EAST LANSING - Michigan State University researcher William Schmidt has created a free web-based tool to help educators teach the Common Core standards in mathematics.

Although the majority of U.S. states have voluntarily adopted these standards, many teachers are still using outdated textbooks and materials to ensure that students meet the common set of learning goals for each grade level.

“The textbooks that are out there just don’t seem to fit the bill of lining up well with the standards, and so what we developed was a tool that allows teachers to get online, indicate the book they’re using and the device then gives them a list of determining where in that book they would find coverage relative to the various common core standards,” said William Schmidt, Director of The Center for the Study of Curriculum in the MSU College of Education.

Schmidt and his team found that none of the textbook series cover one hundred percent of the standards, with the typical textbook skipping at least a quarter of the math topics students are expected to learn.

Professor Schmidt says The Navigator is not the solution, but rather a bridge that encourages more teachers to design their own instruction by letting the standards guide their lesson plan instead of the textbooks.

And Schmidt says, some teachers spend as much as two-thirds of the school year on standards from the wrong grade creating a disconnect…but others argue we might be asking for too much from our teachers.

“It’s a lack of quality materials that they have access to and a lack of training that allows them to connect the materials and resources they have to the practices in the classroom. We’re asking a lot more of teachers,” Tammy Baumann, Director of Educational Services for East Lansing Public Schools, said.

Baumann claims that our curriculum lacks depth and teacher preparedness when it comes to the common core and even some students currently enrolled in teaching programs can agree.

"I do feel like I haven’t had as much experience using it in the field; I’ve only had about a handful of lesson plans that I’ve actually implemented them myself," Sarah Carlson, Elementary Education Student at Michigan State University, said.

Carlson, along with other educators, hopes that with more hands-on training she can gain more experience.

“In the following year when I student teach, I will definitely be using it a lot more and will be a lot more confident with it,” Carlson also said.

And although textbooks do contribute to the inequalities in the educational system, professionals are hoping The Navigator can act as the missing link in today’s schools around the state.

The textbook analysis was supported by several grants and is available for free to educators once they have signed an online agreement.