Mathematics

Video: Education Week Explains the Common Core State Standards

By Andrew Ujifusa — September 15, 2016 1 min read
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This post originally appeared on the Politics K-12 blog.

You might have missed it last week when Donald Trump unveiled his sweeping school choice plan, but the GOP nominee took another opportunity to bash the Common Core State Standards. He’s done that several times throughout the campaign, although without getting into specifics as to why he thinks the standards are, as he called them at one point last year, a “disaster.”

And at the Republican National Convention in July, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the crowd (falsely) that the Republican-controlled Congress had ended the common core.

So while common core might not be quite the hot-button topic it was in 2014 or 2015, clearly it’s still enough of a divisive issue for Trump to at least nod to common-core opposition in a discussion about schools, and for McConnell to say that it’s over. Maybe Trump’s speech was the first time you heard about the common core? Or perhaps you need a refresher about what the English-language arts and math standards are? Have you been looking for a quick way to share the key elements of the standards with your friends?

Look no further. Above, you can watch our short video explainer about what the common core is ... and what it’s not. I discuss what the standards are supposed to accomplish, several common criticisms of them, and how they’re discussed at the state and national level.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.