U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan believes that the Common Core State Standards are preparing the children of America for competition on a global scale. He is in full support of their implementation in all 50 states and their usefulness in preparing students for college and beyond.
Duncan spoke with residents of Richmond, Va., Nov. 15 to discuss the benefits of the Standards and how raising the bar for children and teenagers only makes them more marketable in an uncertain economic future. He addressed the crowd at a meeting of the Council of Chief State Schools Officers Organization.
The CCSS were designed to elevate education across the U.S. to a level comparable to that of Europe and Asia. Students who live in states that have adopted the Standards are required to take assessments that test mastery of CCSS-aligned content that focuses on reading, language arts and mathematics.
According to Duncan, the CCSS are revealing the fundamental weaknesses of some schools that were previously considered to be "good" without any scientifically backed evidence.
Higher academic standards that could be compared to other states was what made CCSS so appealing to people like Paul Sandrock.
"One of the things that we felt was a benefit is the comparability," Sandrock, assistant director of the Content and Learning Team at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, told ASCD.org. "The value to us was to have a common vision for instruction, for curriculum, for student learning and, ultimately, for state assessment."
Duncan wants to give states an appropriate amount of time to get used to the Standards, which is why, in June 2013, he announced he was extending the deadline for implementing teacher evaluations for 37 states and the District of Columbia. These evaluations hope to produce better teaching practices and recognize efficient pedagogies.
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