Historical Context of Work

Published June 2, 2010

• June 2009 - The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers announced a joint venture to establish Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  The ultimate goal of the initiative is for all American children to graduate from high school ready for college, career pathways, and success in a global economy.
• July 2009 – Work and feedback groups began comprising math and English-language arts standards. These groups were comprised of members of higher education, K-12 education, and researchers.
• September 21, 2009 – The first official public draft of the college- and career-readiness standards in English-language arts and mathematics as part of the CCSS Initiative was made available for comment from stakeholders. These stakeholders include educators, administrators, businesses, state officials, and community and parent organizations. Some organizations supporting the initiative include the Alliance for Excellent Education, the American Association of School Administrators, the American Federation of Teachers, the Business Roundtable, the Council of Great City Schools, the Hunt Institute, the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National Education Association, the National Parent Teacher Association, and the State Higher Education Executive Officers.
• September 24, 2009 – The Validation Committee for the draft of the college- and career-readiness standards in English-language arts and mathematics was announced. This committee was charged with reviewing the process used to develop the standards, validate the evidence supporting each standard, and add any addition standards deemed necessary while providing appropriate support for such standards.
• September 2009 – A total of fifty-one U.S. states and territories had joined the CCSS Initiative.
• November 2009 – The first draft of the CCSS was released to the states. Feedback was solicited from the states and two additional drafts were released.
• March 10, 2010 – The first official public draft of the K-12 standards as part of the CCSS Initiative was made available for comment from the aforementioned stakeholders until April 2, 2010 with the exception of the states, which had more time to provide feedback.
• June 2, 2010 – The final version of the CCSS was released to the public.
• June 2010 – The Validation committee published its final report.  

Education and Influences

The National Governors Association and  the Council of Chief State School Officers wanted to level the playing field for all students across the nation. Upon analysis of standards from various U.S. states, disparities were found. The quality of education in America was not found to be equitable. Throughout the undertaking of the development of the CCSS, there were many influences. The standards were shaped by professionals in K-12 education, higher education, professional education and business related organizations, states, and citizens.

Impact on Curriculum and Assessment

• In a survey conducted by the Center on Education Policy, it was found that states that have adopted the standards plan on developing or adopting new assessments, modifying curriculum, and offering new professional development for teachers. All of this is to be done to ensure that the standards will be fully implemented at the classroom level. It is anticipated that many of these changes will not be fully executed until 2013 for most states and even 2015 for others.
• The CCSS hold far more aggressive timelines for teaching specific concepts in elementary and middle school mathematics.

Impact on Best Practices

• Many states have already begun professional development for in-service teachers and administrators in regards to the CCSS. All states that have adopted the CCSS are expected to be providing professional development by 2012.
• Most states adopted the CCSS because of their rigor and the possibility that the standards will lead the way to national improvement in education. The standards are conceived to “encourage a seamless system of education from elementary school through college.”

 Impact on Expectations of Middle Schools

• The CCSS’s aggressive timelines indicate that by the end of 8^th grade, all students should have developed algebraic proficiency. 
• The CCSS prepare high school students for more formalized geometrical concept instruction through explicit exploration in middle school.

Problems or Failures

• The CCSS only incorporate English-language arts and Mathematics standards. At this time, there are no definite plans on developing standards for Science and Social Studies.  
• The Center on Education Policy found a common problematic theme among the states that have adopted the CCSS. The states cited “developing teacher evaluation systems geared to the common core state standards and finding funds” as the foremost obstacles to implementing the standards. States also identified teacher preparation alignment to the standards, developing curriculum materials aligned to the standards, and developing and implementing new assessments correlated to the standards as leading problems. 
• Although not yet deemed a failure, one of the main goals of the CCSS Initiative is to “ensure that high school graduates have learned the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in college and careers.” Few of the states that have adopted the CCSS have clear plans on coordinating efforts between their respective state departments of education and higher education authorizes on aligning college entrance requirements and the CCSS. Without cooperation between the two entities, the goal of the CCSS Initiative may not be realized.  
• According to Jere Confrey, a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Education at Joseph D. Moore University and member of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, the CCSS math standards present math process standards separate from the content standards. Therefore, the mathematical practices are more likely to be isolated in instruction and not heavily emphasized. Data analysis and probability are ignored in the standards until they are abruptly added in the 6^th grade. This adds an additional, unnecessary burden during an already difficult transition for most students. The CCSS virtually ignore the fact that elementary students have the ability of understanding data analysis and probability, which is heavily supported by research.

Other Interesting Facts

• Interestingly enough, Race to the Top grant winners make up a majority of the states that are expected to establish Common Core standards-related practices for low-performing schools by 2013.
• President Obama plans to tie 14.5 billion in Title I funding to be awarded to states that adopt the Common Core State Standards. This would be done through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
• The Common Core State Standards Initiative is highly reminiscent of the recommendations of the Committee of Ten and the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education in standardizing secondary education. Not only do the CCSS make to standardize secondary education, the CCSS seek to provide ubiquitous standards for all of K-12 education.
• The CCSS are also influenced by the work of Franklin Bobbitt, as he was a pioneer in identifying common objectives as the basis for curriculum development.
• Although not developed directly in response to A Nation at Risk, the CCSS definitely are chiseling a path for America to return to a seat of prominence in global comparisons of education. The CCSS set rigorous standards that are aligned to international standards in the aim of making America’s graduates more globally competitive.

Impact on Others

• “I will not commit Texas taxpayers to unfunded federal obligations or to the adoption of unproven, cost-prohibitive national standards and tests,” Gov. Rick Perry
• “Zip codes might be great for sorting mail, but they should not determine the quality of a child’s education or success in the future workforce.” Gov. Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education
•  “Now, perhaps more than ever before, high quality education serves as a vital pathway out of poverty, both in the U.S. and abroad. If our country is not just to compete, but also win in that global environment, we must continue to shake off the educational status quo and reinvigorate our schools and students with innovative ways of thinking, learning and doing. Put simply, the nation’s future depends upon our willingness today to create a new educational framework, one that raises academic expectations of all children and provides them the skills, tools and resources needed to succeed. The broad adoption of common academic standards is integral to that framework and, thanks to the efforts of the Council of Chief State School Officers and National Governors Association, is increasingly closer to becoming welcome reality.” -­‐ William S. White, CEO and President,  C.S. Mott Foundation

References

Burke, L. (2010). Alaska, Texas reject common core standards. Retrieved July 1, 2011, from the Heartland Institute’s website: http://www.heartland.org/schoolreform-news.org/Article/27354/Alaska_Texas_Reject_Common_Core_Standards.html

Common core state standards history. (2011). Retrieved June 28, 2011, from Education Northwest’s website: http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/1280

Common core state standards initiative. (2010). Retrieved June 28, 2011, from the Common Core State Standards Initiative’s website: http://www.corestandards.org/

Confrey, J. (2010). What now? Implications, obligations, and opportunities for curriculum after the release and adoption of the common core state standards. Retrieved June 28, 2011, from the Center of the Study of Mathematics Curriculum’s website:  http://mathcurriculumcenter.org/conferences/ccss/JConfrey.htm

Kober, N. & Rentner,D.S. (2011). States’ progress and challenges in implementing common core state standards. Retrieved June 28, 2011, from the Center on Education Policy’s website: http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?DocumentTopicID=1

Omear, J. (2009). Common core state standards initiative validation committee announced. Retrieved from the National Governors Association’s website: http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.6c9a8a9ebc6ae07eee28aca9501010a0/?vgnextoid=f541ea15a18e3210VgnVCM1000005e00100aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6d4c8aaa2ebbff00VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD