Common core state standards initiative
Encyclopedia
The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a U.S. education initiative that seeks to bring diverse state curricula into alignment with each other by following the principles of standards-based education reform
. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association
(NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers
(CCSSO). The past twenty years in the U.S. have also been termed the "Accountability Movement," as states are being held to mandatory tests of student achievement, which are expected to demonstrate a common core of knowledge that all citizens should have to be successful in this country. As part of this overarching education reform movement, the nation’s governors and corporate leaders founded Achieve, Inc. in 1996 as a bi-partisan organization to raise academic standards, graduation requirements, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability in all 50 states. The initial motivation for the development of the Common Core State Standards was part of the American Diploma Project (ADP).
A report titled, “Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts,” from 2004 found that both employers and colleges are demanding more of high school graduates than in the past. According to Achieve, Inc., “current high-school exit expectations fall well short of [employer and college] demands.” The report explains that the major problem currently facing the American school system is that, high school graduates were not provided with the skills and knowledge they needed to succeed. A high school diploma in the U.S. was and continues to be a “broken-promise [which is supposed to] reflect adequate preparation for the intellectual demands of adult life, [but] in reality it falls far short of this common sense goal,” (page 1). The report continues that the diploma itself lost its value because graduates could not compete successfully beyond high school. This report suggested that the solution to combat this problem is a common set of rigorous standards.
Announced on June 1, 2009, the initiative's stated purpose is to "provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them." Additionally, "The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers," which will place American students in a position in which they can compete in a global economy. Forty-eight of the fifty states in the United States are members of the initiative.
Standards were released for mathematics and English language arts on June 2, 2010, with a majority of states adopting the standards in the subsequent months. (See below for current status.) States were given an incentive to adopt the Common Core Standards through the possibility of competitive federal Race to the Top
grants. President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
announced the Race to the Top competitive grants on July 24, 2009 as a motivator for education reform. To be eligible, states had to adopt "internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the work place." This meant that in order for a state to be eligible for these grants, the states had to adopt the Common Core State Standards or a similar career and college readiness curriculum. The competition for these grants provided a major push for states to adopt the standards. The adoption dates for all states that chose to adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative took place within the two years following this announcement. The common standards are funded by the governors and state schools chiefs, with additional support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
and others. States are planning to implement this initiative by 2015 by basing at least 85% of their state curricula on the Standards.
Reading
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Language
Media and Technology
Preliminary "example" works to be studied by students include works by Ovid
, Atul Gawande
, Voltaire
, Shakespeare, Turgenev, Poe, Robert Frost
, Yeats
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
, Amy Tan
, and Julia Alvarez
.
handwriting, although states are free either to add a cursive requirement or to permit individual school districts to require it. The standards include instruction in keyboarding.
The mathematics Standards include Standards for Mathematical Practice and Standards for Mathematical Content.
The practices are adapted from the five process standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
and the five strands of proficiency in the National Research Council
’s Adding It Up report. These practices are to be taught in every grade from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Details of how these practices are to be connected to each grade level's mathematics content are left to local implementation of the Standards.
As an example of mathematical practice, here is the full description of the sixth practice:
or what order topics should be taught within a particular grade level. Mathematical content is organized in a number of domains. At each grade level there are several standards for each domain, organized into clusters of related standards. (See examples below.)
There are four main domains to be taught from kindergarten (age 5-6) to fifth grade (age 10-11):
In kindergarten, children also learn about counting and cardinality. In Grades 3 to 5, students learn about fractions.
In Grades 6 through 8 the four main domains students study are:
In Grades 6 and 7 students also study ratios and proportional relationships. In Grade 8 students begin studying functions.
In addition to detailed standards (of which there are 21 to 28 for each grade from kindergarten to eighth grade), the Standards also list a few critical areas that should be the focus at each grade level. (See examples below.)
In high school (Grades 9 to 12), the Standards do not specify which content is to be taught at each grade level. Up to Grade 8, the curriculum is integrated
; students study four or five different mathematical domains every year. The Standards do not dictate whether the curriculum should continue to be integrated in high school with study of several domains each year (as is done in other countries, as well as New York and Georgia), or whether the curriculum should be separated out into separate year-long algebra and geometry courses (as has been the tradition in most U.S. states). An appendix to the Standards describes four possible pathways for covering high school content (two traditional and two integrated), but states are free to organize the content any way they want.
