In an effort to align academic standards in public schools — and
give students throughout the United States a set of guidelines
to master at each grade level — educators throughout America are
working on a program called Common Core. Phil Alfano,
superintendent of Patterson Joint Unified Schools, said 45 of
the 50 states are on board with the new program which is set to
begin with the 2014-15 school year. “Common Core is a plan to
have common curriculum standards cross the country,” Alfano said
Monday, Oct. 22. “Individual states can add more to it — it’s
kind of a minimum baseline.” Meanwhile, Common Core assessment
tests will replace the California Standardized Testing and
Reporting annual tests given to students each year and part of
the federal No Child Left Behind legislation that mandated all
students in the county must achieve proficiency by the 2013-2014
school year. Local principals will take part in a five-week
training offered by the Stanislaus County Board of Education at
a yet- to-be-determined t