CCSS

Being in education, I've already had the opportunity to look at the Common Core State Standards, which will be implemented within the next few years. Being certified to teach special education and English, I have very mixed feelings on what is to come. On the positive, the states that take part in this will be uniform. However, I have a feeling that there will be a push, now more than ever, of teaching to the test.

Even teaching to the ACT, right now, I noticed how much the students dread it, but it is very beneficial to their learning. In 10th grade at the high school I work at, a minimum of three days are spend on just ACT Reading Prep. Three to five days, sometimes even more, are spent on ACT Writing Prep. The students are even tested on their unit tests and final exams with questions that they would encounter on the test. On one hand, this will help them when it comes to actually take the test the next year. However, all that time teaching to the test teachers could have been teaching other beneficial material. I also feel it is causing students to see literacy as just reading and writing. It is twisting their view of what literacy can be because there is so much focus on this one test that could decide their future.

Don't get me wrong, standards are important because it gives teachers an objective for teaching the material. However, less empahsis needs to be put on teaching to the test and more emphasis needs to be placed on the quality of the material. It will be interesting to see if and how CCSS will change education and the student perspective of education.