Common Core Initiatives - Advantage and Road Block

Hello Readers,
 
Listening to the video on common core state standards for the elementary level students was eye-opening to what is going on in our educational environment.  Forty states are conforming to the basic standards across the board with math and language arts.  This means the majority of the United States are having one set of common core requirements focusing on college career readiness as early as kindergarden.  The learning is different from the past in that it challenges students thinking to go beyond what is expected.  I think tapping into students abilities at an early age can only increase the knowledge children can achieve. 

The standards are expecting mastery in addition and subtraction during K-2nd grade and multiplication and division during 3rd-5th.  I believe this is a wonderful concept because I work with high school students and a good majority of them struggle with simple math fact.  It is sad to see some of these students deficient in their multiplication facts among other mathmatical practices and they are close to graduating.  Somewhere these students got lost and if we can start students earlier and maintain a higher level of learning the more productive we can be as educators and they can be as students.

The states do not have to start over with new common core standards they need to expand on what is being learned now since these initiatives are happening already. The only draw back I can see is funding. But, that is with everything else. The video discussed technology being used for extended learning and not all the school districts will have monies available to them. I believe academics should be funded as a primary concern for our younger generation to advance them in their future.

If you are interested, connect to this site for middle school common core standards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC4OG11zOC8&feature=relmfu

Thanks for reading,
Conni~



Reference: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IPxt794-yU


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