In 2010, schools nationwide began aligning their course curriculum in accordance to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Ohio was one state that hopped on the bandwagon, joining 44 other states that also adopted the standards. Since adoption, schools across Ohio, including right here in Richland County, have been introducing CCSS into their curriculum.
The CCSS initiative established one set of educational standards for kindergarten – 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics.
Teachers, parents, school administrators, and other education experts helped with the development of the standards, relying on input from the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), among other organizations (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010).
Using research based on the “best and highest standards” utilized in the U.S., the CCSS were developed. No state was asked to lower their expectations for their students when adopting the standards, claimed the National Governor’s Association (NGA), and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010).
According to the Common Core Initiative’s website (2010), the standards were created based on the following criteria:
- Scholarly research
- Surveys on what skills are required of students entering college and workforce training programs
- Assessment data identifying college- and career-ready performance
- Comparisons to standards from high-performing states and nations
- National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) frameworks in reading and writing for English language arts
- Findings from Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) and other studies concluding that the traditional U.S. mathematics curriculum must become substantially more coherent and focused in order to improve student achievement
NGA and CCSSO stated that these standards “promote equity by ensuring all students, no matter where they live, are well prepared with the skills and knowledge necessary to collaborate and compete with their peers in the United States and abroad. Unlike previous state standards, which were unique to every state in the country, the Common Core State Standards enable collaboration between states on a range of tools and policies” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010).
Leaders of the CCSS initiative, the NGA and CCSSO, explained that English language arts and math are the chosen subjects for the CCSS because they are foundational subject areas in which students can use the learned skills from these subjects for other courses.
Although CCSS focuses strictly on math and English language arts, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has adopted new learning standards that will include not only the CCSS, but also standards for social studies and science.
All four sets of standards will be implemented in Ohio schools by the 2014-2015 school year.
With the implementation of these new standards, states have needed to adopt new assessments. Of the two to choose from, (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)), Ohio adopted PARCC. This new assessment will replace the Ohio Achievement Assessment and the Ohio Graduation Test.
PARCC differs from the customary assessments in that it allows students to take the assessments online. These online assessments will go beyond the typical multiple choice and short answer questions and could require students to construct projects and follow through multi-step items that they could work on for a few days.
The ODE is implementing a switch to this assessment for all Ohio schools starting in 2014.
For the past two years, the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center (MOESC) has been working with Richland County schools to make the transition as smooth as possible.
MOESC has supplied teachers with training material for handling the online assessments that students will be required to take.
Education Director for the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center, Dr. Tammy Webb, commented, “The hope is that with the new assessment, teachers and administrators will receive feedback a lot quicker, which will allow teachers to change instruction for the next year if needed.”
Webb added, “The national standards help tie things together for students by creating a common knowledge that students will be expected to know when they graduate. Plus, a lot more people are mobile today than they were 30-40 years ago, so with the standards we will have a generation know common material across the country.”
Webb also advised that administrators need to help teachers understand the emphasis on critical thinking that is associated with the standards.
Shelby Schools started introducing the standards with a pilot program that was launched last school year.
Superintendent Tim Tarvin stated, “We’ve spent the last year and a half determining how Common Core fits into the curriculum. We’ve done the preliminary work to give us the best opportunity to succeed because we’re not going to just stick our heads in the sand and hope for Common Core to go away.”
He added, “The teachers have done a great job at meeting challenges like these head on and making sure the students are successful.”
For more information on CCSS go to www.corestandards.org, and for more information on PARCC, go to www.parcconline.org.
