Teachers learned how to use data from newly adopted assessments to design differentiated instruction based on Common Core standards.
The new recently adopted common core standards for K-to-12 mathematics by some 40 states is a good step in the right direction.
The tougher tests awaiting New York's third-through-eighth-graders are aligned with the Common Core standards, a national set of guidelines intended to boost academic rigor.
With school performance measures, common core standards and value-added learning now being accepted into the community mainstream, perhaps new consumer choices for pupils, parents and taxpayers will expand.
The state Education Department says the 2013 test questions will be more advanced and students will be challenged to perform more complex tasks in line with the Common Core standards that have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia.
Academics also are hopeful that there soon will be greater national consistency in how English learners are identified and how proficiency is defined through the Common Core standards and assessments, a set of uniform benchmarks adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia.
Nearly every state in the U.S. is adopting some form of the standards, known as the Common Core State Standards, but New York is one of the first states testing students on the changed content.
Add to this landscape powerful education reform initiatives such as overhauled teacher evaluation systems, new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and an increased focus on social and emotional learning.
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The News tablets will come loaded with material from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), a K-12 curriculum developed by a broad coalition of education experts and supported by most states.
The Common Core State Standards seek to align diverse state curricula in K-12 education in the US. Today each state defines their own standards, curricula and textbooks in an independent manner.
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Mr. Johnson said he thought there were "serious problems" with the test, in large part because teachers are just beginning to learn the approach required under the new benchmarks, known nationally as the Common Core State Standards.
While the new GED will incorporate tougher material by January 2014, the other two firms will begin slowly phasing in the new standards then, addressing worries from state officials that students won't have time to become familiar with harder questions designed to conform with the new academic benchmarks, the Common Core State Standards.
Ashley Hebda, an English teacher at George Washington Community High School in Indianapolis and a supporter of Common Core, said the fight over standards is causing "massive confusion" in classrooms.
Ms. Tisch, who has served on the board since 1996 and as its chancellor since 2009, has been a firm supporter of the state's push to raise standards, making it tougher for students to graduate and supporting the move to new academic standards known as the Common Core.
Supporters say Common Core prepares students for college and for global competition better than earlier state standards.
Heather Crossin learned of Common Core in the fall of 2011 when her daughter brought home a math book linked to the standards that she found to be weaker than the previous textbook.
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