Common Core mAth?
by Alan dessoff
Are You reAdY for
2014 will be here sooner than you think.
W
ith new Common Core State Standards assessments in K12 mathematics due to be in use by the start of the 2014-2015 school year, many district administrators and teachers do not know what they should know about them now and are not taking steps they should be taking to prepare for them.
While they are aware that the assessments are being developed, educators generally do not understand what that means to them, according to Doug Sovde, senior advisor to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC). The assessments are based on the Common Core State Standards that dis-
tricts are using to revise their curricula and instruction in math as well as English Language Arts and Literacy. “If they get to know the standards, they will know the assessments,” Sovde declares. The Common Core assessments will probe more deeply than assessments do now into what students are learning in
An elementary student in the San Francisco Unified School District works on fractions, multiplication and addition on a whiteboard in class. The district has been preparing for the Common Core assessments and using the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas as professional development mentors to ensure the new standards are relevant to the teachers.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - March 2012