Common Core Standards for College and Career Readiness

We’re paying close attention to the Common Core Standards for College and Career Readiness being developed by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

Note that in the Introduction document, the first standard listed for Student Practices in Reading, Writing, and Speaking and Listening (the underlying premises for the core standards) is that students can demonstrate “independence.”

“Students who are college and career ready exhibit the following capacities in their reading, writing, and speaking and listening:
1. They demonstrate independence as readers, writers, speakers, and listeners. Students can, without significant scaffolding or support, comprehend and evaluate complex text across a range of types and disciplines …”

This premise strongly supports Mirrors & Windows’ unique instructional design that gradually reduces the level of scaffolding or support (applying the gradual release of responsibility model) in each unit to include independent reading selections within the textbook, providing many opportunities for students to demonstrate their independence as readers.
For more information on the Common Core State Standards Initiative visit http://www.corestandards.org/.