Educational Issues and Trends

1. Educational Issues and Trends • ISSUES • Bullying & Teasing • Lack of respect by students • Diversity if education • Teacher quality • School Safety & violence • Over population of schools • TRENDS • Core Standards • Student lead conferences • K-8 schools replacing middle schools • Laptops for all • Lengthening the school day • Academic redshirting • Technology

2. The Common Core Standards are the first step in providing our young people with a high quality education. It should be clear to every student, parent, and teacher what the standards of success are in very school. Teachers, parents, and community leaders have all weighed in to help create the Common Core Standards. The standards clearly communicate what is expected of students at each grade level. This will allow our teachers to be better equipped to know exactly what they need to help students learn and establish individualized benchmarks for them. The Common Core Standards focus on core conceptual understanding and procedures starting in the early grades, thus enabling teachers to take the time needed to teach core concepts and procedures well. This would give students the opportunity to master them. With students, parents, and teachers all on the same page and working together for shared goals, we can ensure that students make progress each year and graduate from school prepared to succeed in college and in a modern workplace. The Common Core standards

3. Goal: The standards as a whole must be essential, rigorous, clear and specific, coherent, and internationally benchmarked. Essential: The standards must be reasonable in scope in defining the knowledge and skills students should have to be ready to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing, academic college courses and in workforce training programs. Rigorous: The standards will include high level cognitive demands by asking students to demonstrate deep conceptual understanding through the application of content knowledge and skills to new situations. Clear and Specific: The standards should provide sufficient guidance and clarity so that they are teachable, learnable, and measurable. The standards will also be clear and understandable to the general public. Teachable & Learnable: Provide sufficient guidance for the design of curricula and instructional materials. The standards must be reasonable in scope, instructionally manageable, and promote depth of understanding. Measureable: Student attainment of the standards should be observable and verifiable and the standards can be used to develop broader assessment frameworks. Grade by grade standards: The standards will have limited repetition across the grades or grade spans to help educators align instruction to the standards. International benchmarked: The standards will be informed by the content, rigor, and organization of standards of high performing countries so that all students are prepared for succeeding in our global economy and society. Componentsof Core Standards

4. Will provide an accessible roadmap for schools, teachers, parents, and students with clear and realistic goals. Ensures that every child is getting the best possible education, no matter where a child lives or what their background is. Is an important stop forward in ensuring the U.S. remains competitive in the global economy. Will provide every student with a comprehensive, content rich, and complete education. Will improve the quality of instruction in our schools and the raising of students achievement levels. Through Core Standards we can deliver on the promise of equity implicit in the purpose of public education, and give all our young people a real shot at the American dream. These standards give us a common definition of what academic proficiency means. They will give all our schools common targets, clarifying what we expect teachers to be teaching and what we will hold schools and districts accountable for. We will be advancing and enabling our children to function in the data-driven society of the future. The standards provide a clear and focused progression of learning from Kindergarten to graduation that will provide teachers, administrators, parents, and students with the information they need for student success. The affects of Core Standards

5. The Core Standards will make our jobs as instructional assistants more defined. We will have a set of criteria that will allow us to better educate our students. As instructional assistants it will be our job to make sure that our students meet the core standards. The Core Standards will help instructional assistants develop and implement effective strategies for our students by providing benchmarks for skill and knowledge that our students should have by the end of a school year. Core Standards will help instructional assistants ensure their students have the skills and knowledge they need to be successful by providing clear goals for student learning. Will make it possible for educators to work together, from coast to coast, as they adapt and enrich common standards with learning activities and new best practices. Affect on Instructional Assistants

6. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, . (2010, June). Common core state standards. Retrieved from http://www.k12.wa.us National Governors Association Center and Council of Chiefs State Schools Officers, . (2010, June). The standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org National Governors Association Center and Council of Chiefs State Schools Officers, Initials. (2010, June). About the standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org National Governors Association Center and Council of Chiefs State Schools Officers, Initials. (2010, June). Voices of support. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org Dominion Enterprises, . (2010, August). Five top trends in education. Retrieved from http://www.parenthood.com Cited Sources