By CHRISSY PRICHARD

Express News Staff

The Common Core State Standards, a nationwide education initiative to create consistent academic standards in mathematics and English language arts among states was adopted by New York State and will be put into place at the Town of Webb UFSD starting this fall.

The state-led initiative to develop these standards was coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Prior to this initiative, each state set their own academic standards which has resulted in varied levels of academic expectations and achievements across the country.

The Common Core State Standards are designed to level the playing field and to ensure that all students have access to a quality education and that students come out of high school prepared to meet college and workforce expectations, regardless of what state they live in.

The core standards were developed by leading academic experts from across the country. The first step was to determine college- and career-ready standards that detail what students should know and be able to do upon graduation from high school. These standards were in turn used to develop corresponding K-12 standards that set expectations by grade level.

Each state was then given the option to adopt these standards. So far, 45 states and three territories have adopted the common core standards. Adoption of the standards is not a federal mandate and does not incorporate a national curriculum. The states are given flexibility when adopting the standards, allowing each state to determine the best way for their students to reach these academic goals, leading ultimately to college and career success.

Teachers and administrators at the Town of Webb School spent time during the 2011-2012 school year training and preparing to implement these new standards into the classrooms.

“Ultimately the entire district is refocusing. We’re having to look at curriculum, text books, every bit of the educational side of what we’re doing. It’s truly going to be focused on what the students are learning. It’s not about what we’re teaching, but it’s about what they’re walking away with as an end product. The questions will be what are they actually retaining, what are they learning, what are they actually carrying away,” said Superintendent Rex Germer.

To be sure students are meeting the expectations of the new academic standards, the state will continue testing students in a similar way as before. Students in 3rd through 8th grades will still take their ELA and math tests, but the questions will change to line up with the new standards. Secondary level students will continue to take state-administered Regents exams to make sure they are learning what is expected of them.

The success of the common core falls on everyone- the teachers, students, administration, and Board of Education all play important roles. “Ultimately, everyone winds up responsible. Students are going to have the assessments, teachers will be evaluated on what the results of those assessments are, [the principal] is going to be evaluated on what the teachers results are, so really everyone is involved,” said Germer.

Principal John Swick, who taught math before taking over the principal’s position at the school, said he sees a lot of similarities between prior state standards in math and the common core standards. “Some of it is reorganization of topics. Some topics we were teaching in the 8th grade are now being taught in the 6th grade, and vice versa. So a lot of it is the same, but now we are going more in depth with it,” he said. “Some topics have disappeared. Some topics we’ll spend more time on at a specific grade level, rather than spending time reviewing it down the road.”

In math, this will lead to students learning fewer topics, but gaining a deeper understanding of each topic. “They’re getting away from a ‘mile-wide, inch-deep’ idea and getting more in depth,” said Swick.

Although much of the information being taught is the same, there will be changes in what is expected from a teacher’s instructional approach. “In terms of the ELA piece, you might not necessarily see more reading and writing, but the topics that they’re going to be covering will be different from what they’ve seen in the past,” said Germer.

He says that there will be more of a focus on non-fiction materials, which means that teachers in other subjects, such as science, can use more reading and writing to teach their subject matter, which will help students to achieve the ELA standards. “Even teachers that aren’t teaching math or ELA, their standards have changed so they’re incorporating some of the ELA aspects into their programs,” said Germer.

The principal will have to play a larger role in making sure teachers and students are on the right track academically. “It’s definitely making my position more instructionally focused rather than discipline focused. It’s definitely more geared toward me getting in the classroom and helping as many teachers get aligned with the common core as possible, which is considerably more time than administrators have spent on this kind of thing in the past,” said Swick.

For Swick, the biggest benefit he sees of the common core standards is that the information will have more of a chance to sink in. “Kids will be gaining a deeper knowledge of the things that we are already teaching them. Where before you may not have had the time to delve into some of these topics, now they’re going to be able to,” he said.

For further information on the Common Core State Standards, visit www.engage-NY.org or www.corestandards.org, or call the school at (315) 369-3222.