Those who know Fordham know that we have a long history of reviewing state standards. In fact, our very first publication twenty years ago was a review of state English standards conducted by Sandra Stotsky. But when the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were developed and adopted by forty-five states in 2010, we imagined our days of reviewing fifty different sets of state standards were over. Seven years later, however, many states have made changes to the CCSS—or dropped them entirely. But are these changes an improvement or step back from the Common Core? And how different are these revised standards from the CCSS, really?
In a report released earlier this month, Achieve takes an initial look at English language arts (ELA) and mathematics standards in twenty-four states that originally adopted the Common Core but have since made revisions, large and small. The report’s findings for ELA standards are overwhelmingly positive. They “almost universally reflect the key elements research has identified as necessary foundations for college and career readiness.” ELA reviewers evaluated standards against seven high level indicators including how well they address foundational reading and writing skills, grammar and convention skills, and reading standards for literary and informational texts. While strong overall, one significant and troubling area for improvement cited is that several states still lack clear, explicit guidelines for evaluating text complexity, which is determined by a vocabulary, sentence length, organization and structure, and any background knowledge required for a reader to understand it.
Math standards were similarly assessed against several high-level “readiness” indicators, such as the extent to which they focus on arithmetic in K–5, emphasize the importance of mathematical practices, and are sequenced appropriately across grades. But the findings were slightly less rosy: Although most standards were found to be generally high quality, the report concludes “a few states fall short.” The most frequent deficiencies cited are that statistics and modeling are not given special emphasis in states’ high school standards, and that certain states don’t require elementary school students to know single-digit sums and products from memory.
As states continue to revise and replace the Common Core, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the nature and caliber of those changes. Achieve’s report is a helpful initial step to ensuring all states are setting their students up for success at college or in their careers.
Fordham is also currently conducting our next round of state standards reviews, which will be released in early summer 2018. Our report focuses on CCSS states that have made substantive changes or those that never adopted Common Core in the first place. In contrast to Achieve’s aggregated-state study, it will include detailed reviews of individual state's ELA and math standards, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses and offering a set of custom recommendations for their improvement. In other words, our days of reviewing standards aren't over yet!
SOURCE: “Strong Standards: A Review of Changes to State Standards Since the Common Core,” Achieve (November 2017).
