It is clear that the Common Core State Standards are soon going to be adopted and implementation of the standards required in most, if not every, state in America.  The Common Core Standards Initiative (CCSSI) notes that 45 states, the District of Columbia, and four territories have already adopted the standards (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2012, In the States). The choice of whether or not to implement the standards is almost fully out of the hands of classroom educators. So, it…

A concept identified as a "myth" on the website of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (2012, Myths vs. Facts) is the idea that the Standards will prescribe what teachers must teach in the classroom. Unfortunately, the response provided by the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) attempts to veil the response and redirect the reader by confusing the ideas of what and how teachers provide instruction. CCSSI (2012) notes that teachers will be given plenty of freedom regarding how…

One of the indictments of the Common Core State Standards is that they are potentially far too low pandering to the lowest common denominator. That is to say that they use the lowest of the standards recorded to create reachable standards to serve as the national common core. However, the Common Core Standards Initiative (CCSSI) purports to incorporate the best ideas from around the globe into one set of national standards for language arts and one set for mathematics (Common Core State…

In education, ideas are routinely recycled. For example, phonics and whole language approaches have been recycled on multiple occasions. Outcomes-based education was recycled to the modern rendition of standards-based education. Now, with distance learning becoming more commonplace and the trend toward a centralized national curriculum, standards-based education is being recycled into the Common Core State Standards.

So what are the Common Core State Standards? Collaborating with teachers,…

The ideas of academic freedom and centralized curriculum appear on the surface to be diametrically opposed. The notion of academic freedom has dominated the philosophy of college and university professors who are often willing to fight for it if for no other reason than because it has always been a part of the post-secondary faculty culture. Many professors would admit to feeling at least slightly threatened by the concept of centralized curriculum and the loss of control that they perceive…

The online education magazine eSchool News recently asked its readers what were the most important technology skills for students to know in the modern era (Stansbury, 2012). The readers identified "online literacy," "critical thinking," "the science behind the technology," "adaptability," and "courage" as the most important skills for the modern era. So, how do these ideas fit into the K-12 curriculum?

The bulging K-12 curriculum that once included only reading, writing, and arithmetic now…

I had the privilege of conducting a focus group with approximately seven learners at a doctoral residency last summer. I simply joined their table over lunch and starting asking questions. As a curriculum developer, I wanted to hear their perceptions of both the curriculum used in their programs and their individual progress. Their perceptions of these things were significantly different than those of the department chairs with whom I interact on a regular basis. While the chairs noted…