There are six conceptual categories of content to be covered at the high school level:
Some topics in each category are indicated only for students intending to take more advanced, optional courses such as calculus
, advanced statistics or discrete mathematics
. Even if the traditional sequence is adopted, functions and modeling are to be integrated across the curriculum, not taught as separate courses. In fact, modeling is also a Mathematical Practice (see above), and is meant to be integrated across the entire curriculum beginning in kindergarten. The modeling category does not have its own standards; instead, high school standards in other categories which are intended to be considered part of the modeling category are indicated in the Standards with a star symbol.
Each of the six high school categories includes a number of domains. For example, the "number and quantity" category contains four domains: the real number system
; quantities; the complex number system
; and vector and matrix
quantities. The "vector and matrix quantities" domain is reserved for advanced students, as are some of the standards in "the complex number system".
Second grade example: In the second grade there are 26 standards in four domains. The four critical areas of focus for second grade are (1) extending understanding of base-ten notation; (2) building fluency with addition and subtraction; (3) using standard units of measure; and (4) describing and analyzing shapes. Below are the second grade standards for the domain of "operations and algebraic thinking" (Domain 2.OA). This second grade domain contains four standards, organized into three clusters:
Domain example: As an example of the development of a domain across several grades, here are the clusters for learning fractions (Domain NF, which stands for "Number and Operations—Fractions") in Grades 3 through 6. Each cluster contains several standards (not listed here):
High school example: As an example of a high school category, here are the domains and clusters for algebra. There are four algebra domains (in bold below), each of which is broken down into as many as four clusters (bullet points below). Each cluster contains one to five detailed standards (not listed here). Starred standards, such as the Creating Equations domain (A-CED), are also intended to be part of the modeling category.
As an example of detailed high school standards, the first cluster above is broken down into two standards as follows:
Some critics also question whether there is a demand for creating state standards to begin with. According to the NGA and the CCSSO one motivating factor is the U.S.’s ranking on international test results, however, there does not seem to be a relationship between our low score on these tests and our economic ranking. The United States have ranked 1st or 2nd on the World Economic Forum since 1998 despite scoring near the bottom on the International Mathematics and Science Studies for the past 50 years.
In June 2011, the Voice of America
Special English
reported on the common core standards on its weekly Education Report for people learning American English. Some commentators criticized the idea that "one size fits all."
Texas
and Alaska
are the only states that are not members of the initiative. Virginia
is a member but has decided not to adopt the Standards. The U.S. Virgin Islands have also adopted the Standards. Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands have not adopted the Standards.
most students are currently taking. This kind of assessment would be better aligned to college and career readiness, but does pose some interesting challenges considering the limited computer and technology resources available to some schools.
Standards-based education reform
Education reform in the United States since the 1980s has been largely driven by the setting of academic standards for what students should know and be able to do. These standards can then be used to guide all other system components. The SBE reform movement calls for clear, measurable standards...
. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association
National Governors Association
The National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
(NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers
Council of Chief State School Officers
The Council of Chief State School Officers is a non-partisan non-profit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity and five U.S. territories. CCSSO provides...
(CCSSO). The past twenty years in the U.S. have also been termed the "Accountability Movement," as states are being held to mandatory tests of student achievement, which are expected to demonstrate a common core of knowledge that all citizens should have to be successful in this country. As part of this overarching education reform movement, the nation’s governors and corporate leaders founded Achieve, Inc. in 1996 as a bi-partisan organization to raise academic standards, graduation requirements, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability in all 50 states. The initial motivation for the development of the Common Core State Standards was part of the American Diploma Project (ADP).
A report titled, “Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts,” from 2004 found that both employers and colleges are demanding more of high school graduates than in the past. According to Achieve, Inc., “current high-school exit expectations fall well short of [employer and college] demands.” The report explains that the major problem currently facing the American school system is that, high school graduates were not provided with the skills and knowledge they needed to succeed. A high school diploma in the U.S. was and continues to be a “broken-promise [which is supposed to] reflect adequate preparation for the intellectual demands of adult life, [but] in reality it falls far short of this common sense goal,” (page 1). The report continues that the diploma itself lost its value because graduates could not compete successfully beyond high school. This report suggested that the solution to combat this problem is a common set of rigorous standards.
