Cut to the Core: Resource Selection and the Common Core. Margaux DelGuidice and Rose Luna. We have Common Core aligned resources! New Common Core updates! Are you struggling with the Core? We can help! If you are a librarian working in almost any sector of the information literacy field, you have probably received e-mails or promotional materials with some variation of the subject lines above. The rollout of the Common Core standards may be mired in controversy, but the education materials marketplace is booming.
According to recent stats from the AAP, sales for print and digital instructional materials in schools for 2013 were up 7% over the previous year, a percentage increase not seen in a decade, due in part to the new standards. But are the Common Core standards really driving new materials purchases, and if so, how? Perspectives “My primary interest is to get my students interested in reading,” stated one survey respondent, an elementary school librarian. The need for teaching with primary documents was also reflected in the survey results. The Master Teacher Project - A Cartoon. What’s Happening at the Core? Illustration by Otto Steininger Anchor standards.
Text complexity. Ensuring college and career readiness. Whether you love them, hate them, or are somewhere in between, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and their high bar for student learning are here, having now been adopted in 45 states and the District of Columbia. With the rolling implementation of these rigorous standards and student tests, educators are still grappling to understand the CCSS, assemble materials, and adjust their teaching methods. Because the English Language Arts standards require students to master deeper levels of critical thinking and comparative text analysis, teachers must prepare students for more demanding standardized assessments.
Publishers and distributors are providing a flood of CCSS-aligned materials and professional development (PD) support, ranging from teacher manuals and conferences to webinars to interactive learning tools. State of the Common Core: too much, too fast? Critics are vocal. Common Core in the Schools: A First Look at Reading Assignments. Foreword and Summary by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Kathleen Porter-Magee As forty-six states and the District of Columbia implement the Common Core State Standards, questions abound regarding implementation, including the implications for curriculum and pedagogy.
In Common Core in the Schools: A First Look at Reading Assignments, researchers analyze what texts English teachers assign their students and the instructional techniques they used in the classroom. This study is meant to serve as a “baseline” that shows what the very early stages of CCSS implementation look like. Most teachers believe that the new standards promise better learning for their students, and an overwhelming majority of teachers say that their schools have already made significant progress toward implementing the standards, including relevant curriculum changes and professional development.
The CCSS emphasize the centrality of texts in the English language arts curriculum. Common Core State Standards Initiative | Home. What Do Parents Need to Know About the Common Core? Educators know the important role that parents (and other family members and guardians) play in academic success. And when it comes to advocating for education policies that benefit all students, they know that parents are important allies. So when it comes to one of the biggest education initiatives of our time, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), it is concerning that educators are not doing more to build awareness of, and support for, the standards among parents and families.
An August 2013 PDK/Gallup poll found that just 45 percent of public school parents had heard of the Common Core. And while awareness of the standards has likely risen in recent months as issues with their implementation have surfaced, the circumstances surrounding that increased awareness (for example, the drop in test scores in Common Core aligned assessments in New York last fall) could actually decrease support among parents. Raising Awareness Building Capacity. Everything you need to know about Common Core — Ravitch.