The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were adopted in 2010 and arose from a need to provide consistent, high standards across the states in order to prepare students for college and careers(link 1 below). Current, strong state standards, experienced educators (link 2 below), and public feedback informed the standards. There are standards in the areas of mathematics (CCSS-M) and English language arts, and there are clear connections between the two content areas.
One hallmark of the CCSS-M standards is that they are focused, coherent, and rigorous (link 3 below). Having standards that are more focused is important because teachers can develop a deep understanding of topics with their students, rather than trying to cover a breadth of topics that are “a mile-wide and an inch-deep”. The authors did not only narrow the topics covered each year, but also ensured that the topics between grade-levels are coherently connected. For example, place value is an important concept to understand in elementary mathematics, and in grades K-5 the standards build on each other to lay a foundation of place value (Table 1). The coherence is especially noticeable in the Progression Documents (link 5 below), which were used to develop and organize the standards. Not only are the standards focused and coherent across the grade levels, but they also represent rigorous standards where students develop a deep conceptual understanding along with the procedural fluency.
Watch this short video to hear Dr. William McCallum talk about the importance of focus and coherence in the standards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNug277I95Q
For mathematics, there are content standards and practice standards. Both the content and practice standards are important in teaching students mathematics and should be meaningfully embedded into mathematics lessons. The content domains for K-6 and the K-12 Standards for Mathematical Practice are listed in Figure 2. More information can be found at the links 6 and 7 below.
Susan Jo Russell (2012) writes, “If the Standards for Mathematical Practice are taken seriously, we must focus on them in the same way we focus on any other standards – with targeted, intentional, planned instruction.”8 We cannot simply assume that we do all of the practices in every lesson, because it would be difficult to focus on all of them all the time. Also, some practices fit better with certain domains or standards so we have to think strategically about how practice and content standards can fit together in the way that capitalizes on what they bring to the lesson9. For example in Russell’s article, she discusses using the Practice Standards 8, 6, and 3 with the content standards 3.NBT.2 and 3.OA.5.
Table 1. Cluster Heading Standards (link 4 below) related to Place Value for Grades K-5
| Grade | Cluster Heading Standards for the Domain “Number and Operations in Base Ten” |
| K | Work with numbers 11-19 to gain foundations for place value. |
| 1 | Understand place value.
Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract. |
| 2 | Understand place value.
Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract. |
| 3 | Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic. |
| 4 | Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers.
Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic. |
| 5 | Understand the place value system.
Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths. |
Additional Resources and Links
1. To learn more details about the development process and a timeline of the events, click the link: http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/development-process/ (Links to an external site.)
2. To hear about who led the effort to write the mathematics standards, click the link and watch the short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnjbwJdcPjE&list=PL913348FFD75155C6 (Links to an external site.)
3. These three “Key Shifts in Mathematics” are discussed in more detail at the following link: http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-mathematics/ (Links to an external site.)
4. What are Cluster Heading Standards?
The standards are categorized into different domains or mathematical topics. Within the domains, the individual standards describe what students should understand and be able to do. The standards are clustered together into related groups and given a “cluster heading”. For a more detailed description, click the link: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/introduction/how-to-read-the-grade-level-standards/ (Links to an external site.)
5. The Progression Documents are important files to understanding the CCSS-M, and are useful to teachers as they implement the standards. The documents are written for the different domains, and can be accessed at the following link: http://ime.math.arizona.edu/progressions/ (Links to an external site.)
Dr. William McCallum describes the progression documents at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-P9KQdhE0U (Links to an external site.)
6. Video about the Importance of the Mathematical Practices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1rxkW8ucAI (Links to an external site.)
7. To read directly from the CCSS document, click the link: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/ (Links to an external site.)
To read more about each standard, click on the following links:
8. Russell, S. J. (2012). CCSSM: Keeping teaching and learning strong. Teaching Children Mathematics, 19(1), 50-56. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.5951/teacchilmath.19.1.0050?uid=3739672&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104582596953 (Links to an external site.)
9. To see a glossary of terms used throughout the CCSS, click the link: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/mathematics-glossary/glossary/ (Links to an external site.)
Chepina Rumsey 