More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of common core state standards
Advantages and disadvantages of common core curriculum
The importance of common core state standards
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The importance of common core state standards
Common Core Controversy The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been a controversial topic in the world of education for the past few years. Common Core State Standards’ focus was to have a unified set of standards that would ensure the U.S. children a high quality education and prepare students for life after high school, with aligned assessments to track student progress over time. Common Core has brought more issues in current school reform than producing highly qualified students. A current issue with CCSS is lack of funding. In order to improve education funding is an essential component for school reform. In recent years the federal budget cuts have caused layoffs. 34 of the 50 states were provided less funding for education than they did years ago, and over 300,000 teaching positions have been cut (Karp 2013). Moreover, with the increase in private and charter schools thousands of public schools have closed their doors. If new standards are to be implemented funding should not be an issue. Low income urban areas fall short of funding and students in these areas are not given the …show more content…
Times change and so does society’s idea of what will or will not help prepare students for life in the 21st century. Although some educators, parents and curriculum leaders may be in favor of CCSS there is still a lot of evidence to support that CCSS may not have a positive impact on school reform. In part, if students were not meeting existing standards how would implementing more rigorous standards help those struggling students achieve academic success. The way students, teachers and school leaders were forced into this CCSS situation seems more like a political or marketing campaign. I’m all for new and innovative ways to help students improve critical thinking and other skills to help them reach their full potential but is CCSS the answer? If
The policy “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” is a policy where Federal legislation has mandated that children be tested, and where there is compliance with standards. Simply means, that all children must meet standards. The standards are defined by the states, and all children will be subject to testing, starting from as early as third grade. The students will be tested annually, in order to ensure that they are getting the type of education that they are entitled to, as determined by their performance on standardized tests.
Parents withdraw children from school for concerns that are not being managed to their satisfaction. Bullying manifest, basic skills being reinforced poorly, and no one on one interaction, consequently, dissatisfaction within the public school system exists. Under those circumstances, homeschooling in some cases is necessary. Children who are homeschooled apprehend various social settings, maintain the offbeat school scheduling, and acquire knowledge from diverse sources other than teachers, while still maintaining a sturdy set of skills.
The proposed Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act identifies key factors for college and career-ready students. The act asks that states adopt rigorous college and career ready standards in English/language arts and mathematics along with assessments aligned to these standards. In June of 2010, the NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released the Common Core State Standards which 45 out of 50 states have currently adopted. Additionally, states are required to develop a system of accountability that rewards successful schools, requires interventions for the lowest-perfor...
Since 2010, there were 45 states that have adopted the same educational standards called Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers and seeks to establish consistent education standards across the states. The Common Core Standards is initiative state-led effort that established a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English and Mathematical standards. These standards help to educate all of the students equally, they help children who move from state to state, as well as they help to prepare students for college and workplace. The common core standard helps to provide a clear understanding for teachers and parents of what is expected of the students to learn. It is designed to help educate our children for the future; it gives them the knowledge and skill they need to be prepared for post secondary education and employment. "The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world." (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers)
California is one of the largest states in the country and has one of the biggest state budgets, but in the past several years, its school system has become one of the worst in the nation because of enormous budget cuts in efforts to balance the state’s enormous deficit. The economic downturn at the end of the 2000s resulted in even more cuts to education. It is in environments like this one in which students from poor backgrounds become most vulnerable because of their lack of access to support in their homes as well as other programs outside of schools. Their already financially restricted school districts have no choice but to cut supplementary programs and increase class sizes among other negative changes to public schools. The lack of financial support from the state level as well as demands for schools to meet certain testing benchmarks by the state results in a system in which the schools are no longer able to focus on students as individuals; they are forced to treat students as numbers rather than on an individual case by case basis. An article from the Los Angeles Times showed that majority of Californians give California schools “a grade of C or below” and half think that the quality of schools will continue to decline (Watanabe).While the economic downturn affected the public school system in a negative way, it was not the sole root of its problems. It just simply exacerbated already existing issues.
CPS, with a $6.6 billion FY2013 budget, is now taking a new strategy based upon a flawed “Student-Based Budgeting System”. The Board of Education is also struggling to solve the debt they have reached, and with their FY2014 plans, this year’s budget book is argued to be “one of the most poorly written budgets”. The way CPS is handling their budget is not benefiting the lives and education of students and is leaving CPS at a loss with giant financial issues. Parents want the best for their children, no question, and the highest educational standards will be something that parents have at the top of their list. There is enough support to say that people who have received better education have gotten further in life.
