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Raising the Bar: What the Common Core State Standards Mean for Everyone

By Stu Silberman — October 23, 2013 3 min read
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Courtney Fox is a first-grade teacher in the Brandywine School District and a 2013 National Hope Street Group Teacher Fellow, as well as the 2008 Delaware State Teacher of the Year. Amber Augustus is a fifth-grade teacher in the Smyrna School District and was the 2012 Delaware State Teacher of the Year.

Recently, there has been a movement to adopt a common set of standards that set higher expectations for student learning in schools throughout the United States. The Common Core State Standards are a clear set of student learning standards that require deeper critical thinking from our students and reflect the skills needed to be successful in a 21st century economy. Common Core defines goals and benchmarks and will support teachers with clear expectations for what students need to learn, ensure continuity in learning across grade levels and allow states to compare the progress of students.

There is strong classroom support for Common Core. Most of our state and district Teacher of the Year colleagues in Delaware agree that these standards will increase student achievement. Furthermore, our school and district colleagues are excited about the possibility of working more closely with other states to improve student achievement. Not only do the new standards help us teach students to think critically, they are helping us rethink student learning, moving away from the memorization of facts and toward the development of skills required to deeply understand a problem.

When we think about how things have changed in our own classrooms, we see a greater emphasis on understanding and communication. We take deeper looks at texts and meaning, and we are not only teaching our students how to solve problems, we are encouraging our students to communicate the “why.”

The transition to Common Core is challenging for students and teachers. Many teachers we have talked to feel we haven’t yet reached the full benefits of CCSS because implementation is hard. Just as students are finding themselves challenged by higher expectations, as teachers, we are being challenged to learn new teaching strategies and to prepare new resources for our students.

Teachers are meeting this challenge head on and working hard to make this transition successful. We are working together to better understand the new standards, we are using data to make educational decisions about how to grow student learning, we are sharing lessons and resources, and we are collaborating in new ways.

More work is needed to ensure the success of Common Core. As teachers, we still need exposure to examples of how to teach these new standards so that we can ensure that our students are learning the full depth of material. Our Teacher of the Year peers and colleagues have participated in professional development; however, most of us feel that greater support, materials and time to collaborate would be valuable.

Teachers can’t do this alone.

Parents and Community Members

We encourage you to participate in Common Core information sessions and ask your local school or PTA what you can do. You can play an important role in reinforcing the skill and character development included in Common Core Standards at home and in the community.

School and District Leaders

You can support us by providing time for teachers to collaborate, ensuring that the classroom resources needed to support Common Core are available and building a school-wide culture that focuses on successful implementation.

State Policymakers

Look for opportunities to align state supports, support the update and maintenance of information technology in schools and provide the resources for teacher coaching and learning opportunities.

To learn more about what teachers have to say about the statewide implementation of Common Core and how you can support the effort, find teacher-generated recommendations here on the Hope Street Group Playbook.

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