When the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers published the Common Core State Standards in 2010, they described what students should expect at each grade level. Their goal, according to the CCSS Anchor Standards for College and Career Readiness, was to help schools ensure that “all students are college and career ready in literacy no later than the end of high school.”

Just a sampling of standards for reading, for writing, for speaking and listening and for language shows the way journalism and student media fulfill these necessary curricular needs. These include:

Responsibilities of today’s principals run the gamut from coping with the results of school levies to integrating the latest in online learning. As school chief administrators, they hear parental objections to parking restrictions and teacher worries about outdated technology. The backdrop of day-to-day concerns includes a constant worry about school security, changing state and national standards and trends in student assessment.

None of it’s easy, especially when the primary concerns – helping students learn and getting them ready to make wise decisions for college, career and life in a democracy – can almost get lost in the shuffle.

A 2009 report from the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy lists 15 points needed to meet people’s personal and civic information needs.

The report, “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age,” states “America needs ‘informed communities’ ” to carry out America’s democratic values of openness, inclusion, participation, empowerment and the common pursuit of truth and the public interest.

Part of that list also can be important to schools carrying out a two-fold task: building informed communities for the digital age and training students to be active and effective citizens in digital media use.