The Biggest Challenge Posed By The Common Core Standards

In my opinion, the biggest challenge posed by the Common Core Standards, will be having to fill in content gaps. Teachers who have tremendous depth and breadth of content knowledge will not have any problems. However, teachers whose content knowledge is thin are going to struggle. This is because, rather than spell out what needs to be taught, the CCSS outlines what's necessary to meet the standard. For instance, if a standard requires students to prepare an objective summary, students will need to know how to identify a topic, determine the main idea(s) and select key details in order to meet that standard. A teacher who has a solid grasp of content will know what needs to be done, a teacher who does not will need support. Fortunately, there are a number of high quality resources that can help. I will be posting about them in the future.

The Thing I Like Best About the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

The thing I like best about the Common Core Standards is they allow you to make meaningful comparisons of student achievement across districts and states. When districts and states use different assessments to measure student achievement, comparisons don't mean much because you're not using a uniform standard of measurement. The Common Core has changed that.