SREB Reports Progress on Standards Implementation in 15 States
Atlanta, GA — Comprehensive and wide-ranging work to
implement the Common Core and other rigorous readiness standards
is well underway, according to Southern Regional Education Board
reports that document progress in 15 states.
The State Implementation of Common Core State Standards reports
identify exemplary states and practices so others can learn from
them as they continue their efforts. SREB’s in-depth review
documents trends across states as well as challenges such as
aligning other reforms with the standards.
“Teachers, principals and leaders in education agencies are hard
at work in this complex process, which requires deep commitment
across many areas,” said SREB President Dave Spence. “These
reports are critical tools to help states see where they are and
where they might collaborate with other states on best
practices.”
The study looked at practices and policies in 12 SREB member
states and three states outside the SREB region. SREB benchmarked
five areas of implementation, identifying leading states,
detailing specific practices, and profiling strides in each of
the 15 states.
A Summary Report recaps findings from these five reports.
Timeline and Approach to Standards: The report considers states’
leadership for reform, timeline for rollout, infrastructure to
support implementation in districts and schools, alignment of
assessments to the Common Core and integration of standards for
English learners and students with severe cognitive disabilities.
Leading states are Kentucky and New York. Other strong states are
Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and
North Carolina.
Teaching Resources: This report examines how states select and
develop teaching resources, what tools they provide and how they
train teachers to choose or design their own materials. Leading
states are Colorado, Georgia, Maryland and New York. Other strong
states are Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Professional Development: The report identifies initial and
ongoing training for teachers, principals and district
staff. Leading states are Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and
Tennessee. Other strong states are Alabama, Colorado, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, New York and North Carolina.
Teacher and Leader Evaluation: This report details whether states
have updated professional standards and evaluation rubrics for
teachers and leaders and how extensively they use evaluation
results to guide improvement. Leading states are Colorado,
Louisiana and Tennessee. Other strong states are Delaware,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina,
South Carolina and West Virginia.
Accountability: This area examines how statewide accountability
systems are aligned to the Common Core and what measures they
use. Leading states are Georgia, Kentucky and North
Carolina.Other strong states are Alabama, Colorado, Florida,
Louisiana, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
“States have done an enormous amount of work, and in many cases
they are well along the path with years of professional
development and resources for teachers,” said SREB’s Kim
Anderson, the project’s director. “The focus of the SREB study is
to bring states together around this review to see what they can
learn from one another as they continue implementation.”
Collaboration for the long term
Educators and state department of education staff report that
they are collaborating more than ever before with regional
agencies, districts, individual schools, higher education,
business and community leaders. And they are sharing resources
with colleagues in other states through multi-state consortia and
other collaborations.
Educators say they need steady funding and policy support as they
begin assessing students on the standards and continue training
teachers and building classroom materials. They also see a need
to clarify the changes to teaching and learning so that educators
and community stakeholders better understand how the standards
can prepare more students to succeed in college and careers after
high school.
The study
SREB researchers performed extensive reviews of department of
education websites and documents and conducted scores of
interviews with state department of education leaders, teachers,
principals, superintendents, board members, legislators, and
business, union and community leaders.
The project is one of several SREB efforts to help states
implement statewide standards tied to readiness to succeed in
college and careers. The research and reports build on SREB’s
decades of monitoring state progress toward meeting goals to
improve education. The SREB study will produce a final set
of reports on Common Core implementation later in 2014.