CCSS POST

BY: ANNA PAPST

I have done quite a lot of work with the CCSS already due to this being my Senior year in the Education program at Eastern. There is quite the progression that occurs from 7^th Grade to 12^th Grade. For example, 7.1 Reading: Literature states, “Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.” 8.1 Reading: Literature states, “Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.” By the time they go into high school, 9.1 Reading: Literature says, “ Site strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.”

The CCSS get students prepared to move onto the next level. It gives guidelines as to where students should be by the end of each phase in their development. By the end of the year, there are requirements that each student must meet. These standards are already in place. Each teacher in educated on what needs to be met and so therefore the teachers can prepare their students all year long with the goals in mind that need to be met along the way. It sounds like teaching to the standard, and in a way it is, but these are the standards and the teachers need to find ways for these simple, (on paper), and yet complex, (to teach and have each student retain), and then be able to test them appropriately for these skills to be shown as understood and developed.

This new wave of education is huge. The teachers are held accountable and so are the students. There has been a period in education where the students just learn what they need to, to get by, and now that simply isn’t good enough anymore. The teachers are teaching these skills, through reading and writing proficiently so that the students will be able to succeed in any and every subject that they are taking. There is much more accountability on the teacher because each one must be continually checking in with their students. The goals and standards are set and now it is the job of every classroom to meet these goals and to succeed as a class and a whole.  By the time each student reaches his/her Senior year, these skills that they have learned will make them college ready and most importantly, life ready. They will need these skills in any job or career that they face. When looking at all the standards as a whole it might seem overwhelming, but when they are broken down, it is not as scary. Each one is a building block on the next one. You must start at the beginning and work your way up to the top until one is fully prepared to leave high school. With the new standards, the students should feel more confident and have a greater desire to want to go to college and to succeed in college due to the skills that they have developed and worked so hard to accomplish.