The opaque, tantalizingly mysterious concept of the Common Core initiative, written and marketed by the federal government for delivery next September, arrives attractively tied in a ribbon design that spells out c-u-r-i-o-s-i-t-y.
Wikipedia tells us, unhelpfully:
The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a U.S. education initiative that seeks to bring diverse state curricula into alignment with each other by following the principles of standards-based education reform. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.
[img]1456|right|Mr. Dave LaRose||no_popup[/img]“There are a lot of concerns and anxieties,” says Dave LaRose, superintendent of the School District. “At its root are the goals and the intentions and aspirations of our teachers to do their very best.
“When there is going to be any type of change, and this is a significant change, people want to be prepared.
‘They don’t want anything in the professional development and implementation stage to be something that disrupts instruction and learning for kids.”
Mr. LaRose said that “the real key for us is about education, engagement and implementation. So how do we ensure that we are learning everything we can? Immerse our teachers and our teams in that same learning. How do they get their hands dirty? How do they get messy with the new standards. How do they compare and contrast with present standards, future standards? What are the implications for assessment?
“The idea is to become so much more familiar with it that they are comfortable with it.”
(To be continued)
