Common Core State Standards
Building Higher Education Support for the New College- and
Work-Readiness Standards
The Common
Core State Standards Initiative is a joint effort by the National
Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) and the Council of
Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).
Governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states
committed to joining a state-led process to develop a common core of
state standards in English language arts and mathematics for grades K
through 12.
NGA and CCSSO pledged that these standards will be research and
evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and
work expectations and include rigorous content and skills.
The Common Core standards were released in June 2010 and have been
adopted by more than 40 states. Most states will begin to implement
these standards in schools during the 2011–2012 academic year.
Two federally-funded state consortia are working to build new
assessment systems linked to these standards, and that work is slated
for completion by 2014.
ACE is highly supportive of this unprecedented national effort to
raise student achievement to a college- and career-ready level and has
taken several steps in support of the Common Core initiative:
- ACE partnered with the Conference Board on the Mathematical Sciences
and the Modern Language Association to facilitate faculty review of the
standards as they were developed. These disciplinary organizations named
expert panels to review the standards (the Modern Language Association
consulted with the National Council of Teachers of English to develop
the English language arts review panel).
- ACE issued a statement (PDF) on behalf of more than 20 higher
education expressing support for the standards when they were released
in June 2010 endorsing the standards development and vetting process.
ACE will provide a wide range of disciplinary and higher education
leadership associations an opportunity to sign on to this public
statement.
- ACE has sponsored two webinars (see box) to inform the higher
education community about the Common Core standards.
- ACE, in partnership with Achieve and the State Higher Education
Executive Officers, has released an issue brief (PDF) describing the Common Core
initiative and the major lines of implementation work in which higher
education must be engaged.
ACE is grateful to the Carnegie Corporation of New York for its
support of these activities.
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