Posted on December 21, 2012

Helmsley Charitable Trust Awards $11 Million in Support of Common Core Standards

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has announced a three-year, $11 million grant to three organizations working to develop tools to help students meet new college and career-ready academic standards.

Student Achievement Partners, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers will use the grant to design tools and digital applications that support teachers in the forty-six states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards. The tools will be distributed to educators at no cost by Student Achievement Partners, which was central to development of the standards.

Internationally benchmarked, the Common Core standards outline the skills a student needs to master in order to be prepared to succeed in college and the twenty-first century economy. As they work on the front lines to implement the new standards, teachers will need to make significant changes in their instructional practices in both literacy and math.

"The new rigorous Common Core State Standards represent a huge shift in teaching and learning ensuring that students are able to think critically, apply knowledge, and meet the challenges of today's world," said AFT president Randi Weingarten. "But teachers across the country say they are not receiving the time, tools, and resources they need to master the new curriculum and make the instructional shifts necessary to make the standards work for teachers and kids. The AFT is excited to join this partnership to help ensure that teachers have access to and a voice in creating high-quality resources to help their students and their profession succeed."