Although Common Core’s values and goals were admirable, the sudden shift many test takers felt had a strong negative effect on last year’s junior class.

The initiative of Common Core was pushed to American education in 2010 and sought out to make the transition from one state’s curriculum to another’s easier than ever before. Overall it sets out to make standard education in the country more challenging. Unlike many other standardized tests, where bubbling in questions that are fairly straightforward is the norm, Common Core requires students to actually think about and write their answers down. 

The main problem is that everyone who took that test didn’t grow up with the Common Core standards until a couple years ago. There’s no point of testing people in standards that are radically different and harder than they have experienced before. Schools should better prepare students before they take the test by letting them take practice tests on computers or iPads and teaching them Common Core standards. These initiatives could familiarize students with the test so better results can be seen.

Each student had to answer questions on iPads and many questions required students to not only answer the question, but to explain their reasonings.

The radical shift that kids felt showed in the results. Forty-seven percent of last year’s junior class landed in the “standard met” section for English Language Arts/Literacy, but a whopping 56% were at the total bottom at “standard not met” for the mathematics section.    

If a student does well on a Common Core test, there’s no need to take a placement test for a Cal State University. Yes, you can send it any CSU but you can also send your SAT scores. It’s hard to imagine anyone choosing to send their Common Core scores instead of their SAT.