California and the "Common Core": Will There Be a New Debate About K-12 Standards?

EdSource:

A growing chorus of state and federal policymakers, large foundations, and business leaders across the country are calling for states to adopt a common, rigorous body of college- and career-ready skills and knowledge in English and mathematics that all K-12 students will be expected to master by the time they graduate.

This report looks at the history of efforts to create common education standards, in particular the Common Core State Standards Initiative. It also describes factors California may consider when deciding whether to adopt them.

Highlights:

The Common Core is the latest effort to create rigorous, common academic standards among states

California is supporting the concept of common standards, but state law calls for further review and leaves the adoption decision to the State Board of Education

Issues surrounding the adoption include the quality of the Common Core standards and their relationship to the state's current standards as well as costs and other implementation concerns

Common Core or not, California might decide to review its current standards and expectations for students

Related: California State Academic Content Standards Commission:

On January 7, 2010, the Governor signed into law Senate Bill X5 1 (Steinberg). The bill calls for California's academic content standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics to be examined against the Common Core Standards that were released in final form on June 2, 2010. The bill also calls for the establishment of the California Academic Content Standards Commission. The Governor and Legislature have made the required appointments to the commission.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 18, 2010 2:44 AM
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