OLR Report 2013-R-0344 explains the origins of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), including their (1) conception, (2) writing process, (3) design elements, (4) state adoption initiative, (5) plans for subject area expansion, and (6) currently debated issues.
The CCSS are subject-based standards designed to prepare students in grades kindergarten through 12 (K-12) for higher education and the workplace. According to the mission statement on the CCSS website, “[t]he standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.”
The standards are not a curriculum or test questions, but rather descriptive lists, organized by grade and subject matter, of specific skill areas and subject matter content that teachers must help their students master. Teachers and school districts must use the standards to design their own curriculum. Currently, English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics are the only subject areas for which standards are available, but there are other subject areas being developed.
As of the publication of this report, 45 states, the District of Columbia, and four territories have adopted the CCSS. The Connecticut State Board of Education (SBE) adopted the CCSS on July 7, 2010, and Connecticut public school districts have already begun implementing them.
Many questions have surfaced about the CCSS as Connecticut and most other states guide school districts toward fully implementing them by the 2014-15 school year. (Kentucky and New York have already fully implemented the new standards.) Since education policy in the United States is traditionally determined on a state and local level, the nationwide nature of the CCSS is unique.
The report provides a look at the origins of the CCSS initiative and a snapshot of future plans for the standards. It ends with a representation of comments from both supporters and critics of the initiative.
For more information, read the full report.
