Education standards vary wildly from one state to another, but a new initiative called Common Core State Standards seeks to put everyone on the same level. State education leaders gathered this week to talk about how that affects Missouri.
Success Link is a group that was put in place by the outstanding schools act of 1996 to find and desiminate the best practices for teachers and schools in Missouri. Director Amy Youngblood says Success Link hosted a symposium to talk about what Missouri needs to do to implement Common Core Standards. She says the outlook is good since Missouri has had rigorous standards in place for some time now already.
She says Missouri is working with 30 other states on a grant to ensure there’s no duplication in efforts to streamline education standards nationwide.
Missouri and 47 other states have opted into the Common Core Standards curriculum. Texas and Alaska voted not to.
Youngblood says the biggest changes will be in math and communication arts, but that Missouri has had rigorous education standards for a while, and to get our state on the level with the nationwide standards shouldn’t take too much of a push.
The differences will be subtle, according to the Department of Education. A little more Algebra in 8th grade. More fractions in elementary grades. There will also be a bigger emphasis on communication arts, especially technical writing skills, in all subjects.
Jessica Machetta reports [Download / listen Mp3, 1 min.]
