Professional Development - Curriculum and the Common Core

Many thanks to our curriculum director, Maureen Cohen, and the district's professional development committee for putting together a valuable day of professional learning activities. Throughout the day teachers in our district worked collaboratively on curriculum. Specifically, our work focused on curriculum mapping and meeting the needs of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

The Common Core is a rigorous set of learning standards that was designed to ensure American students are learning and achieving at the highest levels. Forty-five states in the nation have adopted these standards, helping educators across the country to ensure similarly challenging learning experiences for their students. 

Massachusetts' schools adopt the Common Core initiative from a strong starting point. Our state curriculum frameworks already provide students with high quality education. Massachusetts' students continually achieve at the highest levels on rigorous standardized tests. For instance, in a recent international test, our eighth graders demonstrated the strength of our curriculum. On that test, if Massachusetts were a country, our students would rank second in the world in science and sixth in the world in mathematics.

As we work to implement the Common Core, our teachers will build off the strength of our current curriculum to provide learning experiences that fully prepare our students for the challenges of the 21st century.