Common Core

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that will do away with the California Standardized Test (CST) and replace it with an assessment aligned to the new Common Core standards.

“This is one of the most important and revolutionary changes to education policy,” said the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, in a written statement. She said the new law will “better prepare students and teachers for better assessments that reflect the real world knowledge needed for young people to succeed in college and careers.”

I’m a proponent of Common Core. I think it’s a move in the right direction to provide all students with a high quality education. The standards are a compilation of anchor standards, and the rigor for each standard is increased as the students progress through the grades.

I wouldn’t believe all the hype and fear being disseminated through various media outlets. If you have the time, check out the math and English Language Arts standards. I think you’ll find they set the bar high and make the skills our children will be learning comparable to the highest achieving countries in the world (i.e. Finland, South Korea, and Poland).