Understandingthe Common Core

StandardsWhat they are—What they are not

From the Centerfor Public Education

In 2010, the National Gover-nors Association (NGA) and theCouncil of Chief State SchoolOfficers (CCSSO) released theirfinal Common Core State Stan-dards—academic benchmarksintended to define the knowl-edge and skills that high schoolgraduates will need to be suc-cessful in college and careers.NGA and CCSSO offered thestandards to any state at nocharge as long as it agreed toaccept all the standards and teststudents' mastery of them with-in three years. However, thereis no process for enforcing thisagreement and states can drop

in or out at any time. The stan-dards have been endorsed bythe U.S. Chamber of Commerce,a bipartisan array of governors,and the Obama administration,as well as key education groupsincluding the PTA and bothteachers' unions.

Forty-six states and the Dis-trict of Columbia have signed onto Implement the Common Core.Yet the public remains mostlyunaware of the new standardsor of how they will affect school-ing. This information vacuumhas allowed a swarm of rumors,half-truths, misunderstandings,and occasional accuracy to fillthe void, making it hard forschool leaders to separate mythfrom reality.

The Center for Public Education is an initiative of the NationalSchool Boards Association. Condensed from "Understanding the Com-mon Core Standards: What they are—What they are not, " releasedOctober 2013. To read the entire report from which this is condensed,visit www. centerforpubliceducation. org/commoncore.

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Understanding the Common Core Standards

1. What are the CommonCore State Standards?

The Common Core standardsestablish grade-level expec-tations in math and Englishlanguage arts (ELA) for K-12students. The standards arealigned with college and workexpectations and internation-ally benchmarked.

The Common Core is not acurriculum. It describes theknowledge and skills studentsare expected to develop butdoes not prescribe how to teachthem. The latter is the job ofcurriculum, which continues tobe determined at the state andlocal levels.

The authors estimate thatthe Common Core should rep-resent about 85% of the totalmathematics and ELA contenttaught to K-12 students, leav-ing 15% for state and local ad-ditions.

Nearly every state has adopt-ed the Common Core. However,a handful are experiencing sec-ond thoughts, either because ofa change in political leadershipor a response to grassrootspushback.

2. What's different aboutthe Common Core?

While there is a lot of familiarcontent in the standards, therecire key differences, especially in

attention paid to high-level skillslike thinking critically, applyingconcepts learned, communicat-ing well, and using evidence,including data, beginning in theearly grades.

Other distinctions:• The ELA standards assume

that reading and writing will notbe the exclusive responsibilityof English teachers, but will betaught across subjects. The stan-dcirds define specific reading andwriting standards for English,history/social studies, science,and technical subjects at themiddle and high school levels.

• Mathematical practices areincorporated at every grade lev-el, as is the ability to reason andcommunicate mathematically.

3. How were theCommon Core standardsdeveloped?

The effort to draft commonstandards was launched in2009. NGA and CCSSO led theinitiative with the guidance ofan advisory group includingexperts from Achieve, Inc., abipartisan, nonprofit organi-zation that helps states raiseacademic standards; ACT, Inc.;the College Board; the NationalAssociation of State Boards ofEducation; and the State HigherEducation Executive OfficersAssociation. Development was

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privately funded with majorsupport from the Bill & MelindaGates Foundation and otherfoundations. No federal dollarsor officials were involved.

The standards were draftedby working groups of expertsaided by feedback groups includ-ing scholars, researchers, teach-ers, and assessment experts.Two drafts of the standardswere made available for publicreview to which nearly 10,000comments were received.

4. What about othersubjects?

The Common Core standardsaddress math and English lan-guage arts only. A similar butseparate effort to draft scienceand engineering standards waslaunched in 2011 under theleadership of Achieve, Inc., inpartnership with the NationalResearch Council, The NationalScience Teachers Association,and the American Associationfor the Advancement of Science.Twenty-six "lead states" pro-vided feedback. Major fundingwas provided by the CarnegieCorporation of New York andother private funders. NeitherCCSSO nor NGA were involved.

Like the Common Core, theNext Generation Science stan-dards are aimed at college andcareer readiness. The final stan-

dards were released in 2013,and, at this writing, California,Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky,Maryland, Rhode Island, andVermont have adopted them.

5. What role does thefederal government play?

While the federal governmentwas not involved in developingthe Common Core standards,it has supported the effort.The U.S. Department of Educa-tion encouraged the adoptionof "college- and career-readystandards" and aligned assess-ments in state applications forRace to the Top (RTTT) funds.To earn points, state standardsneeded to be "common to asignificant number of states" orapproved by a "state networkof institutions of higher educa-tion" who would certify thatstate standards are college andcareer ready. States meeting thiscriterion could earn a possible70 out of 500 total points. Todate, 19 states have receivedRTTT grants.

The Department is also themain source of funding for thedevelopment of Common Coreassessments. The Departmentawarded a combined $346 mil-lion to two state consortia todesign and field-test "next gen-eration" assessments aligned tothe new standards. The first, the

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Understanding the Common Core Standards

Partnership for Assessment ofReadiness for College & Careers(PARCC) includes 18 states andthe District of Columbia and isheaded by Achieve, Inc. Thesecond, the 25-state SMARTERBalanced Assessment Consor-tium, is headquartered at theWashington state departmentof education. Both consortiaexpect to deliver the first as-sessments in 2014-15.

