On June 22, 2010, Maryland adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Now, like many other academic institutions across the country, middle schools in Howard County are making curricular changes to better align with the CCSS, Elkridge, Maryland’s Patch website reported.
For instance, the news source stated that all 19 Howard County middle schools will now feature the same daily schedule – seven fifty-minute periods. As each class will gain an additional five minutes, teachers will be able to devote more time to core subjects.
To properly align with the CCSS, the schools extended the amount of time students spend in physical education class, and made world language instruction mandatory for sixth-graders, according to the news outlet. However, in order to create room in the schedule, the schools had to eliminate formal reading classes.
With this change, three years of reading instruction will be reduced to two quarters, the news source reported.
However, the development of strong reading skills is still a major focus of the Common Core. According to the CCSS’ website, students will read a range of written works, including classic mythology, U.S. documents and the writings of William Shakespeare.
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