Common Core from the Outside Looking In

Engelbrecht, Shannon.

CA

McCracken, B. (2014, January). Common Core from the Outside Looking In. Knowledge Quest. pp. 8-9.

Summary: BJ McCracken, guest editor for the January-February issue of Knowledge Quest themed "Beyond the Core", wrote the introduction to kickoff a consideration of the new common core standards from multiple points of view, especially teacher librarians. 

Evaluation: While this is just the introduction to an excellent issue of Knowledge Quest, McCracken challenges thinking on several subjects in just a few pages. She rejects the accepted dismissal of high-stakes testing by asking how it could be useful as formative assessments. She reminds us of the thinking behind the common core, to require critical thinking and problem solving skills development.  This introduction sets a tone of open-minded exploration into the unknown rather than the facile suspiciousness that has all to often characterized the shift away from the previously clearly inadequate standards.