By Zia Kelly

This year, Kansas schools began the process of implementing new educational standards for math and reading: Common Core.

The Common Core standards have taken the place of the No Child Left Behind program, providing more specific content requirements for each grade level. The programs were created to unify the standards of educational institutions across the country.

Previously, NCLB only required that each state set its own standards and that all students were to test into 100 percent proficiency by 2014 school year.

Teacher and reading specialist Jeannie Merritt is involved in the shift to the new standards in the LHS English department.

“When you have a student that moves from state to state, they might be in one state and get some level of instruction, and then they move to another state and receive another level of instruction,” Merritt said. “The idea is that if you have an American high school diploma it will all mean the same thing.”

Common Core does not call for radical changes in content presentation or even the material presented, but sets more specific standards for content that needs to be taught and mastered at each grade level. Teachers will be able to use many of their pre-existing lessons, but may have to tailor them to new standards.

“[We will be] requiring more writing and changing writing prompts around, so they are less thoughts and feeling oriented and more analytical and synthetic,” English teacher Courtney Mense said. “Really just changing the writing prompts and changing the types of questions being asked.”

For example, instead of asking students, “Do you think? How do you feel?”, they might ask “What in the texts point to this conclusion?” or “How do you think this happened? Use evidence to support your point.”

Few drastic changes will need to be made in material presented, Mense and Merritt affirmed. Much of what is required is already being done by LHS teachers.

The reading criteria given by Common Core are largely concentrated on text complexity for the high school level, ensuring that content, ideas, structures and vocabulary challenge students.

Also stressed in this area is the mastering of argumentative writing with text-based evidence. Most students know this primarily as essay writing. While not the most popular assigned work, supported arguments are considered a building block of critical thinking, which Common Core is aimed at fostering.

Many could make the observation that both complex texts and evidence-based writing have been a part of English curriculums at LHS long before the introduction of new standards, further pointing to the conclusion that current lesson plans already satisfy many of the new demands.

“LHS teachers already teach to high standards. We have always had that drive. We want to make sure that [students] are ready to work, or to go to college and be successful there. That is what Common Core pushes for,” Merrit said. “At LHS, we already have those standards in a lot of areas.”

One of the most argued issues about NCLB is the lack of critical thinking emphasis. Straightforward, learning for test thinking is what is commonly associated and criticized about the old program. Therefore, the new standards have to be largely based in grounds of deeper learning.

In the arena of mathematics, new demands are being presented to teachers, and the department has to work to meet requirements. Math department head Pamela Fanghor is working on guiding lesson plans to abide by Common Core ideals.

“It’s more about making connections, more so than teaching a unit and moving on,” Fanghor said. “Trying to make sure that kids can make connections more than just hitting the surface of instruction. Just trying to go more in-depth in projects.”

Time constraints will have to be taken into account, classes will go more in-depth in each lesson and be expected to connect the information back to prior knowledge.

Because this is the first year of implemented standards, student assessments will begin to look and function differently. The previous Kansas State Assessments may still be used this year for most grade levels. Members of the junior class will debut the Common Core assessments this year.

The tests are conducted primarily to ensure students are being presented with the required material, as opposed to the NCLB goal, which simply required students to test to state-set requirements.

While the Lawrence school district and teachers have embraced Common Core, its federal-based nature has led to controversy among government officials across the country. Since education is delegated as a state responsibility, some see the national effort as the federal government overstepping its authority and impeding on states’ rights.

Adoption of Common Core is voluntary on a state-by-state basis. Forty-five states have opted in favor of the program, including Kansas.

“I think it is going to be a good thing for Kansas and for our schools,” Mense said. “It’s much more rigorous, so students will be challenged more and getting more out of school while they are there.”