Two years after their approval at the state level, Jefferson City's Board of Education has begun discussing the adoption of the national "Common Core Standards" for the district's curriculum.
"As you are aware," Gretchen Guitard, the district's assistant superintendent for staff services, told the board Monday night, "our assessment questions in the year 2015 are going to reflect that common core."
The standards have been promoted by both the National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. They were developed with help from teachers, school administrators and various experts with a goal of having a national "clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce."
When the State Board of Education adopted the standards by a 5-1 vote in June 2010, Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro said: "It's going to mean that we have more fair and understandable comparisons between and among states."