Review Of Draft Standards
The Fordham Institute's expert reviewers have analyzed the draft Common Core K-12 education standards (made public on March 10) according to rigorous criteria. Their analyses lead to a grade of A- for the draft mathematics standards and B for those in English language arts. Read the full review.
In this report, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, as part of its continuing scrutiny of academic standards across the states, the nation, and the world, offers its own appraisal of the draft Common Core standards. Our purpose is neither to praise nor to bury them. It’s to give constructive feedback during a comment period that is intended to yield later improvements.
As it happens, while there are definitely some changes we’d like to see made, our expert reviewers think these drafts are pretty darned good.
On the math side, our reviewers found clear, rigorous standards that set forth most of the essential content that students in grades K-12 must master. While some tweaks are needed— particularly at the high-school level—this draft “embodies internationally-competitive expectations for students in mathematics” and earns an impressive A-.
On the English language arts (ELA) side, the standards are also strong, though in need of a few more adjustments. While NGA and