New York parents discuss the CCSS at district event

As states' Common Core State Standards implementation deadlines approach, information sessions focused on the CCSS are sure to become the norm. New York's Kings Park Central School District is the site of the latest forum on the Standards, though organizers behind the event prefer to call it a "roundtable," according to Long Island Newsday.

The recent roundtable was designed to bring parents and educators together and ensure everyone was on the same page regarding the CCSS. Those in attendance were free to ask questions about the Common Core implementation process, as well as offer suggestions.

District Superintendent Susan Agruso has compared students' learning experience in CCSS-aligned classrooms to what it is like for young children to play regulation basketball.

"All of the content of the game, all of the skills to play the game, you develop over years as you yourself are getting bigger and bigger and bigger and better able to meet the standards of professional basketball," said Agruso, as quoted by the news source. "Well, Common Core Standards are a little bit like that, except the little kid has to meet the regulation basket now - before they have the years and years and years of practice and development."

Roundtables similar to the one organized by the Kings Park Central School District are essential if some parents are still unfamiliar with the CCSS. After all, students in grades pre-K-8 are already receiving Common Core-aligned lessons, with grades 9-12 in the process of making the transition, according to EngageNY.org, a New York State Education Department website.

If parents are misinformed about certain aspects of the CCSS, it can interfere with their children's academic progress. The sooner educators and parents are on the same page, the better.