What is Common Core anyway?
"I don't understand why it takes all those steps?" "We didn't learn it that way!" "Would you want your child to be taught this?" These are some of the comments that have been made by parents referring to "Common Core". The comments are usually made as it relates to mathematics.
According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, "Common Core" as we know it, however, officially known as Common Core State Standards, is "a clear set of shared goals and expectations for the knowledge and skills students need in English language arts and mathematics at each grade level so they can be prepared to succeed in college, career, and life." They were created to "ensure that ALL students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live."
Believe it or not, there was once a time when where you lived determined how much you learned. In the past, school aged children who lived across the United States were learning different things at different times in the year. If a kid were to move from, let's say Louisiana to Indiana, that child may find that his new peers had mastered prerequisite skills that he hadn't yet been taught. Having a "common" set of standards ensures that all children, at every educational level, learns the same information. While that was a solution to one problem another has ensued.
Many educators have now found it difficult to interpret these standards to instruct students effectively in order to meet expectations of newly adopted scandalized testing and evaluations. Additionally, parents haven't been able to accept or understand the multiple, often referred to as foreign, math strategies nor their purpose. As a result, to many parents' and some teachers' content, a number of states and school districts have opted out of using the common core state standards.
You may have noticed that an opinion about the standards has not been offered. So....here goes. While there are flaws, (early and wide-spread implementation, lack of clarity to assist in interpretation, limited resources available to educators, uninformed parents) there is some good that will come of it. Students who are taught, with fidelity, the Common Core State Standards from Pre-Kindergarten through high school will have a strong number sense, if they are not "naturally" math people. Also, they will be impressive communicators, both in the written and spoken forms, and have a strong ability to read and understand various types of genres specifically non-fiction. This will truly ensure that children of all classes, ethnicities, races and backgrounds will be on equal footing post graduation; whether they enter the world of work or pursue some form of higher education.
If you would like to know more about the strategies and when to use them and how; check out our Common Core Math Strategies video series on our YouTube Channel Guardians of the Gifts Empowerment Institute.
Don't forget to join this conversation. What are your thoughts about Common Core. Will it work? Will it last? Is it necessary? Comment below, we'd love to know your opinion. Also, share this blog post on your social media page and have your friends and follows offer their two cents as well.
Come back next week for another edition of Teach Me Tuesday! Until next time.
Peace and Blessings,
Erika O. Williams, Founder
Guardians of the Gifts
According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, "Common Core" as we know it, however, officially known as Common Core State Standards, is "a clear set of shared goals and expectations for the knowledge and skills students need in English language arts and mathematics at each grade level so they can be prepared to succeed in college, career, and life." They were created to "ensure that ALL students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live."
Believe it or not, there was once a time when where you lived determined how much you learned. In the past, school aged children who lived across the United States were learning different things at different times in the year. If a kid were to move from, let's say Louisiana to Indiana, that child may find that his new peers had mastered prerequisite skills that he hadn't yet been taught. Having a "common" set of standards ensures that all children, at every educational level, learns the same information. While that was a solution to one problem another has ensued.
Many educators have now found it difficult to interpret these standards to instruct students effectively in order to meet expectations of newly adopted scandalized testing and evaluations. Additionally, parents haven't been able to accept or understand the multiple, often referred to as foreign, math strategies nor their purpose. As a result, to many parents' and some teachers' content, a number of states and school districts have opted out of using the common core state standards.
You may have noticed that an opinion about the standards has not been offered. So....here goes. While there are flaws, (early and wide-spread implementation, lack of clarity to assist in interpretation, limited resources available to educators, uninformed parents) there is some good that will come of it. Students who are taught, with fidelity, the Common Core State Standards from Pre-Kindergarten through high school will have a strong number sense, if they are not "naturally" math people. Also, they will be impressive communicators, both in the written and spoken forms, and have a strong ability to read and understand various types of genres specifically non-fiction. This will truly ensure that children of all classes, ethnicities, races and backgrounds will be on equal footing post graduation; whether they enter the world of work or pursue some form of higher education.
If you would like to know more about the strategies and when to use them and how; check out our Common Core Math Strategies video series on our YouTube Channel Guardians of the Gifts Empowerment Institute.
Don't forget to join this conversation. What are your thoughts about Common Core. Will it work? Will it last? Is it necessary? Comment below, we'd love to know your opinion. Also, share this blog post on your social media page and have your friends and follows offer their two cents as well.
Come back next week for another edition of Teach Me Tuesday! Until next time.
Peace and Blessings,
Erika O. Williams, Founder
Guardians of the Gifts
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