Common Core State Standards

In 2009, state government officials pushed to develop the Common Core State Standards. These standards aimed to prepare all students, regardless of economic status or location, to be productive members of society in life and the work force. Ever since the adoption of these standards, there has been an ongoing debate whether they benefit the students or not (Development). Some say that these standards are good to homogenize the education all students get. Others disagree, stating that students aren't engaged in the class when the teacher is put on a strict schedule. The rapid acceptance of these standards have led to its popularity among teachers and parents. “The standards, which are for math and language arts, are meant to provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them.” This is extremely beneficial, for in the past students in different grades or classes would have different curriculums, learning different things (Are).

Another benefit of the State Standards is equitable access to mathematics. Christopher Danielson, an author who studies math in all age levels, discusses how the Common Core State Standards benefit low income schools. He writes, “Not all students in US schools have similar opportunities to learn math. In many low-income schools — especially those in big cities, and those with large percentages of students of color — students are more likely to get stuck in endless cycles of review.” If students are left reviewing the same old math concepts over and over, there will be no growth, leaving the students in low income schools behind (Danielson). Luckily these standards help insure that all students have the same learning opportunities.

The Common Core Standards also help with improving the production of textbooks in the United States. Because there are so many major corporations that print textbooks, on way for these businesses to be competitive is to include information for all grade levels. McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson Education, Scholastic are just a few of these companies that occupy the bookshelves in thousands of schools across America. The consequences are the poor quality of information in these books. Almost every single middle and high school student has a mass produced textbook that goes along with their math course. If these textbooks are not published with a specific age group curriculum in mind, they will be insufficient at teaching the students what they need to know. Danielson writes, “Common standards across the majority of states should allow for more coherent textbook development.” This is another way the Common Core will help all students get the same learning opportunities (Danielson).

From the perspective of the parents, the CCSS will help ensure that their child will not be left behind when transferring schools. Oftentimes family, jobs, or natural disasters leave families with only one option to continue their lives. Moving before the common core standards would mean that the student would be behind in the classroom. Not only would they start behind, but they will continuously struggle to succeed without the background of knowledge that their peers have. The common core additionally benefits the teachers. The teacher's job is to help all students reach their highest potential. Although when a transfer student enters the classroom, they put the learning on pause. The teacher has to take their time and resources to help this student get all the concepts they have missed. This also takes learning time away from the other twenty-nine kids in the classroom. But because the common core standardizes the curriculum in every classroom, it relieves the stress of the teacher, not having to worry about students falling behind.

Aside from the direct benefits of the Common Core State Standards, when the students grow into adults, they will be better equipped with the skills and knowledge to thrive in the work force. The common core promotes problem posing education and critical thinking. Allowing students to think deeper about many of the issues they are pressed with daily will help them make wise decisions independently in the future. The CCSS also teaches students to learn about their audience and communication. Helping the students become more literate, especially being able to move fluently through their discourses, creates strong, independent adults in the work force.

Although the common core standards have their positives, they certainly have their fair share of negatives as well. A system that is completely based off of just two subjects, math and language arts, is a system that is bound to fail. According to Matt Kibbe, a contributor to “U.S News” states “If we really care about improving education, let’s give parents and students more choice, not less.”. This is stating that giving the students less of a choice when it comes to their education only downgrades their education rather than improving. If our students had a wider variety when it comes to their education, they could take advantage of that opportunity to have a wider range that goes beyond just math and language arts. Having the potential to expand their range can help give them a better feel for what they want to pursue when life after high school arrives and they need to assess what they want study or whether or not they even need to go to college to do what they want.

Common core standards impose a single standard for all students, which can most of the time mask a student’s bright spots from an educational standpoint. Neal McClusky, an editor for U.S News states, “What is wrong is imposing one standard on everyone, which ignores that all children are unique and no standards-setters omniscient.” This means that the common core standards fail to acknowledge that everyone is different, and while some students may excel in the eyes of the common core standards, others may do well in what isn’t among those standards which takes away their opportunity to stand out and show that they themselves are unique in their own way. A public school setting should be a place for all students to be able to come and showcase what they are good at rather than implement these standards on them and make them seem like they aren’t special.

Common core standards have generally benefited the public schooling system in its ability to make sure that all students get the opportunity to have the same level of education, no matter what school they go to. These standards provide students with a good education that will benefit them in later years and gives everyone a fair chance to do just as well as their peers. The common core standard is a good system that was implemented in our nation’s public school and should remain the process that this countries students go through as they progress through the schooling system.

References:

“Are the Common Core Standards a Good Idea?” U.S News, U.S News, 27 Feb. 2014, 10:13 AM.

Danielson, Christopher. “8 Benefits of the Common Core Math Standards.” Dummies, Dummies.

“Development Process.” Development Process | Common Core State Standards Initiative, Common Core State Standards Initiative.