Announced on June 1, 2009, the initiative's stated purpose is to "provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them." Additionally, "The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers," which will place American students in a position in which they can compete in a global economy. Forty-eight of the fifty states in the United States are members of the initiative.
Standards were released for mathematics and English language arts on June 2, 2010, with a majority of states adopting the standards in the subsequent months. (See below for current status.) States were given an incentive to adopt the Common Core Standards through the possibility of competitive federal Race to the Top
Race to the Top
Race to the Top, abbreviated R2T, RTTT or RTT, is a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education competition designed to spur innovation and reforms in state and local district K-12 education...
grants. President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
Arne Duncan
Arne Duncan is an American education administrator and currently United States Secretary of Education. Duncan previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.-Early years and personal:...
announced the Race to the Top competitive grants on July 24, 2009 as a motivator for education reform. To be eligible, states had to adopt "internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the work place." This meant that in order for a state to be eligible for these grants, the states had to adopt the Common Core State Standards or a similar career and college readiness curriculum. The competition for these grants provided a major push for states to adopt the standards. The adoption dates for all states that chose to adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative took place within the two years following this announcement. The common standards are funded by the governors and state schools chiefs, with additional support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is a charitable foundation founded in 1926 by Charles Stewart Mott of Flint, Michigan. Mott was the leading industrialist in Flint through his association with General Motors....
and others. States are planning to implement this initiative by 2015 by basing at least 85% of their state curricula on the Standards.
Standards
In 2010, Standards were released for English language arts and mathematics. Standards have not yet been developed for science or social studies.English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
The stated goal of the English & Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects standards is to ensure that students are college and career ready in literacy no later than the end of high school (page 3). There are five key components to the standards for English and Language Arts: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, and Media and Technology. The essential components and breakdown of each of these key points within the standards is as follows:Reading
- As students advance through each grade, there is an increased level of complexity to what students are expected to read and there is also a progressive development of reading comprehension so that students can gain more from what they read.
- There is no reading list to accompany the reading standards. Instead, students are simply expected to read a range of classic and contemporary literature as well as challenging informative texts from an array of subjects. This is so that students can acquire new knowledge, insights, and consider varying perspectives as they read. Teachers, school districts, and states are expected to decide on the appropriate curriculum, but sample texts are included to help teachers, students, and parents prepare for the year ahead.
- There is some critical content for all students - classic myths and stories from around the world, foundational U.S. documents, seminal works of American literature, and the writings of Shakespeare - but the rest is left up to the states and the districts.
Writing
- The driving force of the writing standards is logical arguments based on claims, solid reasoning, and relevant evidence. The writing also includes opinion writing even within the K – 5 standards.
- Short, focused research projects, similar to the kind of projects students will face in their careers as well as long term, in depth research is another important piece of the writing standards. This is because written analysis and the presentation of significant findings is critical to career and college readiness.
- The standards also include annotated samples of student writing to help determine performance levels in writing arguments, explanatory texts, and narratives across the grades.
Speaking and Listening
- Although reading and writing are the expected components of an ELA curriculum, standards are written so that students gain, evaluate, and present complex information, ideas, and evidence specifically through listening and speaking.
- There is also an emphasis on academic discussion in one-on-one, small-group, and whole-class settings, which can take place as formal presentations as well as informal discussions during student collaboration.
Language
- Vocabulary instruction in the standards takes place through a mix of conversations, direct instruction, and reading so that students can determine word meanings and can expand their use of words and phrases.
- The standards expect students to use formal English in their writing and speaking, but also recognize that colleges and 21st century careers will require students to make wise, skilled decisions about how to express themselves through language in a variety of contexts.
- Vocabulary and conventions are their own strand because these skills extend across reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Media and Technology
- Since media and technology are intertwined into every students life and in school in the 21st century, skills related to media use, which includes the analysis and production of various forms of media, are also included in these standards.
