Liberal Arts
A FULL CORE CURRICULUM HELPS STUDENTS SUCCEED. Studies by ACT have shown that taking a full core curriculum, including four years of English and three years of social studies, greatly increases students’ readiness for college and work. Students who take the core curriculum in high school achieve higher ACT scores than those who do not, regardless of gender, family income, and ethnic background.
BROAD-BASED TEACHING HELPS SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. A liberal arts education can serve all Americans, including those who face the challenges of poverty, live in broken homes, or are adapting to a new nation and culture. All children who experience a broad spectrum of subjects are better equipped to become active, productive members of society.
Beyond the Basics, by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, explains the importance of focusing on more than reading and math skills alone. An essay in the report, by Brown University Assistant Professor Martin West, shows that the liberal arts and sciences are being marginalized in today’s classrooms.
Choices, Changes, and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era, a report by the Center on Education Policy (CEP), examines the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act on classrooms over a five-year period. This year, the CEP published a more extensive analysis.
The Nation’s Report Card, a study by the U.S. Department of Education, examines what kind of courses high school students are taking and how it affects their scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Common Core Executive Director Lynne Munson speaks with Susan Jacoby about her new book, The Age of American Unreason, on NPR. Listen to their discussion.
Diane Ravitch, Co-Chair of Common Core, discusses the lack of content within K-3 curricula in Tot Sociology, published by the National Council for History Education.
Core Knowledge Chairman E.D. Hirsch discusses the role content plays in learning to read, and the extent to which NCLB has driven content from the classroom with Public School Insights. Listen to the discussion.
Standards Based Accountability Under No Child Left Behind: The Experiences of Teachers and Administrators in Three States reviews the various accounts of teachers and administrators on the impact of standards based accountability in their schools in California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
Blog
News
December 8 • Check out Education Week’s coverage of Common Core’s recent national survey of school teachers.
November 14 • Read Lynne Munson’s response to the latest NAEP results. Joanne Jacobs’s “Linking and Thinking on Education” and the Core Knowledge blog also highlighted her piece.
September 15 • A new Salon.com article highlights Common Core’s upcoming study on curriculum narrowing and quotes Executive Director Lynne Munson: “We were surprised at the extremity of the narrowing indicated by the teachers who took our survey.”
July 22 • Common Core releases new, second edition of its popular Curriculum Maps in English Language Arts. News Release
May 6 • Common Core's Curriculum Maps for ELA have exceeded 2 million page views.
February 24 • Common Core's Lynne Munson writes on "What Students Really Need to Learn" in the lastest issue of ASCD's Educational Leadership.
January 5 • Common Core’s Curriculum Maps for English Language Arts have exceeded one million views. See the press release here.
December 8 • Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved revised social studies standards. Thanks to input from Common Core, among others, North Carolina's students will now take four social studies courses, including two US history courses covering the European exploration of the New World through contemporary time.
October 18 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson participates in a New America Foundation panel of leaders working to bring technology into classrooms in innovative ways. Watch a video of the discussion here.
October 11 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson gives Ed Week her perspective on 21st-century learning: "Twenty-first-century technology should be seen as an opportunity to acquire more knowledge, not an excuse to know less."
October 4 • California Governor vetoes curriculum narrowing bill. Opposed by Common Core, the bill would have effectively eliminated the state’s arts and foreign language high school graduation requirement. More...
Spring 2010 • The new issue of the AFT’s American Educator shines a light on 21st century skills, featuring contributions from Common Core’s Lynne Munson and Laura Bornfreund, eduwonk Andy Rotherham and UVA’s Dan Willingham, Diana Senechal, and Diane Ravitch.
December 4 • EdWeek profile questions motives of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 5
November 10 • You can now read Diane Ravitch’s op/ed on 21st century skills in the Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Metro West Daily News, Lowell Sun, and Quincy Patriot Ledger.
November 3 • Education Week highlights Common Core’s concerns about the appointment of a P21 leader to a key Dept. of Education post.
November • Lynne Munson and Richard Kessler explain why arts education is vital in the November 2009 issue of Parenting magazine.
October 10 • Diane Ravitch’s recent op/ed on 21st century skills has been reprinted in the Providence Journal.
September 16 • A group of prominent scholars, teachers, education reform advocates, and union leaders issued a statement today expressing concern about the program put forth by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and calling for its revision. Press Advisory (pdf)
September 15 • Common Core’s Diane Ravitch shows how dated the idea of “21st century skills” really is in the Boston Globe
July 13 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson raises concerns about national standards at convention of the American Federation of Teachers. (PDF document)
July 9 • In USAToday Common Core’s Lynne Munson argues that a comprehensive education is more likely than a STEM education to produce new scientists.
July 2 • A USAToday editorial cites and links to Common Core’s “Still at Risk” study which showed how little our 17-year-olds know about history and literature.
June 2 • Common Core releases Why We’re Behind: What Top Nations Teach Their Students But We Don’t, a report showing that the nations that consistently outrank us on international comparison tests provide their students with a fulsome education in the liberal arts and sciences. Why is this news? Because the U.S. is moving further and further away from this model. Read brief excerpts from the documents featured in the report here.
