The Thomas B.

Fordham Institute,
Achieve and the Hunt Institute invite
you to join us in:

Understanding the Common Core

State Standards

The National Governors Association and the Council

of Chief State School officers recently released
draft K-12 Common Core State Standards in
English/Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics.
These standards could represent an important step
 forward for American K-12 education, in that they
are - their creators say - evidence-based,
internationally benchmarked and lay out a logical,
manageable grade-by-grade progression for what it
will take for a student to graduate from high school
college- and career-ready in ELA and mathematics.
But how, exactly, do the draft standards accomplish
this? Join us on Thursday, April 22, for a discussion
of the Common Core State Standards. Learn more
about the content, organization and focus of the
standards. The discussion will include a review of
the evidence base and an exchange on how the
standards can provide a solid foundation for
improving student achievement.

Panelists:

Jason Zimba, Professor of Mathematics and Physics,

Bennington College, Student Achievement Partners and
member of the CCSSI mathematics work team

David Coleman, President, Student Achievement

Partners and member of the CCSSI English Language Arts
work team

Moderator:

Chester E. Finn, Jr., President, Thomas B. Fordham

Institute

Thursday, April 22nd

10 AM - 11:30 AM
Light refreshments served
Registration opens at 9:30 AM

Thomas B. Fordham Institute

 1016 16th Street NW, 7th Floor
Washington, DC 20036

Please RSVP to Vernitta Cooper at

vcooper@achieve.org or 202-419-1568.

You can watch this event live on the web at

www.edexcellence.net. Web viewers can email
questions during the event to lpohl@edexcellence.net.
Please keep questions brief and include the subject line
"Common Core Event."

***

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a non-profit think tank dedicated to advancing educational
excellence in America's K-12 schools. We promote policies that strengthen accountability and
expand education options. Our reports examine issues such as No Child Left Behind and school
choice. For more information about the Institute's work, visit www.edexcellence.net.

Achieve is a bipartisan, non-profit education reform organization - created by our nation's

governors and CEO's - that has worked with states, individually and through the 35-state
American Diploma Project, for over a decade to ensure that state K-12 standards, graduation
requirements, assessments and accountability systems are calibrated to graduate students from
high school ready for college, careers and life. Achieve has partnered with NGA and CCSSO on
the Common Core State Standards Initiative and a number of its staff and consultants serve on
writing and review teams. For more information about Achieve, see www.achieve.org.

Created by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors in 2001, the James B. Hunt, Jr.
Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy works with leaders to secure America's future
through quality education. Working at the intersection of policy and politics, the Hunt Institute
connects leaders with the best strategies for developing and implementing policies and programs
to improve public education. To that end, the Institute convenes governors, policymakers,
legislators, and business and civic leaders across the nation to provide them with the best
information to make informed policy decisions. An affiliated center of the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, the institute is a non-partisan, non-profit entity that does not lobby for,
or take positions on, state and federal legislation. For more information, visit www.hunt-
institute.org.