One of the key elements in a story we ran (subscription required) in early May on Common Core was how students will take Common Core standardized tests next year, even though few districts have educational materials that completely teach to the new standards.
NPR goes into great depth about what that means in a two-part series. A portion of the first part details how some educational book publishers came out with substandard materials they sold as Common Core-ready. There was one problem, according to Amber Northern, vice president for research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank that supports the Common Core:
“There’s no way they could have gone back and actually re-evaluated, re-assessed their materials, and truly made a good-faith effort to align those materials that quickly. It just was simply impossible.”
The second part shows how districts are either doing nothing to adjust, buying new materials that may or may not be good enough, or adapting on their own to get next year’s curriculum in line with the new standards. Based on my experience, most local districts are doing some form of the latter. The NPR piece goes into some good detail about what a few districts are doing to be ready.
Over at Education Week a blog entry details a national survey showing that educator generally favor Common Core, but are highly concerned about how it’s being implemented. Again, much of the concern is materials and curriculum.
Here is a good discussion of the Common Core and a sample lesson plan for a K Math standard.
http://teaching-abc.blogspot.com/search/label/Common%20Core