Dive Brief:
- A new report from the nonprofit Achieve, titled "Strong Standards: A Review of Changes to State Standards Since the Common Core," details revisions to state educational standards following revisions to the Common Core State Standards, finding that the changes kept in place many of those standards' key components, Education Week reports.
- While Education Week notes that the report doesn't compare old and new standards, its metrics are based directly on the standards and find that the "core" of Common Core largely remains intact.
- The report examined a total of 24 states, additionally offering perspective on challenges those states are likely to encounter amid revisions, with the most variation being found among math standards.
Dive Insight:
Initially adopted by nearly all states and the District of Columbia, the Common Core State Standards received backlash — particularly in red states — following the Obama administration's backing of them and subsequent efforts to encourage their adoption via measures like federal Race to the Top grants.
That many states largely kept them intact while rebranding them with new names or minor tweaks isn't exactly news. Indiana was notably the first state to "drop" the standards, though retired University of Arkansas professor and Common Core opponent Sandra Stotsky notably referred to initial replacement drafts as a “warmed-over version of Common Core’s standards” for English language arts. But the report from Achieve provides a great, big-picture view of just how common that approach was among states that made changes to the standards.
