California’s standards from the late 1990s were developed at a time when notions of college and career readiness were far less understood, let alone measurable or coherent amongst K-12, higher education, and industry.
To be certain, California’s Academic Standards Commission of the late 90’s featured members from higher education and from industry, and there was a tacit nod in the standards to acknowledging the state’s A-G requirements for admission to UC/CSU.
But the reality is that the California’s standards were not designed—a term used in analyzing the current California standards during a discussion last week of the new Academic Standards Commission. Why is this distinction relevant or important?
It’s because the Common Core standards—which by nature of the Governor signing SBX5 1 in January and committing twice in the state’s Race to the Top applications are the state’s new default content standards—were purposefully designed to reflect college and career expectations.
The Common Core standards reflect this design in several key ways. The standards themselves were built by defining college and career readiness first. Standards writers examined international benchmarks and the best standards from across the United States. They analyzed college and career expectations—including preparation that would help students avoid remedial work in higher education settings and lessen general skill training time in employment settings. They examined how and where standards should reflect the development of skill and knowledge that students will need for college and career readiness. Finally, the Common Core standards have an attitude about readiness that is fundamentally more aggressive:
It is the mission of the Common Core standards to force students, teachers, and school systems to focus on college and career readiness
Evidence of this change in attitude, tone, and approach can be seen in both language arts and mathematics Common Core standards. In language arts, the California standards of the 1990s responded to a reading crisis in the state by focusing student skills and knowledge on reading—lots of it. Literary analysis was the foundation on which students would build their skills to reflect on and evaluate texts. But here’s the problem. In the real world that students will live and work in, eighty percent of the texts they will read—for work, study, and pleasure—are informational texts, such as non-fiction and government documents. The Common Core standards reflect this reality by asking students to read informational texts and analyze them throughout the K-12 years.
In mathematics, the conversation about college and career readiness is complicated by trying to “draw a line,” that reflects what all students—including those intending to enter the workforce directly from K-12—should know and do. To give a sense of how California currently addresses this issue, consider:
Students in California must complete at least two years of high school math, only one of which—Algebra 1—is specified. Currently over 50 percent of California’s students take Algebra 1 before high school.
California's students must pass the High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) to graduate. CAHSEE reflects math standards from grades 6, 7, and Algebra 1, establishing, therefore, a low bar.
The Common Core Math standards shift the expectations on mathematics for all students to a much higher playing field. All students would be expected to complete math studies throughout high school, and college readiness would focus on students completing at least Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra II. Career readiness includes additional work in data, probability, and statistics.
There is little doubt that the Common Core standards would raise the bar for all students in California regarding college and career readiness. They truly are designed to do so.