Preliminary "example" works to be studied by students include works by Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
, Atul Gawande
Atul Gawande
Atul Gawande is an American physician and journalist. He serves as a general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts and associate director of their Center for Surgery and Public Health...
, Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, Shakespeare, Turgenev, Poe, Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, Yeats
Yeats
W. B. Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright.Yeats may also refer to:* Yeats ,* Yeats , an impact crater on Mercury* Yeats , an Irish thoroughbred racehorse-See also:...
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
, Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...
, and Julia Alvarez
Julia Álvarez
Julia Alvarez is a Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. Born in New York of Dominican descent, she spent the first ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic, until her father's involvement in a political rebellion forced her family to flee the country.Alvarez rose to...
.
Cursive and keyboarding
The standards do not mandate the teaching of cursiveCursive
Cursive, also known as joined-up writing, joint writing, or running writing, is any style of handwriting in which the symbols of the language are written in a simplified and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing easier or faster...
handwriting, although states are free either to add a cursive requirement or to permit individual school districts to require it. The standards include instruction in keyboarding.
Mathematics
The stated goal of the mathematics Standards is to achieve greater focus and coherence in the curriculum (page 3). This is largely in response to the criticism that American mathematics curricula are "a mile wide and an inch deep".The mathematics Standards include Standards for Mathematical Practice and Standards for Mathematical Content.
Mathematical practice
The Standards mandate that eight principles of mathematical practice be taught:- Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
- Model with mathematics.
- Use appropriate tools strategically.
- Attend to precision.
- Look for and make use of structure.
- Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
The practices are adapted from the five process standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics was founded in 1920. It has grown to be the world's largest organization concerned with mathematics education, having close to 100,000 members across the USA and Canada, and internationally....
and the five strands of proficiency in the National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
’s Adding It Up report. These practices are to be taught in every grade from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Details of how these practices are to be connected to each grade level's mathematics content are left to local implementation of the Standards.
As an example of mathematical practice, here is the full description of the sixth practice:
6 Attend to precision.
Mathematically proficient students try to communicate precisely to others. They
try to use clear definitions in discussion with others and in their own reasoning.
They state the meaning of the symbols they choose, including using the equal sign
consistently and appropriately. They are careful about specifying units of measure,
and labeling axes to clarify the correspondence with quantities in a problem. They
calculate accurately and efficiently, express numerical answers with a degree of
precision appropriate for the problem context. In the elementary grades, students
give carefully formulated explanations to each other. By the time they reach high
school they have learned to examine claims and make explicit use of definitions.
Mathematical content
The Standards lay out the mathematics content that should be learned at each grade level. The Standards do not dictate any particular pedagogyPedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
or what order topics should be taught within a particular grade level. Mathematical content is organized in a number of domains. At each grade level there are several standards for each domain, organized into clusters of related standards. (See examples below.)
There are four main domains to be taught from kindergarten (age 5-6) to fifth grade (age 10-11):
- Operations and algebraic thinking;
- Number and operations in base 10;
- Measurement and data;
- Geometry.
In kindergarten, children also learn about counting and cardinality. In Grades 3 to 5, students learn about fractions.
In Grades 6 through 8 the four main domains students study are:
- The number system;
- Expressions and equations;
- Geometry;
- Statistics and probability.
In Grades 6 and 7 students also study ratios and proportional relationships. In Grade 8 students begin studying functions.
In addition to detailed standards (of which there are 21 to 28 for each grade from kindergarten to eighth grade), the Standards also list a few critical areas that should be the focus at each grade level. (See examples below.)
In high school (Grades 9 to 12), the Standards do not specify which content is to be taught at each grade level. Up to Grade 8, the curriculum is integrated
Integrated mathematics
Integrated mathematics is the term used in the United States to describe the style of mathematics education which integrates many topics or strands of mathematics throughout each year of secondary school. Each math course in secondary school covers topics in algebra, geometry, trigonometry and...
