Sesson+2

. Discuss how Pennsylvania’s current standards align with Common Core. I teach first grade at a small Pennsylvanian school. We have been working with our curriculum, trying to align our curriculum (which is based on the PA standards) to the Common Core suggestions for grade one. We have found that the PA state standards align very closely with the common core standards for first grade.

2. Identify the greatest difference between Pennsylvania standards and the Common Core. There are many differences between the Pa standards and the common core standards. The greatest difference I found was, at the elementary level, there are fewer common core standards, but they are more indepth. The Pa standards cover many many more topics but are not as detailed. To me, it seems as though the common core standards are taking a "less is more" approach. Which is different than the norm in education today.

3. Recognize the elements that will guide transition to Common Core. It will take school districts many steps to transition from the Pa standards to the Common Core standards. The first step a school district will have to complete is to comparing the current curriculum to the Common Core standards. After doing so, the teachers in each grade or each subject will have to add topics to their current curriculum and omit others to fulfill the standards of the common core. It will take alot of inservicing and eduation on the part of the administration and teachers. This will be a huge undertaking.

4. Discuss the importance of the connection between Common Core and Common Assessments. The state is now implementing the Keystone exam, which is our common assessment. It is my understanding that our Keystone exam will be aligned to the common core. Therefore, if teachers are teaching the topics assigned within the common core their students will be adequately prepared for the Keystone exam.

5. Evaluate the SAS Curriculum Framework to measure its correlation to Common Core The SAS curriculum framework is used to help teachers when deciding what and what not to teach within the common core. The curriculum framework helps teachers and administrators to see what should be taught until the new common core standards.