College and Career Readiness Standards (Alabama’s Common Core Standards)

From the Council of Great City Schools:

From the Military Child Education Coalition, which supports the standards:

From the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,
addressing common myths about the Common Core State Standards:

 

 

Background on the Common Core State Standards

The Common Core State Standards are a set of educational standards developed by the National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices, the Council of Chief State School Officers, 48 states and D.C., and thousands of educators and experts.

The standards ensure high school graduates are college and career ready and are based on evidence and research conducted on the most successful school systems world-wide. They also create consistent goals and expectations for students across the nation.

To date, 46 states have adopted the standards and are implementing them by developing curricula based on the standards.

Adoption of the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards

In 2010 Alabama developed the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards based on the Common Core State Standards. The State Board of Education voted to adopt its new standards with its November 18, 2010 resolution that notes the SBOE “will continue to be the sole and exclusive entity vested with the authority, without restriction, to adopt or revoke all academic standards in all subjects for students in the public schools in the state of Alabama.” (This followed a May 14, 2009 resolution regarding development of the Common Core, which noted that “any state that participates in development of the common core of standards is not bound to adopt or implement the standards.”)

The SBOE affirmed its adoption of the new standards a year later with its November 10, 2011 resolution. In addition to reaffirming the language of the previous resolution, the 2011 resolution notes that, “any federal government action, through administrative fiat or congressional act, to dictate or prescribe a particular set of academic content standards or to dictate how such standards are to be implemented is an intrusion into the states’ long-standing established rights and responsibilities to deliver K-12 education that violates fundamental principles of federalism.”

Implementation of the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards

During the 2012-13 school year, Schools across Alabama and their teachers are transitioning to the new math standards and developing their own curricula based on the standards. During the 2013-14 school year, schools will similarly implement the new English/Language Arts standards.

The standards do not tell anyone how to teach. Systems and schools are still responsible for this. The standards only state what students at each level in math and English should be able to accomplish.

Browse below to learn more about the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards. 

The Alabama College and Career Ready Standards

Common Core State Standards

Free iPhone/iPad app that serves as a reference to help easily read and understand the Common Core State Standards. [Note:This is for the Common Core. It does not have the Alabama-specific standards included in the College and Career Ready Standards.]

Other Resources

 

 

News, Editorials and Testimonies on the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards and Common Core State Standards

 

Briefs on the Common Core State Standards

 

Further Research on the Common Core State Standards