Board Meeting Discusses Future Education

During Monday's Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education meeting, the Common Core National Standards were introduced, which is a new ruler of learning that is currently being worked into the state's education system.  

Re-evaluating how teacher's approach their agenda, Superintendent Charles Sampson said, "the Common Core has allowed us to sort of look through a new lense at what we teach, how we teach it, and at what grade level."

Previously, each state has set its own bench mark over what is/isn't proficient.  However, 44 states have signed on with Common Core, which means they are all on their way to a more even field of comparison.  "We'll know how our students are doing compared to other states in the Nation," Sampson remarked.

The school system signed on with the Common Core Institute, and formed a "black belt" training team, which included a number of staff members from the district who go through monthly training.

Adam Angelozzi, one of the black belt members, stated the Common Core will help students really analyze and understand complex textual information in all fields of study, and in turn will better prepare them for college and to join the work force. It will lean on evaluating informational text, and help students constantly apply the things they have learned.  

"While the Common Core was innitiated by governors and school leaders across the United States, there's widespread support from business leaders, colleges, and universities for common standards."  Angelozzi stated there is also a strong military backing for the program.

He described the program will involve all academic departments, each of which will partake in the increase in text complexity.  Teachers must include content specific vocabulary in articles, directions, questions, and writing passages that students are studying.  There will be a strong emphasis placed on students'ability to improve their understanding of content, and not think about it on a minimal level.

Starting as young as kindergarden, teachers will be using more complicated vocabulary in regular conversation. The expectation is, by the time students are ready for higher education, they will be able to think in a more complex manner and excel in a whole new way.