District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Common Core of Learning

What Beliefs Form the Basis of the Common Core of Learning?

In November of 1992, the Board of Education stated that the mission of public education in Massachusetts is to "provide each and every child with the values, knowledge and skills needed to achieve full potential in his or her personal and work life and to contribute actively to the civic and economic life of our diverse and changing democratic society."

The Massachusetts Board of Education believes that all children can become lifelong learners and meet high standards. This guiding belief is the basis for establishing high expectations for teaching and learning in the Commonwealth. The goal is for all to lead productive, fulfilling, and successful lives in our complex, diverse and changing world.

If students are to succeed in the 21st century and meet the future's challenge:

• They must recognize the importance of education as a lifelong effort.
• They will need to communicate effectively with others through reading, writing, speaking, computing, the arts and technology.
• They will need to respect and understand people of different backgrounds in our diverse society.
• They will need to understand environmental and other issues with worldwide implications.
• They will need to make informed decisions for themselves, their families, their communities and our country.
• They will need to contribute to our society.
• They will need to take responsibility for their own behavior.

In the 1950's, high school graduates could feel reasonably certain that school had prepared them adequately for lifetime jobs in American industry, jobs that would provide them with economic security. Today, due to global competition, new technologies and work methods, jobs are changing at such an accelerating pace that high school can no longer provide all the education one needs for life. Everyone needs to become a lifelong learner who can adapt to change and challenge and be prepared for the jobs and opportunities of the future.

While manual typewriters constituted high technology in offices and schools only a short time ago, now computers, electronic networks, expanded telephone services and other technological tools are essential in the workplace. These tools must become standard within every classroom to ensure that all students and teachers have the opportunity to apply and extend their skills and knowledge.

The television age began only forty years ago. Today, students are inundated with complex, often contradictory, messages from diverse media. Students must become skilled at organizing, analyzing, and making sense of the vast information they receive. They must learn to evaluate arguments, spot hidden messages, analyze evidence, differentiate between fact and opinion, and make comparative judgments.

We believe it is essential that all students be held to high standards of achievement in reading, writing, speaking standard English, mathematics and science, history and the arts. Failure to do so denies students the opportunity to participate fully in our society and economy.

We believe that all students should learn or maintain a second language, beginning in elementary school, and should be expected to master that language. This expands opportunities to communicate with others, to work in an increasingly competitive worldwide economy, and to understand the diversity of cultures.

Not so long ago, most Americans did not worry about their environment. Now, with the global population explosion, worldwide industrialization, increased use of natural resources and the degradation of rain forests and agricultural land, students need to develop skills to analyze the environmental issues that face them today and that will challenge them tomorrow.

We believe that the quality of each student's future will depend on his or her ability to gain and apply knowledge. An expanding base of knowledge in essential subject areas enables students to be effective and productive individuals, workers and citizens throughout life. Linking skills and knowledge acquired across the disciplines is crucial to student success in school and in the workplace of tomorrow. Strong study and work habits prepare students to be productive learners and workers.

In recent years our family and neighborhood structures have broken down, the sense of community has diminished, and the social fabric of our civilized society has been torn by violence, disrupted by substance abuse and undermined by neglect. Our society must restore essential values of compassion, courage, honesty, justice, perseverance, respect, and self-discipline at home, in school and in the workplace. We all must learn to get along with others, work cooperatively, participate in our communities and avoid and prevent violence.

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