Dude,
I am confused by your assertion that Common Core isn't a curriculum, as this seems to be in conflict with statements on the website found at the link
http://www.commoncore.org/, such as
- "The Common Core Curriculum Maps in ELA"
- "The Alexandria Plan... allows you to teach history again."
- Press Release "Louisiana... recommends Common Core Math Curriculum."
- The presence of a "curriculum" tab on their webpage located at the link
http://commoncore.org/maps/historyWhat impacts are anticipated for gifted students?
"
It's not a curriculum, it's a set of standards that can be used to guide curriculum development.
- A standard says "Any student in grade X should know math concepts A, B, and C."
The question of HOW the concepts are taught is not addressed in the standard. That's up to the curriculum. The developers of the curriculum merely need to know that their intended audience in grade X will be expected to learn those concepts. Beyond that, they have complete freedom of design.
A good analogy would be HTTP and web pages. HTTP is simply a set of standards that ensure web content providers to predictably and reliably communicate with web content consumers. Do all web pages look the same?
The press release from Louisiana says the following:
The State of Louisiana and its Office of the State Superintendent of Education recently announced that the P-12 mathematics curriculum developed by the nonprofit Common Core is a recommended resource for Louisiana math teachers. The state praised the curriculum for its rigor and alignment with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
The curriculum is P-12, not Common Core.
The language does lend itself to confusion, because what we're really talking about here is Common Core State Standards. The P-12 curriculum was developed by an organization named Common Core. These things have similar names, but they are not the same thing.
