Defining the Knowledge and Skills of High School Students Through Common Core State Standards

Common Core State Standards are academic benchmarks intended to define the knowledge and skills that high school graduates will need to be college and career ready. While Common Core appears sound on the surface- to truly draw any conclusions we must understand what Common Core is, consider the pros and cons of Common Core and finally look at who stands to benefit from Common Core. The children or the big money players?

In 2010 The National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released their final Common Core State Standards. The standards were offered to any state at no charge, as long as they agreed to accept all standards and test students’ mastery of them within three years. The standards have been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a bipartisan array of governors, the Obama administration, as well as education groups like the PTA and both teachers unions.

Common Core State Standards establish grade level expectations in math and English Language Arts (ELA) for students K-12. These expectations are aligned with college and work expectations after high school graduation. Common Core sets forth the knowledge and skills students are expected to develop but does not discern how to teach them. This is to be determined at the state and local levels. It is estimated that the Common Core should represent 85 percent of total mathematics and ELA to be taught to K-12 students. The other 15 percent is for state and local addition.

The NGA & CCSSO led the initiative in 2009, to “draft common standards with the guidance of experts from Achieve, Inc., a bipartisan, non-profit organization that helps states raise academic standards; Act, Inc.; the College Board; the ...

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...d and the parents themselves are lost.

Not only are new practices being adopted, but huge chunks of traditional education are being cut out that we’ve done for hundreds of years. Because we are living in a technologically advancing society- Common Core has decided that teaching cursive writing is not important and therefore not part of the Common Core standards. So how will our future generation be able to make heads or tails of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights?

So with an understand of what Common Core is, taking some time to weigh the pros and cons and looking at some of the key players and what they stand to gain by the Common Core reform- you can make an informed decision about whether or not it is Democratically sound or whether the states have been strong armed into adopting a Federalized education system without public knowledge, input or debate.