Common Core and I may both coexist after all...

In my omnipresent haste and need to be right, I would like to retract a few of my concerns previously voiced in regards to the implementation of Common Core (which is now being referred to as College and Career Readiness) in addition to answering a few of my own questions. I've taken a page from the transcendentalists and the results have surprised me. 

1. CC is a set of standards meant to provide benchmarks for students throughout their educational journey. Therefore, students, parents, and teachers should be able to better determine when a child is falling behind in a subject. 

2. CC requires that 70% of material read by students be non-fiction; not solely via Language Arts, but across the entire spectrum of subjects being covered in the school year. It is assumed that the remaining 30% be used in the Language Arts classroom whereas History, Science, Music, Math, etc. be contributing more non-fiction material than are currently being done. 

3. CC is desperately trying to get teachers to go against the grain of teaching to the test and teach meaningful and relevant material that will also be covered on standardized tests. CC encourages project and activity based learning to ingrain information to the long term memory versus memorization solely for the school year or a test. 

4. Schools may choose to forego their individual state's form of standardized testing and may choose the ACT instead. 

While College and Career Readiness has yet to be fully integrated into our education systems, I feel more at ease with the information and experience  I have gained thus far with CC. My personal teaching style is definitely more activity based and incorporates several non-fiction pieces that relate to current events which, unbeknownst to me, was one of the goals of CC Language Arts all along.

Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

So, I digress.