Common Core State Standards

     I feel that there are some advantages and disadvantages to the Common Core State Standards. They are advantageous where they are adopted by most states which puts us all in the same starting place. When students are learning different information in different grades this causes a challenge for students who move, and I know that a great population of students move at some point in their school life. In Massachusetts where I went to third grade, they taught a huge unit on the continents in 4th grade. In Maine at the school I went to in 4th grade, they did the major continent unit in 3rd grade. I missed it which made geography a big challenge for me in the beginning of middle school. Cursive was taught differently in the two school districts which was a struggle for me for a few years after I moved to Maine. I find CCSS to be a resource which is a guide for instruction but is not too restrictive. Teachers can use different curriculum and personalization and still use the standards. The number of standards is overwhelming though.
      I was intrigued when reading Marion Brady's article. She did have some important points in my opinion. The first part which stood out to me was that an issue with CCSS is the lack of emphasis of habits of mind. When I was researching New Zealand I found they have a national curriculum which had key competencies and values embedded into the curriculum which I would like to see emphasized in the CCSS opposed to just subject knowledge. The other point she made was that CCSS does not directly address the issues of why students are struggling in school. I feel that outside factors such as poverty are a major contributor to student success. We need to find a way to improve these outside factors as a nation.