How Do The COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS Affect Your Child?

Article By Maggie Lage

In 2010, the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices introduced the Common Core State Standards, which provide teachers and parents with benchmarks for what their students should learn grade by grade from kindergarten through 12th grade. The goal of these common standards is to make sure all students across the country are prepared for college and careers when they graduate high school.  To date, 45 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories have adopted the Common Core State Standards.

By now, you have probably heard about these standards and know that they will impact your child’s education. What can you expect?  Here are several things you should know about the Common Core State Standards:

The Common Core State Standards raise the bar for student learning.

The standards were created based upon the best state standards in the country and will take all states’ standards to the next level. The highest international standards (of top performing nations) were also incorporated into the standards.  Without a doubt, academics in America will become more rigorous as a result of the standards.

The Common Core State Standards are only for English and language arts, and math. These subjects are considered to be the ones in which students build skills that they need for a variety of other subjects.
English and language arts are composed of reading, writing, speaking and listening, language, media and technology. Math standards consist of counting, operations and algebraic thinking, numbers and operations, measurement and data, and geometry for K-5; ratios and proportional relationships, the number system, expressions and equations, functions, geometry, probability and statistics for middle school; and number and quantity, algebra, functions, modeling, geometry, probability and statistics for high school.

The standards are not a curriculum. The Common Core State Standards are not a curriculum, but rather, a set of standards that establishes goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills students need to succeed.
The idea is to give students a high-quality education by helping teachers keep students on track for college and career readiness. It is up to schools and teachers how to implement the standards.

There will be new assessment tests for students beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.

The states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards will soon have computerized common assessment tests (aligned to the standards) that will replace other state standardized tests. The new tests will be administered to students in the 2014-2015 school year. They are being developed by two assessment consortia:  Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).

The Common Core State Standards promote consistency and collaboration. The standards encourage fairness in education by ensuring all students – no matter where they live – are well prepared to compete with their peers across the country and around the world.  They also allow states to collaborate on things such as teaching tools and strategies for different types of students, textbooks and other teaching materials, assessment systems and more.

In the wake of this move toward more rigorous academic standards, Huntington Learning Center is committed to helping our students succeed in school.  Our curriculum team has worked to ensure our tutoring programs adhere to the Common Core State Standards.  We are prepared to help our students acquire the skills and knowledge they need to meet their appropriate grade-level standards – and go on to achieve college and life success.

Learn more about Huntington at www.HuntingtonHelps.com

Parents who want additional information are encouraged to call the Huntington Learning Center in Newark at 302-737-1150.

Founded in 1977, Huntington Learning Center has offered supplemental education services longer than any other provider. Parents often contact Huntington when they receive a particularly alarming report card or other communication saying their child is falling behind. Many also reach out to Huntington because they are concerned their child may have poor study skills, or difficulty in performing to grade level in reading and math.

Hear what parents are saying about Huntington
Our son was struggling with school at the end of 2nd grade and now with Huntington’s help and great teachers, at the end of 3rd grade he is at grade level and looking forward to 4th grade. Huntington really helped our son.  – The Singers 

Huntington Learning Center in Newark

34 Liberty Plaza | Kirkwood Highway | Newark, DE 19711

For more information or to schedule a consultation at the Newark location

call 302-737-1150 or visit www.newark.huntingtonlearning.com