Shifting to the Common Core State Standards and Assessments
Shifting to the Common Core State Standards and Assessments Many of us have heard about the Common Core State Standards and are curious about the changes that this will bring to our curriculum and assessments. There are several key shifts in the new Massachusetts 2011 standards for both English Language Arts and Literacy and also Mathematics, and so the assessments used to measure these standards will also be evolving. In Mathematics, there are four key shifts: Focus, Coherence, Clarity, and Rigor. · Key Shift #1: Focus. Students will focus on the most essential skills at each grade level. Instead of covering topics in a mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum, our students will focus deeply on the key understandings at each grade level to build a strong conceptual foundation. · Key Shift #2: Coherence. The standards are built with progression in mind....