Just over a year ago, the Common Core State Standards Initiative released its much-anticipated math and English language arts standards, which provide a consistent understanding of what students are expected to learn and also help prepare students for college and career success. Since then, all but six states have adopted the new standards, triggering the widespread need to help countless educators translate the standards into effective classroom practice and instruction.
SCD has a long history of preparing educators to unpack standards and develop curricula and teaching units aligned to them. Our professional development resources services—particularly those related to our frameworks based on Understanding by Design© and Curriculum Mapping—assist educators in connecting the dots between standards, instruction, and assessment. We're now expanding on this capacity-building expertise and undertaking work specific to the common core state standards. In collaboration with McREL, a private education research and development corporation, we just released the first in a series of books about the standards. The initial book, Understanding Common Core State Standards, describes how the standards were developed, discusses their benefits and related concerns, and explains how schools can prepare to implement the standards. Future books will delve deeply into the standards by instructional level and subject area. We've also developed a common core resource web page (www.ascd.org/commoncore) that tracks state standards adoption and provides educators with implementation resources.
In addition, ASCD has worked closely with several of our state affiliates to support their symposia for educators to learn more about the common core. Attendees have explored the initiative's purpose and ASCD's perspective on essential next steps. They've also discussed district-level needs related to standards implementation. Perhaps the most surprising takeaway from these events is that while the participating educators are familiar with the standards, they've reported that many of their colleagues have little, if any, knowledge of the common core. Clearly, more work needs to be done.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recognizes both this need and ASCD's reputation as a professional development leader. They have awarded the association a $3 million grant to build teacher, school, district, and state capacity to successfully implement the standards. We know that to accomplish this goal, we must first hear directly from educators. That is why we are beginning our work by convening state-level meetings to not only share information about the common core standards, but also solicit educator input about the specific assistance they need to effectively integrate the standards into their schools and classrooms. With support from state departments of education, ASCD will hold meetings for school and district leaders in Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Utah.
Educator feedback from these meetings, as well as our longstanding capacity-building expertise, will inform ASCD's development of hands-on tools and professional learning opportunities to support broad understanding of the standards' underlying concepts and their successful implementation. The teaching and learning tools will help educators in all adopting states translate the standards into multiple instructional techniques and will be accompanied by virtual professional development resources to facilitate their use.
The new, higher standards will help ensure that our young people graduate ready for college, career, and citizenship. But it is shortsighted to believe that the standards alone are sufficient for reaching this goal. They are an important first step in providing our students with a high-quality education, but schools and communities will need to better and more comprehensively support learning if students are to meet these enhanced expectations. ASCD will leverage the common core state standards to promote a whole child approach to education that engages students in a broad and rich curriculum, addresses their health and safety needs, and provides them with additional support and relevant learning opportunities. Only then will the standards lead to tangible improvements in learning and teaching.
Read ASCD's standards development and implementation position at www.ascd.org/news-media/ASCD-Policy-Positions/ASCD-Positions.aspx. Explore our common core resources at www.ascd.org/commoncore. And sign up for regular common core updates at www.ascd.org/commoncoresignup.