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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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.
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.
No state has completely pulled out of Common Core, but Utah and Alabama have backed out of the consortium of states working to create computer-based Common Core exams.
In Kentucky, the first state to replace state exams with tests based on Common Core, the percentage of students meeting math and reading goals dropped by about one-third last year.
Supporters say Common Core prepares students for college and for global competition better than earlier state standards.
Common Core grew from an effort by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to create a list of college- and career-ready skills that students should possess before high-school graduation.
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