Shawnee Mission East l 7500 Mission Road, PV KS, 66208 l September 10, 2012 l Issue 1 l www.smeharbinger.net
THE HARBINGER PG. 3O Soccer team starts season with 20 seniors and high expectations.
One of the main goals of the program is to make students more employable by simulating real-life situations in the classroom.
The ‘Case’ for Common Core
WORK PORTFOLIO
The program aims to raise national test scores, so America can be more competitive with other countries.
COMMON CORE CURRICULUM
Map of the United States of America
Fourty-five states have so far adopted the program, as shown by the map to the left.
WORLD ATLAS
The curriculum will be essayoriented, requiring more writing for the students and more grading for the teachers.
Geometry 101
How To Write an Essay
Once this program goes into effect, students will have to pass geometry to graduate.
KANSAS STATE TEST SCORES State tests will be more difficult, causing an expected decrease in scores but an increase in how accurately they reflect what students have learned.
2010
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2011
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2012
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2013
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FINDING COMMON GROUND Kansas public schools plan to put Common Core Curriculum into full effect Fall 2013 written by Anne Willman Change is coming to education in Kansas. Next school year, curriculums across the state will look different than they do today. Math, English, test standards—all are about to change. A new form of education standards will be introduced— the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Kansas is not alone. Not only will these changes be implemented in schools across the state, but students in 44 other states will face the same changes. It took 14 months for the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) to create the Common Core Standards. Experts, administrators and teachers specifically formed the standards with one distinct goal in mind: to prepare students for life after graduation. “It is important to have standards that are preparing students for college and their careers,” Carrie Heath Phillips, Director of Common Core Standards said. The standards were designed to teach students the information they need to take with them to the next grade level. In this system, the information taught to students will build year after year, eventually meeting a main goal of preparing students for college. The new Common Core standards will replace the current state standards. However, each state or school district has the choice to include additional standards if they choose to do so. “For parents, teachers and students, they will have a clearer idea of what kids need to do in each grade,” Phillips said. “Previously, standards may be a huge long laundry list of things you need to do, but the standards are supposed to be more focused and more clear.” The changes will take place as a result of the Common Core standards in two main subjects: English and mathematics.
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