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Implementation of the Common Core State Standards is in full swing, and so are the controversies surrounding it. Are the standards, known as CCSS, a shift of educational decision-making powers from states to the federal government?

Or are they a guarantee of a high standard of education no matter the student or school? Does the question not concern the value of the standards, but rather the manner in which they are being put into practice?

I am a public school teacher — a special education teacher to be exact — and I would like to add another issue to the CCSS debate.

Let me make it clear: I like the Common Core State Standards. I believe they set the stage for students to learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills and how to apply these skills in complex, real-world situations.

But while the CCSS are excellent for most students, they are not appropriate for a subset of students, those who have moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. Persons with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities have significant communication challenges.

Some struggle to convey basic wants and needs. Naturally, social interactions and friendships are really tough to develop and maintain. The strain on communication and connection results in great frustration and some individuals resort to aggression and self-injury.

Daily living skills also present challenges. Using tools requires a level of dexterity that these individuals may not have, making many activities almost impossible. Nonetheless, everyone, including persons with the most severe disabilities, can — and deserve the right to — learn.

While the Common Core State Standards are a step in the right direction to ensure that students are college- and career-ready, three significant issues remain for students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities.

Concrete skills are best, specifically those that comprise the functional activities of work, home, and community.

While the Common Core State Standards are a step in the right direction to ensure that students are college- and career-ready, three significant issues remain for students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities.

First, the Common Core State Standards are not within the ability of many individuals with more severe intellectual disabilities. For example, a third grade to fifth grade math goal is to identify a picture of the set of 10 apples from among three pictures, two of which show sets with different numbers of apples.

This requires intricate skills and the ability to follow complex instructions and understand abstractions, something students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities are often unable to do.

Second, the time children spend learning these academic standards is time not spent on learning functional skills, the skills they need the most. When learning a single skill can take hundreds of repetitions, time is a very precious commodity.

Third, students can easily become prompt-dependent when being taught skills that they will never be able to do independently. The result is what is known as “learned helplessness” — an individual who has little initiative and waits to be told what to do.

Teachers agree with me. In April, 2013, the National Center and State Collaborative, one of two consortia developing alternative assessments for students with moderate to severe disabilities, sent out a survey to teachers who had administered at least one alternative assessment to a student with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities.

Out of the 5,285 teachers who responded, almost two in three — 64 percent — of respondents indicated that teachers believe that “students with the most significant cognitive disabilities should master functional skills before academics.”

Written on the Common Core State Standards’ official website is this statement: “The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.”

We need to provide our students with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities with a set of educational standards that are founded on the same rationale and the same principles.

Individuals with moderate to severe disabilities deserve to learn the skills that will allow them to access life-long learning opportunities, vocational prospects, and a high quality of life.

For these students, it is not academic prowess that will result in these achievements. It is their competency and independence in functional skills that are used at home, at work, and in the community.

Only by teaching to standards that address these needs will we empower our students with severe intellectual abilities to become lifelong learners, members of our workforce, and contributing citizens.