I taught in Title I schools for my first five years of teaching.

Methodology

With 46 states and the District of Columbia climbing on board, the looming Common Core State Standards are shaping up to be one of the largest educational reforms in recent history. The academic benchmarks for math and English Language Arts represent a retreat from the traditional rote, fact-based style of instruction toward teaching that fosters critical thinking and problem solving among students. But research shows that teaching for critical thought isn’t widespread in our classrooms (Nystrand and Gamoran, 1991; Nystrand et al., 1999; Kane and Stainger, 2012). Meeting the demands of the Common Core means teaching teachers new approaches to instruction; in other words, reform demands effective professional development.