Rising to the Challenge: Preparing Educators and Society for the Common Core State Standards

• Activity Number: 610
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 2, 2012 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Jennifer L Green*+ and Walter W Stroup*+ and Gary D Kader*+
• Companies: University of Nebraska and University of Nebraska and Appalachian State University
• Keywords: Common Core State Standards for Mathematics ; Teacher Preparation ; Value-added Modeling ; Race to the Top ; Assessment

Abstract

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM, 2010) set the stage for major changes in the mathematical education of K-12 students. The curriculum envisioned by CCSSM proposes higher expectations of students' understanding in both mathematics and statistics, leaving substantial implications for the statistical preparation of teachers. With the adoption of a common mathematics curriculum, assessing and documenting student learning over time will be useful for informing educational policy decisions motivated by the national Race to the Top initiative. However, data from student assessments are at risk of being misused, particularly when they are the sole metric for making high-stakes decisions such as evaluating a teacher's performance. Equipping K-12 teachers with the tools and knowledge needed to help students develop into statistically literate citizens requires statisticians play an active role in teachers' education. Also, statisticians have a role in educating public and political leaders of the limitations of systems evaluating teachers solely on students' test performance and developing methods to better inform the processes of teaching, learning and assessment.