; students study four or five different mathematical domains every year. The Standards do not dictate whether the curriculum should continue to be integrated in high school with study of several domains each year (as is done in other countries, as well as New York and Georgia), or whether the curriculum should be separated out into separate year-long algebra and geometry courses (as has been the tradition in most U.S. states). An appendix to the Standards describes four possible pathways for covering high school content (two traditional and two integrated), but states are free to organize the content any way they want.
There are six conceptual categories of content to be covered at the high school level:
- Number and quantity;
- AlgebraAlgebraAlgebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures...
; - FunctionsFunction (mathematics)In mathematics, a function associates one quantity, the argument of the function, also known as the input, with another quantity, the value of the function, also known as the output. A function assigns exactly one output to each input. The argument and the value may be real numbers, but they can...
; - ModelingMathematical modelA mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used not only in the natural sciences and engineering disciplines A mathematical model is a...
; - GeometryGeometryGeometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
; - StatisticsStatisticsStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and probabilityProbability theoryProbability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena. The central objects of probability theory are random variables, stochastic processes, and events: mathematical abstractions of non-deterministic events or measured quantities that may either be single...
.
Some topics in each category are indicated only for students intending to take more advanced, optional courses such as calculus
Calculus
Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...
, advanced statistics or discrete mathematics
Discrete mathematics
Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that are fundamentally discrete rather than continuous. In contrast to real numbers that have the property of varying "smoothly", the objects studied in discrete mathematics – such as integers, graphs, and statements in logic – do not...
. Even if the traditional sequence is adopted, functions and modeling are to be integrated across the curriculum, not taught as separate courses. In fact, modeling is also a Mathematical Practice (see above), and is meant to be integrated across the entire curriculum beginning in kindergarten. The modeling category does not have its own standards; instead, high school standards in other categories which are intended to be considered part of the modeling category are indicated in the Standards with a star symbol.
Each of the six high school categories includes a number of domains. For example, the "number and quantity" category contains four domains: the real number system
Real number
In mathematics, a real number is a value that represents a quantity along a continuum, such as -5 , 4/3 , 8.6 , √2 and π...
; quantities; the complex number system
Complex number
A complex number is a number consisting of a real part and an imaginary part. Complex numbers extend the idea of the one-dimensional number line to the two-dimensional complex plane by using the number line for the real part and adding a vertical axis to plot the imaginary part...
; and vector and matrix
Matrix (mathematics)
In mathematics, a matrix is a rectangular array of numbers, symbols, or expressions. The individual items in a matrix are called its elements or entries. An example of a matrix with six elements isMatrices of the same size can be added or subtracted element by element...
quantities. The "vector and matrix quantities" domain is reserved for advanced students, as are some of the standards in "the complex number system".
Examples of mathematical content
Second grade example: In the second grade there are 26 standards in four domains. The four critical areas of focus for second grade are (1) extending understanding of base-ten notation; (2) building fluency with addition and subtraction; (3) using standard units of measure; and (4) describing and analyzing shapes. Below are the second grade standards for the domain of "operations and algebraic thinking" (Domain 2.OA). This second grade domain contains four standards, organized into three clusters:
Domain example: As an example of the development of a domain across several grades, here are the clusters for learning fractions (Domain NF, which stands for "Number and Operations—Fractions") in Grades 3 through 6. Each cluster contains several standards (not listed here):
High school example: As an example of a high school category, here are the domains and clusters for algebra. There are four algebra domains (in bold below), each of which is broken down into as many as four clusters (bullet points below). Each cluster contains one to five detailed standards (not listed here). Starred standards, such as the Creating Equations domain (A-CED), are also intended to be part of the modeling category.
As an example of detailed high school standards, the first cluster above is broken down into two standards as follows:
Vermont
- Emphasize basic arithmetic, fractions in elementary school. Focus on memorization instead of reliance on calculators.
- An Algebra I capability is perceived for elementary school graduates; Algebra II for high school graduates.
- Improve difficulty level of books being read. Less emphasis on how students "feel" about a book and more on analyzing content.
- Testing by computer is planned with results available almost "instantly."
