Starting in 2014, students in California and 45 other states will face a whole new set of standards called the Common Core. They represent a major shift in K-12 education across the country.
How prepared are teachers to impart the knowledge required? A new survey by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center found that a majority of teachers have received, at most, three days of training on the new standards.
The study, out today, called the shift to Common Core standards a “critical challenge.” It was based on responses from about 600 teachers nationwide.
Only one in five teachers surveyed said they felt “very prepared” to teach the new Common Core standards. Almost 60 percent reported receiving three days of training or less.
Teachers said they need better textbooks and classroom materials to help teach the new standards – more than half of respondents disagreed that the current teaching materials were adequate.
The survey also found disparities between the two categories of standards: English/language arts and mathematics. The vast majority, 92 percent, said they were somewhat or very familiar with the standards for English. Only 78 percent said the same was true for the new math standards.
The Obama administration has pushed the standards as a way to raise the bar on what’s being taught in schools.