The Common Core FAQ, By Katherine Lucadamo

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.

The book Inquiring into the Common Core by Nancy Fitchman Dana, Jamey Bolton Burns, and Rachel M. Wolkenhauer focuses on what Common Core is. This is a book that you can read that helps with the ideas and guidance for teachers, principals, and administrators in implementing the Common Core State Standards. Inquiring into the Common Core is an essential resource that offers teachers an inquiry based professional development model for achieving greater understanding of the standards, then the desired outcomes will be determined. “The CCSS values the voices of teachers, as teachers were and continue to be involved in their development” (Dana, Burns, & Wolkenhauer, pg.2). The Common Core is clear about what to teach but it is up to the teachers on how they teach it.

What is the common core? “The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) defines the knowledge and skills in English language arts and mathematics that students need for success in college and careers upon high school graduation” (Santos, Darling-Hammond, Cheuk (2012)). The common core was created, “to provide clear academic benchmarks with more concise academic standards for essential learning that will prepare students to be college and career ready” (Liebtag, E. (2013)). The common core standards have then, been introduced and applied to most schools in the U.S, and although it may have its controversies, the major issue, is its effect on ELL (English Language Learners) students. “ELs currently constitute

According to the National Education Association (2017) The common core state standards benefit all students because it provides equal access to the same curriculum as other students across the nation. The standards focus specifically on English Language Arts and Mathematics. The Common Core is designed to encompass a clear set of broad standards to prepare students for post-secondary opportunities. The standards were meant to be more challenging than current set of standards in each state and to provide clarity and consistency about what was expected of students at each grade level.

The lack of educational benchmarks and standardization in the United States of America, USA is disjointed and subpar leaving students ill prepared to enter the workforce and college. As evidenced by the persistent problem of students graduating and passing required exit exams in high school; yet, they still needed remediation upon entry to college. The Common Core is good because it provides a set of age appropriate learning goals and sets a national high-quality academic standard for Math and English to prepare students for college and career readiness. In essence, the Common Core defines what a student should know and be able to do at different grade levels.

It is important to have a successful education, but common core will not only affect the schools it will also affect how students learn. According to Applebee, “From my perspective, the CCSS offers a strong and well-intentioned vision of the knowledge and skills needed by a college-and career-ready high school graduate.” (Applebee, 2013, pg. 25-33). With the world constantly changing in order to be successful is to have the fundamental structure built up for the individual. A successful person is usually successful because of the knowledge they have gathered. However, CCSS (Common Core State Standards) focuses on the main parts of education, reading, writing, and mathematics. Teaching common core is not simple to children or teenagers. Often each individual has a different way of learning. With common core, every individual is paced at the same

Prior to writing this response paper, I had no pre-existing knowledge revolving around Common Core other than the negative ideas and opinions I’ve only vaguely heard, often including photos of honestly outrageous equations. What exactly is Common Core, according to them, and what is the goal? By definition, the Common Core State Standards Initiative details a list of subjects for students kindergarten through twelfth grade to have learned the by the end of each specific grade. The ultimate goal is to be certain that students across all of the states receive the same education and reach the same requirements in order to be prepared for college work; or, rather, the standardized tests that will determine whether or not they are even granted access into college in the first place.

What is Common Core? According to the Common Core organization website, the Common Core is a set of high-quality standards in Math and English. The goals laid in place by the Common Core govern what information a student should know, and what skills they should be able to perform at the end of each grade. With no regard to student background, or where they came from, the standards were constructed to ensure that all students enter the real-world with proper knowledge and skills in which are essential to succeed. In 2009, state school chiefs and governors that recognized the value and need for collaborated and coinciding goals across the nation coordinated a state-led effort to create the Common Core State Standards.

The Common Core has been developed as a nationwide measurement for student progress. Officially launched in 2009 as a federal funding bill, the standards identify skills that every student residing in the United States should master in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics from kindergarten through 12th grade (Gewertz, 2015). The Common Core itself is not a curriculum, however, it identifies rigorous objectives that must be met by a school’s curriculum. The purpose is to initiate a deeper focus on developmental learning by using interdisciplinary instruction. This redefines the way that students learn because their progress is no longer assessed on the outcome of their performance, but by the process that has allowed them to reach the

When many people think of elementary education, they think of reading small passages and learning the difference between addition and subtraction in easy, creative ways. Now, with the new Common Core State Standards implemented, today’s kids will have more things to worry about. They are asked more challenging questions and expected to have more rigorous answers. This does not set a steady learning pace for the average child.

Common core helps teachers and students follow a set of rulers to follow and learn. Also common core helps kids know how the SAT’s will be like. The state tests are hard and for the next test, it makes you want to do better on it next year because most people like challenges. Also, common core helps kids get ready for college. In school understanding common core is hard. In collage understanding the concepts will also be hard so it won’t be much of a challenge then. Common core helps kids understand the concept of what they’re learning. When

Common Core is built as an infective for education to all schools, but what it is, is a policy that all students learn the same. Common Core has been adopted in forty-three states around the nation. Common Core is designed to get students ready for college and career ready from grades Kindergarten through twelfth grade. “The basic definition of what Common Core is, a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy.” (Board)“The college- and career-readiness standards were developed first and then incoporated into the K-12 standards in the final cersion of the Common Core we have today.” (Practices) The construction of Common Core was by seeing which state standards were already the best, using experienced teachers, leading-thinkers, content experts, and also public feedback about their child’s education. Common Core is currently being endorsed by the White House. “Common Core is currently costing the United States eighty billion dollars.” (Board) Common Core was created by state educational chiefs and governors from forty-eight states. Common Core states that it will get students ready for their futures, but has only hurt them by not truly completing the goals set. Common Core is developmentally inappropriate for students because the cost of Common Core, it is pushed by the government for competition between states, and the strong implantation of standardized testing.

Common Core State Standards, or Common Core for short, has been making headlines in 2014. Not a curriculum, Common Core is a set of standards defining the skills in which students from kindergarten through 12th grade need to have each year in order to be prepared for the next grade. Creating these national academic standards was a state-led initiative that included a coalition of educators and governors. Administrators, educators and parents participated in the developement of the actual standards. Here's a look at how Common Core evolved.

Although, there many arguments for and against the Common Core State Standards, it is not yet certain who to believe as many of the opinions contradict each other. The Common Core claims to be a system that will help American students catch up with other countries and be prepared for college and careers. They plan to achieve this by having high consistent standards throughout all schools. By having every school taking the same courses for each grade, it helps keep track of every student’s progress and allows them to be at the same pace as

Within the last couple of years the Education system was introduced to the Common Core Standards. There are many people that still do not really understand what the Common Core Standards are and what they do. I am one of those people. As an education major, I know some about the Common Core, but there are still some things that I do not understand. The Common Core is set up for Educators to use as a plan that will help them teach and assess how their students are doing. The Common Core is set up across the country. All schools have to follow the Common Core. For each grade level, they have different standards that show the teachers what their students should be able to accomplish by that grade level. Each student will all be assessed and graded