Schools Transitioning to New Core English and Math Standards

Several states around the country are moving forward with implementing common core standards in the areas of math and language arts. These common core standards would provide uniformity throughout all districts within the state. Full implementation is several years off with many states giving a date of 2013 or later as a realistic time frame. Some school systems are being proactive with the adoption of the new standards and those in the state of Georgia have formed a precision review committee to review the common core standards. The committee wants to be part of the review process so that they can have some say in the new standards and closely mirror what the Georgia Department of Education does.

Several of the states that have agreed to implement common core standards plan to make changes to their assessments, curriculum materials, professional development and teacher evaluations. A total of 32 states have adopted the standards while others are still deciding or plan to adopt them once some provisions are made.
Some states decided to adopt the core standards because they felt that it could partially improve their chances at winning Race to the Top federal funding. Those states that signed on also felt that the improvement of education was more important than the funding. Due to these changes taking so much time to implement, states must continue to make progress on the efforts to improve schools that are more immediate.
There is hope that these common core standards will make for a seamless education system from elementary school to college. Many of the states that plan to implement the common core standards do not have solid plans in place to align college admission requirements. Right now only seven states plan to align first-year undergraduate core curriculum with the standards.
Via Times-Herald