6. Why is there pushbackand who is pushing?

Opposition to the standardsunites two groups that gener-ally don't find themselves onthe same side of an issue. TeaParty and libertarian criticsdisapprove of the idea of na-tional standards in the beliefthat educational decisions arerightfully made by parents andlocal communities. On the otherhand are progressive educators,such as Diane Ravitch and FairTest, and parents who believethe Common Core will imposemore test-driven accountabilityand open the door to corpo-rate influence over education.While both groups offer validperspectives, they are also thesource of a lot of misinformationabout how the standards weredeveloped, their quality, andtheir effect.

The Tea Party backlash

seems the most visible. A recentPolitico article identified someof the major think tanks boost-ing the anti-common core surge,notably the Pioneer Institute,the American Principles Project,and the Heartland Institute, aswell as grassroots organizationsrepresenting parents, includingthe Family Research Council andthe Home School Defense Fund.

The progressive educators'pushback is unusual in thatboth teachers unions supportthe Common Core. However,critics within their ranks areconcerned that the new stan-dards will constrict teachingto test prep, and many also seea heavy corporate hand in thestandards' promotion.

Pushback notwithstanding,a recent Gallup poll shows thatmost Americans have not evenheard of the Common Corestandards. Of those who have,41 % say the standards will makethe country "more competitive"vs. 21% who say "less." Othersurveys show that most teach-ers have a favorable view of theCommon Core standards. Butacross the board, teachers wor-ry whether there will be enoughsupport for them and their stu-dents to make the shift.

7. What challenges willlocal school districts face in

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their attempts to implementthe Common Core?

A lot! Let's begin with:• Timeline. The first PARCC

and SMARTER assessmentswill be ready in 2014-15. That'snot a lot of time to get ready.The American Federation ofTeachers (AFT) has asked fora moratorium on accountabil-ity measures attached to thestandards to allow schoolsmore time for implementationand field-testing. The NationalSchool Boards Association hasalso called for a delay along-side national associations forsuperintendents and schoolprincipals to ensure teachersare sufficiently prepared. InJune 2013, the U.S.Departmentof Education allowed CommonCore states with NCLB waiversan extra year before teacherevaluations count.

• Technology needs. The"next generation" assessmentsbeing developed will be com-puter administered to take fulladvantage of technology's ca-pacity to offer rich, high-leveltest items without breaking thebank. But most states reportthat schools need more com-puters and more bandwidth toaccommodate the new tests.

• Professional developmentfor staff. Districts need to makesure their teachers have enough

support to realign their instruc-tion to new, higher standards.

• New curriculum and in-structional materials. Schoolsneed to invest in new curricularmaterials aligned to the Com-mon Core and for staff time todevelop new lesson plans.

• Managing expectations. AFordham Foundation analysisfound that the Common Corestandards were more rigorousthan the current standards in37 states in ELA and 39 statesin math. Most districts should,therefore, expect their firstscores to be lower than whattheir communities are used toseeing. This could be a publicrelations disaster for districts ifthe public isn't prepared aheadof time. Kentucky was the firstto test its students on the Com-mon Core, and scores droppedsignificantly. However, state of-ficials and school leaders werevery effective at getting theword out ahead of time and gain-ing public support for higherstandards. As a result, there waslittle panic when the test scoreswere announced.

8. How much wiii CommonCore implementationcost?

All of these challenges—new technology, professionaldevelopment, field-testing and

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Understanding the Common Core Standards

administering new tests, andnew instructional materials—come with a price tag. Statesand districts should not expectto make the transition withoutnew investments.

When budgeting for CommonCore implementation, schoolleaders should find out if thereare state dollars available tohelp; if the item is a one-timeup-front cost like technologypurchases; if it will be an ongo-ing expense; or if the dollars willreplace current expenditures.

For example, according tothe Brookings Institution, statesnow spend an average of $27per pupil for their state assess-ments; current estimates for thenew Common Core assessmentsare in the same ballpark. Theseare averages, however, so somestates will be paying more thanthey currently do and othersless. Likewise, districts alreadyspend considerable resourceson professional development.Some of these dollars can bererouted to specifically addressprofessional development forthe Common Core.

Still the need for new instruc-tional materials and technol-ogy can add a lot to alreadystretched budgets. In such cas-es, the Common Core could beviewed as an opportunity to cre-ate the political will to invest in

school resources that may havebeen neglected and overdue foran overhaul.

9. What should schoolboards do?

School boards need to makesure they have allocated suf-ficient resources for effectiveimplementation. This meansteachers and principals haveprofessional development timeto collaborate on new curricu-lum and instructional practices;students have instructionalmaterials aligned to the newstandards; schools have up-to-date data systems for monitor-ing instruction and studentprogress; and the district hasa technology infrastructure tosupport it all.

School board members areresponsible for communicatingthe changes parents and thebroader community can expectwith the Common Core. Theyshould be clear that the newstandards are higher, the testsricher, and to therefore expectinitial scores to be lower, but thatthe community should see testscores rise in subsequent years.

Finally, boards should serveas advocates for their districtin their state capitals to makesure schools get the supportand resources they will need tomeet the Common Core.

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