A New Set of School Standards Taking Hold in Benicia Schools

If the reaction of kids and teachers is any indication the new Common Core State Standards adopted late last year by will be a boon to students andeducators throughout the district.

The standards were developed by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices in cooperation with the Council of Chief State School Officers and have been adopted by 48 states.  

Only Texas and Alaska have refused to join the rest of the nation in adopting a set of standards that are identical throughout the nation and are consistent with college and career readiness standards.

Implementation is starting in the kindergarten and first grade classes this year.  “In two more school years it will be fully implemented district-wide,” said who is spearheading the implementation effort for the district.

Rogenski is quick to point out that the standards don’t mean there is a national curriculum but rather standards and assessments that are consistent across state lines and therefore are a truer measurement of the success of teaching methods than the standardized tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.  

All the small print is just lost on the kids in Linda Tremain’s kindergarten class at .  They appeared to enjoy a lesson where they got to work with a partner and compare results before presenting those results to their classmates.

“A big part of common core is working with partners,” said Rogenski.  “It allows kids to collaborate.” 

Tremain believes kids and teachers will both benefit from the new standards.  “In the old standards they had to be able to write their numbers and recognize the numbers up to 30 and maybe they could do that but did they know what it meant,” said Tremain.  “If they got their numbers mixed up it didn’t really much to them.”

“It’s also a good way to build with partners and use their language,” said the veteran of 16 years teaching at Mary Farmar and whose room is adorned with art and posters and a very active class pet- Corny the corn snake- that was slithering around in his glass terrarium.

The No Child Left Behind Act left it up to each state to define what it meant for students to be proficient. A student considered proficient in one state might be a year behind grade level in another.  With the new common core the definition of proficient is the same for all students of a particular grade regardless of which state they live in.

 “Now we’re all leveled on an even playing field,” said Tremain.

Another advantage for teachers is the opportunity to learn different methods of teaching a common core standard. “There’s going to be more sharing , more collaboration among teachers more ideas coming out.”

Do you subscribe to the Benicia Patch newsletter? It brings our latest stories, blogs, announcements and the day's calendar events to your in-box early each morning.

Do you have opinions, experiences and views to share? Consider becoming a Benicia Patch blogger!

If there’s something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor JB Davis at 707-628-0051 or email him at benicia@patch.com.