BRYAN BEDDER/GETTY IMAGES FOR TIME
THE
CORE
School systems and teachers can
choose their own instructional
materials, as long as students
know what the Core says they
should know by year’s end.
Students will learn less content, but more in-depth, coherent
and demanding content. In other
words, students should know fewer things, but they should know
them better. The Core encourages teachers to move away from
memorization and to ask students
to show their work. In math, it
means emphasizing such things
as learning fractions and fluency
in arithmetic. In reading, it means
HUFFINGTON
02.02.14
more nonfiction texts — recommendations range from historical
speeches from Martin Luther King,
Jr., and Winston Churchill to more
instructional reads such as the
Environmental Protection Agency’s
“Recommended Levels of Insulation” and FedViews, by the Federal
Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
It asks even younger students to
respond to books and articles by
making inferences based on evidence, rather than their personal
feelings. Overall, it should yield
fewer lectures and more conversations. Teachers across the country are already incorporating the
standards into their lesson plans,
changing things like the order and
structure of their classes to corre-
U.S.
Secretary of
Education
Arne Duncan
upset
mothers last
year when he
said “white
suburban
moms” don’t
like the Core
because it is
too rigorous
for their kids.