Are math specialists the answer to teaching better math?
A few years ago, third-grade teacher Laura Metrano considered herself strictly a “language arts person.” “I am a writer and a reader,” she said during a break in her school…
Common Core can help English learners in California, new study says
The rigorous new Common Core standards represent both a daunting challenge and a promising pathway that could help close the achievement gap for the growing number of American students who…
Shift to online testing drives California schools to close tech gap
The largest field test in the country of new online assessments aligned to the Common Core got underway in California this spring, and as it speeds up the state’s transition…
When “proficient” isn’t enough: A California school rises to the Common Core challenge
COMPTON, Calif. — A large color photograph of an iceberg on display in teacher Angel Chavarin’s fourth-grade classroom at Laurel Street Elementary may not be the typical prop for a…
With new standards, will California’s youngest English learners lose their edge in math?
COMPTON, Calif. — Remarkable things are happening at Laurel Street Elementary School in Los Angeles. Ninety percent of its 580 students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. More than…
The Common Core challenge in Bel Air: Delve deeper
LOS ANGELES—A half dozen children are gathered around a table for small-group reading day in Claudine Phillips’ sunny second-grade classroom at Roscomare Road Elementary in the affluent Bel Air…
In Oakland, on the front lines with the Common Core
OAKLAND, Calif.—It’s mid-September in Lisa Rothbard’s fourth-period English class and her last chance to prep these 32 juniors for the next day’s district writing assessment. On face value, the stakes…
In California, a fairly easy transition to Common Core
Controversy is dogging the rollout of the rigorous new national Common Core education standards in many of the 45 states that first embraced the bipartisan proposal. Critics demanding change claim…
With money available for Common Core, California districts study their options
Making the new national Common Core standards a reality in classrooms is a complicated and expensive business. Unusually for California, the money is there. But the tricky part is how…