Onward & Upward
Colleagues who have known me over the yeas ask, “Walter, what’s up? Why is ASCD supporting the Common Core State Standards?” as if we have gone over to the dark side. My initial answer is, “Standards are not evil!” followed by, “Besides, ASCD very thoughtfully and deliberately made the decision to get involved in this work. Common Core and Whole Childgo hand in hand!”
The 5 strands of the Whole Child - healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged - are the centerpiece of everything we do at ASCD, and will be even moreso as we continue to move towards revolutionizing the ways we learn and work. But we need a way to determine how we know when we’ve met them…and what have we done to successfully address each one.
Enter the Common Core State Standards. Common Core measures outcomes in terms of
