What does it mean to be a teacher, a learner, and a leader in today's schools and classrooms? What do we need to be effective? How will the current standards movement affect us, as professionals, and our students? How do we find out the answers to these questions?
The Common Core State Standards lead us to focus on the ways students make transitions between grade levels. They provide a new definition of what it means for students to be knowledgeable and achieve mastery in English language arts and mathematics. But these standards are not the whole answer; they do not address all the facets of learning under a whole child approach to education. We can use the Common Core State Standards as a beginning—a starting point in transforming our teaching practices; learning new ways to collaborate and connect professionally; and taking leadership roles in seeking out professional development, finding resources to build new curricula, and making ourselves heard for what we and our kids need.
Let's get started. Let's take the next step. Achieve, an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit education reform