Example Of The Common Core As Arbiter Of Education Equality Essay

Nearly a century ago, Andrew Carnegie stated that “educated citizens are the strength of America.” The Common Core Standards (CCS) for states released by the federal government in 2010 does just this. The CCS strengthens America by ensuring that all states are providing the same high quality of education. These standards are needed to prepare all Americans to compete in a global economy and strengthen America.
The CCS are clear, concise and consistent standards. The CCS provides national continuity and fosters equality of education for all students across all states. Prior to the CCS children in one state were receiving a very different education from children in another state. Given the increasing incidences of relocation and multiple relocations of families through a child’s school years, children had to either catch up or repeat what was already learned. With CCS, education is now on a common pace and organization throughout the United States. Now children will not transfer to a new school behind the class or so far ahead that school is boring.
The CCS not only equalizes and streamlines education across the states, but also within a state and within a school district. The CCS is constructed so that each year builds on the previous year so that students can efficiently and effectively progress in their learning from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The CCS eliminates unnecessary repetition and challenges the students to continually move forward, not back.
In developing the CCS to equalize education among the fifty states, extensive research was conducted. All Common Core Standards are evidence-based. The CCS is also based on international standards and benchmarks. Because the CCS is internationally bench-marked, the CCS will help U.S. students match the learning pace and level of other countries. This will strengthen America which has slipped down the world list in the area of education.
In creating equalizing standards, the CCS incorporated successful standards being employed by the states combined with the newest education thinking. The CCS is designed so that every student in the United States has the same opportunity to receive a quality education. This translates into giving every student an equal opportunity to receive an education that prepares them for college and to operate in a global climate.
Opponents of the CCS argue that the CSS is a one-size fits all approach that is too rigid and unmalleable. This is simply not the case. Teachers need only adopt 85% of the standard giving them freedom to tailor the other 15% as they see fit. The standards are abroad enough to allow teachers to be creative, thoughtful and mindful of students needs in implementing them. The standards also leave the areas of science and social studies to the states, school districts or teachers. The CCS was actually designed by a diverse group of teachers, school administrators, educational experts and parents. The standards were designed with the realities of the classroom at the forefront, not an afterthought.
The CCS is the most effective educational platform to ensure equality of education. With the CCS, the playing field has been leveled. As Horace Mann professed, “education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” And the Common Core Standards are the great equalizer of education.