Central Coast schools prepare for new school year, new standards

As schools on the Central Coast prepare to start the new academic year, federal standards are on the table once again.

“Anything that is going to enhance my child’s education is a must in my book,” says Stephanie Deyoung, whose daughter is entering her junior year at Salinas High School.

She says that she supports anything that is going to better her daughter’s chances in college – and she thinks the new Common Core standards will make that happen.

“It’s really about going to deeper levels of learning in math and English, and then the literacy standards,” said PK Diffenbaugh, superintendent of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. “The anchor standards go across all subjects.”

The standards are expected to get kindergarteners through 12th graders on a level playing field in the classroom.

“Teachers may have been used to kind of covering a bunch of material quickly because the state standardized test required that,” said Diffenbaugh. “The new tests are going to require kids to do more complex problems and going to require a different type of teaching.”

Superintendent Diffenbough says it’s important for parents to know that this is not a new curriculum for their children – just a new set of goals and expectations.

“They’re given higher expectations and higher levels for the students, which I believe all children can attain, if you hold the bar high,” said Deyoung.

And kids will say goodbye to the dreaded filling in the bubble tests – this new Common Core testing will be all digital.