In a public school student’s 13-odd years of education, it is pretty safe to say he or she will make an observation that sounds something like one of these:

“I just cram all the information I need to know the night before the test and forget it pretty much the next day.”

“When I moved to a new school district, I wasn’t on the same level as the other students. I was one of the best students in my grade back home, but when I got here, they told me I was failing.”

“Our teachers tell us all these old books we read in class are important pieces of literature, but how exactly is any of this information we learn important in the real world?”

These aren’t real quotes, but it can be argued that they represent the most common complaints students have about their education. Common Core is here to rectify this. Since 2010, sweeping modifications have been made to national education standards for grades K-12. The objective of these refinements is to make learning at public schools more consistent (between grades, states and even countries), and to encourage students to take a more active role in their education, absorbing and continuously using skills and methods instead of memorizing and regurgitating information. In English, these standards support students gradually learning research skills and appreciating more nonfiction texts. Work in math classes will be expected to be supported with methods and written explanations.

Outside of the political dissent and isolated – but not altogether infrequent – cases of parental backlash, the underlying aim of the Common Core standards is to eliminate the perceived gap between school and the aforementioned “real world.” In fact, the standard skills students will be expected to learn are intended to reflect what students will be up against post-graduation, in collegiate and professional atmospheres, nationally and abroad. “We are preparing students to compete in a growing global market,” Principal Dennis Cramsey said. “While we embrace Common Core, we will also continue to teach skills we already know our students need to be successful in the next levels.”

Some major curriculum changes, perhaps most notably in the English sequence, have accompanied the adoption of the Common Core standards. Gradual introduction of research skills will be made in the newly revised Freshman Literature and World Literature courses. The hope is that with this altered sequence, research skills will be truly absorbed by students, who will be spared the shock of being assigned a full-fledged research project all at once. “The reasoning behind introducing skills more gradually is so they become natural for the students by the time they hit the big research paper,” English teacher Mrs. Diane Mercer said. “Research is less threatening when you’ve been getting comfortable with it all semester.”

The curriculum revision process was nothing if not involved. “We involved teachers, administrators and parents in the curriculum review,” Cramsey said. “We looked at the skills we were teaching in various courses, and they did a very nice job matching up new standards with revised courses.” Should the new standards serve EHS students well, graduates armed with real-world skills will be more prepared than ever to own their education.