Common Core State Standards Essay

Common Core State Standards and Gifted Learners

Education standards generally describe what should be known by students and their capability in every subject in every grade. Various states use state Board of Education to decide what standards should be followed by the entire students starting the kindergarten to high school. From 2010, most of the states have adopted similar standards for Mathematics and English. These came to be known Common Core State Standards (CCSS). When students have the same standards they get the opportunity to receive good education, regardless of changing schools or relocating to a different state. Educational experts, teachers, and parents took the responsibility of designing the standards in order to prepare students for success when they are in college as well as the workplace. These state's Department of Education assists schools to ensure that the entire students meets the standards.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been based on K-12 content standards, and was developed in English Language Arts and Mathematics, illustrating the required emphasis on the curriculum that can make students develop the skills and concepts needed in this 21st century. CCSS, which have been adopted by about 45 states, have been organized into key content strands and articulated across the entire schooling periods and majorly replace the states' content standards. This initiative tends to be based on states and is always coordinated by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA). Majorly intended to prepare K-12 students for college and the workplace, teachers, administrators, and content experts take part in the process of designing.

The new CCSS tend to be evidence-based, and aligned with expectations for success in college and the workplace, as well as mainly informed by the successes and failures that have been realized from the current standards and international competition demands, (Kathleen Porter-Magee, 2013). This new standards affirms depth, rigor, coherence, and clarity, using the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Frameworks as the basis in terms of Reading and Writing and the Mathematical trends in International and Science Study (TIMMS) report. They have been providing a framework for curriculum development work, although some of the states are by now also engaged in the process. Among the states include Minnesota, Maine, Illinois, and Indiana have been working within and across local districts in order to design relevant curriculum and to align the new standards with current practice.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) adoption has a significant implication for teachers. Among the needs of CCSS is for general education teachers to always recognize and attend to students learning differences, and include the detailed content and knowledge application using higher-order thinking skills. Connection of CCSS to the field of gifted education has been assumed in its implementation. Despite of its perceived rigorous nature compared to the rest of standards, they have somehow failed to meet the specific needs of gifted learners, and if such goes for long, could limit learning, (Catherine Gewertz, 2013). One of the solutions is for the gifted educators to create a full range of supports for high-ability learners through differentiated assessment, instruction, and assessments.

Moreover, it is more important for gifted teachers, facilitators, and education coordinators to reaffirm and advocate for the need for specialized services for academically advanced as well as gifted students. Apart from gifted education professionals providing direct student services, they also play a very significant role in translating CCSS to the classroom through collaborating with the rest of the teachers in serving as a valuable resource for implementation of differentiated curriculum and assessment. As gifted education professionals take their role in assisting the gifted students, their role should be more expanded and acts as mentors/peer coaches in providing sustained, developed job-embedded professional to school personnel in order to ease implementation issues. Also, using the research base done by gifted education in contributing to the professional development that school administrators may be in need of in supporting complex curriculum and deep student learning.

Since the gifted student are able to learn quickly compared to other learners, CCSS…