Kings Park Schools Host Common Core Roundtable

Kings Park parents are being invited to gather around to learn about the new Common Core standards and what changes it will bring to their school district this Tuesday. 

Kings Park school administrators will host a Common Core roundtable discussion 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kings Park High School. The discussion will focus on understanding the new curriculum, what the district is doing to implement them, support in place for students as well as addressing parent's questions and issues relating to the Common Core. 

Superintendent Susan Agruso told Patch in August, when the results of the state testing were first released, that she believed the tests were implemented too quickly and did not represent the proficiency of Kings Park students. She repeated this sentiment in her presentation at the Aug. 27 Board of Education meeting. 

"We implemented the standards last year. We are working on it. We believe this is good instruction for our students, but our kids will need more than 7 months of work to be prepared for those assessments to be able to meet that high standard," she said on Aug. 27. 

Agruso compared change over to the Common Core standards to learning how to play basketball. For years, she said the district has used adjustable height nets so students could gradually learn skills to throw the ball and make baskets, increasing the height as students increased in age and develop their skills. 

"Common core standards are little like that, except the little kid needs to make the regulation size basketball net now - before they have the years and years of practice," Agruso said. 

The superintendent outline a few steps the district will be taking this school year to help implement Common Core standards such as new curriculum modules for kindergarten through eighth grade, enVision math and more. More details on these anticipated changes are expected on Tuesday night. 

After the roundtable discussion, a presentation on an analysis of King Park students' scores on the spring state assessments will be made at the Board of Education meeting at 8 p.m.