach to the curriculum instead of what they thought the students needed to learn. Nowadays colleges strictly look at ACT and SAT scores rather than classroom grades, because they believe that some teachers grade on a curve and are not giving the students a fair chance. Standardized tests are an unreliable measure of student performance. A 2001 study published by the Brookings Institution found that 50-80% of year-over-year tests core improvements were temporary and “caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning…”(“Standardized Tests”). Teachers are stressed over if they are teaching “correctly”. They went to a 4-year college, some even more, to get a degree in something that they wanted to do, either for themselves or for the children, and now they have to “teach to the test”. Tests can only measure a portion of the goals of education. A pschometrician, Daniel Koretz says, “standardized tests usually do not provide a direct and complete measure of educational achievement.”(Harris, Harris, and Smith).

Education standards outline expectations for what students should know student at the close of a course, or grade level. States have been setting standards since the early 1980’s. By 2001, after the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, all 50 states began adopting standards. The push to adopt standards-based education was the idea that student achievement could be increased by setting specific goals and that all students deserved the chance to learn skills to be successful citizens and viable employees. Each state was responsible for creating its own list of standards. This process would soon change with the implementation of the Common Core State Standard initiative.