Some concepts will be taught earlier than in the past. Teachers will focus on fewer concepts over the year, teaching those they still cover with more depth. And higher-level reading skills soon will be expected at each grade.

Why?

Because in late 2010, Kansas adopted the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an effort to focus on conceptual learning and raise the standards of what students are expected to learn at each grade level across the board for all states. All but five states — Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia — have now adopted the standards.

Students will be tested on these standards in the 2014-15 school year, so most state districts have been creating implementation programs for introduction in the classroom this school year.

“In addition to focusing on knowledge and skills, it also focuses on conceptual understanding,” said Jeannette Novo, assistant director with career standards and assessment services for the state department of education. It’s a big shift from what schools have been doing. “It’s a move away from the accountability effort of just trying to have students pass an assessment, to having them really understand constructs and concepts.”

What is Common Core?

The Common Core State Standards provide fewer, clearer and higher standards for each grade level in mathematics and the english language arts, including social studies and science, defining the knowledge and skills students should have within their kindergarten through 12th grade education.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative was coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators and experts.

The initiative’s website, corestandards.org, states the standards “are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.”

Robert VanMaren, superintendent in Bonner Springs-Edwardsville, recently told his school board that the Common Core is the first step in making sure students can compete in the rapidly changing world as schools start teaching 21st century skills.

“We want kids to know how to read, how to write, how to do math, but we also want them to know how to get along, how to solve problems, how to create a quality product … how to read vast amounts of information and compile it into something usable,” he said. “It’s not being good at Jeopardy, it’s being good at life.”

A rigorous education

The catchphrase for Common Core is “rigor” — a term referring to creating an environment that allows all students to learn at high levels.

The standards are defined as “Rigorous content and application of knowledge through high order thinking skills and high level cognitive demands including reasoning, justifying, synthesizing, analyzing and problem-solving.”

“The main difference is, really, we used to try to teach a lot of things, and teach them in a quick manner,” said Tonya Phillips, director of educational programs for Tonganoxie USD 464. “We would try to give students a little touch of everything. Now, we will teach fewer concepts, but teach them deeper.”

Some concepts also will be taught in earlier grade levels than they have been previously, so teachers used to teaching certain concepts in certain grades may take some time to adapt.

“That’s a hard shift for teachers, because they’re like ‘Well, I’ve always taught patterns,'” Phillips said.

Implementation plans

Most districts began training their staff in Common Core by last spring, but each is taking a different approach to implementing the standards in the classroom.

For example, in De Soto USD 232, the district decided to focus on the implementation of the math standards first, starting last year in grades kindergarten through fifth, according to Kim Barney, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment. This year, the district will implement the math standards in sixth grade only, then the higher grades over the following three years.

Barney said the district planned to implement language arts standards in 2013-14.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mike Boyd, assistant superintendent for Basehor-Linwood USD 458, said after studying the language arts standards for the last year, the district will start language arts implementation this fall for all grades. It is now working on the math standards for implementation this spring, and it plans to implement the standards in social studies and science in the fall of 2013.

In the Tonganoxie district, Phillips said last year they implemented some of the standards in kindergarten and first grade, because those students won’t ever be tested on the current state assessments. The district will continue to study the standards and have partial implementation this year, with full implementation in the 2013-14 school year.

Both Shawnee Mission USD 512 and Bonner Springs-Edwardsville USD 204 are introducing the math and language arts standards for kindergarten through second grades this year. Third through 12th grades will see some Common Core standards this year, but they will stay focused on skills needed for the current state assessments. Full implementation for these grades is set for the 2013-14 school year.

Baldwin USD 348 has a similar plan but will not have the partial introduction of Common Core for third through 12th grades. The district instead will continue to plan for full Common Core implementation at those grades for 2013-14.

Preparing parents

Most district officials said that parent support would be important as the Common Core standards reach the classroom.

Barney said last year in the De Soto district, they spread the word in newsletters, had parent forums about the changes in math curriculum, and created a frequently asked questions page on the district website.

“We recognize the important role parents play in their children’s education and we look forward to continuing to partner with parents to ensure all students are successful,” she said.

But communication with parents about Common Core is just beginning for some others.

“We haven’t sent too much out to our parents yet. They know it’s coming, but they don’t know a whole lot about it,” Phillips said.

The Tonganoxie district purposely hasn’t dispersed too much information, she said, because they didn’t want to try to inform parents about something they didn’t fully understand themselves. Now they plan to send out pamphlets giving the new standards of what students must learn in each grade level.

Boyd said Basehor-Linwood parents will first learn about the standards this fall as students see them in the classroom.

“This will be a much more difficult program than we have had in the past because there is more required of the students and at an earlier grade level,” Boyd said. “The parents are going to have to take a more active role in schools and help their students at home with homework and the concepts.”