Common Core State Standards in Mathematics

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, found here, is an arrangement of standards designed to "define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs." These standards were developed to create a consistency of achievement across the states.

After having read the introductions and overviews of the Elementary standards I am immediately aware of how many fewer there are presented. Instead of the state standards I am accustomed to, which are a "mile long and an inch deep," these standards appear to be more focused on general concepts and how they are expected to be developed over time.

Like all curriculum, learning is suppose to have a spiral effect where a concept that may be introduced in one grade is revisited the following year at a deeper level. While this seems logical enough, it is difficult for me as a teacher to get deep into any one concept while trying to visit ideas from the previous year and also set the base for the year to follow. The Common Core Standards seem to alleviate this pressure by condensing the mathematical concepts so teachers have an opportunity to delve deeper in their teaching so students reach true understanding.

Though I like this structure being more simplified, I am still concerned about the specificity of certain standards. For example, in Grade 1 a measurement standard is to tell and write time. The measurement standard that addresses this concept is revisited in Grade 2 as work with time and money. To what extent does the first grade teacher teach time? In addition, how will the 2nd grade teacher know where to begin? The current standards reflect this extent and identify students must be able to tell time to the nearest half hour or quarter hour. In the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Grade 3, time is not mentioned at all. I realize that with each developmental grade a concept has more focus over another, but how and when are the gaps filled or identified?

I realize with any set of standards there are gaps and teachers use their own discretion on when to differentiate for particular groups of students, so having gaps isn't a solid argument to disliking CCSS. Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) is a Leadership group that has suggested a solution to this discontinuity by fusing the three Rs and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, communication and creativity and innovation) with the new standards. Fourteen states of the thirty-six which have agreed to participate in the CCSS have already committed to this approach.

CCSS address some skills, "Mathematical Practices," as an addition to their content standards; what I see P21 doing is adding process skills that can be used more universally in other content areas.

Overall, I still have not identified my position on the Common Core State Standards. While I think it's generalizing our standards and allowing more leeway and flexibility for teaching, I also find it vague and interpretive. As I read and learn more about CCSS I'll post updates and new opinions that surface.

'Till next time,
Miss 7 ate 9