Common Core State Standards

I think that one of the largest challenges that an education system faces is the balance between standards and individual classrooms. The Common Core State Standards projects itself as standards without the intention of creating complete standardization. One of the benefits of these standards is that children and parents will be able to understand where they are in their education, even if they were to change schools. However, at the same time, each classroom should be arranged to fit the students that are currently learning in it; or rather, the classroom could be arranged as the teacher feels is needed for the student’s education. Therefore, to overcome this apparent contradiction in ideals, The Common Core State Standards shows off its versatility by allowing the teacher freedom to pick materials and methods in which to teach and assess the abilities that Common Core requires.

                The CCSS explicitly states that the goal is not standardization, but rather, setting high standards in which the teacher is given the flexibility to guide the students to those standards as they see fit.  “The needs, abilities, knowledge base, and interests of teachers and students vary from school to school, from classroom to classroom, and even within every classroom – they cannot be standardized” The CCSS also describes ways of teaching students an otherwise standard lesson, such as the argumentative essay, by using methods that the students find interesting and feel comfortable with. For example, the ability to create online aliases to write and share the essays on a particular topic not only is realistic, given that aliases are common on the internet, but also great for reducing the anxiety a student may feel about sharing their opinion with their peers.

                Ultimately the students are the whole reason the classroom even exists, so it is vital that it reflects the student’s needs. Common Core is honest in the fact that they acknowledge the very real challenge of economic inequality and multiculturalism (or a lack thereof). It would appear that the goal of the CCSS is to create a system of standards that can be molded to the student’s needs but maintaining the same as any other school. It is easier said than done, but it would appear that CCSS has acknowledged the larger challenges.