Common Core State Standards 

Delayed EOC Scores 

Click here for more information about the delayed EOC scores, or click on the link to the left.

Welcome to our revamped Common Core website! We know the new Common Core State Standards may not be easy to understand, but we are working to make sure our students, parents, staff and members of the community have the best, most up-to-date information about the standards.

Check out the links to the left side of this page to access parent resources, including guides that explain what students will be learning in each grade and how you can work with them at home. We also created a list of frequently asked questions to explain Common Core.

Some of the main questions we have heard from parents and members of the community center on textbooks and other resources, as well as changes to student assessments, which are essentially tests. We added pages that explain those, too.

States across the U.S. are making the switch to Common Core, so there is a lot of information out there. We'll keep adding news stories, blogs, articles and other helpful resources to the Parent Resources section.

We will be updating this website with new information throughout the process, so please continue checking back here for updates. We also want to know what you think, so please send us questions or suggestions at feedback@gcsnc.com.

Thank you for supporting GCS as we embrace the new Common Core State Standards.

The Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) created a short video to explain what Common Core looks like and how it works. Click on the video to check it out!

Three-Minute Video From The Council of the Great City Schools

In addition, CGCS created two public-service announcements about the Common Core State Standards. You can see them on GCSTV, or click on the links to watch.

Common Core PSA - in English

Common Core PSA - en Espanol

Where did Common Core start?

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a joint effort led by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The purpose is to develop a common core of K-12 standards in English language arts and Mathematics.

In June 2010, North Carolina joined the now more than 45 states and the District of Columbia in adopting the Common Core State Standards as its K-12 educational guidelines. In August 2012, those standards replaced the North Carolina Standard Course of Study as the academic measure of success by which students are evaluated.

The standards were created using feedback from thousands of K-12 teachers, college-level educators and experts in the fields of civil rights, English-language learners and students with disabilities.

Ok, that's great, but what exactly IS Common Core?

Common Core means students across the United States are learning a core set of standards in English Language Arts and mathematics. Until now, students in North Carolina may have focused on learning different skills than students in Massachusetts, or California, or Wyoming. As states adopt the Common Core State Standards, students across the country will be learning the same skills in the same grades, and will graduate from high school ready to compete on the same playing field.

The standards are designed to do the following:

• Ensure students graduating from high school are ready for college and/or the workforce and that parents, teachers, and students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them;
• Ensure that students are receiving a high-quality education, no matter what school they attend, across the United States;
• Be clear, understandable and consistent. Each grade level will focus on key lessons, building on those lessons from grade to grade;
• Ensure students are challenged and learn how to think and analyze information; and
• Bring context to the classroom. Students will learn how their lessons fit into real-world situations, and why the material is relevant.

The standards are not a step-by-step guide laying out how teachers need to teach; rather, they are an outline of the goals students should reach and skills student should master along the way to graduation. The standards specify "what" should be taught and learned, not "how" the content is taught.