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Jason Westerlund and Yolanda Robinson review a colleague's Common Core-aligned sample lesson.

Fifth-grade teacher Jason Westerlund has involved his whole school in the process of developing guides to new learning standards, known as the Common Core.

Using funding from the city’s Common Core Fellows program, he and a handful of fellow teachers from P.S. 101 in Queens meet regularly after school to review lesson plans and “go into depth,” exploring the new elementary school literacy and math standards and comparing them to the old ones. And today, a required training day for all city teachers, Westerlund will present this work to the rest of the P.S. 101 staff.

The trickle-down effect was exactly what city officials hoped for when they hired Westerlund and 59 other city educators to design and refine Common Core-aligned curriculum materials and act as emissaries for the new standards in their schools.

Next year, when state tests will reflect the standards for the first time, the city is planning to have 240 fellows, quadrupling the program’s size and output.

But the search for funding to cover the overtime costs of the fellows and their colleagues has so far only turned up enough for the current crop of fellows. City officials say they are hoping Race to the Top winnings can pay for the expansion and will solicit private donations if that plan falls through. (more…)