So what is Common Core?
Standards. That's it. They just say what a child should learn and be able to do by when. And only for English language arts and mathematics. Sorry, any of the supposedly Common Core science or history concerns are total bogus. They're not Common Core, because there is no science Common Core. They're usually just poorly written curriculum.
Are they good standards?
As a teacher from Louisiana (one of the lowest ranking states educationally in the nation), I like them a lot. They're more specific, clear, rigorous, and feasible (most of the time) than to what I was previously accustomed. If you're from a state that already had excellent standards, your state might not even have chosen to join Common Core, or if it did, they might look a lot like your past standards.
If you really want to know whether or not you like the standards yourself, you're going to need to compare the old with the new. Unfortunately, it would be a bit of a long article if I compared the standards of all fifty states to the Common Core. For the sake of this comparison, let's not use a high-performing or low-performing state as our example. Since Virginia ranks about the middle of the country (26th according to the Report Card on American Education), it should work fairly well.
Virginia's 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning vs. Common Core State Standards
Take this as our first example. This is actually the 4th grade standard that was indicated in the video I mentioned above claiming to compare the Common Core method with the past method. What do you think? Is there one method for each?
Common Core |
Virginia's SOL |
Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi‐digit arithmetic (4th grade Math Standards 4-6) · Fluently add and subtract multi‐digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm. · Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one‐digit whole number, and multiply two two‐digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models. · Find whole‐number quotients and remainders with up to four‐ digit dividends and one‐digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models. |
4.4 The student will · estimate sums, differences, products, and quotients of whole numbers · add, subtract, and multiply whole numbers · divide whole numbers, finding quotients with and without remainders · and solve single‐step and multistep addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems with whole numbers. |
It is true Common Core states some methods a student should be able to utilize, though it's the student's choice which one to use (note: “equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models”). I would find it gravely negligent of a teacher to ignore the equations method (that's your standard algorithm) when teaching, but ultimately under Common Core the student should be exposed to enough methods to choose one or two he/she likes to use.