Common Core

Common Core is coming whether teachers like it or not. My personal opinion is I am fine with implementing the new standards. Many of the standards are much like the current Illinois State Standards. As a high school special education teacher I am hoping the new assessments will be more accommodating to students with special needs or even those students who are the vocational track. Currently students in Illinois are taking the ACT for their assessment and the test is written for student who are college bound. My other hope is that when media is comparing states on whether they are meeting the standards we will all be on an even playing field. Much of the media continues to report on how poor Illinois school are doing compared to Iowa schools, the problem is many parents are not aware of the major differences in the testing tools being use. I feel there is still a lot of unknowns relate to the common core but once teachers feel more informed they will jump right on board.