Michael Moody, the CEO of Insight Education Group, and Sharon Contreras, the superintendent of the Syracuse City School District, wrote an article for SmartBlog on Education about best to implement the new Common Core standards. In the most important point from the article, Contreras stated that the Common Core needed to be viewed as a curriculum to help students learn, not just a curriculum for a test:
In Syracuse, teachers generally understand that the common core is not about testing. However, nationally we've undermined our efforts with parents because we did not adequately explain the standards or address implementation with our families.
As a result, many parents interpret the [Common Core] as simply being about testing rather than being about learning. So we need to better communicate the value of the [Common Core] and help parents understand how these standards and the corresponding instructional shifts will ultimately prepare students for college and careers.
