Enhancing Students with the Common Core State Standards: Rough Draft Whether it is a nurse who must triage to determine the most critical cases to be seen first or a construction worker who must decide on the type of supplies needed to complete a project, critical thinking skills can be found in all facets of life and in today’s age. Critical thinking skills begin development in elementary school, are a part of what makes up a responsible and productive citizen and that is what the Common Core State Standards hope to achieve. But why change the way America has been educating its youth? Bidwell (2014) mentions that former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, who was the chair of the National Governors Association in 2006-2007, realized that …show more content…
Furthermore, the Common Core State Standards provides the opportunity for teachers to increase their proficiency in teaching students to enhance their understanding and articulation of a wide range of topics that would be beneficial towards their post educational life experiences as reflected in the amount of states that have increased their overall educational grade. Due to a current rise in critical thinking skills needed in today’s society, there has been an increase in the necessity for well-developed critical thinking skills amongst adults who wish to be successive and become a productive member of society and it starts with elementary school and continues into college with the Common Core State Standards. By accepting the Common Core State Standards, schools have the chance to gain access grants to be used in incorporating the standards, making updates to the educational infrastructure, and alleviates the costs associated with adopting the Common Core State Standards. If a state has not adopted the Common Core State Standards and the current State Standards do not meet or exceed the Common Core, than it may be in the best interest of the …show more content…
(2014). The History of Common Core State Standards. Retrieved 14 April 2017 from https://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/articles/2014/02/27/the-history-of-common-core-state-standards
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Drew, S. V. (2012). Open up the Ceiling on the Common Core State Standards: PREPARING STUDENTS FOR 21ST-CENTURY LITERACY—NOW. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, (4). 321. Retrieved 29 March 2017 from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com .proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=038c2a83-68e8-498d-8bc0-74dee409185b%40sessionmgr103&hid=117
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The article, “Critical Thinking? You Need Knowledge” by Diane Ravitch, discusses how in the past people have been deprived from the thinking process and abstract thinking skills. Students need to be given more retainable knowledge by their teachers to improve their critical thinking skills. (Ravitch).
When students become critical thinkers they are analyzing and reflecting on what they are learning, therefor advancing their skills in problem solving. Problem solving requires one to be able to tackle the problem abstractly from many points of view. Often problems can have more than one solution so it is required to be able to analyze the information and be able to apply it in various ways. In “Idiot Nation” by Michael Moore, he argues that the lack of attention political leaders give to schools in America is one of the biggest factors hindering proper education .Moore puts the blame on leaders like Dwight D. Eisenhower and William Clark, as well as the people who vote for them. The problem is that “the political leaders...have decided it’s a bigger priority to build another bomber than educate our children.”(Moore 131)Moore believes leaders put more effort into military artillery rather than proper education .The solution to America’s problems is not more bombs or weapons. The real solution are the children, the future of America. Therefore it is vital that we turn them into impeccable problem solvers, to solve America’s problems not with weapons but with knowledge. Critical thinking does just that. In an article called “How Critical is Critical Thinking” by Shawn Ryan D he makes references to the various studies of critical thinking and its relation to problem solving.
These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade Anya Kamenetz author of "Tough Week for the Common Core" writes that “[t]he Common Core [is] not, strictly speaking, national standards. They were developed independently of the federal government, and states are not under a mandate to adopt them,” but then goes on to say that the “standards received a big boost in the form of funding incentives from the Obama administration” (1). These “big boost[s]” are what concerns many like Bobby Jindal. “A few years ago, Jindal was one of the Common Core 's biggest proponents. But he has since had a change of heart” (3). Bobby Jindal, along with many other opposers, question what would happen if state who had implemented common core in their schools suddenly dropped the plan? Anya Kamenetz furthers her article by stating that the three states who have already done this “now face spending tens of millions of dollars to create new standards, adopt new materials to go with them and retrain teachers” (1). Some might say that this decrease in funding is expected because the federal government had agreed to fund a specific program and although schools don 't have to use that program, those who don 't have to find the funding for their programs themselves. But how is this
America’s children have found increasing difficulty with school. The curriculum in schools is claiming to be harder in higher levels, but the lack of focus and direction in the younger grades has made for decreased grade levels and lower mastery in several basic areas such as math, writing, and reading skills. Standardized test scores are at an all time low, as increasing amounts of children progress through the educational system having not at...
Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in Math, English, Language Arts, and Literacy (“Common Core”). The standards outline what every student should be able to interpret by the end of the grade (“Common Core”). The standards are supposed to allow students to be ready when they graduate from high school regardless of where they are taught (“Common Core”). Forty-two states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted and fully believe that Common Core is necessary (“Common Core”). However I do not agree with the Common Core Curriculum in any way. I believe that every child learns in a different way and at a different pace. If we continue to hold children
The Common Core State Standards has been adopted by many states in the United States already. This issue is gaining both positive and negative opinions within the education world and society. Some want to know why the standards were created and what the meaning behind these standards is. What is the reasoning for implementing these standards, and why is there so much controversy that follows. Why do these four words cause such controversy? The following will analyze and evaluate The Common Core State Standards in hopes to understand why education is being overtaken by them.
Pinto, L., Boler, M., & Norris, T. (2007). Literacy is Just Reading and Writing, isn't it? The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test and Its Press Coverage. Policy Futures in Education, 5(1), 84-99.
The Common Core State Standards for mathematics and english language arts have been released for state adoption, but at the moment there is much controversy on the Common Core State Standards ranging from whether these standards will work or whethe...
After researching the arguments given from both the opponents and proponents and analyzing the evidence each side has presented I will now dissect each sides reasonings to determine whether the evidence and arguments given are sound.
In the 1980’s a report called “A Nation At Risk” stated that American children had fallen behind in such subjects as math and science. Thus came the advent of education’s increased focus on literacy and numeracy, accountability and academic standards. These high standards, according to Dumas (2000), are the most significant trend in schools today.
Paul R. (1995). Critical thinking: How to prepare students for a rapidly changing world. Santa Rosa, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Standards based learning has been on its way to joining the educational process since the mid-1980’s. It was about this time when the National Commission of Excellence in Education determined that the standards in high schools were lacking, and all students should participate in more rigorous academic classes (Haycock, 2010). Since the college ready push was made, more and more students are enrolling in a greater number of college-level courses while in high school. Many students, however, are still struggling in college and must participate in remedial courses. Leaders from five states, who originally volunteered for developing common standards, “knew that there was a gap between learning expectations at the end of high school and the beginning of college” (Haycock, 2010). It is disheartening to thin...
• reviewing and clarifying the implementation of Common Core State Standards as they apply to strengthening
The evidence of the old curriculum standard initiatives versus the newer version of Common Core Standards, the remaining factors that comprehension continues to be overlooked in certain student population. As a reflection of beliefs about the nature of reality or an experience, including self and the other factors that exist, when reproducing and considering the validity, that will make the research come to fruition is the student population. In findings when working or observing school populations, there are times where there becomes a lapse in how many schools are now operating in a larger social and cultural
There are platitudes of issues and elements that pertain to the educational process as well as curriculum development that are addressed on a routine basis. As many researchers have discussed, and administrators and teachers alike have grown to understand, if this current educational model/system is to produce creative, productive, active, and technologically savvy students-citizens the worst actions are perhaps having no actions at all (Stansbury, 2013). In addition to the grandiose mistakes of becoming stagnant (progress), educators and administrators are faced with increasing demands at the highest levels; this of course is making reference to both federal and state legislation such as No Child Left Behind, perhaps the most groundbreaking legislation to date. These rigorous demands are curriculum based, creating definitive and innovative opportunities for educators, especially those in positions to promote and formulate new curriculum models as well as propose the implementation of a new curricula into the system, to better prepare students within their educational system/process exactly what the demands of a 21st century requires. These demands are in reference to an article written by Richard Long titled Career Success Demands Strong 21st Century Literacy Skills. Long states several skills that will be required if American students are to play catch –up with the rest of the world as well as perhaps attain their position at the top of the upper echelon of world educational rankings (Long, 2010).