High School Common Core Standards

Hello Class, 

It’s important for students, teachers, and families to understand the changes in education because the new common core standards impact every public school classroom in the United States. I viewed the high school video.

One benefit mentioned in the video is that students’ energy will be more focused upon gathering evidence and presenting evidence clearly. Learning for high school students will soon more clearly translate to knowledge needed and applied in college, the workplace, and life. One benefit to the new standards mentioned in the FAQ, “The CCSS Initiative provided the opportunity to reexamine California’s standards against international benchmarks and the standards of other states. The new CCSS are rigorous, internationally benchmarked.”

A roadblock to the standards as mentioned in the FAQ is the timeline. “Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell, stated that it would take two to four years to implement the standards.” In two to four years, the standards may not fit with the rate of change in technology, college, and the workplace. The frameworks are expected to be adopted, but the materials won’t be available to support the frameworks until two years later. 

The standards and mindset of the standards writers might be more internationally and competitively focused on an academic level; however, the shadow of ignorance keeps following the possibilities for technology in public education materials delivery and assessment. 

Overall, the standards seem like an improvement for the students; but, the video and the FAQs didn’t provide a very balanced viewpoint. They listed all the “benefits” and downplayed the “roadblocks.” I wonder if teachers think, “oh great, one more new approach that’s supposed to be the end all be all.” With the standards, it would be great if these provide what they promise. I look forward to helping my students learn more applicable life skills in the classroom. 

All the best, 

Dawn

APA Reference

Common Core FAQ (August 2010). Sacramento County Office of Education.  Retrieved from http://www.scoe.net/castandards/multimedia/common_core_faq.pdf.

Education Update, Common Core State Standards: High School. Teaching Channel (Tch). Retrieved from http://youtube/Ym-VHwbpAQM.