As the world around us changes, so should our
education. The educational field needs
to have updated standards for the content that needs to be taught in the
classroom and the use of technology. The
goal is for students to have to skills and knowledge they need not only to
succeed in school but also in their environment and life. The website Partnership for 21st Century Skills allows the teachers to
get examples and guided to implanting the new common core standards. The standards are created with higher order
thinking.
I believe that the standards should be the same throughout
the nation. By every state having common
standards, all grades are learning the same content at the same time. If the student moves during the school year,
the students should not be behind or ahead of another school. This also means that all schools should have
the same expectations for their students and the nation should have the same
expectations on their schools.
It is interesting that you say that standards should be the same throughout the nation because there is a lot of discussion about that in our government today. I teach in PA where we have 509 school districts throughout the 67 counties in the state. There has been a big push on lately to consolidate all the districts down to at least 67. But who will give up their mascot?
ReplyDeleteIt seems silly to me, but that is the question that everyone gets stuck on. Schools want to maintain their individuality and presence.
This same holds true to any standards that are written and adopted. Schools that are performing well on the tests don't want to change. "Don't fix what is not broken". But, if we are going to standardize teaching and make everyone teach the same way, that status quo cannot stand.
I don't know the answer, nor do our government leaders. Maybe we should send everyone back to Kindergarden where we can all learn to get along and work together?
Our school has had several professional development training workshops on the Common Core Standards and has several more days (one day a month) dedicated to this subject. Yes, several teachers, schools, districts will have an issue with this because they want to maintain their individuality, but the underlying key factor is what will benefit the student.
ReplyDeleteIt is important that our country have a curriculum that is taught by every state. It goes back to what is best for the student. On the Partnership for 21st Century skills website, they give examples of developed lessons under each skill for various subjects. These skills tie directly into the Common Core to prepare students to become global employees.
Jeanine,
ReplyDeleteI agree that if all 50 States agree to work from the same set of standards, everyone should theoretically be teaching the same content. Question: What if the “official” standards are error filled and don’t work for every region of the country? Would the same set of standards work for Montana and Delaware etc? What if certain states have an excellent set of standards? Are they tossed to the side because of the “official” standards? The program “No Child Left Behind” theory was a good idea, but ultimately a disaster. I think making an “official” standard that every set must adopt would fail.
Jeanine, I liked that you also gave a brief outline of what the P21 website was about. I went right into my post about my thoughts and failed to even inform readers what the website is even about! I guess I just figured Walden Students who visited the website would be the only ones reading my posts. I agree with you that there should be some consistency in the nation about the content standards. It makes sense that if we consider ourselves a unit, then we should be teaching our children the same concepts depending on the specific grade levels. I also agree that we should have similar if not the same expectations for all of our nation’s students. Expectations should be high! Especially if we are trying to compete on a more global scale. Erika’s comment hit home with me because those are my thoughts exactly. It doesn’t matter so much how uncomfortable change may make the teacher, it matters more how beneficial the change will be to the students. To Jarv, I think if each state had a few educational representatives to help create and have a say in a set of national standards that every state would adopt, it would absolutely work. Consistency is key!
ReplyDelete