Common Core State Standards

Fewer, Clearer, Higher: Moving Forward with Consistent, Rigorous Standards for All Students

This paper describes the Gates Foundation's beliefs regarding Common Core Standards and the need for the criteria to be “fewer, clearer, higher.” The authors discuss the criteria necessary to support state leaders as they wrestle with decisions new standards, assessments, and teaching tools are implemented. The report ends with a brief discussion of the next steps that the Gates Foundation will take to continue to support making standard real and productive.

Lining Up: The Relationship Between the Common Core State Standards and Five Sets of Comparison Standards

This report by EPIC addresses three research questions for each of the two subject areas for which Common Core State Standards have been developed, namely, English language arts and literacy, and mathematics: 1.) To what extent are the knowledge and skills found in the comparison standards the same as or different from what is described in the Common Core State Standards? 2.) What is the cognitive complexity level of the Common Core State Standards and to what extent are the matched comparison standards at a higher or lower level of cognitive complexity?

Common Core State Standards: Progress and Challenges in School Districts’ Implementation

This paper from the Center on Educational Policy reports on a national survey in early 2011 of school districts’ perceptions of the impact of the common core state standards (CCSS), district progress in implementing the standards, and any challenges they have experienced in doing so. The report discusses the results of the survey based on state and district responses. The questions posed covered a range of topics, including district budgets, federal stimulus money, education reform, and the CCSS.

State High School Tests: Changes in State Policies and the Impact of the College and Career Readiness Movement

This annual report from the Center on Education Policy uses the results of a survey of state department of education officials to examine state policies regarding high school assessment requirements. These include high school exit exams, college entrance exams, and college and career readiness assessments. The paper reports on recent changes to state policies regarding exit exams, and discusses the impact of the national and state focus on college readiness standards, such as the Common Core state standards, on such policies.

Reaching the Goal: The Applicability and Importance of the Common Core State Standards to College and Career Readiness

This report by EPIC reveals that students who are generally proficient in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will likely be ready for a wide range of postsecondary courses. The more CCSS in which they are proficient, the wider the range of postsecondary-level classes they will be ready to undertake.

Engineering Solutions to the National Crisis in Literacy: How to Make Good on the Promise of the Common Core State Standards

This policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education makes a number of federal policy recommendations that might support states’ comprehensive literacy plans, including: support for college and career ready standards, support for state level literacy teams, support for teacher education and professional development focused on content literacy, and investment in ongoing research and evaluation. Authors argue that major commitments are necessary from state and federal agencies to make substantial improvements in literacy achievement.

Saving Now or Saving Later: How High School Reform Can Reduce the Nation’s Wasted Remediation Dollars

This Alliance for Excellent Education policy brief, targeted toward federal and state policymakers, argues that remedial college courses are economically inefficient. Costs associated with remedial courses include the cost of the course which is often federally funded through grants, and, because students who enroll in remedial courses are much less likely to graduate, loss of lifetime earnings. The brief argues that reforming high school curriculum and teaching and ensuring vertical alignment through college- and career-readiness are essential and much more cost effective.

Call for Action: Transforming Teaching and Learning to Prepare High School Students for College and Careers

This policy brief, sponsored by the Alliance for Excellent Education, discusses the need for highly effective teachers. The author examines the effects of highly effective teachers on all high school students and provides policy recommendations that include: supporting the adoption of the Common Core State Standards; creating standards that define quality teaching; supporting the development of teacher performance assessments; developing human capital systems; and using longitudinal data systems to track teacher and student data.

Promoting College and Career Readiness Through ESEA Flexibility Plans

The American Institutes for Research recently released a pocket guide, Promoting College and Career Readiness: A Pocket Guide for State and District Leaders, to support state and local policymakers and practitioners as they implement the college and career readiness initiatives included in their state Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility plans.

What We Are Reading: LGBT Students in Rural Schools, College-Going Patterns, Potential Obstacles to Common Core Success

Looking for new high school-related resources? Here are some pieces that the National High School Center and other organizations have recently released:*

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