Merrick schools adopting ‘common core’

The Merrick and North Merrick school districts are working hard to adapt their curricula to the “common core standards” recently adopted by New York state.

New York is one of 45 states to adopt the CCS, which are a byproduct of President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative –– a program that enticed states to enact educational reforms by promising federal funding.

The new English Language Arts and mathematics standards place a greater emphasis on depth. Rather than cover a myriad of topics and only scratch the surface, the state wants educators to focus on certain topics over multiple grades. The goal “is to teach children with a lot greater depth of understanding, and greater conceptual understanding,” said Liza Ruiz, the assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum and pupil services for the Merrick School District.

“By having less content to teach, we’ll be able to teach it in much greater depth and to mastery,” Ruiz continued.

Adoption of the CCS is one of three changes brought about by the Race to the Top initiative. Starting this year, teachers will receive a year-end teacher-evaluation score based on student achievement results, and the final change is a shift toward data-driven decision-making.

“We’re being told to delve deeper into particular units of study and not worry as much about quantity as opposed to qualitative study of particular units,” said North Merrick Superintendent David Feller. “And there is a greater emphasis on higher-level thinking skills.”

The new curricula will not apply to the state assessments until the 2012-13 school year. But the Merrick School District has already begun incorporating the new curriculum in order to adhere to the state’s recommended timeline for implementation. “We have a rollout plan which started last year to ensure that our kids are college and career ready,” said Ruiz.