Chapter 1. The Common Core Standards in Context
In the spring of 2009, in an effort unprecedented in the history of U.S. education, governors and state commissioners of education from across the United States formed the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). The goal of this initiative? To develop a set of shared national standards ensuring that students in every state are held to the same level of expectations that students in the world's highest-performing countries are, and that they gain the knowledge and skills that will prepare them for success in postsecondary education and in the global arena.
The Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association committed to this work with representatives from 48 states, 2 territories, and the District of Columbia. The task engaged the talents and expertise of educators, content specialists, researchers, community groups, and national organizations, including an advisory group of experts from Achieve, ACT, the College Board, the National Association of State Boards of Education, and the State Higher Education Executive Officers. The subject-area organizations, including the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), were not asked to help draft or provide feedback to early drafts of the standards but were invited to critique drafts of the Common Core standards prior to their release for public comment. In addition, the draft standards were informed by feedback from teachers, parents, business leaders, and the general public.
June 2010 saw the publication of Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSSE/L) and Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). Efforts are also under way to develop state-shared standards in science and social studies. A committee selected by the National Research Council is currently crafting a conceptual framework to guide the development of standards in science, an effort funded by the Carnegie Corporation. The National Council for the Social Studies is part of a coalition of 18 states and 15 professional organizations that have started work on a conceptual framework and criteria for a set of interdisciplinary standards.
In some respects, this effort came as a surprise. Education curricula in the United States have long been controlled at the state and local levels. Yet the Common Core can also be seen as a natural product of the standards-based education movement of the last 20 years. Without having experienced the standards movement, it is improbable that so many states—as of now, 43, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico—would sign on to such a great enterprise. The fact that the voices arguing against adoption of the Common Core standards do not reject the idea of common standards but, rather, argue that their own standards are better, stands as a testament to the significant inroads the standards movement has made in public schooling. It appears that the debate over the merits of establishing common standards is over. It is no longer considered acceptable that students in different states are learning at different levels.
Where It All Began: Standards-Based Education in the United States
Before we move on to discuss the details of the Common Core standards, we would be wise to place them in context by examining the history of the standards-based education movement—and why it has experienced only limited success. Figure 1.1 outlines some noteworthy differences among the Common Core approach, standards-based education, and the general character of education prior to the standards-based education movement.