New York’s proposed changes to standards.

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common core

New York recently announced that it would be revising its Common Core Standards. The revisions included expansions to the standards or changing the current ones to make them more specific. Let’s explore how these changes will affect the students and how they are taught.

Like in most states trying to make the standards more state specific, New York’s revisions to the standards do not stray far from the Common Core Standards. For example, the third-grade reading standards were reworded to include a variety of text that the students need to be able to read and understand. April Rose, a third-grade teacher from Queens, explains “all students come into the classroom at different levels.” With this being said there needs to be room for teachers to be able to offer them a variety of reading passages on their level. The new standards will address the various reading levels.

math

In the proposed Math standards specificity is seen on a greater scale. In geometry, it will list the specific theorems that need to teach and mastered by the students. The new standards are taking away the vagueness from the ones currently in effect. There are a few exceptions to the revisions. The 8th grade Math standards were only tweaked slightly. As a result, what is currently being taught will not change at all.

One greatly noticeable change to the standards in the area of reading is getting teachers very excited. Combining the standards of “Reading for Information” and “Reading for Literature” will allow teachers to focus less on whether or not the text is fiction or nonfiction. This will provide teachers with opportunities to hone in on teaching reading skills instead.

teacher

The changes to the standards in New York look to be a positive note for classroom teachers and students. More defined standards will allow for teachers to worry less about teaching to vague standards and allow them to focus their teaching on preparing students for success and the state assessments.

Referenced Article: http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/10/06/teachers-explain-how-common-core-changes-could-impact-their-classrooms/#.WBcq8PorLIV

Jeremy Brunton