In the US, Common Core is a set of academic standards that prepares students for university and careers. In essence, the common core is a set of benchmarks for what students are expected to know and be able to do in mathematics and the English language arts all through kindergarten through their senior year of high school.
As only 43 American states have adopted the Common Core, some states set their own academic standards and vary from others. The overall goal of common standards is to ensure all public school students are prepared fully for university and jobs once they’re out of high school, regardless of where they choose to live.
The Common Core standards were originally set in 2009 by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices in the United States. Both organizations worked with administrators, teachers, professors and multiple education experts who represent teachers of mathematics and English in order to create a framework that educators could use across the country.
Related Articles:
Creating the standards took around 18 months and started with a report from the main groups in 2008. Once a draft was ready, it was released for public comment and a committee of experts also provided their feedback. The standards were only finalized in June 2010 along with a report that explained the groups’ reasoning behind the standards.
The Common Core standards are essentially about what students should know and the skills they need to learn, while the curriculum is focused on what they’re taught. While the Common Core would require students to be able to contract two versions of one story, the curriculum is chosen by boards and educators to pick the lesson plans that will teach students these skills and assign specific books for them.
Private schools in the US are not required to implement the Common Core standards even in those states where the program has been adopted. Some private schools have implemented the program if they want to secure federal funds, while some adopt it as the SAT and ACT tests are heavily influenced by the program, hence they find them teaching students these standards regardless.
Under English language, schools will try to achieve goals within different categories:
These categories will be prioritized throughout K-12 grades, except for foundational skills which are dropped around the sixth grade. Toward the end of each grade, students should have a good knowledge of each skill as well as a strong mastery.
The standards for mathematics are broken down differently. Until the fifth grade, most categories remain the same. These categories include:
The standards for learning will increase in difficulty each year, with some variation. New concepts are introduced and learned until the twelfth grade, such as trigonometric functions and statistics and probability.
The Common Core essentially ensures that students go to university or college prepared. More than half of students who go to community colleges tend to need remedial classes, something which the Common Core is trying to eliminate. Since 2009, the percentage of students who needed remedial classes for mathematics has dropped by 38%, proving that the college-readiness component of the program does work.
Common Core tests may even be used for college admission to an extent. The SAT was revamped to focus more on evidence-based arguments and asked students to solve math problems in depth. The ACT tests were already aligned with the Common Core.
Twitter
Add a Comment
Please do not post:
Thank you once again for doing your part to keep Edarabia the most trusted education source.