Classical Conversations and Common Core State Standards

What are the Common Core State Standards? The Common Core standards were designed as federally suggested standards for public schools. Individual states have decided whether or not to adopt these standards. Classical Conversations views this initiative as an attempt by the public school system to cede authority from the local level to the national level. Therefore, this initiative does not apply to entities like Classical Conversations, which exist to support high quality private education options that locate the primary responsibility for education within the family. 

At this time, we have no plans to come under the Common Core standards, many of which we view to be detrimental to learning and to students. Some textbook providers have already rewritten curricula to align with the Common Core State Standards. We have consulted with our curriculum partners to ensure that older editions of textbooks will remain available to us for our programs. 

In Classical Conversations, we affirm that there is a core of knowledge that is important for all human beings, knowledge of truth, goodness, and beauty, of wisdom and virtue that can be found through a classical, Christian education. We believe that this knowledge comes from the thoughtful study of history, literature, art, music, math, science, geography, logic, philosophy, and foreign languages among others. 

Over the years, Classical Conversations students have demonstrated that they are well-grounded in all of these areas of knowledge. In addition, their ability to reason, write, and speak well, have made for a smooth transition to college, other schools, and the adventure of lifelong learning.