It’s widely understood that implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is going to require collaboration between public K-12 systems and higher education institutions to help ensure the K-12 curriculum reform is on track for the 2014-15 academic year.
In a national survey report released recently by the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University, the states that have adopted the CCSS indicate that their K-12 and higher education systems have begun working together to implement the standards. Of the 40 states whose state education officials responded to the survey, K-12 officials in 16 states indicated that their states are facing major challenges, and officials in 19 states reported minor challenges in collaborating with higher education.
Center on Education Policy officials say their report, “Year 3 of Implementing the Common Core State Standards: State Education Agencies’ Views on Postsecondary Involvement,” drew its results from a survey conducted in the spring of 2013 that targeted state deputy superintendents or their designees. A total of 46 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the CCSS in math, English language arts, or both.
“This is the fifth report in a larger series and all of the information that we provide was gathered by a state-level survey…,” said Dr. Jennifer McMurrer, CEP’s senior research associate and a co-author of the report. “We interviewed the state education officials who were charged with generally overseeing K-12.”
The higher education focus of the CEP report recognizes that “postsecondary institutions have an enormously important role to play in CCSS implementation for teachers, students and parents,” according to CEP Executive Director Maria Ferguson.
McMurrer noted that “one of the primary goals of the Common Core is to ensure students who graduate from high school are both college and career ready.” Higher education institutions stand to benefit from the CCSS if they can help K-12 districts increase the college readiness of their graduates, she said.
