4 Reasons Universities Praise Common Core

While parents, teachers, lawmakers and students wrestle with the implementation of Common Core standards, some universities are celebrating the move saying it leads towards a more rigorous college preparation.

Here are four big reasons universities praise common core:

1. The standards engage important thinking skills: The Common Core standards focus on "college readiness" skills that extend beyond the curriculum and often are the exact skills that make the different between university success or failure.

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According to The Washington Post, University of Illinois- Chicago English and education Professor Gerald Graff explained it saying, "Standards like these aren't just another set of hurdles for students to jump over. They actually serve an important teaching function by defining and clarifying mysteries about college level work that colleges themselves leave students to figure out on their own."

2. These are research based standards: The College Board, the same group that runs the SAT college preparatory test, helped develop the Common Core Standards. That group says the standards were purposefully "aligned to college and workplace expectations."

The group praises the standards for the consistency and basis is research on best practices for education.

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3. Common Core standards are more effective than past efforts at creating "ready" students: The National Association of State Higher Education Executive Officers supports the Common Core initiative. In a 2009 statement of support, the group expressed the hope that Common Core standards will lead to "rigorous K-12 curricula that prepare students more effectively for post-secondary education and work."

4. The standards require collaboration between universities and K-12 educators: According to US. News, the advantage Common Core standards offer to universities includes additional K-12 educators thinking about what colleges need from prepared students.

"The cultures of K-12 and higher education are very different," Jacqueline King, director of higher education at the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tells U.S. News. 

"It's the issue of trying to get a more seamless pathway between the two and really getting some clarity together about what college readiness means."

Vote Here: Is Common Core Good or Bad for Schools?

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