The creators and supporters of the Common Core State Standards claim that the Standards require greater emphasis on higher-order thinking than previous state standards in mathematics and English language arts. We used a qualitative case study design with content analysis methods to test the claim. We compared the levels of thinking required by the…

In this report, the authors present findings from their analysis of social studies state standards. The following questions guided their work: (1) To what extent do middle and high school (grades 8-12) history and civics state standards support teaching about political parties? For the states that do include language about political parties, what…

This paper analyzes teacher responses to a distinctive reform that sought to implement alignment between high schools and colleges. A survey of 225 teachers is used to examine teachers' perceptions of the reform's effectiveness, further resources needed, and how perceptions changed over time. The reform was perceived as effective for college-bound…

The goal of this study was to examine the professional development experiences of two contrastive participants while they were creating standards-based individualized education plan (IEP) goals using a virtual world called TeacherSim. Two specific focuses of the study were on how special educators engaged with the task of creating standards-based…

The purpose of this descriptive quantitative research study was to answer three basic informational questions: (1) To what extent ethics training, as stipulated in Texas Administrative Code Chapter 247, was included in the EPP curriculum; (2) To what extent Texas public universities with approved EPP programs provided faculty opportunities for…

In their article, "The Common Core is a Change for the Better," Gardner and Powell (2013) make an argument in support of implementing the Common Core to improve teaching and student learning. They opine the Common Core will enable students to become more college and career ready and state the Common Core standards will provide…

The Common Core State Standards and the continued inclusion of students with learning disabilities (LD) in Tier 1 classrooms are changing how close reading of texts occurs in English Language Arts classrooms. Therefore, understanding the potential impact of literacy-related evidence-based practices during Tier 1 instruction that includes students…

This memorandum provides a summary of the indicators of college- and career-readiness used in nine states: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah. This scan was conducted at the request of the California Comprehensive Center, and focuses on data from states' Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)…

State boards of education have authority endowed by state constitutions and statutes to position them as key players in improving early education. Recognizing the importance of early childhood education (ECE), federal and state governments have been investing billions of dollars to serve the nation's youngest children. Yet many children still…

It has long been argued that U.S. states' differential performance on nationwide assessments may reflect differences in students' opportunity to learn the tested content that is primarily due to variation in curricular content standards, rather than in instructional quality or educational investment. To quantify the effect of differences in…

This article asks a thought provoking question: Do school librarians matter? The statistics would seem to indicate that many decision makers in many schools believe school librarians and even school libraries are expendable, even though the school library is often the largest classroom in a school. To start, school librarians are technology…

The concept of close reading is an important consideration when addressing the Common Core State Standards. In addition, "close reading" permeates the CCSS and suggests a particular way of reading and responding to texts. Trying to help students become successful readers in both school based settings and in the world outside of school is…

Students must understand the relevance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to their everyday lives to become employable in the rapidly changing, technologically driven economy. The intent of the Common Core State Standards is to prepare students to be college-, career-, and citizenship-ready. The school libraries of today…

The Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice (CCSSI 2010) and NCTM's "Focus in High School Mathematics: Reasoning and Sense Making" (2009) present a vision of high school classrooms in which the majority of the activity involves students working on rich mathematical problems and engaging in mathematical discourse. This model…

Adopted by 45 states, the Common Core State Standards are now in full implementation throughout the country. Parents need to be informed about these new rigorous, college-and career-ready standards in order to support their children's learning and development. As critical partners in children's education, this article highlights some of…