Almost all the states and Washington, D.C., are grappling with a big challenge as the new school year nears: getting teachers up to speed on the Common Core, a sweeping set of new education standards for English language arts and math.
The Common Core will soon apply to most of America's students from kindergarten through high school. The policymakers behind the Core know that it could fail if they don't help teachers make the change. So this summer, the state of Maryland has been hosting what it calls "academies" to do just that.
Shannon Landefeld is an elementary school reading specialist in Maryland. But today, most of her students are older than she is. Landefeld is one of many "master teachers" the state has called in to help her colleagues work through the new standards.
"Common Core's new to everyone. We're figuring this all out together," Landefeld tells her teacher-students. "So there are gonna be stumbles and falls where there's misconceptions and people believe different things."