Jason Zimba, one of the authors of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, was on a panel at the joint CCSSO/SHEEO national meeting today. He acknowledged that the mathematics standards did not address college and career ready standards in the same way that the English language arts Common Core Standards did.
The Common Core State Standards for students (Common Core) present a range of college- and career-ready standards that emphasize reading, writing, listening and speaking. The standards also present rigorous mathematics standards that, if mastered, will ensure a student is ready to engage in college-level or work-specific mathematical calculations. Since the release on June 2 of this year, the Common Core has been adopted by 23 states.
The term “college- and career-ready”, which has been part of education discourse for at least 5 years now, recently has taken center stage. Though references to college- and career-readiness are ubiquitous these days, such as in the U.S. Department of Education’s ESEA Blueprint for Reform, there are few explicit definitions for what it means to be college- and career-ready.