It's likely that many of you have already heard about the Common Core States Standards (CCSS). In essence, it is an effort to standardize learning expectations for all students on a national scale. A lot of work has gone into developing these standards for language arts and mathematics and more content areas are on the way. The Connecticut State Department of Education has tentatively said that our own CMT/CAPT tests will have a new iteration by the year 2014 or 2015 that will be based on the Common Core rather than Connecticut's own current standards. So, in other words, moving to the CCSS is inevitable. Here at the Department of Teaching and Learning we are in the initial stages of learning about the CCSS and planning for our transition over to these new standards. You can find a general overview of the CCSS project and the standards HERE.
The CSDE has already begun a mapping process by which they've developed "crosswalk" documents to compare our current standards to the Common Core. The good news is that Connecticut is in very good shape. Most of our standards are either on or ahead of the grade level of the Common Core. There are, though, several areas that will need adjustment. You can find the CSDE work HERE.
I strongly encourage everyone to visit THIS SITE in which a full spectrum of curriculum has been developed in line with the new CCSS. Even if you are not an ELA teacher, these curriculum maps are very informative and well developed.
Thanks for reading and enjoy your long weekend!
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