Eric.ed.gov – Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: An Overview of States’ Progress and Challenges

States are in a crucial phase of implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which outline the knowledge and skills that students in grades kindergarten through 12 are expected to learn in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) to be prepared for college and careers. As of July 2013, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted these voluntary, state-developed standards in both subjects, and an additional state, Minnesota, has adopted the CCSS in ELA only. To learn more about states’ strategies, policies, and challenges in this third year of implementing the CCSS, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) at The George Washington University conducted a comprehensive survey of deputy superintendents of education or their designees in February through May of 2013. Forty states responded, including 39 that had adopted the CCSS in both math and ELA and 1 that had adopted the standards in ELA only. Thus, the survey findings represent the views of a majority of the adopting states at the time of the survey. The responses of specific states have been kept confidential to encourage frank answers. This report, the second in a series of CEP reports based on the 2013 survey, provides an overview of state efforts to implement the Common Core. This report discusses state views of the rigor of the CCSS, their impact on learning, and necessary changes in curriculum and instruction; state timelines for teaching curricula aligned to the CCSS; state activities to implement the CCSS, including collaborative efforts with other states and the impact of state funding cuts; implementation challenges; and the capacity of state education agencies (SEAs) to carry out CCSS-related activities. A section on study methods is appended. [This report was written with the assistance of Nancy Kober.]