America is failing its students, and it is failing its teachers. Out of 34 different well-developed countries who participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests America ranked 27th in Math, 17th in reading, and 20th in science (United States – country note –results from PISA 2012, 2012, p. 1). Based on a 2012 study conducted by PISA, the USA is doing worse than 50%-79% of the countries tested. Common Core State Standards is a desperately needed change to help students develop into better scholars, and internationally compete in the marketplace. Common Core State Standards, or Common Core for short, is not only trying to increase America’s competiveness internationally, but also trying to standardize learning
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Since CCSS’s standards started at a college level, and then worked their way down the standards can be perceived as college professors saying what students’ should or should not learn throughout their educational careers. However, many groups were involved in the development of the standards. Therefore, the standards were not solely based on what colleges are looking for in their incoming students. In response to these claims Education Digest published an article saying, “NGA and CCSSO led the initiative [of writing Common Core] with the guidance of an advisory group including experts from Achieve, Inc., a bipartisan, nonprofit organization that helps states raise academic standards; ACT, Inc.; the College Board; the National Association of State Boards of Education; and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.” (Understanding the CCSS standards, 2014, p. 17) The National Governors Association, or NGA, is a bipartisan organization of governors from the United States who help develop creative solutions that improve state government, and offer opinions on national policy to the federal government. NGA primarily collaborated with The Council of Chief State School Officers, or CCSSO, a nonpartisan, nationwide, and nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education. Some groups like National Education Association, one of the country’s largest teachers’ union, and FreedomWorks, who promote free markets and individual liberty, feel they should have also been included more in the development of CCSS’s standards. However, there was already an abundant amount of educational ‘power houses’ in the list of contributors. Too many opinions may have derailed the entire process of getting the standard set, and to be implemented before the funding of the NCLB act ran out. Besides, the experts
Since CCSS’s standards started at a college level, and then worked their way down the standards can be perceived as college professors saying what students’ should or should not learn throughout their educational careers. However, many groups were involved in the development of the standards. Therefore, the standards were not solely based on what colleges are looking for in their incoming students. In response to these claims Education Digest published an article saying, “NGA and CCSSO led the initiative [of writing Common Core] with the guidance of an advisory group including experts from Achieve, Inc., a bipartisan, nonprofit organization that helps states raise academic standards; ACT, Inc.; the College Board; the National Association of State Boards of Education; and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.” (Understanding the CCSS standards, 2014, p. 17) The National Governors Association, or NGA, is a bipartisan organization of governors from the United States who help develop creative solutions that improve state government, and offer opinions on national policy to the federal government. NGA primarily collaborated with The Council of Chief State School Officers, or CCSSO, a nonpartisan, nationwide, and nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education. Some groups like National Education Association, one of the country’s largest teachers’ union, and FreedomWorks, who promote free markets and individual liberty, feel they should have also been included more in the development of CCSS’s standards. However, there was already an abundant amount of educational ‘power houses’ in the list of contributors. Too many opinions may have derailed the entire process of getting the standard set, and to be implemented before the funding of the NCLB act ran out. Besides, the experts