Current News

The Next Generation Science Standards, publicly unveiled on April 9, will reshape the focus and delivery of science instruction in U.S. schools by emphasizing depth over breadth, providing students with a foundation of essential knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge through scientific inquiry and the engineering and design process.

On April 4, New York Education Commissioner John King Jr., described the new tests for English Language Arts (ELA) and math that students in grades 3-8 will take as challenging. He said the new assessments will require students to engage in deeper analysis of written texts and demonstrate a thorough understanding of math concepts.

Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen has unveiled the framework of a program to fund charter schools that would spread the financial responsibility to every school district in the state.

In Massachusetts, 10 high schools have received $20,000 grants to create a pilot financial literacy program for the 2013-14 school year.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Education Glenda Ritz said recently that she supports early childhood education, even though the state is only one of 11 without dedicated funding for preschool. About 50 percent of Indiana's students start kindergarten without any early childhood education.

Speaking at the Cape Henlopen School District's recent board of education meeting, Delaware Education Secretary Mark Murphy discussed the state's implementation of the Common Core State Standards. "This work defines a path for our students and educators to have success," he said.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson says the graduation rate for students who started high school in 2008 and graduated in 2012 was 78.5 percent, up 1.4 percent from the previous year.

A public school district in Danville, KY, has shifted its focus from traditional assessments and is encouraging the instructional approach of project-based learning, an example of a growing number of schools and districts looking to spend less time on testing, and more on deeper learning.

Here’s what the Common Core State Standards do: They simply delineate what children should know at each grade level and describe the skills that they must acquire to stay on course toward college or career readiness. They are not a curriculum; it’s up to school districts to choose curricula that comply with the standards. The Fordham Institute has carefully examined Common Core and compared it with existing state standards: It found that for most states, Common Core is a great improvement with regard to rigor and cohesiveness.

This Oklahoman editorial says theories that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative is federal interference in education are wrong, as the standards were created by governors and state education officials with the help of the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers as part of an effort to establish a single set of clear, rigorous educational standards for K-12 in English language arts and mathematics.