On Standards

Hello All,

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf

I haven’t taken the time to sit down and read the Center on Education Policy’s Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: An Overview of States’ Progress and Challenges.  I made a quick scan of the 20 page report after reading the article, Admins Predict Changes in Rigor, Instruction Under Common Core by Laura Devaney in eSchool News August 8, 2013 that referenced it.  While there is no ground breaking information in the article beyond the link to the report, it does remind me that the CCSS have a direct impact on science education.  After all, I have spent time tying CCSS into a unit plan with state standards and local learning targets.  The CCSS have me paying more attention to where and how colleagues work literacy into their content areas, not necessarily science.  I’ve been much more aware of the role literacy plays in my own preparations.  I cannot deny the changes in rigor seeing the increase in Lexile range for grade levels and the writing emphases.  Being associated with some that provide professional development, I’ve been able to hear about the challenges and progress being made in school districts in our state.  I realize my thoughts are focusing more on the Language Arts side of the Common Core State Standards; I appreciate and value math in science education as well. It seems the math side of science has had more attention with STEM in the news for many years.  As an educator, I am thankful there has been effort placed in referencing the Common Core State Standards in the Next Generation Science Standards as I expect there to be a push to align curriculum with NGSS over the next few years.  I have to admit including that information may make the transition to NGSS move along faster coming out so close to the implementation of CCSS.

Happy reading,

Mrs. A