State education chiefs and governors in 48 states came together to develop the Common Core, a set of clear college- and career-ready standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. Today, 43 states have voluntarily adopted and are working to implement the standards, which are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to take credit bearing introductory courses in two- or four-year college programs or enter the workforce.
In order to ensure that all students are prepared for the challenges and opportunities of today’s workplace, the state has raised the bar on graduation requirements. Today, students need to know and be able to do more than ever before so that they can have the skills to pursue their hopes and dreams.
Schools are recommended to release report cards on different statistics and demographics of the school each year, for each school and the district.
Smarter Balanced will provide parents, students, and teachers a clearer window on whether students are on track to graduate high school, ready for college and the workplace. The assessments will be ready by the 2014-2015 school year.
The state publishes an assessment schedule for schools to use to determine what grades should be tested on what subjects.