A recent article suggests that since the Common Core State Standards were introduced, they have provided a layer of difficulty that didn't previously exist and there are gaps in what the CCSS covers. 

“In 2012 the Los Angeles Unified School District rolled in a new way of teaching adopted by 44 states and the District of Columbia, hoping for a new way of leveled-playing-field learning, that is now commonly known as common core,” said Maryam Zar, who gave a lengthy historical context of Common Core Standards in her Huffington Post article.

“As Common Core rolled out over the course of several school years, it brought with it a burdensome homework time that in our household had long been a cherished hour,” said Zar.

“We all had homework time. I invariably had some work to do and my husband always had something to read. If our kids bumped into trouble while diligently working on their own, they knew they could rely on their wordsmith mother for Language Arts, and their mathematician dad for Math.”

Zar says the Common Core Standards changed that drastically. She asserted that answers became cumbersome and neither she nor her husband was able to help their children who were struggling with homework.

Zar argued that the level of work increased and added that Common Core Standards do not affect the overall work ethic or dedication to education in students who didn’t show interest before. She believes that if Common Core’s motive was to raise the standard of thinking, it has failed in her opinion.

“My daughter's best Math teacher in Middle School - the hardest teacher with the toughest reputation - refused to teach by common core standards and pounded Math the old fashioned way,” said Zar.

“His tutelage ushered my daughter into High School Math one year before her time. My son's finest English teacher refuses to endorse common core and insists that he will teach with a combination of thinking and learning - as he was taught.”

Zar doesn’t completely annex the idea of Common Core Standards in the classroom but she does say that time is still a factor when it comes to Common Core implementation. That being said, she believes it’s still presenting a struggle in schools judging from her personal interactions with the standards.

Read the full story and comment below.

Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor