Common Core

American  

[kom-uhn kawr] / ˈkɒm ən ˈkɔr /

noun

1. a set of academic standards, adopted in most U.S. states, that outlines the learning goals in English and mathematics for students at each grade level, from kindergarten through 12th grade, with the objective of teaching the same educational essentials to all students throughout the country.

---

Etymology

Origin of Common Core

First recorded in 2005–10

Example Sentences

This anti-cursive trend was reinforced in 2010 when many states adopted the influential Common Core learning standards, which had dropped cursive entirely.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2024

Some of the shift started with the implementation of Common Core, which placed an emphasis on teaching students how to find and analyze sources.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 6, 2022

One of Frasier’s favorite examples is the Common Core State Standards, the nation’s hottest school reform in the 2010s until it lost momentum.

From Washington Post • Nov. 6, 2021

About a decade ago, amid debates over the national Common Core standards, many parents bemoaned math exercises that they said seemed to dump line-by-line computation in favor of veritable hieroglyphs.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 4, 2021

In defending these new standards, David Coleman, president of the College Board and one of the architects of the Common Core, seemed to equate reading and writing that is not purely fact-based with self-indulgence.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove