STANDARDS MOVEMENT GAINING STEAM: Duncan Announces Plan to Commit Up to $350 Million for Assessments Linked to Common Standards
Alliance for Excellence, Straight A’s, Volume 9, #13
Earlier this month, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announced that forty-six states and the District of Columbia have signed on to a joint effort to develop a common core of state standards in English language arts and mathematics for grades K–12. The standards will be “research and evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations, and include rigorous content and skills,” according to a press release from CCSSO.
NGA and CCSSO will create an expert validation committee to undertake an independent review of the common core state standards, as well as grade-by-grade standards that emerge from this effort. The organizations were careful to point out that the validation committee will consist of nationally and internationally recognized education experts who are neutral to—and independent of—the process. They expect the college- and career-ready standards to be completed in July while the grade-by-grade standards work should come in December.
…[Secretary Arne] Duncan said that the standards that emerge from the state-led process must be “rigorous” and limited to the “essential knowledge and skills” that students need. He added that current standards are too broad and cover thirty-five to forty topics per subject in each grade compared to fifteen or twenty in many high-performing countries. “Teachers scramble to cover everything…and not enough of what’s really important. They can’t dig deeper on a challenging subject that excites their students. And students can’t master material when they are racing through it.”
Read more: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2009/06/06142009.html
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