Educators Voice Support for Common Core

More teachers and educators are speaking out about the Common Core State Standards and what they mean in classrooms and for students. Here are some of the best clips with links, excerpts and quotes from classroom teachers and administrators:    

Guest opinion: Montana Common Core standards benefit students

By Anna Baldwin, The Billings Gazette (Billings, MT) 

February 25, 2014 

"The Montana Common Core literacy standards are a carefully planned, supported pathway for moving students forward on their journey to career and college readiness. By addressing those standards with a curriculum we design to be faithful to Indian Education for All, Montana teachers can ensure that our students are educated, astute members of our democracy, with the skills they need to succeed. "Montana Common Core Standards won't only help students; they will also benefit teachers. For instance, when covering the history of Indian-white interactions, mainstream history books often don't include how events like the Marias Massacre or documents like the Hellgate Treaty looked from a tribal perspective. This provides the ideal impetus for teachers to locate and present stories from multiple perspectives, so students learn to consider information from different primary sources, weigh the facts, and think critically before drawing conclusions about what happened. 

Anna Baldwin is the 2014 Montana Teacher of the Year. She teaches English and history at Arlee High School.   

Common Core and the uncommon schools

By Gabrielle Russon, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

February 23, 2014 

"Common Core standards says fifth-graders should understand volume and sixth-graders should know how to calculate surface area on geometric shapes.  "Vest teaches both, because the curriculum is a year ahead of most fifth-grade classes.  "'They're getting both and they don't even know it,' says Vest, a 15-year teacher at the Osprey school that has about 2,170 students in grades 2-12.  "The Common Core standards for different grades are blended so that gifted students learn tougher material. Teachers tailor the standards to fit the students' needs, some say."  And,  "'The whole goal of Common Core: This is why I believe what I believe,' Vest says, 'They're learning those skills. They're proving their point.'  "'It just feels like a good way to teach,' she says."   

Schools Must Keep Common Core On Track 

By Karen L. List, the Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT) 

February 7, 2014 

"I believe we must teach from rigorous standards, ones that will lead our students to be prepared for success in the future.   And,  "By the end of last year, parents and teachers were noticing the increased rigor in the work the children were doing. Teachers have said to me, 'Teaching to the Common Core standards has made me a better teacher.' This is fantastic news.   And,  "Change that actually works takes time. Let's treat the new standards with the patience, respect and care they deserve." 

Karen L. List is superintendent of schools in West Hartford, CT.