H ow much and how soon should we expect any federal or state education policy to improve student learning? The answer likely depends on the demands that the policy places on those who are expected to implement it and their capacity for change to meet those demands. The Common Core State Standards have been judged by many to be more challenging and ambitious than previous state standards (Porter et al., 2011; Shanahan, 2013; Brown and Kappes, 2012; Schmidt and Houang, 2012). Since the Common Core State Standards were developed and launched by a group of state school chiefs and governors in 2009, nearly all states have voluntarily adopted them. While some states have since made changes to their standards, analyses suggest that most of these states have retained standards closely aligned with key tenets of the Common Core (Korn, Gamboa, and Polikoff, 2016; Achieve, 2017; Norton, Ash, and Ballinger, 2017). Furthermore, most states that never adopted the Common Core State KEY FINDINGS ■ While teachers' use of published textbooks changed very little, their use of standards-aligned and content-focused online materials appeared to increase. ■ English-language arts (ELA) teachers were less likely to regard the use of complex, grade-level texts as aligned with their standards in 2017 than in 2016, although most aspects of teachers' knowledge about their standards did not change. ■ Mathematics teachers' overall reports of practices did not appear to change. That said, mathematics teachers of low-vulnerability students reported that their students were less engaged in some standards-aligned student practices in 2017 than in 2016, whereas we did not observe any changes in reports of teachers serving more-vulnerable students. ■ ELA teachers reported that their students engaged less in several standards-aligned practices in 2017 than in 2016.
Findings from the 2015-2017 American Teacher Panel T he Common Core era began in 2009, when a group of state school chiefs and governors developed and launched the Common Core State Standards (Common Core). Such standards focus on what K-12 students across the country should know in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics after each school grade. In 2010, nearly all states had voluntarily adopted the Common Core-45 states and the District of Columbia. While some states have since made changes to their standards, most still retain standards closely aligned with the key tenets of the Common Core. And even states that have not formally adopted the Common Core still emphasize important content and ideas that are part of the Common Core. Figure 1 summarizes Common Core adoption (based on findings from a recent analysis by Achieve.org) as of 2017. The ultimate goal of the Common Core is to improve student achievement. But seeing those improvements now is challenging, both because factors unrelated to state standards aligned with the Common Core may affect such assessments and because it may simply be far too early to measure student achievement gains or declines. Although the majority of states have adopted the Common Core, some did not adopt it until 2011-2012; California, the nation's largest state, did not implement the Common Core until 2014-2015. But what we can begin assessing is how the Common Core is being implemented in the states that adopted it. To implement the Common Core well, leaders and teachers must change the way they think about and evaluate good instruction that is aligned with what those standards demand. Such change is not about making simple fixes; rather, change depends on what teachers know about content, standards, and pedagogy, as well as their willingness to do things differently, even if they have been teaching in Key findings: • While mathematics and English language arts (ELA) teachers' use of published textbooks changed very little, their use of standards-aligned and content-focused online materials appeared to rise.
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