Georgia teachers are starting to get schooled on the new Common Core State Standards that roll out in the nation's math and English/language arts classes as early as next year.
Georgia, 43 other states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia are moving to the uniform and tougher set of expectations for learning. The standards were developed by the states, with the National Governors Association and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue taking a lead role.
Supporters say they will make students more college- and career-ready, allow apple-to-apple state comparisons, and ease the transition for students moving from one state to another.
Critics from some education groups say there's little evidence having national academic standards will improve k-12 public education. They also argue the standards were adopted by states in hard budgetary times as part of a scramble for federal Race to the Top money.
Via Internet streaming, State School Superintendent John Barge last week gave teachers a broad overview of the new standards, which will be in place for the 2012-2013 school year and likely will be the basis of student testing in 2014-2015. More detailed training for teachers via the Internet will start in January.
Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education, said officials wanted to do things differently, given complaints teachers were not adequately trained before the roll-out a few years ago of the current Georgia Performance Standards and integrated math curriculum.
"They [teachers] did not like the train-the-trainer method, where some got to come to live training and had to take it back and try to deliver it to other teachers,” Cardoza said. “With this, technically every teacher in the state can get training directly, rather than having to rely on it being redelivered."
The state Board of Education earlier this year gave school districts the option to scrap integrated math, which incorporates algebra, geometry and statistics into one course, and return to the traditional approach of teaching math one discipline at a time. This followed persistent complaints of parents having to hire math tutors and thousands of students failing.
Local school districts, including Gwinnett and Cobb counties, also will be offering their teachers training on the move to the Common Core Standards.
Doug Goodwin, spokesman for Cobb County Schools, said the system plans to have model classrooms and local training for its teachers, most of it in the second semester of this school year.
In Gwinnett, teachers will be trained on how Academic Knowledge and Skills, the county's local curriculum, connects with the Common Core, system spokesman Jorge Quintana said.
Karen Hallacy, legislative chair for the state PTA and Cobb’s Walton High School, said the move to the Common Core standards isn’t as seismic as the change to the Georgia Performance Standards, but still requires teachers receive the proper training.
“Teachers have been burned a little bit,” Hallacy said of past state training.
But she said state officials seem more aware this time. “They saw what happened, and they don’t want it to happen again,” she said.
The state PTA supported the move to Common Core, believing this is a mobile society and students across the country need a common playing field.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given Georgia $1.3 million to help with the Common Core roll-out, which starts with math and English/language arts but will be expanded later to other subjects. The state also has $15 million set aside from its $400 million Race to the Top grant, as well as $1 million in the DOE budget to push through what will be Georgia's third and arguably toughest set of standards.
Some of the Common Core State Standards
By third grade, students should know how to write a complex sentence and add fractions.
Fifth-graders should know about metaphors and similes.
Eighth-graders should understand the Pythagorean theorem.
Where they have been adopted: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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