Shifting to the Common Core

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For most educators, the Common Core is a reality. The question is what to do about it. How can we shift from what we have been doing to what we are required to do?

Many groups have created lists of ways that the Common Core differs from previous sets of standards. These differences, or “shifts,” provide educators a focus as they rework and redirect their approach.

Some groups advocate six shifts for each content area, while others present just three. Regardless of the number of shifts or the exact wording, most groups present a list like the one that follows, from AchievetheCore.org:

English/Language Arts Shifts

1. Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction
2. Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational
3. Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

Math Shifts

1. Focus strongly where the Standards focus
2. Coherence: think across grades, and link to major topics within grades
3. Rigor: in major topics pursue
   • conceptual understanding,
   • procedural skill and fluency, and
   • application with equal intensity

To read more about these shifts