Common Core offers a radically new approach to the way math is taught in the United States at every grade level. Teachers will be allowed to spend more time in delivering instruction so that all students will have sufficient time to both process lesson content and be able to demonstrate their knowledge through real world assessments.
This tie-in to higher education and business will prepare students to compete on a global scale which is absolutely necessary if the US economy is to be able to stay economically competitive. Currently, American students are being outperformed by most countries in the industrialized world. There is an urgency here to reverse the downward trend. What complicates the picture here even more is that the number of ELLs in the country continues to rise while training for mainstream teachers, who may not have dealt with them in the past, is limited due to funding.
Common Core offers some hope in reversing this negative trend. A "less is more" approach will be the focus here. Students will have time to process new information before moving on. Further, math concepts will be tied to what they know and what they will need to know to become productive working adults in the future.
The first assessments will be ready in 2014. I hope they yield the results educators and parents hope for.
Denise
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