2014 Single-Topic News or Feature for Broadcast Finalist: American RadioWorks Staff

“Greater Expectations: The Challenge of the Common Core”

The United States is in the midst of a huge education reform. The Common Core State Standards are a new set of expectations for what students should learn each year in school. The standards have been adopted by most states, though there’s plenty of controversy about them among activists and politicians. Most teachers, however, actually like the standards. This American RadioWorks documentary takes listeners into classrooms to explore how the standards are changing teaching and learning.

Comments from the Judges:

“Here are my top entries: Impressively complete and interesting (hard to do both). Great use of sound. Good story arc. Nice key moments. Really necessary at a time when so many Americans don’t know what the standards are. And made a good distinction between the tests and the standards.”