News, NJ DOE, State

New Jersey and the Common Core

June 11, 2013

Laura Waters

My column today at NJ Spotlight looks at the NJ’s implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the attendant student tests.

Here’s a truism: All American schoolchildren, regardless of place of residence, should have access to an ambitious and cohesive curriculum that will enable them to succeed in college and career. Hard to argue with, right? Think again. One of the most divisive issues in public education these days, in New Jersey and elsewhere, is an initiative created for exactly that purpose called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Only a year ago CCSS was heralded as a crossroads of national educational equity. New Jersey, along with 44 other states and the District of Columbia, signed on (induced in part by federal incentives). Now, however, the project is beset by problems both of perception and substance. Insiders speculate that only two dozen or so states will end up taking part in the launch during the 2014-2015 school year.

Read the rest here.

Laura Waters

2 Comments

kallikak, June 12, 2013 @ 7:41 pm Reply

Have you ever read NJ's prior set of standards, the CCCS?

The CCSS is really nothing new in and of itself and as such does not represent much of step forward for New Jersey.

In light of the above, I fail to see the point of your argument.
NJ Left Behind, June 13, 2013 @ 1:48 pm Reply

It's true: NJ's standards were already pretty high (although compliance with them is another story). It's really the attendant PARCC tests — problematic as they are — that will create more of a ruckus and, hopefully, a rational discussion that focuses on kids.