Research Agenda for the Common Core State Standards

Posted by on April 21, 2014

CCSS: Work to be done, and analyzed

A new brief from the Center on Education Policy examines the needs of state and local education policymakers around the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Four areas of policy-related research will be needed in the coming year, the authors write: case studies of successful implementation of the CCSS; studies of state and local CCSS outreach strategies; studies of state education agency capacity to lead CCSS implementation; and analyses of the impact of federal education requirements on CCSS implementation. State and local policymakers want to assist schools with CCSS implementation, but often don’t know where to start. Classroom teachers are also looking to districts and states for curricula and other CCSS-aligned materials and strategies to help prepare students for the Common Core. Additionally, some state and local policymakers have a limited understanding of the CCSS and accompanying assessments, but are tasked with making decisions about them in an environment rampant with misinformation about what the standards represent, how they came into being, and how they will shape education. Decisions about the CCSS have implications for accountability requirements and efforts to turn around low-performing schools, and for technology demands for administering assessments aligned to the CCSS. Charitable foundations, education organizations, and researchers must take the next steps to fund and carry out research projects on CCSS implementation and practice.

http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?DocumentTopicID=1