Criticism
Critics question forcing a rigid template on schools already coping with other initiatives like No Child Left Behind. For some states, this will be the third (or more) major change over the past 16 years.Some critics also question whether there is a demand for creating state standards to begin with. According to the NGA and the CCSSO one motivating factor is the U.S.’s ranking on international test results, however, there does not seem to be a relationship between our low score on these tests and our economic ranking. The United States have ranked 1st or 2nd on the World Economic Forum since 1998 despite scoring near the bottom on the International Mathematics and Science Studies for the past 50 years.
In June 2011, the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
Special English
Special English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
reported on the common core standards on its weekly Education Report for people learning American English. Some commentators criticized the idea that "one size fits all."
Adoption of Common Core Standards by states
Below is the adoption status of the Common Core Standards as of September 3, 2011. To view specific dates of adoption and projected implementation years for each state visit this Google Map of the Common Core State Standards Initiative and click on each state's place holder.| State | Adoption stance |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Formally adopted |
| Alaska | Non-member |
| Arizona | Formally adopted |
| Arkansas | Formally adopted |
| California | Formally adopted |
| Colorado | Formally adopted |
| Connecticut | Formally adopted |
| Delaware | Formally adopted |
| District of Columbia | Formally adopted |
| Florida | Formally adopted |
| Georgia | Formally adopted |
| Hawaii | Formally adopted |
| Idaho | Formally adopted |
| Illinois | Formally adopted |
| Indiana | Formally adopted |
| Iowa | Formally adopted |
| Kansas | Formally adopted |
| Kentucky | Formally adopted |
| Louisiana | Formally adopted |
| Maine | Formally adopted |
| Maryland | Formally endorsed |
| Massachusetts | Formally adopted |
| Michigan | Formally adopted |
| Minnesota | Initiative member (but not yet adopted) |
| Mississippi | Formally adopted |
| Missouri | Formally adopted |
| Montana | Formally adopted |
| Nebraska | Initiative member (but not yet adopted) |
| Nevada | Formally adopted |
| New Hampshire | Formally adopted |
| New Jersey | Formally adopted |
| New Mexico | Formally adopted |
| New York | Formally adopted |
| North Carolina | Formally adopted |
| North Dakota | Formally adopted |
| Ohio | Formally adopted |
| Oklahoma | Formally adopted |
| Oregon | Formally adopted |
| Pennsylvania | Formally adopted |
| Rhode Island | Formally adopted |
| South Carolina | Formally adopted |
| South Dakota | Formally adopted |
| Tennessee | Formally adopted |
| Texas | Non-member |
| Utah | Formally adopted |
| Vermont | Formally adopted |
| Virginia | Initiative member; will not adopt |
| Washington | Formally adopted |
| West Virginia | Formally adopted |
| Wisconsin | Formally adopted |
| Wyoming | Formally adopted |
Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
are the only states that are not members of the initiative. Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
is a member but has decided not to adopt the Standards. The U.S. Virgin Islands have also adopted the Standards. Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands have not adopted the Standards.
Assessment
With the implementation of new standards, states are also required to adopt new assessment benchmarks to measure student achievement. According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative website, formal assessment is expected to take place in the 2014–2015 school year, which coincides with the projected implementation year for most states. The assessment has yet to be created, but two consortiums were generated with two different approaches as to how to assess the standards. “26 states formed the PARCC RttT Assessment Consortium. Their approach focused on computer-based ‘through-course assessments’ in each grade combined with streamlined end of year tests, including performance tasks." The second consortium, “the SMARTER Balance Consortium, brought together 31 states proposing to create adaptive online exams.” The final decision of which assessment to use will be determined by individual state education agencies. The Common Core State Standards website explained that some states plan to work together to create a common, universal assessment system based on the common core state standards while other states are choosing to work independently or through these two consortiums to develop the assessment. Both of these leading consortiums are proposing computer-based exams that include fewer selected and constructed response test items, which moves away from what we typically think of as the Standardized TestStandardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...
most students are currently taking. This kind of assessment would be better aligned to college and career readiness, but does pose some interesting challenges considering the limited computer and technology resources available to some schools.
External links
- Common Core State Standards Initiative
- National Governors Association
- Council of Chief State School Officers
- Should All US Students Learn the Same Thing?
- No National Standards: Strength or Weakness for Schools in US?
- Achieve, Inc.
- Race to the Top Press Release
- Standards Movement in American Education