Next school year in North Carolina, most subjects will change to the Common Core (English Language Arts and Math), and the North Carolina Essential Standards Testing. The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort whose standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare students for college and the workforce. The standards define key knowledge and skills students should experience within the K – 12 programs to graduate from high school with college and career readiness skills. The Essential Standards are North Carolina specific in all other areas. Getting-ready workshops, sponsored by the NC Department of Public Instruction and Yancey County Schools, are helping prepare for the changes. Parents may notice changes in assignments from one-dimensional activities like adding/subtracting numbers to more open-ended problems solved over time by groups or individual students. In addition, students will be reading and studying more difficult texts and engaging in more first-hand research projects in English, Science, and Social Studies.