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:
- “Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence,” the perfect description of an (something’s missing)
- “Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content,” a good way to explain an in-depth news story.
- “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.” CCSS and other recent looks at pedagogy have emphasized the value of gathering information from a wide range of sources, including multimedia presentations.
- “Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.” Purpose and audience are primary concerns for journalists.
- “Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.”What does that better than journalism?