Common Core State Standards:
An Overview and Look Forward

In the spring of 2009, governors and state commissioners of education from across the United States formed the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). What is the goal of this initiative? To develop a set of shared national standards ensuring that students in every state are held to the same level of expectations that students in the world's highest-performing countries are, and that they gain the knowledge and skills that will prepare them for success in postsecondary education in the global arena. This course is an invitation to think about the possibilities that the Common Core standards offer for strengthening teaching and learning across the United States. The projected outcome of this course is to provide educators with the knowledge, understanding, and methodologies to create pathways to the Common Core in order to accelerate student achievement.