As schools across the state continue moving towards the new Common Core curriculum and standards, one school district leader says the Common Core movement is a good thing.
Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, the standards each year for every school district increases. The standard by which districts are then set to is called Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP. While some administrators might say the standard is too ridiculous to meet, Monticello Schools Superintendent Dr. Vic Zimmerman says there is nothing wrong with high standards, but they find themselves trying to have all students meet that standard, including those students with disabilities.
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As the deadline of the 2014-15 school year looms for schools to have their curriculum geared towards the Common Core standards, Dr. Zimmerman says it seems the country is moving towards a common curriculum. Some school leaders argue there is no local control but Dr. Zimmerman believes there is not much to control currently. He feels getting everyone on the same page academically will be a good thing.
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Because of the overlap of phasing out AYP and implementing the new Common Core curriculum into schools, a majority of schools across the state, including Monticello did not make AYP this year. Dr. Zimmerman says there are 18 indicators to meet, and all 18 was the number for meeting AYP this year. Monticello met 15. Dr. Zimmerman feels that is a pretty good number.
