This article presents an interview with Susan Gendron, a policy coordinator at SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium. In this interview, Gendron talks about the Common Core State Standards and their implications for school leaders.

Changing even the smallest things in schools is hard--just ask any principal who has overseen a rescheduling of bus routes. So imagine the difficulty of getting a school to move its curriculum and instruction from familiar learning requirements to brand-new nationwide standards. Yet this is exactly the sort of change public schools in 45 states…

Secondary school principals face no shortage of issues and challenges when it comes to ensuring that their teachers and students are ready for the Common Core State Standards. With so many issues competing for scarce time and resources, it is understandable that for many school leaders, the needs of high-ability and high-potential students are not…

A whirlwind of activity surrounds the topic of teaching and learning mathematics. The driving forces are a combination of changes in assessment and advances in technology that are being spurred on by the introduction of content in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice. Although the issues are certainly complex, the same forces…

The Common Core wave has swept the country. The expectation is in place for a rapid implementation of both the curriculum and the assessments. The author visited schools across the country as an external evaluator to review their transition plans, and he was struck by the great unevenness of the preparation across districts and schools. What are…

Most principals know about the Common Core State Standards, but they may not be aware that they are different from previous standards in one essential way: they emphasize students' capacity to understand complex texts. Standard 10 puts an unprecedented focus on texts and will fundamentally change assessments, textbooks, and teaching at the…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is a voice and advocate for mathematics educators, working to ensure that all students receive equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality. To help teachers and school leaders understand the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) and to point out how the CCSSM can be…

This article begins by revealing what U.S. secondary school educators think about the Common Core State Standards when they were asked about it at a district professional development session in October 2012. The replies of these educators to the query include "It requires higher-order thinking," "The Common Core starts in…

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is committed to promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all students. Through the National Science Education Standards, NSTA calls attention to the importance of science standards for all students and the need for a scientifically literate populace. NSTA is also…

Principals' wheelbarrows are full of initiatives: closing learning gaps, preparing for the Common Core State Standards, differentiating instruction, and improving college and career readiness, to name a few. Meanwhile, principals have too few assets in their toolboxes to meet all the hefty demands. Taking the long view, it becomes clear that true…

Preparing all students for success requires a renewed emphasis on supporting high-quality teaching, on using data to inform decision-making, and on creating a culture of high expectations. To support the shift toward college and career readiness, more than 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).…

Despite the many changes in education over the past century, grading and reporting practices have essentially remained the same. In part, this is because few teacher preparation programs offer any guidance on sound grading practices. As a result, most current grading practices are grounded in tradition, rather than research on best practice. In an…

For the past decade, schools throughout the United States have been working diligently to hit the targets set by national and state guidelines for academic achievement. Those targets have helped direct attention on the need to get all students achieving at a high level, but the laserlike focus on the target numbers have led many middle schools to…

Putting semantics aside, today's reality is that schools are expected to be places of rigorous learning and there should be no question that every student needs to be academically challenged. The problem is that most schools have not taken the time to define what is meant by "rigor" and to clarify how it will be recognized when it is in…

The academic silos that house mathematics, science, and language skills must be broken down to better replicate how those disciplines mix in the real world. This article discusses the benefits of linking writing with mathematics, the challenges of integrating mathematics and writing, and the strategies for mathematics writing. Combining…