BUYING IN

The topic of Common Core Standards is on the lips of teachers, parents and legislator everywhere. Most of the ideas behind Common Core have been researched and implemented in many areas.

Here are some fundamentals of Common Core implementation:  There is a basic, 4-step process that most states, districts, schools, and teachers are going to go through as they successfully implement the Standards. The first step, regardless where you are on the education totem pole, is building Standards messaging and awareness. This is the very first stage in a long, complex process, but it might just be the most crucial—especially now, with the Common Core Standards in the press so much.

To me, the messaging and awareness stage is a lot like explaining the birds and the bees to your kids. They’re not dumb, and they don’t live in a bubble. They’re going to find out all about what the birds and bees do one way or another. It’s up to you as a parent to jump on the message first, so they don’t go through life with the wrong idea about things and end up in therapy as adults.

The Common Core Standards are going to have to be learned in a manner that is appropriate for the learner (the teachers and those giving instruction to students). Whether teachers like it or not. If they don’t hear it from their colleagues, then they’ll hear it from friends, and if they don’t hear it from friends, they’ll hear it in the news, and there's a lot of misleading press being published around about the Standards right now. If you are just beginning to implement the Common Core, your people are in the fragile, beginning stages of understanding it, and their entire, long-term outlooks are likely to be spoiled if they get off to a rough start. It's up to you as a leader in the classroom, school, district, or state, to make sure that the message surrounding the Core is right-on, and that there is a significant amount of buy-in; otherwise, you might have a long, needless fight on your hands as you undergo implementation.

What are your thoughts? How honest should leaders be when implementing Common Core Standards?

Have you bought in yet? Let me know your thoughts.

Informational link about Common Core Standards:  www.corestandards.org/