Will new standards mean better-educated kids?

06-07-2010

Guest blog by Daniel Willingham/Washington Post

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham is a psychology professor at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?”
The final versions of the Common Core standards for math and English Language Arts were just released. What are their likely impact on learning over the next decade? Will students be better educated? From a quick read the standards look pretty good, but most would agree that high-quality standards are necessary but not sufficient for positive impact. We also need (1) a curriculum that implements the standards; (2) professional development for teachers; (3) lesson plans that implement the curriculum. Some observers would add a standardized test as a fourth requirement. Is there reason to think that these next steps will happen? (more...)

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Will new standards mean better-educated kids?

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