A diverse group of educators and stakeholders is calling for clear curricular guidance to complement the new Common Core State Standards that most states have adopted, including support for practical designs and examples of curriculum strategies that educators can use in their own classrooms.
The statement, released by the nonpartisan Albert Shanker Institute and signed by dozens of educators, advocates, policy makers, researchers, and scholars from across the educational and political spectrum, highlights the creation of voluntary model curricula that can be taught in the nation’s classrooms.
“It’s really a travesty … what many of our children are receiving in terms of instruction today,” said Susan B. Neuman, a professor in the University of Michigan’s School of Education and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education.
For more on the Common Core standards, see:
Common Core standards call for uncommon shifts in practices
Viewpoint: School leaders need more help, and not red tape, to transform education
“Standards are merely road maps—but they don’t tell us much about what kids really need. So many of our children are in test-driven situations … and are really not getting the depth of instruction that they so clearly need. This is a complement to the standards,” Neuman said.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, urged broad support and dissemination for the statement, titled “A Call for Common Content.”
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