The Common Core State Standards Initiative

On October 22, 2015, Trustee Thelma Boac gave an excellent presentation about the origins and goals of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Since there is much confusion about CCSS, I thought it would be great to reproduce the key points of her presentation here. Thanks Thelma!

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The common core  is a state-led initiative effort. It is not part of No Child Left Behind or any other federal initiative. The federal government played no role in the development of the initiative.
In fact, the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Act forbids the federal government from intervening in school curriculum development.

State adoption of Common Core State Standards is in no way mandatory. States began the work to create clear consistent standards well before the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and even before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act blueprint was adopted.

In 2008-2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided $35M to a consortium of two non-governmental associations - the National Governors Associations and Council of Chief State School Officers Associations - for the purpose of developing and implementing a new education system in the United States. They called this The Common Core State Standards Initiative and published the plan in December of 2009. State leaders including governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states and two territories and the District of Columbia came together and decided to develop common college and career ready standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy.

The process included defining expectations for what every child should know and be able to do when they graduate from high school. The group set to work creating content standards for grades K-12 aligned with these expectations. States relied on workgroups of educators, representatives of higher education, and other experts to write the standards with significant input from the public in 2009 and 2010.  After this process, states appointed a validation committee to review the final standards. Final standards were published in 2010 and available for each state to review, consider, and voluntarily adopt.

The Common Core State Standards are internationally benchmarked—meaning standards from top performing countries played a significant role in the development of the math and English Language arts/literacy standards.

The Common Core State Standards are important for the following reasons:

• High Standards are consistent across states.
• Standards are aligned to the expectations of colleges, workforce, training programs and employers.
• CCSS promotes equity by ensuring all students are well prepared to collaborate and compete with their peers in the U.S. and abroad.
• Unlike the previous standards, which varied from state to state, this enables collaboration among states.

It is important to note that Common Core is not a curriculum—it is a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help our students succeed.  Local teachers and administrators will decide how the standards are to be met.  Teachers will continue to devise lesson plans and tailor instructions to the individual needs of students.

Common Core is and will remain a state-led effort and individual states will drive its implementation. There are no data collection requirements for states adopting the standards.  Any data collected as a result of assessments are up to the discretion of each state. The standards are designed to build upon the most advanced current thinking about preparing all students for success in college, career and life.

Common core standards recognize that both content and skills are important. 

Berryessa School District is committed to the complete implementation of Common Core State Standards and heavily focused on professional development required to ensure that teachers have the tools they need to apply these standards in their classrooms.