DOE offers lessons in education system

This is not your father’s education system — or mother’s, either.

Families are grappling with buzz phrases such as “Common Core Standards” — what they need to know, and by when — and “Smarter Balanced Assessments” — what the tests show they do know. To help them, the state Department of Education has some tools they can find online.

Some of what they’ll find:

>> A 3-minute video explaining the Common Core, as well as “milestones” videos on the children’s learning targets..

>> Practice Smarter Balanced tests they can take online, or just glimpses at typical questions for kids at each grade.

>> A link to the Homework Help Desk site, explaining key concepts to help them help their kids.

>> Connections to social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, e-newsletters) providing more information.

>> Download links to explainers about language-arts and math material children will get (just in case they neglected to fish them out of their backpacks in January when they were handed out).