Top Ten Ways to Get Ready for the Common Core

The Leadership and Learning Blog

Douglas B. Reeves, Ph.D.

12/15/2010

1	Don’t wait for Washington to have final answers – take initiative now in curriculum, assessment, and teaching.
2	Do compare your present standards to the Common Core – identify what will not change and where the greatest changes will be for your particular grade levels and location.
3	Don’t settle for off-the-shelf “teacher-proof” curricula and assessments.
4	Do engage teachers in the process of unwrapping the standards and designing rigorous curricula and assessments.
5	Don’t settle for fiction, fantasy, and personal narrative as the majority of student writing assignments.
6	Do increase significantly the amount of informational writing by students, starting in kindergarten.
7	Don’t expect English/Language Arts faculty to bear the sole responsibility for literacy.
8	Do engage every faculty member in every subject at every grade level in a universal commitment to student literacy.
9	Don’t try to do it all at once or all alone.
10	Do ask for help, including online and in-person support from The Leadership and Learning Center.