Few Illinois teachers feel completely ready for Common Core
By Benjamin Yount | Illinois Watchdog
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Fewer than two in 10 teachers in Illinois say they’re completely ready for Common Core, despite Illinois being in its fourth year of the new learning standards.
GRADING ON A CURVE: Most teachers are “somewhat ready” at best for Common Core.
The Illinois State Board of Education’s own teacher survey shows just 17.5 percent of teachers say they are fully prepared for Common Core.
That’s slightly more than the 11.5 percent of teachers who say they are completely unprepared to teach the new benchmarks for reading and math.
Most teachers, 67 percent of those asked, say they are only somewhat prepared for the learning standards that will be tested for the first time next year.
“In our region, we’re slowly gaining more and more traction, more and more confidence” Regional Superintendent Mark Jontry told Illinois Watchdog.
Jontry oversees 23 school districts and 35,000 students in McLean, Livingston and DeWitt counties.
Illinois adopted the new Common Core Standards in 2010, and this year 125,000 Illinois students were guinea pigs for the “test of the test” for Common Core.
All students, between third grade and their junior year of high school, will be tested in 2015.
Contact Benjamin Yount at Ben@IllinoisWatchdog.org and find him on Twitter @BenYount.
