The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has scheduled a series of statewide meetings, including one in south county, regarding the new Common Core State Standards.

The local meeting will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at the Lindbergh Schools district office, 4900 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

In recent weeks, the department has been responding to requests for information and answering questions related to the State Board of Education’s decision in 2010 to adopt new standards in English language arts and mathematics, more commonly known as the Common Core State Standards, according to a news release. The new standards will be in use in all public school districts in the state by fall 2014.

The Common Core State Standards are a set of high‐quality academic expectations in English language arts and mathematics that define the knowledge and skills all students should know and be able to do to be on track for success in college and careers, the release stated.

The standards promote critical thinking and reasoning skills that students need. Though information has been shared by the department and by local school districts over the past three years, it is clear the department needs to continue its outreach and communication efforts, according to the release. To that end, the series of statewide meetings has been scheduled.