Parents Get First Look at New Curriculum Standards

Parents gathered at Ledyard Middle School Wednesday to hear a presentation on the Common Core State Standards that are now being adopted in districts throughout Connecticut, including Ledyard.

Assistant Superintendent Cathy Patterson told parents that the new standards, which are being phased in over the next two years, are designed to help students become better prepared for college and the workforce.

Patterson said the K-12 standards, which have been adopted by more than 40 states,  provide an international benchmark seen as imperative in today’s global economy.

District Language Arts consultant Holly Miller discussed changes in language arts standards under Common Core, and middle school Principal Joe Chella, a member of the district’s math curriculum committee, discussed changes coming in math standards. 

In each area, the standards are more rigorous.

Miller described a more balanced diet of fiction and non-fiction, and the integration of literacy in other disciplines, including science, social studies and history. The ability to comprehend a range of complex texts will part of the new curriculum, as well as writing to inform or argue a position using evidence.

Miller said she has heard from Electric Boat that the most common reason job applicants are not hired is their inability to follow multiple written instructions, such as one would encounter with technical writing. She said embedding literacy in math and science should help students be better prepared.

Public speaking also will part of the curriculum, Patterson said, and some of the students’ presentations will be video-recorded and archived for the purpose of evaluating progress in these areas.

Chella described a math regimen that is more focused in the initial grades, and emphasizes more speed and accuracy. As students progress, the goal is critical thinking.

“We won’t just ask students to solve the problem,” Chella said. “We will ask them to create the problem, then solve it,” sometimes requiring multiple sessions.

The Common Core State Standards are providing some of the impetus for the school administration’s move toward all-day kindergarten, and also combining sixth-grade in the middle school.

“We will be hearing more and more about all-day kindergarten going forward,” said Town Councilor Linda Davis, liaison to the school board.

Indeed, the new standards for kindergarten appear far more rigorous than in the past. For example, kindergarten students will be expected to add and subtract small numbers, name and print upper- and lower-case letters, and take part in classroom conversations.

Chella, however, said plans to reconfigure the schools have little or no direct bearing on implementation of Common Core. For sixth-graders, he said, “we’re going to have to teach these standards no matter where they are.”