English Language Arts Common Core State Standards

This reading was really my first direct exposure to the Common Core State Standards. Prior to this reading, my exposure to them had been primarily if not exclusively the secondhand comments about them from other students in the education program. However, now that I have read through them a bit myself, I see now that they are not exactly the demon spawned restrictions to teacher's freedoms that I have heard them described as. The Common Core State Standards actually allow for a lot of freedom in the teacher's ability to teach a given subject. They merely seem to provide a list of the concepts which are the most important things for students to learn during the course of the year. It also impressed me that the Common Core State Standards for English included the importance of literacy and the ties between English and other subjects, such as Social Studies and science.  The common core does not do anything to consider curriculum, giving the teachers the freedom to design their lessons the way they see fit to provide the best instruction. They also force teachers to bring students to a standard, rather than allowing them to accept mediocre results.
However, the Common Core State Standards are not exactly one hundred percent perfect either. As pointed out by the article, creating a standardization is not the same as hold them to high standards. As needs may vary from classroom to classroom, it is difficult if not impossible to create a standard. Homogenization of instruction isn't necessarily a good thing when the same standards may not be applicable within different classrooms. The CCSS focuses entirely upon academic standards, rather than creativity and individuality. Where they succeed in ensuring that all students are held to the same standard, they fail in recognizing that each classroom is different and functions completely differently than any other classroom might.While it can be argued that all students should be held to the same standard, it can sometimes be difficult to do so under certain circumstances. For example, students of different levels of socioeconomic standard. A student from a wealthier background is much more likely to meet each standard than one from a poorer background. The CCSS fails to consider this and it is left to the individual teacher to provide the lower SES students with all of the extra resources they will need to succeed.