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
(Common Core State Standards Initiative) Many find flaws in the system such as Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post. Strauss points out in her article Eight Problems With Common Core Standards that the standards set by the Common Core should not be limited to school subjects, but should step outside the box and tie in real world scenarios. (Strauss) Strauss also says the lack of diversity in the curriculum puts students at a disadvantage because of the changing world around teachers should not be limited to teaching information provided by an initiative that makes students from all over the nation learn the same material. (Strauss) Strauss is especially skeptical of the Common Core’s preparation for standardized test as she says, “The Common Core Standards are a set-up for national standardized tests, tests that can’t evaluate complex thought, can’t avoid cultural bias, can’t measure non-verbal learning, can’t predict anything of consequence.” (Strauss) Strauss explains how the Common Core destroys any form of originality by stating; “The word “standards” gets an approving nod from the public (and from most educators) because it means “performance that meets a standard.” However, the word also means “like everybody else,” and standardizing minds is what the Standards
“To ensure all students are ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards establish clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and English language arts from kindergarten through 12th grade” (What Parents Should Know, n.d.). Children are entering a world that is requiring more and more than before. Society is changing meaning education must change to keep up with society. “The standards were drafted by experts and teachers from across the country and are designed to ensure students are prepared for today’s entry-level careers, freshman-level college courses, and workforce training programs” (What Parents Should Know, n.d.). The focus is to allow students to think critically and be able to problem solve; skills needed in life. The Common Core State Standards are also providing ways for teachers to track each student’s progress as they grow and learn throughout the year. Common Core has many good qualities, but nothing is perfect. There will always be issues no matter the
The Common Core State Standards are simply learning goals that are outlined for the students. This outline is a way to show the students what they should be able to do at the end of each grade. These learning goals are supposed to “provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them” (Top Ten Things to Know, 2015). These certain standards are also supposed to be designed to be “robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in the near future” (Top Ten Things to Know, 2015). Common Core State Standards were actually being introduced while I was attending
The Common Cores are set of guidelines that each teacher must meet during each school year. These guidelines are met during exams and other types of testing. In Stop The Madness: On “No Child Left Behind” by Diane Ravitch she begins her argument against the NCLB-No Child Left Behind- saying that it worthless for it forces the school to focus only making test requirements instead of students actually getting the main reason why students that go to school, it is to receive knowledge. “One of the unintended consequences of NCLB was the shrinkage of time available to teach anything other than reading and math...Test scores became an obsession” ( Paragraph 7 Ravitch). The “test scores” are wrecking and straying away from true purpose of the schools around the country. The obsession made many educators focus on more test taking skills then the actual knowledge of the subject in order to reach the stranders that the administration have given them . Despite the test scores, the United States are not high rank in math according to the U.S Math Performance in Global Perspective by the Harvard University and Stanford University. In the US itself, the percentage of students that are taking advanced classes are 11.4% in Massachusetts. This is the highest percentage in the US that students are taking high scores. Yes, not every student has the ability to do the
...uture of American Public Education looks grim. A change in allocating money to the proper intuitions and programs is a necessity for growth and a well rounded educational system. This will allow all students regardless of location to receive the same tools and resources to obtain a high success in learning. The inherent assumptions and discrimination against poor, minorities, and special education students must be eliminated to provide a equal and democratic school society, which will enrich and prepare these students in becoming prosperous adult community members. Reform should include high standards from administration and teachers, not just from the students. Most importantly, reform should include giving the students, teachers, and families a voice in how we teach the students.
(2014) exclaimed that why do 62 percent of parents think the Common Core is not perfect for their kids, despite it has fascinated some entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and the secretary of education. In a case in point, parents should get more involved in the education of their children if they do not approve of measures being used. She agrees to the idea of a federal government using incentives to adopt their specific education program, but then again she only sees that parents complaining and not taking action. In another context, “parents have no choice about whether their kids will learn Common Core, no matter what school they put them in, if they want them to go to college, because the SAT and ACT are being redesigned to fit the new national program for education”. (Pullmann, J. 2014, September 24, p. 1). In fact, Porter (1989) states that the Common Core standards became as opposing to teachers and teaching occupation, and the tactics are not good strong enough for enabling teachers to be dependent. The teacher is often understood to be the planned without rules. Moreover, some voices against the criticism of the common core, they believe that it is meaningless because districts are still permitted to select which material goes out with stem the basis stated by the Common Core
Proper school funding is one of the keys to having a successful school. Americans believe that funding is the biggest problem in public schools. School improvements revolve around funding. There needs to be funding not only in the successful schools but also the schools that aren’t doing as well. In documentary, Waiting for Superman, it talks about how smaller class sizes will help students. Funding is what will help the smaller class sizes. State funding mechanisms are subject to intense political and economic scrutiny (Leonard). Studies have shown that funding is inversely related to accreditation levels (Leonard). School funding needs to be increased, but there must be accountability as well.
By having a standardized curriculum schools are not challenging students. They are creating students that do not challenge what they are learning. Holt (2013) thought that standardized curriculum destroyed student’s freedom of thought, right to question, and the freedom to spread ideas. Every student is the same in a way. Every student is tested the same. The problem is that every student is not the same and every studen...