Over the past five years, we’ve heard lots of discussion about the Common Core State Standards. There is even some confusion about what the standards are, who made the standards, and what they do for students. So, it’s important to take some time to break down what Common Core means.

Common Core is “a set of high-quality academic standards [for math and reading]… created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they come from.”

Some assume that the standards are just another federal government reform telling schools and local leaders what to do; but it actually started from state level leaders about eight years ago through the National Governor’s Association task force report. Forty-two states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards since 2008.

People often confuse standards with curricula (the specific information taught to children). The standards are more like learning goals stating that every child – from Arkansas to California to Montana to Maine – leaves a specific grade level with certain math and reading skills. Each state still has control over what information to include and how it wants to teach that information.

State leaders play a strong role not only in creating the standards but also the corresponding exam to evaluate student learning. This year, students will take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) – a high quality, computer based exam created by a group of states including Arkansas. Opponents of Common Core have concerns about the collection of student information from the exam being used improperly, but this is also a misunderstanding. Leaders of the Arkansas Department of Education – who are in charge of handling all educational data and information – assure that every piece of information is monitored, secured, and safely handled. In fact, Arkansas began collecting this information long before it started using Common Core Standards. This information helps our schools monitor student performance over time, identify problems that affect student learning, and understand how we can make education better for every child.

The most recent misunderstanding about Common core is that students can opt out of taking the PARCC  test – which is not true. Arkansas’s state law requires students to take state-designated exams to move on to the next grade or to graduate from high school. Keeping students from taking the exam could have severe consequences. Arkansas no longer has high stakes testing. So even though students are required to take the test to graduate, they do not have to pass the test to graduate.

Common core is important because it puts us on the right track to improve education and learning. Before Common Core, standards varied from state to state and there was no way to know how Arkansas students stacked up on reading and math compared to their peers in other states. Many students are graduating from high school ill prepared for college and the workforce. In a guide AACF released earlier this year, we reported that in Arkansas alone, nearly half of students aren’t ready for college work when they graduate high school. We want to make sure that Arkansas students know as much as the students in other states and can compete with anyone for jobs in the global economy. So, it’s important that we have Common Core State Standards to ensure our children are on track and prepared.

AACF’s Common Core infographic outlines that under these standards, students will:

• Learn how to measure and analyze data
• Enhance comprehension, writing, communication and skills
• Improve math skills through operations and algebraic thinking
• Enable students to solve problems through variety of tools, cite evidence and defend conclusions, and demonstrate technological and critical thinking skills

Most importantly, Common Core is working! Since the standards have been implemented in Arkansas, school districts have seen major learning gains in student achievement. In November, AACF spoke with a parent engagement group in Strong, Arkansas. A 30-year veteran teacher in the school district told the group that since the standards have been implemented, she has seen big improvements in her student’s learning higher level thinking skills not just memorization. Since Common Core standards have been implemented in the Strong-Huttig school district, the district superintendent claimed that student’s test scores in some subject areas increased percentage points from the 50s to now up to the 70s.

As you can see, Common Core is needed and it enhances our state’s goal of improving educational opportunity for all children. For more information, visit the Common Core’s official site for more resources.