Education Associations Support Common Core State Standards
Today, the Learning First Alliance, which sponsors Public School Insights, released a statement of support for the CCSSO/NGA Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Here's our press release:
Washington, DC, July 16, 2009
Contact: Claus von Zastrow, 202 296-5220 x115
Leading Education Associations Support Common Core State Standards Initiative
Alliance Says CCSSO/NGA Initiative Can Support a Broad Vision of Student Learning
WASHINGTON – Today, a partnership of 17 major national education associations released the following statement:
The Learning First Alliance Supports the CCSSO/NGA Common Core State Standards Initiative
The Learning First Alliance supports steps taken by the Common Core State Standards Initiative to develop a common core of state K-12 standards in mathematics and English language arts.
“The Common Core Standards Initiative has the potential to move us closer to a compelling shared vision for what students should know and be able to do to succeed in the 21st century,” said Brenda Welburn, Learning First Alliance Board Chair and Executive Director of the National Association of State Boards of Education. “By benchmarking them against standards in the world’s top-performing countries, states can make the common core standards a critical resource in their efforts to prepare students for a global age.”
“A robust, voluntary common core of standards can help states share resources and practices for improving teaching and learning for all children,” said Learning First Alliance executive director Claus von Zastrow. “Because states are taking the lead, the initiative honors differences among states while affirming their common commitment to high standards for every student.”
To be successful, the initiative also needs to be supported by aligned curriculum and aligned assessments. The federal government can offer resources to support such assessments. As required by federal law, however, the federal government should not be directly involved in their development or require the implementation of any particular assessment. Educators will need the time, professional development and resources to ensure that they can use the standards effectively in the classroom.
The Learning First Alliance is a permanent partnership of 17 leading education associations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America's public schools. Alliance members include: the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of School Administrators, American Association of School Personnel Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American School Counselor Association, Association of School Business Officials International, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Education Association, National Middle School Association, National School Public Relations Association, National Staff Development Council, National PTA, National School Boards Association and Phi Delta Kappa International. The Alliance maintains www.publicschoolinsights.org, a website that features what’s working in public schools and districts across the country.
Sign up
Sign up for our e-newsletter on public school success.
Become a Facebook fan.
H1N1 FLU RESOURCES
Click here for resources to help the public education community prepare for the unlikely case of a flu pandemic.
Emerging Vision
On this website, educators, parents and policymakers from coast to coast are sharing what's already working in public schools--and sparking a national conversation about how to make it work for children in every school. Join the conversation! Learn more.
Visionaries
Click here to browse dozens of Public School Insights interviews with extraordinary education advocates, including:
New Stories
Featured Story
A Village Route to Early Childhood Education
In the 1990s, we at Davenport Community Schools noticed a trend: Children were coming to kindergarten unprepared to learn. A troublingly low number of our district’s children (more than half of whom receive free or reduced price lunch) had preschool experience. Recognizing the importance of early childhood education in ensuring students are ready to succeed in school and life, we developed the Children’s Village, which includes formal preschool classes and all-day, year-round programming serving children from six weeks to five years old. Today, when a Children’s Village student arrives for the first day of kindergarten, the teacher can say, “This child is ready to learn.”
With early childhood education, students learn more, teachers accomplish more and taxpayers get more for their education tax dollar. But it takes all our students, teachers, staff, administrators, parents and partners to make the Children’s Villages a success. Indeed, it really does take a village to ensure quality early childhood education. Read more
School/District Characteristics
Hot Topics
Blog Roll
- Boardbuzz
- Edwize
- NSDC Reflections
- Advancing the Teaching Profession
- Principals' Office
- Principal's Policy Blog
- ASCA Scene
- The Leading Source
- PDK Blog
- ASBO Intl.'s Economic Recovery Blog
- Always Something
- U.S. Department of Education Blog
- The Core Knowledge Blog
- This Week in Education
- PTA Blog
- Such a Smart Mom
- Eduwonkette
- Teacher Leadership Today
- On the Shoulders of Giants
- Relentless Pursuit of Acronyms
- Teacher in a Strange Land
- Teach Moore
- The Tempered Radical
- TLN Teacher Voices
- The Educated Reporter
- Center for Public Education
- Connect for Kids
- Once Upon a School
Good Lord, can't we just wait
Good Lord, can't we just wait to see the standards? What's the rush?
Tom, you'll notice from the
Tom, you'll notice from the statement that we've endorsed the process, not necessarily the standards themselves, which we haven't yet seen.
Tom: Your positive, but
Tom:
Your positive, but cautious, endorsement, and in particular, your insight that the common core must enable standards-based classroom instruction and truly aligned with assessments is welcomed. As yet, it is unclear if the common core state standards initiative will advance education’s primary objective, the effective, sequential transfer of content knowledge and skills to students.
U.S. students continue to fall academically behind their international peers, and chronic learning gaps already present serious social and economic challenges for communities and families.
The lack of the knowledge-referenced detail needed to make state content standards teachable and measurable is a serious and costly problem for teachers and administrators. Standards-based education requires that the standards defining instruction and assessment set forth, clearly and specifically, the sequential content knowledge and skills students need to learn.
The common core state standards initiative leaders have provided no evidence that their processes or results will reflect this requirement or that the ensuing standards will enable states to:
• Define content standards as high fidelity, easily understood knowledge specifications,
• Precisely align the standards with classroom instruction and assessments, or
• Measurably improve student achievement and close learning gaps
To be effective and a sustainable solution, the common core needs to provide states, districts and teachers with a sequential, coherent, knowledge-referenced curriculum. Doing so will fully support education’s in-place, well-organized and competent infrastructure, including our four million certified classroom teacher professionals.
The initiative’s success will be measured by it achievement of positive classroom and student benefits, which include:
• Teachable and measurable state content standards driving classroom instruction, eliminating the need for ‘teaching to the test’ practices
• Districts, teachers, parents and students with clear, detailed and usable understanding of ‘what should be taught’ and ‘what will be assessed’
• State standards in perfect alignment with curriculum and assessments and easily benchmarked with any other standards or assessments
Until the education community is assured that the common core initiative will deliver these results, its support for the effort should be tempered by the reasonable caution you expressed.
Steve Kussmann
stevekussmann@alignedbydesign.org
Post new comment