Established with the goal of creating evidence-based standards that would be consistent across all states, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have faced both praise and opposition since their initial development. The growing wave of resistance to the Common Core is changing the landscape of CCSS approval, adoption, and repeal throughout the nation.
Although 43 states have fully adopted the Common Core, the CCSS are under threat in a number of states where growing camps of opposition are gaining legislative attention and the power to either overturn states’ adoption of the standards or, more frequently, their adoption of one of the major Common Core-aligned assessments. Since 2012, the number of states administering the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Assessment has dropped 46 percent, from 24 states to 13, while the number of states implementing the Smarter Balanced Consortium Assessment has dropped 25 percent, from 28 states to 21.
For individual districts and regional education agencies, these state-level decisions regarding adoption of the Common Core, PARCC, and/or the Smarter Balanced Assessment have critical implications for teaching and learning.
To help our partners understand these state-level trends, we created a map to articulate changes to Common Core adoption status and the use of Common Core-aligned assessments. These changes will undoubtedly evolve across the coming year, raising questions for educators about the most effective instructional methods and assessments within the national, state, and local context.
This piece is an excerpt from Hanover’s 2014 K-12 Education Market Leadership Report. Complete the form below to gain full access to the report.