"Are you ready for this?"


During our faculty meeting this week we focused on how the new Common Core standards concentrate on developing skills which will help students become successful in the real world.  The new criteria is prompting educators and administrators across the nation to take a closer look at the level of transition skills students acquire to help them become successful contributors in our society.

In the past, transitions were covered primarily in the upper high school grades.  However, data has shown that transition skills must be emphasized and taught as early as Kindergarten.  Although the transition from a high school senior to the real world is a crucial switch, other fundamental transitions are happening for students at the elementary level between 5th and 6th grade, as well as the 8th to 9th grade transition.

Students are now expected to successfully compete in a global economy.  Our students must be better prepared for the social, emotional, academic, and intellectual transitions that will happen throughout their lives.  According to the CCSS, "the standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers."

In addition, the way in which students are being assessed will shift as a result of the Common Core standards.  Moving forward, children will be evaluated based on performance assessment.  For example, the Common Core standards performance assessment seeks to measure skills that go beyond asking students fill-in-the-space questions. Instead, students are being evaluated over an entire process that could take up to two classroom days to complete.  I believe these types of assessments are a terrific way to examine a student’s performance on activities such as experiments, essays, computer programming, etc.  Each of these activities more accurately reflects an individual’s basic skills as they apply to real world situations.

Take a minute to read the Common Core Mission Statement:

“The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.”

For more information on CCSS click here.

Best,

Ms. Vince

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