Math Common Core Standards in Illinois (6th Grade)

1. Strengths

1.1. Real World Application: Common core standards allow students to apply math content to real world situations. This allows students to apply this knowledge to other aspects of their lives and understand the relevance of what they are learning.

1.2. Critical Thinking: Common core allows students to take charge of their own learning situations, which gets them thinking deeper about what they are learning. Students are challenged to learn about the "hows" and "whys" of the skills they are executing.

1.3. Collaborative: Common core standards allow for more teacher collaboration. Because the standards integrate instruction with other disciplines, teachers have more control over what they are teaching and can share resources with other teachers. This will also allow for more beneficial assessment strategies as teachers can discuss what is and isn't working when it comes to addressing the standards.

2. Challenges

2.1. Test Scores: Common core standards focus more on higher-order thinking skills, and less on the basics, which may result in lower test scores.

2.2. Amount of Content: There are 43 math standards that students and teachers are expected to get through throughout the 6th grade school year. This may be an overwhelming amount, and if time does not permit, can cause teachers to have to pick and choose which ones they find most important, leaving out content that students need to advance to the next grade level as well as to apply knowledge on standardized tests.

2.3. Student Readiness: Common core standards were created with a particular group of students in mind, and around ideal situations. Not all students may be ahead of the learning curve and ready to take on these standards.